CONNECTED

18.

Maurice.

I stood in the doorway of my guest room, watching Nic as he slept peacefully. I woke up this morning feeling like everything was a dream last night. Late last night I was woken up to somebody ringing my doorbell like they were being chased or something of the sort. When I opened it it was Nic, he was so high he couldn't even tell me what he was doing at my doorstep.

Of course I let him in and immediately took him to the closest bed to sleep his high off. From his body language and how he couldn't hold his head up, I knew it was heroine.

I sat in my bathroom for hours racking my mind of how he had gotten so bad off. I wasn't a very emotional person, but I cried for him and most importantly I cried for Nicole. I was sure she had her doubts, but she thought her brother was doing so good. She was so proud of him and his progress. We'd had multiple conversations about it and she would get so excited to talk about his therapy and how much he had grown since rehab.

I honestly was proud of him too. Nic meant a lot to me at one time and I knew his potential more than anybody. He made really poor decisions, but overall he was a good dude with a good head on his shoulders; but now I was more pissed than anything. I felt like he had been lying and playing the last few people who hadn't given up on him. Nicole, Korea, Ms. Yolanda, Ms. Karen, and I were literally all he had and he seemed to not appreciate us at all.

I went into my kitchen and got out a bowl, getting ready to make my daily morning oatmeal. I made him a bowl as well and cut up some fruit. I poured us both a glass of orange juice before going back into my guest room to wake him up.

I kicked the bed as hard as I could until his eyes opened. "Wakey Wakey, Goodmorning!" I said loudly, hoping he had a headache. I went across the room and opened the blinds, letting in the sunshine. "What a beautiful day!"

He rubbed his temples. "Damn Maurice, please shut up and close those blinds back." He groaned putting his face in one of the many pillows on the bed.

"No sir, it's time to get up! We got a lot of talking to do and I cooked so come on before our food gets cold." I grabbed his arm, helping him up. "Are you still high?" I looked all in his face, unable to tell.

"I wasn't high-"

"Nic don't you dare stand in my house, in my face and lie to me." I told him with all seriousness.

"A little bit" He admitted. I observed him as he walked in front of me to the kitchen. "This what you call breakfast?" He sat at the Island.

"I'm not cooking anything special for you. You should've went to your sister house, you know you had to pass her house to get to mine last night. Or you didn't want her knowing you relapsed?" I filled a tall glass with cold water and put some ice cubes in it.

"Maurice-"

I threw the water in his face. "Sober up nigga!" I told him as he jumped up, shocked.

He quickly took his shirt off. "What the hell you do that for?" He shook his head around. "That shit cold!"

"For you being high off heroine in my house!" I sat down and started eating my food.

"You not gone get me a towel?"

I nodded my head towards the paper towel holder that was in between us. "It's napkins right there."

"You something else girl."

"What caused you to relapse Nic?" I cut straight to the chase.

He sighed, trying to get his words together. "It's hard to explain. Lexi and I got into it about Skylar. I told her I was finally ready to take a DNA test and she told me if I did then she wouldn't let me be in Skylar's life anymore."