Dandelion Children

Chap. 4| Aaliyah

"There's no way that happened," my mom said as she gave me that "girl, quit 'cho lyin'" face.

"Man, I'm being for real ma! He literally went up to her and said, 'Yo Ms. Pry, give me some of your time/ I ain't see no ring, no R next to the S/ maybe some time you can let me make you my Princess'." I couldn't contain my laughter as the memory played in my head again, especially because of how confident Henry had been like he actually had any type of bars.

My mom laughed as well as I shoved a spoonful of chocolate ice cream into my mouth. "Man, that was corny," she chuckled before she too scooped her own spoonful into her mouth. We were sitting next to each other on her bed discussing our days, something we rarely got to do because she was either always back after I fell asleep or gone before I opened my eyes in the morning. This was nice.
"I know. I thought Jamal back in Texas was corny, but Henry...that boy's a whole maze."

"I can agree with that and I haven't even met the child," my mom said. "Now, tell me more about this Lauren girl. Give me the run down so I can decide if we like her or not." This caused me to playfully roll my eyes. My mother always said "we" when it came to my friends or really anything I liked. New clothes. Oh let me see how you look in it so I can decide if we like it. New hairstyle idea. Let me see a picture so I can see if we like it. New music taste. Let me listen so I can see if we like it...Girl this is trash. This ain't real music. Back in my day...

She insisted that we were like one and the same, and I couldn't really argue with that.

"She's really chill. We vibe well. She actually reminds me a lot of Sarah, minus the slight attitude problem."

My mom scoffed. "Girl, that chil' had something more than a slight attitude problem. She had enough attitude to get popped in the mouth once or twice."

"Yeah, ma, but Lauren ain't like that. She's chill but'll go real hood on you real fast if you push her. She saved me from this f-boy in the hall earlier. She tore into him and saved me from getting suspended on my first day at a white school." I let out a small laugh. "But yeah. That's how we met. I feel like you'd like her if you met her."

"Let's hope so. And she saved you from more than a suspension. You would've had a butt whooping in your near future too."

"Mama-" I whined.

"Girl, don't you mama me," she said with a slight grin before she looked at the clock. "It's ten-forty-five. Time for you to go to bed."

"Do I have to-"

"Yes, Aaliyah," she said in a tone that left no room for any further argument. It reminded me of when I was younger and tried to negotiate a bedtime past 8:30 and my father would always side with me even when I was totally in the wrong and didn't have a leg to stand on. This caused my lips to turn up into a slight grin. I was definitely a daddy's girl...and moments like this made me really really miss him.

Feeling deflated, I crawled over to my mother's side of the bed and placed a kiss in her cheek then told her a soft goodbye before I hurried out of her room so she wouldn't have time to ask me what was wrong. I placed my dirty spoon into the sink and put my ice cream into the freezer before I made my way into my bedroom. I flipped on the light as I walked in with Buster rushing in behind me before I closed the door behind me, and made himself comfortable in my bed. My room was pretty bare with a full sized bed, a dresser with a small TV on top, a small desk, and a messy closet. I had some family pictures on my wall as well as some posters of my favorite singers including, of course, Aaliyah, Hozier, and many other artists. Some of my friends back in Texas always made fun of me for listening to "white music" such as Hozier and Billie Eilish as well as other artists, which isn't a thing. Just like "talking white" isn't a thing and neither is "acting white". I wasn't acting like anything. I was just being Aaliyah.

Since I was already in my pajamas, I turned off my bedroom light and carefully made my way through the dark until my knees ran into the soft mattress of my bed. I crawled in and settled myself into my sheets next to Buster before I closed my eyes.

That night I dreamt of my dad.