Limelight

Chapter Fourteen

~~Unhealthy Habits~~

Aaliyah managed to be the first one downstairs in the kitchen Saturday morning.

          She guessed that Malcolm was already at the label, and she thought that Willa was probably sleeping in. She didn't like following her husband to work, especially since she was really only in charge of the Label's charitable organizations and she really did most of her work from her home office. Once she had her son she decided that focus on raising them as a housewife, and it wasn't like they weren't already living comfortably with her husband's work, and now that Blair and Jenny were old enough to take care of themselves, Willa was more into doing lectures at Columbia or oversee Soul Fusion's different charities.

          This wasn't a fact Aaliyah was all that ecstatic about since it meant that most of the time she was at home, and risk running into each other more often. Most times she was with either Jenny or Blair and Jacks so it wasn't terribly awkward, but Aaliyah still couldn't completely shake her evil glare especially since Madison's release party.

           She still remembered the words she screamed when she realized what had happened, and it made her stomach turn every time she thought about it. She knew Willa didn't like her, but at least she never made it so apparent in front of everybody, at least not until last week. It was mortifying. And she and Malcolm still argued about it, and she'd make snide comments at her or at Malcolm making everyone uncomfortable, even in front of Jacks. Aaliyah had felt awful about it, but Blair and Jenny had reassured her saying that they'd been arguing like this for years now, especially when their brother, Will, left for college in which according to Blair had been a soap opera in itself.

           Jenny was practicing her guitar playing and the twang of her strings and they played melodiously emanated from under her locked bedroom door, which woke Aaliyah up at eight AM with a smile. She liked listening to Jenny play the guitar, she was incredibly good at it, and Malcolm was always encouraging her, even though she insisted it was only a hobby and she didn't plan on making a career out of it. Malcolm didn't mind that either. She loved it when Aaliyah was working on her music on the balcony by the piano and Jenny would join her and they'd play together, and she would even help her with her music. Blair would usually sit on one of the beach chairs scrolling through her Instagram as they played together.

           Blair was finishing up in the gym when she met Aaliyah in the hallway outside her living room, and she told her that she would be downstairs once she was ready.

           Aaliyah decided to take the alone time in the kitchen to make an actual breakfast that didn't consist of just half a slice of toast and a breakfast bar Blair picked up at the nearest 7-eleven. She had watched Willa cook in the kitchen for over a month now and she more or less knew her way around the kitchen. And ten minutes later she was sizzling bacon strips on the stove and, the fatty smell making her stomach rumble and a vat of cottage cheese out on the counter for Blair. She decided that she would make bacon grilled-cheese sandwiches for everyone like she used to make for her and Lauryn when Danica and Quincy were out of the house in the mornings.

           These were the times she missed Lauryn the most when the smoke from the pan would waft and she could almost hear their laughter in the kitchen as the oil spattered on her hands and the smoke detector would go off. The smoke detector didn't go off, and she was more careful of oil burns now. She wondered what she would be doing now, whether she was busy tutoring another homeschooler to replace Aaliyah, or maybe she went to work at a public school. The idea brought a smile to Aaliyah's lips that they both went to public school together. 

           She tried to talk to Lauryn as often as she could, which wasn't all that often, unfortunately, but when she did Lauryn never seemed resentful or bitter, she was always happy to talk to her, which always soothed her guilt. She hadn't talked about Lauryn to her friends here, she hadn't talked about anyone from San Diego here, always tried to avoid conversation about her past, it wasn't what she wanted to focus on, but she couldn't help but feel a little bad that she was neglecting the past she loved as well, playing the day away on Mr. Gonzalez's piano, or studying with Lauryn in the confines of her bedroom, or watching movies at the theatre and reading YA novels at the library on their "Field Trips."