I spent the past 3 days at Kareem's house and decided to leave, to give us both space and to see my parents.

"Hi guysss" I said seeing them both sitting in the living room.

My dad held his arms out as I walked towards him giving him a hug.

"You been over that lil boy house a lot, hope you not hoeing" my mom said causing my dad's head to snap towards him.

"Cassandra what the fuck?" He scrunched up his face.

"It was a joke Alijah" she said causing me to shake my head.

"You don't joke like that" I said.

"Girl hush, you probably hoeing for real. You're bound to get pregnant soon" she said smirking.

"I'm trying to respect you because you're my mom, but let's not forget you had two affairs and got pregnant while daddy was locked up."

My mom cheated on my dad twice. Once right before he got locked up and once while he was in jail, she got pregnant from the second affair but ended up miscarrying. Unfortunately he stayed for whatever reason.

"Girl get out my house" my mom said standing up and throwing a vase at me.

It dodged it and started walking up the stairs until my dad stopped me "Aiza you don't have to go anywhere, Cassandra this my house and my money"

"Nah daddy imma just go" I said continuing up the stairs to pack some stuff.

As I headed back downstairs I heard them arguing. "Cassandra, don't act like I'm just wit you out of love. You know wassup" I heard my dad say. Soon after glass starting breaking.

"You need to chill" I said seeing her try to throw a plate at him.

"Don't forget you've done your dirt too Alijah, you had a whole KID on me then hid him for a year" she yelled going into their room.

He sighed and looked at my bags "Aiza you don't gotta leave. Cassandra-"

"No daddy, you didn't see it cause you weren't here. But she's always doing this, constantly talking down on me and tryna fight me" I told him.

"I don't wanna deal with that anymore"

He nodded "Ight just text me when you get where you're going"

Once Skai got in her car she broke down, then called Maya.

Hellooooo

Maya can I stay with you?

Yea, what happened?

My mama tripping out again

Okay, well me and August are at the house so you can come whenever. I'll have the guest room ready.

Skai thanked her then soon pulled up to Maya's apartment complex.

She knocked on the door and was met by August with his game headset on.

"Wassup cuz in law" he smiled but soon frowned as he saw she was crying.

"You okay?" He asked letting her inside.

She nodded then walked towards Maya's room.

"Aww mamas" Maya pouted as Skai laid in her bed.

"I thought she was getting better since therapy, she literally threw a vase at me" Skai said as Maya put something on for them to watch.

"I thought she was doing better too. Imma pray for her" Maya said.

"You sound like an old lady" Skai laughed.

Maya laughed with her then shook her head "I'm so serious tho, I'm praying for her tonight you need to do the same"

"I'm gonna take a nap" Skai said laying on one of Maya's pillows.

Maya sighed then headed to the kitchen to start making dinner.

"She good?" August asked looking up from his game.

"Yea she just having some family problems, she'll be staying here" Maya informed him.

He nodded the went back to him game "No nigga I'm talking to my girl" he said causing Maya to smile.

He looked up at her and winked causing it to widen. "What you smiling for? C'mere"

She shook her head "I'm tryna start dinner"

"Just come for a second" he said sucking his teeth.

Maya rolled her eyes then walked to him only to be pulled into his lap.

"I love you girl" he said kissing her cheek. "You so special to me"

"I love you too" she said. He pecked her lips then nudged her off his lap "Ight my game starting"

She smacked the back of his head then walked back to the kitchen.

_____________

"You feeling better mama?" Maya asked passing her a plate of food.

Skai nodded and sat at the table. "Kareem and August wanted to go to Topgolf tomorrow, you tryna go?" Maya asked.

"Yea I'll go" Skai said. "This is really good, Maya"

I miss you, lemme come get you.

She smiled at his message then texted him back.

i just left?

They texted a little more until she finally shared her location so he could pick her up.

"Who got you smiling? Kareeemm?" Maya asked smirking.

"Yea, he's coming to get me soon" Skai answered with a smile.

"You're leaving me already" Maya whined.

Skai shook her head "I'll make sure to be here tomorrow so we could do something before Topgolf, maybe the nail shop?"

Maya nodded and sat next to her "We should do brunch too"

"Okay let's do that then"

They sat talking for 30 more minutes until Kareem pulled up.

Skai got in his car and kissed his cheek.

"Wassup baby girl" he said pulling out the driveway.

"Hi" she answered shyly as his hand found it's way onto her thigh.

"What you did all day?" He asked.

"Umm once I left your house this morning, I had a session. But uh when I got home me and my mom got into an argument. So now I'm staying with Maya for a bit until I find my own place" she told him.

"What y'all was arguing about?"

"She was talking about how I was at your house a lot and was hoeing around, then some more stuff. Then she threw a vase at me, so that's when I decided to leave. " Kareem scrunched up his face hearing this.

"What ya daddy say?" He found it hard to believe that Alijah let all this happen.

"He tried diffusing the situation a little but that caused them to argue and her to throw things at him" Skai answered.

"Ya mama seem so nice tho" Kareem said.

"She has her moments, but we were going to therapy and that seemed to help. Now I don't know"

He nodded "I have some townhomes that just got built. You can stay there" he told her.

She shook her head "I don't think that's the best idea"

Skai once again felt like if they fall out this would be something he held or used against her. Plus they were still getting to know each other.

Kareem already knew what she was thinking.

"Aiza it's not even like that, I'll set up a contract and everything. You can pay rent if that makes you more comfortable, but you don't have to" he told her.

"Think about it" he added.

"Okay I'll think about it, thank you" she said as they pulled up to his apartment.

He opened her door and they walked through the parking garage into the lobby then to the elevator.

"I gotta get you a code so you can get in without me" Kareem said.

To get to the penthouses, each person needed their own code.

Skai nodded not really paying attention as she saw the living room was set up like a movie theater lobby.

"Kareem" she called, he had went into the kitchen to grab something.

He came back out and smiled at her face. "August told me you was having a bad day, I just wanted to do something nice for you"

"This was really just for show, I wanted to do a movie night in the theater" he said grabbing her arm and walking to the movie room.

The theater had popcorn, her favorite snacks, and drinks. "Thank you Kareem" Skai said hugging him then going to sit down.

"We watching Princess and the Frog" he said causing her to smile because that was her favorite movie.

She laid her head on his shoulder causing him to smile.

The two ended the night watching movies after movies until they both fell asleep.