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"So, I don't have to go to school today?"

"No." My mom sighed. "I guess you don't. As long as you agree to help me get everything set up. I don't want you sleeping all day if you're going to stay home."

I scrunched up my face. "Okay, I'll help. What all needs to be done?"

"We have to go pick up the rest of the decorations, prepare the food, and pick up the cake. Come back, finish setting up and get ready before she gets here at seven."

"Wow, that's a lot."

"I know which is why I'm glad you've decided to help. Now get up, we have to get a move on."

I huffed. "Okay okay, I'm coming. Do I have time to shower?"

"Go ahead. I have to shower too just make it quick. We don't have time for your usual ten hour showers."

"Yes ma'am."

Once my mom exited my room, I dragged myself out of bed and went into my bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.

My mom and I decided to throw my aunt, Trinity, a little surprise party for her 30th birthday today. It wasn't going to be much, obviously, because we live thousands of miles from my mom's side of the family, but we wanted to do something to make sure she knows that she's always appreciated.

She's been such big help to my mom and I going through the death of my dad and having to up and move so we just wanted to repay her a little. Of course a little surprise party wasn't half as much as what she's done for us recently, but it was all love.

Since my mom and aunt work together, my mom knew a few of the co-workers that Trin talks to a lot so she invited them over. It wasn't going to be a lot, but it was going to be good because she would be surrounded by people that adore her.

My mom allowed me to invite Dayna so I wouldn't be bored to death by "grown folks".

It didn't take me long to finish up in the bathroom. I didn't do much, just did my hair up in a bun, put on some lip gloss, threw on a jacket and some tights.

"Mom, you don't think that's enough balloons?"

My mom slapped her thigh. "No. Now grab the other two packs so we can get them blown up."

"Yes ma'am."

Doing as I was told, I grabbed two more packs and walked behind my mom to the helium tank. We waited for the lady to come before my mom handed her the five packs of balloons.

"You want all of these blown up?" The lady behind the counter asked with a slight attitude.

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

The lady raised her brows. "Nope. Not at all."

"Let's go pick up some treats while she does her job."

I trudged behind my mother like I had been doing all morning. Looking at my phone, I replied to the text from Dayna, rolling my eyes when I seen that Kenz hadn't replied to me all day.

Knowing her, she probably stayed home from school and slept her entire day away. That was a typical Kenz thing.

"Oh my gosh, look at the puppy!" I gushed, walking down aisle 6 and running over to the puppy.

My heart filled with love when the puppy responded in a positive way, wagging his tail and licking my right hand as I petted him with my left.

The lady holding the dog turned around to me with wide eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I love animals, I didn't mean to invade your space." I nervously chuckled.

She shook her head. "No no, it's okay. He's just never really nice to strangers that come up to him."

"Well, I feel special."

After a few minutes went by of me becoming attached to a puppy I had just met, my mom came down the aisle.

"Dri, come on and leave people's pets alone."

Giving the puppy a few more belly rubs, I stood up saying bye to the owner and following my mom down the aisle.

"What do you think your aunt will like more? The garden salsa SunChips or the cheddar SunChips?"

We looked at each other before speaking at the same time. "Definitely the garden salsa."

"Is uncle Mike coming?"

"He should be because I invited him. I don't see why he wouldn't."

"Well... you know they didn't end off on the best of terms."

"But that was years ago, Rūm. I think she's over that by now."

"Yea, she might be. But is uncle Michael?"

We stood in the shortest line. "I would hope so. They only had a thing for what? A month? How much damage could they have possibly done to each other?"

"I don't know. I think he really liked her though. They were attached at the hip for that short month."

"That's why there were so many problems. Hell, they tried to move in with each other the third day. I told her she was just lonely looking for someone to lay with at night, and he was doing the same."

I nodded in agreement. "And once they realized they weren't it for each other, they felt like they had wasted each other's time and took it out on each other instead of being civil about it. To be honest, I don't think they've had a real, decent conversation since then."

"Well." My mom started handing me the items out of the cart so I could place them on the belt. "There's a first time for everything."

"I know you're not going to try to get them to talk to each other tonight."

"Why not? It doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"Good luck with that. Let me know before you do it so I can head to my room. I don't want to be a part of that disaster."

My mom laughed. "It's not going to be a disaster. I'll wait until all the guests leave and tell them we all need to talk. You will be a part of it as well."

"Mom..."

"Dri."

"Fine."

"Thank you. Now let's hurry up because it's going on two and we still have to get the rest of the balloons."

"And the cake."

My mom smacked her teeth. "Shit. And the cake."

"You FaceTimed me to sing to me? Cute."

Angel chuckled. "Nah. I called to ask you why yo' big head self wasn't in school?"

"I'm sorry. Are you my dad? I didn't know I had to answer to you."

"I'm tryna be yo' daddy, but I could be yo' stepdad too. Yo' mama fine as hell."

My mom laughed in the drivers seat. "Hello, Angel."

His mouth dropped open & his eyes widened, causing me to bust out laughing. "Oh, my bad. I ain't know you was right thea' Mrs. Ibanez. I- I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She chuckled, putting the car in park once we pulled into a spot in front of Publix. "I'm going to head inside and grab the cake. I'll be right out."

I nodded, locking the doors of the car once she stepped out before turning my attention back to my FaceTime call with Angel.

"Why you ain't tell me she was right thea'?"

I laughed, reminiscing on Angel embarrassing himself just a few seconds ago. "I didn't know you were going to say that. You're that type of person I can't put on speaker phone while I'm around people because I'll never know what's going to come out of your mouth."

"If you know that then why would you put me on speaka'?"

"I'm in the car with no headphones. So it was either answer or ignore your call and hit you with a text."

He smacked his teeth. "Anyways, what you doin'?"

"In the car."

"Obviously, Dri. Why you in the car?"

"Picking up some last minute things for my aunt's birthday."

"Oh aight. That's wassup. I missed you today."

I pursed my lips and rolled my eyes. "I'm sure you did."

"I did foreal."

I could hear Angel's mom yelling at him to clean the kitchen in the background, making me smirk.

"Mane, that ain't funny." He shook his head. "I'a hit you lata' tho. I'ma go clean this kitchen. It's prolly bout fo' spoons in the sink and she talkin' bout the kitchen a mess."

"You better clean them four spoons then." I laughed.

"Bye, beautiful."

"Bye, Angel."

Smiling, I ended the call. Before putting my phone down, I went to Kenz's and I's message, rolling my eyes to myself when seeing that she still hadn't replied to my text from earlier this morning.

"She better have a good ass excuse." I mumbled to myself.

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I inwardly sighed, putting my phone face down in my lap. I wasn't upset that she wasn't coming, I was just a little bummed that I was going to have to pretend to have fun with "grown folks" all night.

Don't get me wrong, I loved hanging out with my aunt, but they just talked too much when they drank too much. Noting the amount of wine my mom bought earlier, they were definitely going to drink too much.

If dad was here, he would have let me sneak a few glasses, but my mom doesn't play that and I wasn't even going to attempt it.

Not again.

"Alright, all set."

"Finally. We're going home now, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, I need to relax."

"We have to set up, Dri. We don't have time to relax." She put the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Actually, I'm going to have to drop you off at the house for a second. I'll be right back, just start setting up for me."

Throwing my head back on the seat, I let out a fake cry making my mom laugh.

I should have just went to school.

It was going on almost 5 pm, and my mom still hadn't come back from wherever she had to leave me to decorate by myself to go.

She did text me a few minutes ago, though, telling me that I needed to get dressed as if she just new I wasn't.

I wasn't, but still.

Finishing up in the bathroom, I made my way back downstairs to the dining room to finish setting the few things up.

It wasn't much, but I know my mom is very picky when it comes to decorations so if it's not right in her eyes, she'll come and rearrange everything.

Keeping in mind of the crunch time we're in and the fact that she still had to come home and get ready, I didn't want her to have to come home and want to rearrange so I did my best to do it how she would.

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I grabbed the rest of the black and gold balloons, my aunt's two favorite colors, hanging some in front of the door and tying a few on the door handle.

There were four left so I opened the front door, releasing them and letting them float into the air once I stepped from under the patio.

I watched them float into the air, the flashback from my dad's memorial quickly flashing through my head. I blinked the tears away that I hadn't even realized formed in my eyes, sniffling and smiling as I made my way back inside.

Sitting on the couch, I looked at the ceiling.

"Dad?"

I waited a few seconds before nothing happened.

"Dad?"

A smile appeared once I felt a brush of cool wind past me, causing goosebumps to form on the surface of my skin.

"I just wanted to tell you I love you and I miss you so so much."

The pillow next to me on the couch fell and hit my arm. Before I knew it, I was crying again, but this time I didn't suck it up.

I let it out.

I needed to.

A lot of people would call me strong because I always had a smile on my face, but even the strong ones need a shoulder to cry on sometimes.

I would never tell anyone about my talks with my dad except for my mom and uncle. I don't think anyone else would really understand, and I would rather avoid the chance of judgement.

I heard the keys jingling at the front door as I wiped my tears.

"Dri?"

"In the living room."

"Hey, honey." My mom stepped around the wall. "I have something for you. Could you help me?"

I slightly furrowed my eyebrows. "What is it- OH MY GOSH, KENZ!"

"Surprise." Kenz chuckled.

"So this is what you've been doing for the past two hours?And this is why you haven't texted me all day?"

"I knew if I talked to you, I would end up telling you and ruining the surprise."

"I'm glad you didn't." My mom smiled. "Audri's reaction was priceless. I'm going to head up and get ready, I'll be back down in a few. Guys, please don't eat the food."

I laughed. "A little too late for that, mom."

"Audriana!"

"Sorry, I got hungry. You slaved me all day and didn't even feed me."

"Oh yea right." My mom pursed her lips. "I need to change before the guests starts coming. It's only five, but if anybody comes this early then just introduce yourselves, be polite, and I'll be down in a second."

"Yes ma'am." Kenz and I said in unison.

My mom walked upstairs, and I retook my seat on the couch as Kenz sat next to me.

"I can't believe your ass is here foreal." I laughed.

"Me neither, girl. It was so hard not to tell you."

"How long has this been planned out?"

"Since the day you guys left." She giggled. "I'm here for two weeks. That's why I was working so much. I was tryna make up that shmoney for the time I was going to lose these next two weeks."

"Only two weeks? So you're not moving in yet?" I joked slightly.

She shook her head. "Unfortunately, not yet. My mom thought I was joking when I said I wanted to move here with you, but once she seen me packing like my whole closet, she realized I was kind of serious. She told me if I tried something like that, she was going to slap the shit out of me."

Usually, if someone else had said that, it may have been funny, but not when it came to McKenzie and her parents.

Her father used to be addicted to drugs when we were younger and he used to abuse her and her mother so at that time, her mother was "mother of the year". Eventually he sobered up and tried to become "father of the year", and her mom ended up getting addicted to drugs.

She became abusive to Kenz just like her dad was. Once he realized he couldn't handle it, he left. He tried to take Kenz with him, but the court didn't allow it.

My mom has tried to adopt Kenz multiple times, but now that her mom has been sober for a little while, they don't hesitate to say no.

Even sober, she still takes her stress out on Kenz. It's gotten a little better over time though. Mainly because Kenz goes to school all morning and works all night so she's never really home to have to deal with her mom's shit.

When we lived there, she was at my house all the time. Honestly, that was one of the hardest things for my mom and I to deal with; leaving Kenz behind.

My mom actually tried to convince her mom that it would be better for Kenz to come with us, but she wasn't having it.

I could sense the change in her mood so I figured it was best to change the subject.

"In due time." I softly smiled. "Anyways, how'd you get here?"

"Ma bought me a ticket for a flight. I just landed like an hour ago."

"You sneaky little bitch."

She busted out laughing as the doorbell rang.

We both stood up from the couch, going to the front door. I looked through the peep hole and seen a woman I had never seen before, but she was very beautiful nonetheless.

I figured it was one of the guests.

"Hi, I'm sorry." She smiled, probably confused as to why two teenagers answered the door. "Is this the right address?"

"For Trinity's surprise party?"

"Yes, okay great. That would have been very awkward." She giggled. "My name is Juliet, but you can call me Julie. You must be Audriana looking just like your mom."

I shook her hand with a smile. "I am. This is my best friend McKenzie. My mom is freshening up upstairs, she should be down in a minute. I can take that for you."

I reached for the pan in her hand, but she refused to give it to me.

"No, it's okay. Just tell me where to put it and I'll handle it."

"I'll show you." I was about to guide her to the kitchen, but she asked Kenz to hold the door open.

"Could you hold that door open, honey? My son is bringing in a gift and two pans."

Kenz nodded. "No problem."

I took her to the dining area where I had decorated the food and cake table, letting her fix her pan in an open space on the table.

"Ma, I can't grab all of that stuff at once."

That accent sounded very familiar.

"Audri?"

"Angel."