Forever and a Day

chapter 18

“Why did it take you so long to come back home?" -Kiyan

Kiyan sat at the airport waiting for his best friend to arrive. He missed his homie, it had been a minute since the two had been together. His mother gave him her version of the advice he needed, but he knew he was sure to fix things with Brielle with his best friend's advice. He looked up and smiled when he saw who he was waiting for. He threw his phone on the passenger seat and got out the car and was met by a happy scream.

"Best friend, I missed you yo," Mercedes said as she hugged Kiyan.

"Word yo, I missed you too. Why did it take you so long to come back home?" Kiyan questioned.

"Damn nigga, you gotta jump straight into a conversation about why I don't come home?" Mercedes joked.

"You can ignore my ass now, but mommy gone get in that ass later. She wants you to come by," Kiyan laughed.

"Aw damn, I didn't come all the way out her to be getting in trouble by mommy." Mercedes frowned.

Mercedes knew Anyah didn't play games when it came to her kids She remembered when they were thirteen and they didn't tell Anyah that Tyrese ran away from his adopted parents. She was about to whop all of them for keeping secrets from her. Mercedes remembered that day like it was yesterday. They were sitting on the porch asking Tyrese if he wanted to tell Anyah about his situation. Before Tyrese had a chance to answer, Anyah came outside pissed. She stood at the door and called all five of them in the house.

"Is there something any of y'all want to tell me?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"Um no," Kiyan said looking around at his friends.

"Oh really, Mercedes come her," Anyah replied. Mercedes got up thinking she was safe from whatever punishment the boys were about to get. Before she knew it, Anyah had a belt in her hand and said, "All of y'all are getting ass whoppings if you don't tell me what's going on with Tyrese."

The kids were silent because they knew Anyah didn't play when she said she was going to do something, you better believe it would happen. They looked at each other and then decided it was better to tell the truth then to lie.

"Ma, I ran away from my house. I'm a foster child and they don't even care about me," Tyrese started.

"That's why he's been staying here so much lately," Kiyan added.

"So when were y'all going to tell me," she questioned.

"I think Tyrese was going to tell you today before you called us in," Mercedes answered.

"We didn't lie ma," Cam added. He didn't want a whopping today, Alonzo didn't either that's why he stayed silent.

They went on to tell Anyah how Tyrese's foster parents didn't even know when he wasn't home. They never spoke to him and they wouldn't even use the money that the state gave them for him. Then Tyrese went on to tell her about the bank account his real parents left for him when he was 11. Anyah couldn't believe the secret that all her "kids" had kept from her these past 2 years. She promised them that she would take care of the situation.

After that day Anyah went down and requested full custody of Tyrese. His foster parents didn't respond to none of the letters sent to their house and when the agent from the adoption agency came to inform them they no longer had custody of Tyrese, they told them that Tyrese was always home with them. Knowing that Tyrese had been with Anyah for the pass 2 months, they quickly deemed them as unfit foster parents. Two days later, Anyah was granted full custody of Tyrese. There was nothing she wouldn't do for her kids whether she birthed them herself or inherited them from their friendship with Kiyan.

Mercedes smiled thinking about how much closer they all became with Anyah after that process was done. Mercedes loved her boys; she was basically one of them. She was the only girl in the group. Whenever you saw the boys, you saw her. When Anyah use to buy the boys matching sneakers, you best to believe Mercedes had a pair of them same sneakers. When Anyah bought season basketball tickets, Mercedes was always included. She was like their little sister, since she was two years younger than Kiyan, Cameron and Tyrese. She was only one year younger than Alonzo.

Mercedes came to Jersey to help Kiyan with his girl problems, but she secretly wanted to move to New Jersey to be closer to her brothers. She had planned to start looking for somewhere to stay. She didn't tell any of the boys yet, because she wanted to surprise them. She also hoped that Kiyan didn't make any plans for her right away because she didn't pack anything. She was ready to shop until she drop all on the expense of one of her brothers, and Kiyan just so happened to have been the one who picked her up from the airport.

They got in the car and Kiy drove off in the direction of the mall. He knew Mercedes like the back of his hand. Mercedes didn’t bring one bag with her, so that meant she wanted to go to the mall to shop. Even though she got treated like one of the boys, her girly side always came out when shopping was involved. He looked over at Mercedes and said, “I missed your big headed ass yo.”

Mercedes smiled and said, “ I missed your aggy ass to, but you know you paying for everything and carrying my bags.”

Kiyan laughed and replied, “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t make me do that shit.” He missed his little sister and he knew her visit would be good without her bossing him and his boys around.