07. Naomi

" Naomi!" Charlie screams as he runs into me before I can shut the main door behind me. 

  Charlie wraps his small arms around my legs as he giggles loudly. I squat down to ruffle his curly brown hair. He smiles, all teeth and a big grin. My nephew is a really fine young man. We have that gene in our family. I drop my hand bag and lift Charlie from the floor. 

 Shit, he's added a lot of weight. 

" God, what do they feed you?" I tease him as I drop him on the floor and tickle him. He laughs. 

" Stop…" He giggles loudly. " Naomi." He cries out while still laughing. 

 I let go of him and he's already on the floor, still laughing.

" I'm so mad at you." Charlie whines. " I waited for you on my birthday, you didn't show up." He whines and stands up from the floor.

" I'm so sorry baby." I hold his head and peck his forehead.

" And guess what I bought you?" I ask as I smile down at Charlie. 

  He stares at me with big brown doe eyes. 

" A new toy?!" He's already excited. I laugh. 

  I bring out a small shopping bag from behind me and give it to Charlie. He takes it from my hand and looks inside it. 

" Oh my God!" He brings out the box inside the bag. 

" Robot In motion! How did you know I've always wanted this?!" He's practically screaming now, bouncing on his feet. 

" Thank you so much, Naomi."

  I smile. " We're just getting started, big guy. We're gonna go out today and have fun. Just you and I."

" Yaay." With the box in Charlie's hand, he scurries away, screaming I bought him his new favorite piece.  

 God I love that kid.

" She came." I hear Antonio's voice. 

  I look up and fling my bag around my shoulder as I smile at my big brother. 

" Hey, dummy." Antonio says and wraps his arms around me for a hug. 

  I smack his back while still hugging him. 

" Don't call me that." I laugh, but stop at once at the woman behind Antonio. 

  We pull away and I step to the side to have a clearer view of Grace, Charlie's mother.

" What's she doing here?" I ask Antonio.

" Hi, Naomi." Grace says to me, not even trying to fake a smile as she sneers. 

" She showed up for Charlie's birthday yesterday." Antonio says as he wraps his arm around my shoulder. 

" Charlie's birthday was yesterday. Why's she still here?"

" You weren't even there. You didn't show up for his birthday."

" Yeah? You didn't show up for his past three birthdays, Grace." I give her a comeback. She shuts up. 

  Antonio sighs as he walks me to the living room. 

" Mama." I greet my mom who's in the kitchen with Rachel.

" Oh thank goodness you're here. Can you please explain to Rachel why keeping boyfriends at sixteen Is a bad choice?" Mom says to me. I laugh and drop my bag as I approach Rachel and my mom. 

" They've been having that argument since last night." Antonio says.

" He's not my boyfriend. I don't have a boyfriend. You guys don't even let me date anyone." Rachel says. 

" What's this about?" I ask, pouring myself a glass of milk. 

" I invited Scott to Charlie's birthday yesterday. Mom got mad saying Scott is my boyfriend and we're just friends." Rachel defends herself.

" Nah, they didn't look like friends. He was gonna ask her out sooner or later and Rachel looked like someone who would easily say yes." Antonio says. 

  Rachel groans. I chuckle.

" You don't know that!" Rachel throws at Antonio.

" Calm down, Rache." I say.

" Mom and Antonio kicked him out." Rachel justified.

" He was leaning in for a kiss. He was gonna kiss her on her nephew's birthday." Antonio says. 

" I think Rachel is old enough to date. She's leaving highschool soon, at least she should have a little fun." Grace says. 

  I turn to look at her. 

" Thank you Grace, she gets it." Rachel says as she crosses her arms around her chest. 

" She gets nothing." I say at once. " You have no right to tell Rachel to go ahead and kiss boys and have fun, Grace. You need to fucking stop and stay 0ut of our family's discussion." I say to Grace. 

  Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I'm just overreacting but Grace is just too much. Since they divorced nearly four years ago, Grace stopped contacting her son. She only calls when she feels like it. She's been failing miserably at the mother department. 

" Whatever, Naomi. I'm going upstairs to hangout with my son." Grace says and turns to leave. 

 Once Grace is out of the room, my family turns to look at me. 

" What? She has it coming. Someone needs to correct that over pampered woman." I mutter, dropping my glass of milk. I turn to look at Rachel. " And you, you can't date anyone until you're out of highschool."

" What!" Rachel screams.

" It's for your own good, Rachel. Stop panicking, relationships are overrated anyway. And we're gonna have a full girl to girl talk later, definitely not today." I say. She groans and glares at all of us. 

" God, I hate y'all." Rachel grumbles and skedaddles out of the kitchen. 

  I sigh.

" It's your turn to be scolded. What's your excuse for not showing up on Charlie's birthday?" Mom asks. 

" Exactly." Antonio says as he walks into the kitchen. 

" I got occupied at work. I totally forgot, I swear." I say. 

" That's really unfair of you, Naomi. You're literally that kid's best friend and you failed him." Mom says. Always good at guilt tripping you. 

Fuck!

" Please don't do that. I know I fucked up. And I'm making it up to him anyway. We're going out today and I'm taking him out."

" How's the job by the way?" Antonio asks. 

  I sigh and tuck my stray strands behind my ears. I stare at my brother, thinking of the last time I saw him. Almost a month ago. He looks different. At least he groomed well. 

" I think I might have done something bad. I'm fucking jobless."

" What do you mean jobless?" Mom asks. 

" What did you do Naomi? Why are the girls trouble makers in this family?" Antonio says. 

" Really?" I playfully glare at my brother. He chuckles silently and winks at me. I shake my head and sigh. 

" I slapped my boss's friend because he tried to touch me."

" What?" Antonio asks. 

" See why I want you to quit that stupid job. Rich people are just too full of themselves. They always harass people because they can easily get away with anything." Mom says and crosses her arms. 

" Well he didn't fire me. My boss, he didn't. I panicked and um…" I lick my bottom lips and stare at my family. " I fled."

" You fled?" Antonio is surprised. " Did you even apologize?"

" Apologized? The guy was fucking flirting with me! He touched me in places I don't accept and you expect me to apologize to him. Hell, he owes me a damn apology, not the other way around." I defend. 

" Nobody is talking about your boss's slutty friend. I'm talking about your boss. You shouldn't have hit his friend right in his presence. It shows you don't regard him." Antonio says. I bite my lip and stare at my brother and my mom. 

  I know he's got a point. Killian Black might be a conceited asshole, but he's still my boss. I know I shouldn't have hit his friend. I should have just walked away, and maybe confronted Preston about this and let him handle the issue about male customers touching the servers, and not let my anger take over. 

  My mom looks collected as she stares at me. I sigh and shake my head. 

" Right." I cross my arms and stare at anywhere but my family.

" I don't care about all that right now. I just want you to get a good job. You left college two years ago and I really want you to get a better job."

" There are no jobs in New York, mom, you know that already. Working as a server in club k might not be the best job out there, but I'm lucky I got it. It foots the bills."

" I just want a comfortable life for you Naomi." Mom says. I sigh and nod. I get that okay. " And that bartending job is not gonna give you one." 

" I'm not a bartender." I corrected my mom for the millionth time. 

 She smiles. Antonio chuckles. 

" I wish I knew friends who own good companies and are willing to hire. My friends are dicks." Antonio says. 

  I smile and roll my eyes. 

" Don't worry about me. Job hunting starts on Monday. I need to get out there and job hunt again." I say, grabbing an apple and walking over to the sink to wash it. 

" Isn't your boss Killian Black?" Antonio asks. 

" Painfully, yes."

" Damn. He's like this billionaire everyone's talking about. Lucky bastard. Every day I read it in papers and watch the news about how the guy is dominating the tech world. He's so lucky." Antonio says. 

  I hum and bite into my apple. Really not in the mood to talk about my boss or I'm gonna find myself thinking about his perfect gray eyes watching me in his club last night. It's just annoying he has to be annoyingly sexy. 

" How's work?" I ask my brother, changing the topic. My mother skipped out of the kitchen. 

" Good. Nice. I'm still hoping for a promotion." 

  I nod. 

" That's good then. And Grace? You guys coming back together?" I ask, biting into my apple and chewing the green piece in my mouth. 

" We're not. She was in the city and her kid's birthday party was yesterday. She decided to just drop by. She's with someone now, Naomi."

" What? Like a husband?" I ask my brother. 

  He scoffs. " Something like that. He's pretty rich, at least he's always around and not always away for work. He's a big shot millionaire, sells cars." He says and shrugs. 

  I stare at him sympathetically. He's still in love with her. 

 I nod. " You still love her don't you?"

  He sighs but doesn't respond. 

" You really need to be nice to her. No one's perfect."

" Right." I mutter. 

" Mom said you and George ended. Why?" He asks. 

" His parents didn't like me. They think I've nothing to offer their son and they don't like that about me. I'm way down here and they're like up there." I used my hands to emphasize my words. 

 Antonio scoffs. " And what does George think?"

" He's always calling me and dropping by my apartment to ask for forgiveness. We just can't work. His parents have set him up with different classy women. It's fucking crazy."

" Damn. That's fucked up."

" Right. Fucking wealthy people." I mutter. 

" You're gonna find the right one, Naomi." 

  I chuckle and smile.

" I don't think I'm ready to date anyone right now. I just need to look for another job, at least one that has to do with an office and a company, you know? I'm giving relationships a break."

  Before George, I wasn't really the girl who dated a lot of guys. I lost my virginity when I first got into college to this guy named Haven. His father was a professor in the same college that we attended and they were pretty loaded. We dated for nearly two years, actually it was a year and four months and then he moved. He called me that morning, telling me a lot of crap about how he truly cared about me and wished he could stay, but he had to leave the state. He just graduated college that fall too. So that was how Haven and I ended. I remained single till I was a senior, that was when I met George. Aside from his hateful and prideful parents, George isn't all that bad. Well, he's a little controlling, but I assume literally all men are kind of controlling. Some just happen to be more or less controlling than others.

  And now George is gone too. I'm gonna take my time to think more about myself and my life. Relationships shouldn't matter right now. I've dated two guys and they didn't turn out great, it's time I click that pause button.  

" When are you leaving with Charlie?" Antonio asks. 

  I dispose of the apple core inside the trashcan and go to the sink to wash my hands. 

" Like right now. If you can, please help him get ready."

" Sure." My brother smiles at me and walks away. 

 Later, Charlie rushes downstairs with his mother on tail. He's already dressed and in good spirits.

" Ooh. You look really good looking, young man." I tease him. He blushes. 

" Where are you even taking him?" Grace asks and crosses her arms. 

  I sigh and look up from her son to stare at her. 

" We're going out, Grace. And I'm sorry about how I talked to you earlier. That was rude and wrong of me. I'm sorry."

  She's taken aback by my apology. She sighs and nods, giving me a small smile. 

" Thank you. I'm also sorry though. For a lot of things. Like not being there for Charlie when he needed me."

" It's fine. At least you're here now." I say. She smiles. 

" Have fun." Grace says. 

" Sure." I grab Charlie's little hand in mine.

" And tell Antonio we're taking his car."

" What?" Antonio rushes down the stairs. 

" What? You don't expect me going around this city with your kid in a cab or Uber, do you?"

" Fuck." Antonio groans.

" Language!" Grace and I say at the same time. 

" Just don't freaking crash it, yeah?"

" I'm not a teenage dirtbag." I smile triumphantly at my brother. He rolls his eyes. 

" See you guys later." I pull Charlie out of the house as I hear Antonio say:

" God I can't wait for her to get her own car." 

  I smile and unlock his car and guide Charlie inside as I safely strapped him on the backseat. I really can't wait to get my own car either.