16. Baby Books ♔︎

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| King of Hearts |

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By: Janae Destiny

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Kiara woke up before Monie the next morning, which she figured would happen anyway. She got up, brushed her teeth, and put her glasses back on before leaving Monie sleeping in the bed.

"Good morning, Kiara," Ava greeted her when she walked into the living room.

She was sitting on the fluffy rug with the tv on and multiple books sitting out in front of her.

"Good morning, baby girl. What are you doing?"

"Reading."

"With the tv on?"

"I like when it's on. But I'm not actually watching it."

"Aww, these are so cute," Kiara sat down on the floor with Ava. "Look at these adorable baby books."

"I don't read baby books," Ava said very defensively.

"Well, my bad girl," Kiara laughed. "So if they're not baby books, then what are they?"

"I only read big girl books. I'm starting school soon too. Real school. I'm going to be in kindergarten."

"You excited about starting school?"

"Sooo excited. I can't wait to go shopping for all my school supplies. I want everything to be pink. That's my favorite color."

"Pink is a very pretty color."

"Mmhm. It's mommy's favorite color too. My room was pink at my last home."

"Maybe we can paint your room pink here too."

"Really? Because I asked mommy and she said she's not supposed to or she can get in trouble with the person who owns the building."

"I don't think painting will be an issue. Trust me."

"Ooh, we should paint everything pink then! Even Marco's room."

"Alright now, Ava. I don't know bout all of that. How about we just stick to painting your room pink for now?"

"And mommy's room. We should surprise her."

"You're funny, you know that?"

"Marco always tells me that. But I don't think he means it in a good way."

"Speaking of Marco, where is he? Is he still sleeping?"

"No, I checked his room. He was gone when I woke up."

"How long have you been up?"

"Not that long. I just woke up."

"Did you eat already?"

"No, but Marco will make me breakfast when he gets back."

"I can make you breakfast," Kiara picked herself up off of the floor.

"Mmm... do you cook like my mommy?"

"What does that mean?"

"Is your food actually good?"

"Yes, I can cook Ava. If that's what you're trying to ask me."

"I'm just making sure," she got up and followed Kiara into the kitchen.

"What do you want to eat?" Kiara asked as she washed her hands.

"Uhhhh... strawberry pancakes."

"Okay, let's see if we have the stuff to make them."

"We should. Mommy took me and Marco to the store yesterday to get a whole bunch of stuff. She let us get anything we wanted."

"Oh, you're not joking about that," Kiara said as she opened the fridge to see that it was in fact fully stocked. That was the fullest she's seen the fridge since she lived there. "You just want the pancakes? That's it?"

"And strawberry milk. And I can help. I can mix the pancake mix for you."

There's nothing Kiara hates more than when people are in her way as she cooks, but she figured letting Ava help one time wouldn't kill her.

"Okay, let me get all the ingredients together and you can mix while I make the strawberry syrup. That sounds good?"

"Yes. I'll be like your sweet chef."

"Sweet chef?"

"Yeah. That's what Marco calls me when I help him cook."

"Ava," Kiara let out a slight laugh. "Do you mean sous-chef?"

"No, I mean sweet chef. I don't know what sous means."

"Okay baby girl. You can be my sweet chef."

By the time Ava and Kiara had finished making the pancake mix, Marco had come back from whatever it is he was doing. And from the amount of sweat he had all over him and his clothes, it was safe to assume he had been working out, something he does religiously.

"Good morning Marco!" Ava said very loudly so that he could hear her through his headphones.

"Ava, why are you yelling?" He took his headphones and put them around his neck. "Nothing is playing. I can hear you."

"You can say good morning back," she pouted.

"Good morning, Ava. And good morning Kiara."

"Good morning Marco-"

"Marco, look. We're making breakfast."

"Yes, Ava, I can see that. What y'all making? Pancakes?"

"Mmhm. Strawberry ones. You want to help us?"

"I would love to. But I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Yeah, you need to," Ava pinched her nose, pretending that Marco smelt bad.

"I'm sweaty but I don't stink," he rolled his eyes. "And where's Monie at? She's usually up by now."

Ava just shrugged.

"She's still sleeping," Kiara answered.

"Damn- dang," he quickly corrected himself. "This the latest she's slept in a minute."

"Which is exactly why I'm not gonna wake her up. I'm gonna let her sleep for as long as she needs to."

"Well, I'm not gonna wake her up either. But I'ma go shower, so I'll be right back y'all."

"Kiara?" Ava asked when Marco has left and it was just the two of them again.

"Yes?"

"Do you like my mommy?"

"Yes, actually. I do like your mommy. I know we just met, but we're becoming good friends."

"Well, I like you too. And you're very pretty."

"Aww, thank you Ava. You're very pretty too."

"Thank you," the little girl blushed.

By the time Marco got back, Ava and Kiara were already sitting down at the table eating.

"Monie still sleeping?" He asked as he sat down at the table with his own plate of food.

"She must be real tired," Ava said with her mouth full.

"Ava, Stop talking with food in your mouth. How many times we gotta remind you of that?"

She just ignored him and went back to eating her pancakes.

"You sure Monie is aight? I know she said she was tired, but she ain't never sleep this much in her life. Maybe somebody should go check on her."

"Y'all finish eating. I'll go make sure she's okay," Kiara got up from the table and headed towards Monie's closed bedroom door.

When she went in there, Monie was in fact still sleeping, and she looked so peaceful that Kiara didn't want to wake her up. Kiara laid back down in the bed next to her, and Monie instinctively moved closer to her warm body heat.

"Good morning," Monie whispered with her voice sounding all deep from just having woken up.

"Sorry, I ain't mean to wake you up."

"You didn't. I was only half asleep anyway," Monie finally opened her eyes to look at Kiara.

"You ready to get up now? Or you wanna lay down longer?"

"I'ma get up. It smells like y'all cooked and I'm hungry as hell."

"Yeah, Ava helped me make strawberry pancakes."

"And she actually ate it? Cause she barely eats anything I cook. I be having to beg her to eat sometimes."

"Maybe you just can't cook. Cause she ate like three of them already."

"Don't listen to her. I swear I'm not that bad a cook, she's just picky as hell."

"Mmhm, I'll just have to believe Ava until I see it for myself."

"How about I cook you dinner tonight?" Monie offered. "Cause I feel like staying in all day anyway. I'm not tryna do shit at all today."

"And we don't have to," Kiara wrapped her arms around Monie. "We can just have a lazy Sunday. Cause I ain't have one of those in a long ass time. We can go down by the beach, or we can just stay up here and chill. It's up to you."

"Oooh, sitting by the beach sounds great actually. That's what I wanna do. But before I do anything, I wanna eat. Those pancakes smell good as hell and I barely ate yesterday."

"Then come on," Kiara got out of the bed and held her hand out to Monie.

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