chapter fourteen
1022 Words
FOUR YEARS LATER.
Run, dammit. Run!” I glance up from my drawing pad. “Go ahead, kick it. Why won’t you?” I lean back against the sofa.
Camilla:“Nicolette? Why are you shouting? Are we being attacked?”
I look over at her and my grand-mother as they enter the living room, grandma's cane clicking against the floor with each step. “No. It’s just football. That’s all.”
Granny:“It's what? Who fell?”
Me:“Football,” I repeat, my eyes following the play on screen. “Are you wearing your hearing aid?”
“Oh!” She slides her hand into her pocket and removes the tiny device. “There,” she says as she fits it.
“Is it turned on?”
She fiddles with it. “It is now.”
I give her a smile. “Oh, go! Go!” I point my
pencil at the screen. “Run, you useless....”
Camilla interrupts me. “Shouldn’t you be working?”
“Um, I am. Kind of.” I wave my pencil lamely in her direction and keep my eyes on the game on TV.
She leans against the doorframe to remove her shoes. “I still don’t understand how you love football so much.” She sets them in the hallway then enters the living room.
Granny:“Damn six packs and tight butts” grandmother answers her. “It’s the butts, am I right, Nikki? They make a smart girl stupid.”
Me:“Yeah, that’s it. I watch hours upon hours of football because of their buttocks.”
Mom waves the remote. “You have to get those designs submitted before Chanda sends you all your Fashion Week designs to finalize.”
“I know.” I swallow the bitterness that rises at the mention of Fashion Week. “It still sucks that I have to miss it.”
“You could be honest.”
“No.” I fill in some detail on the shirt on my pad. “I told you before. I want to be successful for my work, not because my mom has connections and is well known.”
“And I respect that, honey, but you should be there for your show.”
“Are they winning?” Grandma steps in, sitting on the sofa next to me. “What colors are they in?”
“Green and black, and” I glance up, “yes, they’re winning.”
“Oooh, who’s that?”
“Who’s who?”
“That!”
“Ronald mwamba,” Mom answers.
“He’s a handsome young man, isn’t he?”
“Grandma!” I snap my head up. “Are you seriously crushing on him? Don’t you have something else to do?”
She chuckles. “Oh, not tonight, dear. Where can I find his perfect ass?”
“Oh my God!” I smack the pencil down and look at her.
Mom laughs. “He’ll be at Camilla's movie premiere tomorrow night. It’s a shame your tea-party will interfere with that, mum.”
“What? Since when?” I look at Mom.
“Since the beginning” She fixes her big eyes on me. “Have you listened to anything I’ve told you today?”
Me: “Not really”
Camilla:“Nicolette!”
“What? I’ve been busy.” I raise my eyebrows and go back to my design.
Mom sighs. “You know the drill. Turn up, humor them, watch the movie, hang around for an hour to support your sister. Then you can escape out of the back door. This is really big for her, it's her first movie.”
Me:"She's the actress not me. No one is paying to see me." I shake my head.
“Let’s swap,” grandma announces loudly. “I’ll go in your place, Nikki. You can stay here and work on that gray mess of yours.”
Just then I hear grandma clap. My eyes follow her line of sight to where Ronald Mwamba has a close-up on TV. I'm forced to laugh out loud.
Camilla:“I hate to admit this, but he is a yummy thing.”
Grandma: “He’s a young, handsome man, that's for sure. Look at those muscles. Most handsome young men just show them off now.”
“What do you know about young, handsome men?” Mom scoffs, walking into the kitchen. She opens the fridge and pours herself a glass of red wine.
Grandma:“I was young once, Starlet. And I knew a lot of young, handsome men. How do you think I had you?” Grandma smiled.
Camilla: “Whoa! Okay.” She interrupts as she gets up from her seat. “Let’s move on, before she tells us about how they made mum. What’s the time, mum?”
Mum looks at her watch. “Six p.m. Why?”
Dammit, I forgot to eat and I have to get dressed. I sigh. “Camilla and mumba are dragging me out for my birthday.”
Mom: “Remind mumba that she and Camilla have an audition tomorrow,” Mum says as I shut my sketchpad and get up.
“Sure.” I grab Camilla's hand pulling her after me as I head for the stairs.
Mum:“Nikki?”
Me:“Yes, Mum?”
Mum:“I only saw Camilla's plate, did you eat dinner?”
Me:“Yes, Mum!”
Mum:“Are you lying to me, young lady?”
Me:“Young lady? I’m twenty-three! Camilla is twenty, she's the young-lady between us. And no, Mum!”
Mum:“why can't you be like your siblings. Nikki!”
I pull her into the bedroom, twist my bedroom door lock shut then rush into the bathroom. Reaching into the shower and turning the knob, I yell, “What was that? Sorry, the shower’s on!”
Camilla:"you're a terrible liar, you didn't eat. What are you trying to lose? You're already all bones."
Me:"Ooh shut up Cami. If I keep eating I'll end up like you. Now let me bath."
- Writer
