"Hiiiii, Princess!" Rachel joyfully opened her arms, and Raelynn melted right into them.
"My precious Trolli Bug," Rachel warmly kissed her daughter's cheek, and hugged her tighter.
Raelynn whispered faintly, tears wetting her mother's shirt, "I missed you so much, Mama. I haven't seen you in a long time."
Rachel hushed her child gently, wiping her tears, "I know, Lynn-Lynn, I know. We won't go so long without seeing each other for that long again, I promise."
"Yo, Singles!" Jermaine was one foot in a cab, not far from where he let off Raelynn.
Rachel frowned, holding her daughter's hand and walking over to Jermaine. Rachel kindly told Raelynn to stand near the curb, but not out of her sight: so Rachel could talk to her ex-husband.
"Ahahaha, get it? Single Lady who gets Singles. Miss Singles, ahhhhh," Jermaine stuck his tongue out in a goofy manner, then puffed a smoke.
His eyes were heavy, his breath was pungent, his hair was unkempt, and his clothes were soiled.
"In a minute I won't give a single fuck and take Raelynn home with me for good." Rachel grumbled.
Jermaine teased, "Aw, sweet-hawt, you always so quick to angah. It's damn hot, if you ask me. Still love it when you frustrated."
"Don't flirt with me," Rachel hissed harshly, "Do you understand how much anxiety Raelynn is feeling? You can't play around with custody like this, Jermaine!"
"She's been havin' a blast with me, I dunno," Jermaine turns to look at Raelynn, who has dried tears on her cheek. "Whenever you come around she seems distraught."
"Jermaine, I swear to God, I will tell this cab driver to run you over," Rachel pronounced through gritted teeth, stepping closer to the man.
"Raelynn's response is from all the inconsistency you have been putting her through. Kids need a constant to remain stable. All of this moving around like you have nothing to lose, is damaging Raelynn internally. This is the life of a child, not a playground!"
"Time is tickin'. You only got under three hours with the kid." Jermaine shrugged.
Rachel sighed.
Rachel decided that she would save the debates when her daughter wasn't present. This custody fight was as hard as it is, Raelynn would find it harder to cope when she actively sees her parents as a divided front.
Rachel scowled, her taupe eyes hard like stone.
"Drink piss, Jermaine."
Jermaine, absolutely zooted — chuckled lightly as he watched Rachel and Raelynn depart.
"Hi, Raelynn, I'm so sorry about that," Rachel said gently to her daughter as they entered the amusement park. "You shouldn't even have to deal with any of this, but here we are."
Raelynn uttered softly, "Everything was fine, and one day you just… left."
Rachel sorted out admissions and pulled her daughter to a bench under some shade.
Rachel held Raelynn's hands delicately.
"I know, sweetheart. There's so much going on that I didn't get to tell you."
Raelynn said nothing, but looked at her mother with a pained expression. Raelynn was six years old and within the threshold of a good sense of morality to develop. At any rate, any child was able to tell when their environment and caretakers weren't consistent, but rather chaotic.
Rachel had no idea how to explain a custody fight to a six year old, but she was going to give it a shot.
"Look, Lynn. Daddy and I are having some issues right now that I can't really explain to you. For a couple of months, you're going to have to stay with Daddy until Mommy figures out some paperwork."
Raelynn quizzed, "Paperwork?"
"Yes. Uh… adult documents, for adult situations."
"Oh…" Raelynn looked away, not quite convinced.
Rachel's face creased in angst, and she held back the tears. "I know this is hard for you, Raelynn. It's hard for you to understand and go through."
"Will we all live in a house together again? Will you and Daddy stop being mean to each other?"
Rachel sighed.
"I'm not sure, Lynn. We are trying to be nice to each other as best as we can,"
Although Rachel knew that wasn't the case concerning Jermaine.
"And I am not sure if we will all move in together again. We are still family, we still love each other, but things may look a little different here on out."
Raelynn sniffled, wiping tears from her melanated cheek.
Rachel caressed her daughter, kissing her braided hair.
"You know if I could avoid all of this mess, I would, Princess. It's just a rough patch right now, but we won't let it crush us. Right?" Rachel smiled at her daughter, who smiled back.
"Yes. I know this is hard for you, too, Mama." Raelynn hugged her mother tightly. "And I love you so much."
Rachel's heart ached slightly, and she returned her child's embrace.
"I love you more, Trolli Bug," Rachel pinched Raelynn's cheek, and the child's dimples deepened from joy.
"This is how it's going to work," Rachel said, and while she did, she lathered sunscreen on her child's face. "You're going to spend most of your time with Daddy. But, you and I will be able to see each other every two weeks, for three hours."
"Every three hours…?"
"No, honey," Rachel thought of a better way to explain. "Two Saturdays a month. And on each Saturday, we have three hours together."
"What! That's not enough time!" Raelynn exclaimed, adorably, as a matter of fact.
"It's not. But that's what we have until Mommy fixes her paperwork. We can make a list of fun adventures to do every time we see each other. Want to do that?"
Raelynn cheered, "Yes, yes, yes! Mama and I are gonna make a fun list!"
"Yes, we are. We'll spend our next Saturday doing that, we don't have much time left today to spare. Sounds fair?"
"Yes, Mama, very fair. Now, I wanna go to the Coney Park!"
(Coney Island, more precisely).
"Come on, let's go," Rachel smiled, and Raelynn held her hand.
The park was vibrantly warmed under the yellow, summer sun— with a number of kids running in sloshed water shoes, carrying buckets, or idle teenagers scrolling in a disinterested manner on their phones. Some people were licking cones clean, sweating profusely awaiting the next ride, or getting ready to partake in the beach.
"Mama?"
"Yes, honey?"
"Do they have that sweet swirl cake with the white stuff on top?"
"Sweet swirl cake…"
Raelynn elaborated, "It's soft and really, REALLY sugary and when I finish eating it there's always white dust all over my mouth and fingers! Tunnel cake? Shuttle cake. What was it…"
"Ooooh," Rachel laughed, "Funnel cake, babes. Yes, they should have that here."
Raelynn jumped, "Yes, yes! Funnel cake! Can we get that pleaaaaaaase, Mama?"
"Absolutely, my love. I might have to start calling you "sweet tooth" instead of "sweet heart","
Raelynn and Rachel laughed, making their way through their hours of fun.
Later that night, Raven had a few shows.
On the stage, she was wearing a dark purple corset, which was lined with minimal sparkles and black lace. She had on a black miniskirt, black Demonias, fishnets, a leather choker on her thigh, and silver layered grunge necklaces. Her afro-hair was up in a gravity-defying, long ponytail, and styled side bang.
The crowd, alcohol ridden and camera ready, roared as Raven came to the spotlight.
She blended right into the song Girls Need Love, by Summer Walker.
Honestly I'm tryna stay focused
You must think I've got to be joking when I say…
Raven held her head, rolled it in a circle. She dragged her hands slowly down her neck, then chest, then gyrated her hips steadily on the tempo.
Better swing my way
I just need some dick
I just need some love…
Raven teased her hips to another smooth circle. She held her behind briefly, then bent over, lowered her body in a sitting position, and grinded her hips down hard.
Give it to me like you need it, baby
Want you to hear me screamin', heavy breathin'
I don't need a reason, baby
Raven moved into a split, which got a string of animated ooooh's and aaaah's from the audience.
She pressed her chest against the floor, then moved her back into an arch with her hands splayed on the ground, sharply grazing her eyes through the audience— it was like her eyes could cut the world in half. Then in that arch, with her skirt a good distance high, she made a hot grimace, and rolled her hips slowly again with parted lips.
The crowd went wild.
The singles rained on the stage, the people whistled and cheered. The applause was thundering, and honestly, every night Raven danced, was the noisier it got.
Raven closed her act swiftly, and got off the stage in a breeze.
She drifted past love-struck men like they were flames of fire. Rachel didn't like all of this attention and the rush of the environment, but she had to do what she had to do to resolve this custody case.
Rachel rushed to the changing room, when a strong hand suddenly grabbed her arm right before the entrance.
Before Rachel could protest, she relaxed when she saw who it was.
She had no idea why or how she relaxed, she just did.
"You put on a show tonight, hot stuff." Garfield smiled handsomely, gently releasing his hold on her.
"You—" Rachel never wanted to melt into the ground more.
Fuck, she thought, How did he even know I was on tonight?
"You saw— you didn't see—"
"I did." One side of Garfield's mouth bent into a smirk.
Rachel said nothing. She just stood there, heart racing, mind jumbled, and mouth numb.
"Love the way you dance," Garfield's tongue slid through his umber lips as he looked Rachel firmly in the eyes.
Rachel's breath snagged, and for that moment, all of the flashing lights and cacophonous noises felt like they dissipated completely. Garfield even seemed closer than she last remembered.
Rachel realized she wasn't pissed from this flirting, and that's when she recognized there was a different situation at hand here; different than the ones she previously encountered with depraved men at the club.
"Anyway," Garfield's attractive features remained defined even if his smirk diluted.
Garfield's confidence was both alluring, but intimidating to Rachel. He just showed up how he showed up, and it was up to anyone to perceive him how they deemed best. He had a kind of unapologetic, bold nature about him.
Garfield wasn't afraid to take up space and switch the narrative.
"Came here to talk to you about some stuff. But, maybe we can do all of that off the grounds if you're up to it?"
Rachel replied, her voice fighting with the surroundings, "I had a really long day today, I'm spent for the night."
Garfield emphasized with a hint of flirtation, "Yeah, I can tell. You be puttin' the work in."
Rachel suggested, keeping her eyes shy from his.
She felt like she would look at him wrong.
"I've got a lot of shows coming up for the next couple of days. Are you around on the weekend?"
Garfield nodded, keeping his eyes firm on the woman. "Anytime you want, I'm there. Mind if I give you my number?" He asked politely, then joked, "Promise I won't be scandalous."
Rachel chuckled nervously, tangling her words. "No, no, not at all. Please, go ahead,"
She was so embarrassed.
"I mean, not "please"... Just … give it to me. My phone's in the changing room."
"No problem," Garfield deftly wrote his number and his initials on a scrap from his notepad.
He gave the note to Rachel, and she thanked him.
In a world of countless fast-paced technology, it was precious to have a tangible, original, personal artifact. Even if it was just a number on a piece of paper.
"Rache," He called, and she had no choice but to look up at him.
Rachel fiddled the piece of paper mindlessly through her fingers. Garfield's hazel eyes transfixed on her almond ones. He smiled charmingly (as he did frequently in Rachel's presence) and maintained an open posture. Nonetheless, he seemed tranquil, in comparison to Rachel's frenzied body language.
"No need to be so nervous around me."
heyy! hope u enjoyed the update. more coming soon (: