As Long as There is Love- Chapter Eight
"What do you mean they're not here?" Nina nearly shouted, allowing her voice to echo through the school.
"One of the other student's older brother took them home." The young woman replied nervously.
Nina shot her an intimidating glare, "You let someone just run off with my children? Both of them!"
"Ma'am," She started, though she was sure the woman in front of her was younger than she was. "I'm sure the man will drop your children off safely."
"You're sure?" Nina eyed her incredulously.
"Ma'am I'm sorry about the mix-up. But you were very late-"
"Are you saying I'm irresponsible?"
"No. It's just...I thought you had sent someone to pick them up. I'm sorry."
Nina shook her head, "You're sorry? That's great." She smirked, and began to exit the office.
"Uh," The young woman stammered, tapping her pen against the keyboard, "I'm sorry again and I hope we won't be hearing from your lawyer."
Seconds later, Nina whirled around as if she hadn't heard her right, "Y'all are lucky I can't afford to have a lawyer." With that said, she marched out of the office with all eyes on her.
When Nina got to the car, she threw the door open, parked her behind in the comfort of the cushioned seat, and slammed the door afterwards.
"Damn Nino! I told you 'bout watching my car!" Travis complained, "Where's Short Stuff and Little Bit?"
"They're not here." Nina folded her arms across her chest.
"What do you mean they're not here?" He asked sounding very much like her just a few minutes ago.
"They're not there. Supposedly one of the other student's older brother took them home."
"What? And I drove all the way down here for nothing." Travis slammed his fist against the steering wheel.
"T! My children are missing and all you can't think about is yourself!"
"What?" Travis shrugged, "I'm sure he took them home."
Nina sucked her teeth; "You sound just like that bitch in there!"
Travis laughed, "Nino calm down. We'll go home and see if they're there. If not, we'll go look for them, okay? Don't worry."
How could she not worry? Her precious babies were missing. And what if they were never found? God, help her.
Despite the tightening feeling in her stomach, she nodded anyway.
~*~*~*~*~
Neece felt very uncomfortable sitting in the back of Justin's recently purchased Mercedes. Her sister on the other hand, was having a good time, listening to his songs on his personal CD player. She didn't want to be here, and she was going to let her sister know it.
Neece reached over and nudged her sister lightly, "Nikki?" She whispered, "Nikki?"
"What?" Nikki pulled the earphones down.
"Mommy coulda came to pick us up and we're not there."
"She prob'ly went back home then."
Neece rolled her eyes, "But he's a stranger."
"He no stranger. He famous Neece!" She replied happily and put on the earphones again.
Justin however, was not as happy. One could indeed say he was pissed. How could Nina not tell him they she had children, that she was a mother! They were supposed to be friends. Friends shared things such as this with each other. But Nina didn't even have the nerve to tell him about her situation. It didn't matter they had broken up soon after he left for college, and that he'd been with Michelle for the last five years, she should've been honest with him
He wondered exactly how old the twins were. They looked to be about five years old. They had to be five. Jon had told him that they were in kindergarten.
Suddenly a thought came to mind. If the twins were five, and he had been with Michelle for five years that meant.... Nina had cheated on him.
Justin punched the steering wheel. How could she do that? Did she hate him that much for moving away? When she called on the telephone or sent a letter, she never seemed mad, just sad. However, soon the letters stopped, and so did the calls.
God! She must've thought that they had broken up since he moved away. Well, he hadn't exactly done anything to change her mind, had he? She would probably blame him for her betrayal.
"Justin? I think they live here. You can drop them off." Jon ripped through his disturbed thoughts.
"Oh." Justin removed the child-safety lock, allowing them to get out.
Neece quickly rushed to the house. Nikki thanked him before quickly following.
"I think you should let their mother know that you brought them home." Jon suggested.
Justin nodded, he couldn't think of anything he'd rather do, "That's a good idea."
He hopped out the car and slowly walked towards the house. For a moment, he started having second thoughts. Was it the right time to come here? Was he doing the right thing?
He had seen her two weeks ago, however, nothing had gave him the urge to come to her house, but then again he didn't know her address at the time.
Justin knocked on the door, once, then a second time. Not long after, a boy showed up at the door.
"Justin! Hey what are you doing here?" Tony asked, opening the door wide enough to let him.
Justin recognized him immediately, "Hey Tony, you were five the last time I saw you. I'm surprised you still remember me."
"I tell all my friends that I know you, but they don't believe me."
"Oh this is Jon, you remember him?"
"He was the baby that lived with you?"
"Yeah. Is Nina here?" Justin quickly changed the subject, although he would love to catch up with Tony. He had been like a big brother to Tony. He would play with Tony when he went to Nina's house.
"No. I'll get my mommy. Come on Jon I got some video games." Tony and Jon left the room, leaving Justin to shut the door behind him.
He traveled to the living room, glancing around at the pictures hanging on the walls, and residing on top of the stereo system. He walked over to the wall, to get a better a look at a picture that had suddenly caught his attention.
It was a portrait of Nina from five years ago. She was smiling at the camera, her eyes wide, with dimples in her chubby cheeks. Her entire figure was round, especially her belly, which was ahead of everything else. Seeing Nina pregnant almost did him in, and it made him angry too. However, he realized there was no reason to be angry, he was with Michelle, and she was raising her children.
"What are you doing here Justin?" He heard Ronnie's voice behind him and turned around.
"I came to see Nina."
"Why?" She placed her hands at her hips, Why come now after all these years. "How did you get our address?"
"The twins. I brought them home from school with Jon."
"You what!" She shrieked. How could she have let this happen? Oh God Nina's gonna kill me!
"I brought them home. They were waiting for their mommy Nina." He finished bitterly.
He found out? Cameron shook her head. She bit hard down on her lower lip. Damn am I dead!
"Why didn't you say anything? When I asked you the first time what was up with Nina, you said she was hanging in there. I asked you at the restaurant, you said nothing much. You never said anything about her being a mother Ronnie!"
She could tell deep down that he was hurt, but that gave him no right to yell at her. She had been wrong not to tell him, but it wasn't her place to. And it wasn't as if he had done the right thing by leaving Nina alone to raise the twins.
"I didn't want to tell you. It wasn't my responsibility. It was Nina's."
Justin rubbed his knuckles against his other palm, "Oh so it was Nina's responsibility to tell me that she had cheated on me?"
"What!"
"Ronnie, Ronnie, where are you! Are the twins here?"
"Yeah!" Cameron shouted back, while keeping a stern eye on Justin. How could he accuse her sister of cheating on him? Did he honestly not believe that the twins could be his?
"Oh thank God!"
"See I told you they were here." Travis teased, following her into the living room.
"Shut up Tr-" She stopped mid-sentence and allowed her mind to cry out. No! What the hell is he doing here! Her heart dropped to her feet and she felt as if she'd stomped on it.
"Hi Nina." Justin greeted her with a direct intense gaze.
Nina didn't respond. She opted for silence instead, and allowed the tension in the room to thicken.
"This is some heavy shit Ronnie." Travis whispered to Cameron after walking to stand beside her.
"I know." She replied quietly.
"Man has balls to come over here like this." Travis chuckled.
"I think we should leave them alone." Cameron grabbed him.
Nina watched her sister and Travis leave the room, but didn't turn back to Justin once they disappeared.
"Nina are you gonna say anything?"
She folded her arms below her breast, "Why are you here?"
"I dropped off your precious little daughters."
"What!" Oh God, I didn't want him to find out like this! "Who told you, you could take them home?" She snapped
"Jon asked me to. They were waiting with him." Justin snapped back.
"They were?" She didn't even notice that Jon went to that school and she used to go there every Monday. "I actually thought that someone kidnapped them." Nina replied quietly, just now coming to the realization that her children were safe.
"I wouldn't do that." Justin whispered.
"It's too quiet in there." Cameron wondered, attempting to listen from the kitchen.
"You think they killed each other?"
Cameron shrugged. She really didn't know.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Justin joined Nina on the couch, sitting on the opposite end of it.
"I tried, but-"
"You couldn't tell me that you cheated on me, huh? And then you had the twins that made it worse. So you said forget it?"
Nina felt like crying. Why was she so vulnerable around him? How could she allow him to accuse her of something that wasn't true?
"I didn't cheat on you!"
"Nina, the twins are five years old I can count!"
"You can't count! You always sucked at math! And besides you broke it off with me!" She got up, but Justin pulled her back hard against the cushion.
"You stopped calling me!"
"Cause you didn't return my calls! I didn't feel like wasting my time anymore I had children to tend to."
"Yeah you had children to tend to, children that you had with some other guy! You didn't care that I moved away!"
"Some other guy?" Nina threw her arms up in heated frustration. Tears had already gathered in her eyes. "Justin the twins are yours!" She blurted out.
Cameron watched Nina flee out of the room and upstairs, "Well, at least we know they didn't kill each other."