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"Are you sure you can't pick her up today?" Anetra sat up on the bed, pushing the messy covers off the bed, throwing them on the floor.
"I'm sorry Netra, but Loosey called in sick and I gotta cover for her."
Anetra sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "Can't Kylie pick her up?"
"Neech." Sasha said on the phone, and Anetra knew that when Sasha called her Neech, it was a lost battle. "You can do it. You know i would be the one doing this if I could, but I really can't."
Anetra sighed heavily, knowing she was right. Slowly, very slowly, she stood up from the king sized bed she shared with Sasha. She loved sleeping in as much as she could during her free days, waking up to Sasha and Kerri, only to stay in bed what was left of the day, cuddling with them. "Alright, alright. I'll pick her up. Bye, love you." She hung up, less that enthusiastic for having to leave her bed.
On the short drive there, Anetra couldn't help but keep repeating the same sentence over and over, rehearsing it as she mentally prepared herself for what she feared the most ever since She started dating Sasha.
"Hello my name is Anetra, I'm here to pick up Kerri Colby. No, just Kerri, saying the last name sounds weird. Hello, I'm Anetra and I'm here to pick Kerri up? No, that still sounds weird."
She sighed, shaking her head. It's not that she didn't want to pick Kerri up. All the contrary, Kerri coming back from preschool was Anetra's favorite part of the day (beside Sasha coming back from work, of course.) She'd always launch herself into Anetra's arms, yelling gibberish about her day (always too excited to actually make sense of her words).
What Anetra was nervous about, was the parents. Specifically, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Sugar and Spice's mother, who always had something snarky to say behind Anetra's back, like interrogate her about dating someone older than her, question her ability to parent Kerri, or if she actually liked Sasha and Kerri, and wasn't dating her for monetary gain, because unfortunately for Anetra her resting bitch face didn't help her case.
A school bus honk shook her out of her thoughts. Somehow she had arrived to Kerri's preschool. Sure, it was only a fifteen minute drive but it had felt far too short for Anetra's sake.
"You can do it Anetra. You can do it for Kerri." She repeated to herself over and over as she got out of the car, remembering what Sasha had taught little Kerri when she had moved from nursery to preschool, and was intimidated by the size of the building and the amount of kids. "You're brave, you're strong, you're smart, you can do this." She repeated to herself as she walked up to the door.
"Hello there! Anetra, right?" The preschool worker, Marcia, greeted her at the door.
"I-Yes, I'm here to pick Kerri up. Sasha is working covering an extra shift. She said she notified you guys earlier"
"Yes she did. She'll be here soon-"
"NEECH!" Anetra heard a little voice behind Marcia, as she was tackled to the ground by the little girl with a pink backpack and braids, the spitting image of her mother. "You're picking me up today?"
"Kerri!" Marcia gasped, helping Anetra regain her balance."Oh gosh, I'm so sorry."
"No need to apologize, she just got excited" Anetra smiled, once she recovered from Kerri's enthusiastic greeting. "Yes honey, mommy couldn't pick you up because she's covering an extra shift."
"Aw, okay. But I'm happy you picked me up today!"
"I'm happy to pick you up too, Now say bye to miss Marcia!"
The little brunette girl nodded and waved goodbye at Marcia, holding Anetra's hand tightly, as they walked back to the car. "I made it, it wasn't so bad" Anetra thought, relieved to have survived her first pick up.
"Well, well, well, look who has decided to grace us with her presence!" A familiar voice spoke behind Anetra, turning around to see it was who she wanted to see the least. "It's been, what? Six months? New record in Sasha's dating history. Congratulations!" Mistress said snarkily, holding a twin's arm in each hand.
"Nice to see you too, Mistress" Anetra sighed. "How's Malaysia?"
"We just celebrated our ten year anniversary. Not that I'd expect you to know what that looks like." She smirked. "I see you've been promoted from one night stand to babysitter."
"I'd watch my back if I were you. Who knows? Maybe next time I'll be the one watch your twins." Anetra smiled, waving at the two little girls at Mistress' sides, who waved back innocently.
"Right. I guess I'll see you around, Anetra." She frowned, walking back to her car.
"Tell Malaysia I said hi." Anetra smiled, only getting Mistress' middle finger as response, but she didn't care.
Anetra breathed out a sigh of relief. She didn't know she had it in her to stand up to Mistress. Affectionately squeezing Kerri's hand, as she walked to her car, helping Kerri get in. "Sheesh. She really is something. How was your day, honey?"
"It was amazing mommy!" Kerri smiled, looking at her in the rear view mirror. "I played with Jasmine and Jorgie and Maddie! We learned about numbers and colors and
"That... That is great, honey." Anetra tried to keep herself together, as she went in detail about her day. Unbeknownst to Kerri, that was the first time she had called Anetra mommy. Not Neech, not Neenee. Mommy.
"It was probably just an accident." She tried to convince herself.
"Mommy? Is auntie Kylie working too?" Kerri's little voice made Anetra perk up. Again.
"What did you say?"
"I said is auntie Kylie working too mommy?" Kerri looked at her, tilting her head.
Anetra turned in her seat to look at Kerri directly, not through the rear view mirror.
"Kerri, honey. When you say mommy, are you talking about me?"
"Well duh!" She replied, complete with rolling her eyes, like it was the most obvious thing in the world and Anetra was silly for even asking. And perhaps it was. Because just like her mother, Kerri wasn't the type of kid to just say things she didn't mean.
"Oh. Yes honey, auntie Kylie is working too." Anetra replied after one too many seconds.
"So it's gonna be just us at home?" Kerri tilted her head.
"Yeah, honey." Anetra said, still a bit teary eyed.
"Oh. It's okay."
"Really? You're not gonna miss mommy or auntie Kylie?" Anetra asked as she turned the engine on, starting the car.
"Yeah, but I like being with you."
Anetra smiled, wiping her tears as she was backing out of the school's parking lot. "We can get an ice cream on the way home."
"Yayy!" Kerri cheered, and for a few seconds the car was submerged in comfortable silence, the type you need sometimes after a pleasant conversation, not the type you want to get rid of.
"Mommy?" Kerri's voice popped up from the backseat.
"Hm?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, honey."