Trials and Tribulations

Chapter 33

THANK YOU FOR 20K!
P.S. I apologize for the late update. I was looking for inspiration.

One Month Later

Jazmin

"Maria never disappoints." I said as I continued eating my breakfast like it was the last meal. I nodded and pointed at it. This was the bomb.

"Careful amore, you're going to choke." Stephen chuckled a bit as he ate his breakfast.

This was one of the few moments where we all sat down together and ate breakfast. Vinny, Giovanni and Damien were here as well. Of course with our new edition to the family, Aria.

She had taken a good minute before she started to warm up to us and feel comfortable around the house. We all just made sure to go at her pace because we didn't want to push her. I will say someone is taking way longer than her to get acclimated to this new situation.

Stephen.

Her and him really haven't talked much, if at all. Stephen should take the initiative and do whatever he can to make her feel comfortable. Just like the rest of us do. But he's been really strange about the whole situation. He has a 100 foot indestructible wall up when it comes to her.

As far as her and I go, we've made huge strides. I'm the one she talks to the most. I've taken her shopping for clothes to get her wardrobe all set up. We've picked out color swatches to decorate her room, also all kinds of furniture.

She's even shared some sentimental moments with me. Our relationship was thriving and I couldn't wait to see it grow even more. That's why I'm a little sad about the lack of effort on Stephen's part. I wish he would try and get to know her.

I've also enrolled her in a private school in the area. For not being the most social, she actually really likes being around people her age. She's really intelligent as well. I've seen her progress reports and they are all A's. They've even contacted me about moving her up a grade because her performance is phenomenal.

After all that, this is where we currently are.

"Pass me the syrup, GiGi." Vinny asked Giovanni. He rolled his eyes and picked the syrup. He passed it to Vinny who had an amused look on his face. Aria shook her head at the interaction.

"You know..." Giovanni started, "One day I'm going to take this fork," he held it up. "And stab you in your arm." Damien snickered a bit.

"That's a little violent don'tcha' think GiGi?" Vinny replied to him. He gave a menacing smile. He was annoying the hell out of him right now.

I looked toward Aria who was eating her breakfast quietly.

"How's school been, Aria?" I asked. The guys turned to look at her in curiosity. She shrugged a bit.

"It's been fine. Nothing crazy going on. Just school." She replied. We nodded at her and then Damien spoke up.

"No one giving you a hard time?" He looked at her. She shook her head.

"Nah, everyone has been cool there." She chuckled a bit, "There's just not that many kids who look like me." Tell me about it sis.

"Yeah that's usually what happens when you go to a private school. Unfortunately, not many black kids. It was the same way for me when I was growing up. I went to a predominately white school and then the same with college. Seems like a never ending cycle." I commented.

I looked toward Stephen who was unsurprisingly quiet. He usually was nowadays as I've said before. I grabbed his hand a squeezed a bit.

"You alright?" He turned to look a me and gave a nod. I sighed a bit and released his hand. Something was definitely going on with him. You already know I was going to get to the bottom of it.