“So…” I drag the word, waiting for Chad to say something but he just stares at me expectantly.“Are you not going to say anything?” I ask him, the silence in the room is so loud that I feel uncomfortable.“When did you stop taking your medications?” He finally speaks and I sigh lowly.“Come on, Chad, you know that I don’t take those things anymore,” I reply to him and he frowns.“What does that even mean? They were given to you for a reason,” He raises his voice slightly and I click my tongue on my teeth, making a small clicking sound.“I’m not sick anymore,” I argue back and Chad scoffs.“You had a breakdown at the mental hospital the hospital a couple of months ago, you literally just had a hallucination!” He argues back.“What the hell do you expect?!” I yell back at him and I stand to my feet while he remains seated. He looks so frustrated and annoyed that I am not taking my medications, and I don’t blame him, I know that he is just concerned.“I literally thought my best friend d
I walk out of the room and I can hear the footsteps of Chad coming after me. The air smells like bacon and that gives me the hint that James and Carlos are back from the supermarket. James’ favorite food is bacon, the man is in love with it. He eats it any time of the day, no time of the day stops him from eating it.I don’t know what triggered his obsession with it, but since he came back from the hospital after the explosion, he just fell in love with it.“Jen, we are talking, stop walking away from me,” I hear Chad’s voice and I stop in my tracks. I turn around and I face him. He has a firm frown on his face and he does not seem pleased by my response to him going to West Africa.The thing is, it is not about the location. West Africa, Liberia is an aesthetic place, but it is about the reason he is going there.“I have made my decision, Jen, and I am not changing my mind. I have always supported you and been there for you, even when you decided to sidetrack our plan a year ago to a
As the young man walks close to me, I watch his every move. He is trying to act all tough and masculine, but I could take all three of these men within a heartbeat.“I said that I want you,” He says when his face is only inches away from me.“Well, that’s sad, because I don’t. I am taken and I have a son, so I am no longer eligible to play games,” I smirk as I tell him bravely.We lock eyes and he starts a staredown, not blinking as each second passes. I indulge in his little game and I stare into his eyes. He has green eyes and due to the fact that he has not blinked in a few seconds, they are getting teary.“Damn, Lil mama, you are a tough one,” He says as he finally blinks and walks a few steps backward. I laugh at his response and his friends are laughing too.“Well…” I boast and he nods approvingly.“I like you, I like how straightforward you are, and you even have more balls than Zeke here,” He refers to one of his friends. The friend with a buzzcut who I think is Zeke, punches
“Why do you guys act like you don’t know me?” Rob gives his friends a wink and he then walks away from us, towards the very front of the line.“What does he mean?” I ask Zeke and Jeff, but they both shrug, letting me know that they have no idea what Rob is doing either.We all watch Rob as he finesses his way to the front of the line. There is a guard standing there and also a round-shaped lady. She is the one looking at everyone's tickets and allowing them to enter the cinema. It seems funny to me because so many people are out here and the movies have already started. Before half of these people get in, the movie might be ending already, so what’s the use?When Rob has finally reached the lady who is looking at other people's tickets, he calls for her attention, but from the looks of things, she is clearly ignoring him. He then takes out his ID and shows it to the guard next to the lady.The buff man takes it from his hand tentatively and his facial expression softens. He then taps
“Oh my gosh, Rob,” I say to him, and he nods nonchalantly like he just did not tell me something traumatizing.“I’m so sorry,” I say to him and he smiles warmly.“It’s okay, she is in a better place, I’m sure,” He replies to me.I really don’t know what to do since Rob told me something as personal as that.“Do you want me to take you home?” He suggests and I shrug.“If that is fine by you,” I reply to him and he starts walking, leading the way. I begin to walk and I follow him. As we walk side by side, I notice that Rob might be doing a lot of thinking. He is reticent and his facial expression is serious.After a few seconds of walking, he finally speaks.“Whatever you may be going through, know that it is temporary and will pass,” He tells me and I smile in response. He must be thinking of his sister.“Would you like to tell me about your sister? What was she like? If it’s okay with you, that is,” I say to him.“Oh, that’s fine. My sister was a beauty,” He begins and a smile creeps
“What the hell are you doing?” I ask her and she chuckles dryly. The guy standing next to her looks insanely nervous, and he is looking everywhere else but at us.“No, what the hell are you doing?!” Her voice is loud and demanding, only causing my anger to become stronger.“Even if I come home at two in the freaking morning, that does not mean crap! I am a grown woman and you certainly are not my father!” She yells in my face and if she wasn’t a lady and the love of my life, I would have smacked her hard across her face already.I scoff at her in response and she rolls her eyes.“Of course, you barely care for anyone but yourself, which is why you drove your own best friend out the door just because he wanted to be happy!” We are now in a full-blown yelling match and I can already hear footsteps. It must be James and Carlos coming to see what is going on.My words seem to affect her and she is left speechless. Although I am pissed beyond what I can comprehend, the look that crosses Je
It is the next morning and I am being taken home by James and Carlos; James is the one driving. We are almost at the compound and I have been very quiet. James keeps glancing at me, but I ignore him.I still can not believe that Jen pushed me down the stairs, I could have died. The doctors told me that I was lucky and if I had hit the ground any harder than I did, it would have been a different story. The reason that I was bleeding is that I had a concussion to the head, my head must have hit the marble tile at the bottom of the stairs real hard because I was even given stitches.“Would you like us to stop at the diner so we get breakfast?” Carlos suggests and a look of excitement crosses James’ face.“Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Isn’t that right, Robert?” James asks me.Both of them have to be joking or something, I have numb pain in my head due to my fall down the stairs last night, and Jen took my son to who knows where, this is not the time to go to a diner.“Take us
I like that I am finally talking to Chad, I feel like I should have done this sooner. Talking to him feels nice and refreshing. We have been talking for about half an hour and he has not even mentioned Jen once or asked how she is doing.I believe that he may still be hurt by their exchange a couple of nights ago, so I am treading carefully, trying not to mention Jen.“I want to invest the rest of the loan money in a business,” I tell him over the phone and he chuckles.“Why are laughing?” I ask him and he quiets down before speaking.“You did not loan that money, Robert,” He says to me and I feel my heart sink. How in the world did he know that?“And who told you that?” I ask him as I laugh nervously.“It’s no use playing dumb, I saw the check. It was not the bank you took the money from, the lady who bought your company gifted you the money,” He explains and I am left speechless. “How long have you known?” I ask him after a couple of seconds of silence and he scoffs lightly.“Two d