Page 20 of Just Listen
“And you’ve been with him since then?”
“Yeah.”
“Jaylah.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jaylah, what?”
The light turned green, as she pulled off.
Shaking her head, she focused on the road. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on with you. Since when do we go out, and hang with random niggas for days?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I know that this has never been me, but things change.”
“I see.” She bucked her eyes. “Zae must’vereallyfucked up, this time.”
“It’s beyond repairable,” I admitted. “But fuck him. It is what it is.”
She shook her head. “What did he do?”
“He was texting some hoe he used to fuck with. He claimed that it was nothing, but I don’t see it that way. The shit is becoming a pattern with him. Too many situations, and heneverknows what the fuck is going on. So, I’m good.”
“If you say so,” she sighed and sang.
Folding my arms across my breasts, I glared at her. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that Zae is your first love. It’s been three years, and I just don’t see you up and deciding that you’re just done. Love doesn’t work like that, puss. Sorry to tell ya.”
“Well, I guess that I just don’t have that type of love for him then,” I surmised. “And you won’t get it, because you and Sin J have been together forever. You found your person when you were thirteen, so you won’t understand where I’m coming from.”
She smacked her lips. “You act like we haven’t been through our share of drama.”
“Y’all haven’t,” I rebutted. “And whatever y’all did go through was PG, at best. The only crazy thing y’all did was start having babies early as fuck, but that’s actually the norm in this family. Shit, I’m the oddball out. Twenty-one with no kids. I broke the record.”
Hearing that, my sister rolled her eyes. “Girl, whatever. Don’t nobody care that you don’t have kids yet. Besides, I think that your luck is gonna run out, real soon.”
“No-uh. Don’t be jinksing me.”
“I’m just saying. I bet your reckless ass aint even on birth control. Zae probably just aint potent.”
Turning to gaze out of the window, I had nothing to say about that.
There was a time where I was head over hills in love with Zae and would’ve gladly given him a baby. He wanted one.Wewanted one. But it never happened…and seeing as how we were now broken up, I told myself that was God sparing me.
I know my family probably didn’t believe me, but I was honestly done with Zae. Even if we had been together for three years…he wasn’t the one. And it wasn’t really about him and another girl.
Had Zae cheated on me? I honestly didn’t know. However, recently, I’d realized that he didn’t love me the way that Jahreinloved Raven, and that was a deal breaker for me. My daddy wasn’t a perfect man, at all. Him and my mama had been through some shit, for sure. But no one could ever deny his love for her. It was pure.
My parents had been married since before I was born. My mama had given birth to my oldest brother, Jahrein Junior, when she was just fourteen years old. I was my parents’ sixth child together, out of eight in total. My daddy also had an outside child named JJ that my mama had accepted when he was basically a teenager.
I know, I know. Most people would probably say that they didn’t want nothing like what my parents had, especially if it entailed my daddy stepping out, and making a child with another woman. I got it, but that wasn’t their whole story.
My parents had met as children, due to their parents dating. They ended up under the same roof, and started screwing around behind their parents’ backs. My oldest brother being born was what forced my parents to tell the truth about their secret relationship, and then…their parents kind of checked out of parenting, and allowed them to rock out, like some grown muthafuckas. So, you had two young, misguided people, playing house.
In the beginning of my parents’ relationship, things were very toxic. There was a lot of jealousy and infidelity. And nobody was exempt. It was during that period that my daddy cheated with this crazy bitch named Tyra. She allegedly poked holes in the condoms and trapped my daddy with JJ. Then for years, my daddy hid his son from my mama. So, naturally, when my mama eventually found out about JJ, she lost her mind.
From what I was told, my mama left my daddy and the kids they had at the time. A lot of things took place that eventually ledto Tyra and my mama’s temporary boyfriend, Khalil, trying to basically take my parents out. Legend has it that my daddy killed both Khalil and Tyra…but that was probably just an old folk tale. For legal purposes, of course.
However it went, my mama was nobody’s push-over. She didn’t let my daddy cheat with no consequences. In fact, she was notorious for punishing him, and my daddy would do whatever to make things work. That was how they’d survived some of the darkest moments in their lives. My daddy had decided that he was committed for life, and would do anything to right his wrongs.
