Page 80 of Color Me Broken
“Juelz…” she warned.
But he wasn’t done. On the visitor side, a group of boys stood up at the same time, holding up poster boards.
One by one.
WILL YOU MARRY ME?The gym went crazy. Kids yelling, people laughing, phones out recording.
Tasha slapped her hand over her face. Her brain was not catching up fast enough. “Nahhhh… ain’t no way.”
Her heart started beating crazy in her chest as she turned, looking at Juelz, who was already on bended knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. Everything faded behind her. The noise, the crowd, the cheering. Her eyes drifted toward the gym door and noticed Niyah, Sintonio, Kane, and Mar had arrived just in time. “What the? Jue…” her voice came out barely above a whisper.
Juelz took her hand in the palm of his. “T, I know things been rough for us. When you left me? It was like my oxygen went witchu, Stank. I was losing my fuckin’ mind. Shit got dark for me, and I was doin’ shit that I knew was wrong. While in rehab… I had time to think.”
Tasha's hand flew to her mouth in shock. “Rehab?—”
“I ain’t perfect,” he cut in, interrupting her. “But I swear I’ma different Juelz.” He slid the ring on her finger as the crowd went into a loud Aww. “Ion wanna keep living without chu, Tasha. I want you… I need you… Ain’t no version of my life that makes sense without you in it.”
Her hand trembled in his.
“When you was with that other nigga? I damn near lost it, T. You fucked me up with that one, on the real.” He took a deep breath, looking out at his crew below. “Tasha? What I’m tryna say is… I need my peace back, girl, and you the only place I get that from.”
He paused for a beat, kissing the back of her hand. “Just say you will marry a nigga.”
A tear slipped down Tasha’s cheek, and he wiped it away, looking dead in her eyes. The gym started reacting now. Murmurs, gasps, phones coming out, but Tasha was stuck. Frozen in time. Seconds passed. Then another. And another. Her heart was fighting her mind all over again.
Juelz looked up at her, and a small, nervous smile finally crept in. “…Aye, woman. You gon’ make my hand fall off,” he said, holding the ring on her finger. Tiffany and others burst out laughing, but his eyes never left hers. Tasha let out a shaky breath, her shoulders dropping as she came back to reality at once.
“Yesss, Jueee… I’ll marry yo crazy ass.”
Juelz stood up, reaching out to hug her. “Hell yeah! And don’t just be wearin’ the ring this time. We going to get married ASAP.” He kissed her lips.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Shut up, Jue.”
“You want your chaos back?” Juelz asked, in between kisses.
“Yes! I want my chaos back,” she cried into his arms. The crowd went crazy around them, but neither of them cared.
She kissed him passionately, embracing the moment, and they continued to tongue each other as if they were the only person in the room.
Tasha pulled back just enough to look at him, her hands still on his face. “I can’t believe you did all this that quickly…” she said, shaking her head, smiling through the tears.
Juelz smirked, wiping under her eye with his thumb. “Believe it, bae. You know I had to outdo Sintonio ass.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, really.”
Sintonio shoved him in the back, laughing as he held onto Niyah, who was smiling ear to ear. “Congratulations, you two. Don’t mess this one up.”
Juelz hugged Tasha tighter. “Oh, I ain’t messin’ up no more. Fuck that.” He kissed Tasha again.
“AHT AHT! Save that for later! We got kids here watching,” Tiffany yelled beside them. Miracle was jumping and clapping, still cheering them on. “TT’s getting married! TT’s getting married!”
Down the court, the game had started back up, and Ant was staring up at them, then Tasha flashed him her ring. He immediately got happy. Ant was crazy about his uncle Jue. He wanted them back together more than anything.
As the game went on, Ant’s team was up by six points, and everybody was cheering loud as hell. “PASS IT! PASS IT!” Tiffany yelled, halfway standing up.
He didn’t. Ant crossed his defender instead. The boy stumbled. The whole gym reacted.
“OOOHHHH!”
