Page 64 of Certified to Handle You
After gettin’ off the phone with Renza, I felt uneasy and couldn’t go to sleep, so I called my girl, Mecca. She picked up on the second ring like she was already up scrollin’ or doin’ nothin’ important.
“Hello?”
I sighed as soon as I heard her voice and rolled over on my back, starin’ up at the ceiling. “Girl…”
She let out a light laugh. “What happened now?”
I closed my eyes for a second, pressin’ my lips together before I answered. “I just got off the phone with Renza.”
“Mm,” she hummed, already catchin’ the tone. “And?”
“And it just pissed me off,” I said, rubbin’ my forehead. “Like… I don’t even know how to explain it without soundin’ crazy, but I feel like I’m not wrong.”
“You probably not,” she said calmly. “What he do?”
I let out a breath and turned my head to the side, starin’ at the wall. “We was talkin’, and I asked him straight up if marriage is somethin’ he even wants, and he basically told me yeah… one day. Not right now.”
I paused for a second, then shook my head. “And what’s crazy is, we had just left my parents’ house earlier. My daddy straight up asked him when he plan on marryin’ me.”
Mecca made a sound. “Oh wow.”
“Yeah,” I said, sittin’ up a little. “Like right there at the table. He just laid it out, and Renza didn’t disrespect him or anything. He kept it real respectful, but I could tell it caught him off guard.”
“And?” she asked.
“And ever since then, he been movin’ a little off,” I admitted. “Even on the ride back, he was quiet. Then, tonight, when I brought it up again, it’s like he backed up even more.”
I rubbed my arm, tryin’ to make sense of it myself. “So now I’m sittin’ here like… okay, was that too much for you?”
Mecca went quiet for a second, then sighed. “Okay… and how you take that?”
“Like he don’t take me serious,” I said, my voice gettin’ a little tighter. “And I know that might sound dramatic, but that’s what it feels like.”
She didn’t cut me off, so I kept goin’.
“I’m not sayin’ we gotta get married tomorrow,” I added. “I’m not dumb. I know that’s a big ass step and I know it’s not somethin’ you just rush into. But it’s been almost two years, Mecca. Two.”
“I know,” she said softly.
“And I still haven’t formally met his parents,” I went on. “Like… nigga… what are we really doin’?”
Mecca let out a long breath through the phone. “Okay, now that part… yeah. That’s crazy.”
“Exactly,” I said, feelin’ a little validated. “He claims they know all about me, but what the fuck ever. And his excuse is that his family was goin’ through stuff with Kay’Lo and that whole trial situation.”
Mecca clicked her tongue. “I mean… that was a big case, though.”
“I don’t care how big it was,” I shot back, shakin’ my head even though she couldn’t see me. “You mean to tell me out of all that time, you couldn’t find one moment to introduce me? Not one? That don’t even make sense.”
She was quiet again, and I could tell she was thinkin’.
“The more I think about it, the crazier I feel, like maybe I’m sittin’ here lookin’ stupid and don’t even know it.”
“You not stupid,” she said quick.
“I might be,” I muttered. “I’m really sittin’ here thinkin’ about just breakin’ up with him and bein’ done with it. ’Cause why you movin’ like that with me? And Lord knows I be tryin’ to be understanding and cut this nigga some slack but come on now.”
Mecca sighed. “Two years is a long time, Reni. I’m not even gon’ lie.”
