𝙻𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑

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𝙼𝙴𝙷𝙺𝙸 𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝙽
𝟽:𝟹𝟼 𝙿𝙼
𝚆𝙴𝙳𝙽𝙴𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈
╚.                                ╝

          I heard the noise coming from upstairs but decided to mind my business thinking that it was probably something that needed to be dealt with just within the family.

I didn't want to intrude or embarrass anybody by going upstairs to see what was going on.

Instead I sat in the living room waiting for Three to come back. I knew he'd probably tell us now wasn't a good time and try to reschedule, it would look bad to my parents but they would agree.

They needed the distraction.

Their marital issues were taking a toll on both of them and indulging in family like things averted their attention enough. They were never the happiest but they tried.

You could tell they had issues even before I was born. They didn't go to therapy because they "didn't need nobody in they business."

I thought they would be better as friends.

There was no longer the need to co-parent. I was eighteen about to be ninteen in a few months and I'd already started looking for places to move.

The environment they provided was recently becoming too much for me as I was getting older and could understand the issues.

It wasn't no more wondering why they were arguing so late at night and thinking they must've had a hard time fighting off the Boogey Man.

At about fourteen they started to include me in their arguments and asked me to choose sides. It confused me and made me slowly dislike both of them and the situations they put me in.

Before I could finish my thoughts my mother cleared her throat.

"Mehki do you like the school," she asked leaning up to look around my dad and at me.

I looked at her for a while before looking away and responding.

"It's alright I guess. Aint been no problems for real," I replied shrugging, already over a conversation that had barely started.

"That's good. You know yo daddy went to that school, played football and everything. He was real popular," she continued rambling.

"I wasn't popular and I was barely on the team," my dad added in his two cents.

"Yes you were, I remember you were. I might not have even looked at you if you weren't."

And here they go, another argument over something that didn't matter.

It was embarrassing to have happen in somebody else's house, or even outside our home at all.

"You barely looked at me at all, before and after dating. Don't start yo shit in these people house Layla," he said with what could've been a frustrated expression.

I didn't care enough to look.

While they continued to bicker with each other Three came down the stairs looking frustrated as I'd ever seen him.

"Hey, I apologize but now's not a good time anymore. I hope we can reschedule," he said looking genuine.

"Is everything alright," my mom asked nosily.

"Yeah, just some family stuff had come up we need to take care of. I hope yall have a nice evening, again I apologize about the inconvenience," Three replied holding his hand out for my dad to shake.

He had told too much.

Now my mom would run home and gossip about what was going on in somebody else's household to ignore what was going on in hers.

The people she talked to or her "friends" were only there because she knew a lot of stuff about other people. She was their inside man and didn't even know it.

They wouldn't even invite her out if they didn't think she had something to tell them.

For her it was an approval thing and you could tell, she was desperate for the attention either way it came.

"Alright well we'll see yall later, I hope everything turn out alright," my dad said. By that time we had all stood up and were making our way to the door.

All I could think about was how I didn't have Zareli's number and couldn't check to see if she was alright. I hadn't known the girl more than a month and already felt like I had to look out for her.

I wouldn't even call us friends but wanted to check up on her.

After my parents had walked out the door I stood there for a second wondering if I should ask Three about Zee.

I decided against it, it might seem like I give a fuck about the girl and that was barely the case.

I sighed lightly, moving my dreads away from my face making my way out the door and to the car my parents drove.

I had always wondered what my parents were like as teenagers, what led them to fall in love.

The stories my grandmother told me in her broken english made me believe my mom wasn't always a hostile person.

She told me she was a kind girl growing up, that she was humble and giving. I didn't see that person so much anymore. I saw the woman who couldn't control herself, the one who wanted for attention it seemed she had never gotten.

My father was the same in some ways, he was manipulative. I'd watched him gaslight my mother day in and day out, making her feel crazy.

Maybe it was the teenage pregnancy and early commitment that stunted their mental growth, or maybe it was the need to be free from each other and live through their unfinished teenage years.

Either way we were here, and the damage was done.

-thoughts?