Under the Influence

Hurt The Same

Shawnie's POV

2 months later.

I sat in my car down the street from Chris's house. I was so nervous. I have not seen him in two months, and I was dreading what I could be walking into. I know he's mad. I've been avoiding him, aside from a couple of very vague text messages and maybe a super brief, one-word conversation here and there, so that he can see Gen on FaceTime.

My intention was not to keep him away from her for this long, but I really needed my space. This last time hurt me mentally because I knew it was really over, but I wasn't about to let two months go by without him not being able to see or talk to his daughter. I had to swallow my pride and let him do that. The majority of the time, it was Mercedes who served as the go-between between the two of us, but when she wasn't around, I had to.

Mercedes decided not to come back to LA with me. She said she was sick of being around Aubrey. She said she would visit as often as I wanted, but she could not put up with him any longer. She was just used to Chris, and now she had to be around Aubrey; maybe it was a lot for her. All Aubrey did was be friendly and try to make her feel comfortable, but it wasn't enough. I respected her decision because it was a huge adjustment for her, and it would have been selfish of me to drag her into my problems.

Besides that, Aubrey and I have been very good. We've been happy. He's been helping me out a lot, as much as he can, when he's not working. Overall, I feel so much better. I have help, and I am less stressed out about life.

I got my thoughts together, and I put the car in drive. I make a left onto his street, and I drive up the hill. I put his code in the gate, and it opened, then I drove off the driveway. I get out, and I grab my purse, and a couple of other things, and get Gen out of the backseat.

I struggled my way towards his front door. I set the car seat down to use my key to get in the front door. Once I successfully unlock the door, I push it open, then I pick the car seat back up and walk in.

"Hey," I say, walking in the front door, looking around. Chris was sitting on the sofa playing on the PS5.

The last time we were apart for an extended period of time, he went back on drugs and was very depressed. I definitely don't want that for him. I hope that he doesn't have to go through that again. Thankfully, I didn't see what I saw last time. I think he's good.

"What's up?" He puts the controller down, then stands up from the sofa and walks over to me. He takes the car seat from me and walks back to the sofa. "Nice of you to show up."

"Of course..... Everything okay?" I ask, standing at the door.

"Yeah." He takes Genesis out of the car seat and holds her in his arms, looking at her intently. "I've just been recording. Me and Thugger. How is everything going with you? You good?"

"Yes," I answer.

"You look good!" He finally breaks his focus on Gen to look at me. He smiles, and I smile back.

"Thank you. You do too." I say

"Come here." He held his free arm out to me.

I walk over, set my purse and the other bags on the coffee table. I take my shoes off and put my feet up on the sofa as I sit down. He wraps his arm around me and looks at me.

"I wanna talk to you for a second." He says

"Yes?"

"I know this is the first real conversation we've had face-to-face, since Chicago, but I just had a few things on my mind." He says