Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

36. Breaking the news

" Joseph please help me!"

Joseph wiped one of his large tattooed hands down his face dramatically as he patted the plush white duvet on their king sized bed for the TV remote to pause the game. It was the most anticipated game of the basketball season with almost three minutes left of the last quarter and all Joseph wanted was to finish the game in peace with no interruptions especially since he couldn't watch it live and had to record it for later.

Slowly and tiredly rising from the bed, he maneuvered his way through their once clean and tidy master bedroom now cluttered with moving boxes, into the enormous walk in closet where Grace sat on the floor in the middle of the room with a fluffy white towel wrapped around her damp body and a look of distress and defeat on her face.

" You have to leave in twenty minutes, what are you doing?" Joseph asked appearing in the doorway of the closet clad in nothing but a pair of black Nike sweats that hung untied and loosely around his waist with a durag secured tightly around his head. It usually takes Grace hours to get ready and she was very anal about being on time everywhere and making sure she started to get ready at a decent time so she could be on time to wherever she had to go but not tonight.

" I don't know what to wear," Grace said quietly, a small pout on her face.

" Baby just put something on, you overthinking right now. You just going to dinner with yo people," Joseph said impatiently.

A silence fell over the massive walk in closet as Joseph furrowed his brows staring down at his fiancé noticing her full bottom lip begin to quiver as if she were about to cry.

" Grace what's wrong wit you?" Joseph asked concerned, pulling the legs of his sweats up to squat down comfortably to her level where she sat on the soft carpet staring at the ground. " Grace," He repeated gently grabbed her chin and forcing her to look at him. " What's wrong wit you?"

" I don't want to do this Joseph," She expressed in a whiney voice, tears filling her big hazel eyes as she looked at him with a look of sadness. " I don't want to go,"

Tonight Grace was going to dinner with her two bestfriends and her mom to break the news of the move to everyone at once. Though Joseph had been trying to encourage her not to wait until the last minute before they moved and tell everyone one on one, her anxiety had been practically crippling the past couple weeks causing her to procrastinate until there was almost no time left to break the news.

Joseph clenched his jaw inhaling sharply through his nose as he sat on the ground next to her. " I thought you was excited?" He asked, making sure to use a more gentle tone with her as her mood was very fragile at the moment.

" I am but— I don't know!" She expressed bursting into tears, her fair skin taking on a hue of red as she began to cry hysterically. " I don't know why I'm crying!"

Joseph furrowed his brows as he stared at her. Of course he understood that this was a hard moment for her because she'd never been so far from her family or friends but the way she was crying right now you'd think somebody killed her dog.

" You on yo period?"

" Joseph that's not funny! Just leave me alone!" She yelled irritatedly wiping the tears that continued to fall from her eyes uncontrollably. He wasn't trying to be funny, he was genuinely curious. Joseph had been noticing a change in her attitude the last two weeks, she seemed more on edge and emotional over everything— extremely out of her sweet, bubbly character but he just chalked it up to be due to the stress of everything that had been going on.