Nobody's Business

Chapter Three

Shyla's mother gathered all the family for a barbeque. Shyla had not been home in three years and the family needed to see her before she left again. Most of the family members were in attendance and the party was in full swing. Everybody was having a good time doing their own thing; some were dancing and singing, some were arguing and swinging, but at the end of the day no matter who got beat up or rushed to the hospital, they were all family. It was this same family that Shyla had just about had enough of.

She had one set of family members that just did not understand why she moved all the way to Atlanta, and who tried to make her feel like it was a sin. Then she had her brother constantly on her back about who she was dating. Then there were her friends who still bugged her about D, why she never told them about him and why they couldn't meet him. And then there was her mother who she had promised she'd stay until the end.

When it was all over Shyla was ready to get out of there, so she dogged her family, friends, and her brother, and went to her room to grab her purse and quickly left the house.

She couldn't wait to get to D, and when she got there she fell into his arms only to stiffen realizing she didn't take her medicine. She tried to play it off and hide it from D, but that was impossible, because he knew every move she made and why she made it and when she stiffened, he went off.

"How many times I got to tell you, not to forget to take your medicine!" D yelled.

"Are you trying to end up in the hospital?" He continued yelling at her.

"It was so much going on that I forgot D, damn," Shyla said.

"I don't care what was going on. Why didn't you take it when you first woke up?" D said.

"Can you get my medicine?" Shyla asked, ignoring his question.

"So you're not going to answer me?" D said as he opened her purse and grabbed her three prescription bottles.

"Can I take my medicine before you start yelling at me?" She said to him, while closing her eyes because of the pain.

"If you would have taken it in the first place, I wouldn't be yelling at you." D said as he grabbed a bottle water out the hotel rooms fridge and shoved the pills in Shyla's mouth.

"Here, shit," D said as he raised the bottle of water to her mouth.

"I'm telling you Shy, you gone pull this shit at the wrong time one day. What if you had an incident behind the wheel?" D said still yelling at her.

Shyla sat there with her eyes closed. This time her symptoms were causing her a lot of pain and D's yelling was giving her a headache.

"I know one thing, you better act like you hear me talking to you!" D yelled.

"D, you're yelling, not talking. I can hear you just fine." Shyla said in a low tone.

"Then answer me!" D yelled.

Shyla let out a sigh, "D I know I'm supposed to take the medicine, and I know what forgetting to take it does to me. But, I also know how I feel after taking all these pills and the shit don't feel good." Shyla said while rubbing her temples.

"Does it feel better when you don't take it?" D asked her.

"No, but..."

D cut her off, "damn right Shyla, so take the medicine."

Shyla let out another sigh, she couldn't wait for her medicine to kick in so she could run to the bathroom and close the door.

"So what happens when you're behind the wheel and you didn't take your medicine?" D asked her.

"Then I'll pull over and take it," Shyla told him.

"Shyla you couldn't even move to get your damn medicine this time. How the hell you gone pull over?"

"I'll do what I have to D, okay?" She said in an aggravated tone.

"Naw, not o-fucking-k. Stop forgetting to take your medicine," he said to her.

"Okay," Shyla said feeling defeated. She got up and slowly made her way to the bathroom.

After yelling at Shyla through the bathroom door for about five minutes D sat down and lit a blunt he needed to get his mind off the death of his brother, whose life was taken right in front of him. He hated going off on Shyla, but every time she didn't take her medicine was another time that she could die and he couldn't lose someone else he loved.

After he mellowed out, D and Shyla sat down and talked. D told her about everything going through his mind and she didn't know what to do. Shyla knew that D felt guilty about his brother's death, but she couldn't believe that he even thought of half of the stuff he told her.

"You know Shy, when my brother died, I swore it was over. I was going to kill myself," D told Shyla. "And then, I thought about how you would have to deal with my suicide and all the stuff you would go through," he continued.

"So then I thought I would just kill us both so you would not have to suffer." D said.

"So you was gone kill me?" Shyla asked.

"Shy my head was so gone, I aint even gone lie, ya man was plotting. Remember that trip we took to Savannah?"

"Tell me you lying." Shyla said to D.

"Naw Shy, that was it, but then you got sick and I thought about how fucked up it was that I was even on that shit," D said while lighting another blunt.

Shyla was silent, because she knew D was crazy, but damn.

"D your ass is crazy," she said while laughing.

"You bet not kill me, cuz if I end up dead, I'm gone kill yo ass," Shyla told him.

They set around laughing and talking all night. Shyla was glad she could help D to get out of his funk.

That night they were bound together closer in soul and that's the night D knew he had to marry her before she moved on; because if she did, he knew that would be the end of both of their lives because he'd make sure of it. The next day they stayed in the hotel and entertained themselves.

"D can my friends come back to Atlanta with us?" Shyla asked him.

"Whatever you want Shy," D told her.

"You sure? I don't know if it's a good idea for you to be alone right now," She said thinking about the anniversary of his brother's death.

"I'm good. You want 'em there, they there. I'll stay at Tray's." D said thinking about the fact that her family or friends really never came to visit. The one time her mother visited was when Shyla first moved in with him. He actually had fun changing around the place to make it look as though she lived there alone. But since then, it had been her and him without any of her family.