𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 | 𝐃. 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐎 |

CHAPTER 9.

Chapter 9.
Jelena Ronelle Toscano-Anderson

I had cried into my pillow for about an hour and forty-five minutes over Deuce. A part of me always knew that this was going to happen, but I didn't expect it to happen in such a harsh way. I had cried hard that my head was pounding and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

Probably because I was smothering my face into this pillow.

The knock on the door caused me to lift my face from out of my pillow and look up. Based off the sound of the knock, I knew that it was my dad since he swore that every single time he touched a door that he was DJ Khalid and had to make a beat.

"Hey, babygirl..." Dad said through the door. "Mind if I come inside?"

"Dad, I'm really not—."
"I brought your favorite ice cream from Cold Stone." he said in an off-key sing-song voice.

"Come in!"

Once the door opened, my dad stepped inside holding two pints of Cold Stone ice cream, with a smile on his face that was identical to mine and sat down beside me on my bed.

"How you feeling, munchkin?" Dad asked, using the nickname he had given me when I was about 3 or 4.

I shrugged, scooping a chunk of ice cream. "Like I got hit with a pile of bricks and ran over by a truck on a high speed chase."

"Yeah, I know...I know how that feels," He said with a nod of his head. "But, what I can tell you, is that it gets better. It may hurt now, and it may seem like it's the end of the world but believe me, it's not."

Sniffling, I shook my head. "What do you know about heart break? You and Momma been together for what? Eons? I doubt you've been heartbroken."

"Actually, I have been heartbroken before. More than once. One time by a girl named—."

"DON'T SAY THAT LADY NAME IN MY HOUSE RONEL!" Momma shouted from only God knows where.

Dad's eyes widened and he quickly cleared his throat. "I forgot I'm not allowed to say her name. But just know that it was a girl before I met your mother who broke my heart pretty bad, then your mother came along, and I'm not gonna lie, your mom broke my heart before, too."

My eyes widened in shock. "Seriously? What'd she do?"

"We not gon' talk about that..." He chuckled. "But I know how it feels. Which is why I know that it gets better."

"How long does it take...for it to get better?" I asked, resting my head on my dad's shoulder.

"It all depends, but the best thing to do is allow yourself to learn and grow from this," he said. "Allow yourself to try new things, meet new people—and those people better be females that you can play hopscotch with—."

"Dad!" I said, laughing and looking up at him.

"What? What I say?" Dad said with a chuckle.

"Dad, I'm 16 years old, I'm gonna be interested in guys and guys are gonna be—."

Like a little kid, my dad covered his ears and shook his head side to side. "La-la-la-la-la-la! I'm not listeningggg!"

"Okay! Okay! We won't talk about boys!" I giggled.

My dad sighed in relief dramatically and smiled at me. "Oh thank God!"

"Dad...?" I mumbled after a few moments of silent.
"Yeah?" He said, shoveling a mouthful of ice-cream in his mouth.

"I love you." I said, smiling up at him.

My father looked down at me, a soft smile formed on his face as he leaned down and kissed my forehead. "I love you, too, Munchkin."