Love In The Shadows: Christian Romance

•Seventeen•

  •Everything's Lost•

Eric's eyes widened in surprise as he processed Michelle's words. He walked closer to her, his face flared with anger, and asked, "Cut her off? What do you mean, Michelle!? What happened??"

Michelle could see the fire in Eric's eyes and took a step back, feeling a little defensive. She explained, "I found something in Naomi's journal, Eric. She's seeing someone, and she won't tell me who it is."

Michelle handed her the journal and Eric began to read it. Eric grew angry and he asked. "She's keeping secrets from us!? How could she do this? We've always been open with her!"

Michelle nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "I know, Eric, and that's why I'm so upset. She won't share anything with us, and I can't trust her if she's hiding things like this."

Eric paced the room, "This is unacceptable, Michelle. We need to get to the bottom of this."

They both headed toward Naomi's room, ready to have a more intense conversation with their daughter. They barged into her room and found Naomi on her bed crying.

Eric asked Naomi, "Please Naomi, say it ain't so!"

"What Daddy!?" Naomi asked, "You think I'm having sex too??"

Eric replied, "Well with you hiding secrets from us, not telling us anything about you! We have no other choice but to assume the worst. Because YOU won't tell us anything."

Naomi argued, "Oh don't act like talking to y'all is always the easiest thing in the world to do. Especially when it comes down to boys!"

Michelle asked, "So are you having sex!?"

Naomi replied sarcastically, "I don't know mama am I??"

Michelle raised her hand, which made Naomi flinch, however Eric held her back.

Naomi looked at her mom with tears in her eyes and asked, "So you were just going to slap me? All of this over you just assuming!!"

Eric said to Michelle, "Baby go! You're making it worse."

Michelle responded, "Oh Eric don't act like you're going to make anything better! If she won't talk to me, she's surely not going to talk to you."

Eric said, "You don't know that Michelle! But hitting her isn't going to help anything it's just going to push her away."

Michelle sighed then she stormed out of the room. Eric asked, "Can I sit down?"

Naomi shrugged and Eric sat next to her. Eric looked at Naomi and said, "Babygirl, you are my first and you are my oldest. I'm not asking you about your personal life to get into your business. I'm only asking so that I know as a father, what's going on with you!"

Naomi asked, "So assuming what I'm doing is your way of asking me?"

Eric shook his head no and said, "No that's how your mother is asking you! The way I'm asking you is...in a way, where you understand where I'm coming from. I wanna know what's going on with my daughter."

Naomi sighed and asked, "Do you know why I gave up my car, phone, and my freedom? Do you understand the reason?"

Eric guessed, "Because your mom was irritating you?"

Naomi shook her head and took a deep breath, "No,
It's not just about Mom being irritating. It's about me needing some space and privacy to figure things out for myself. This isn't just about me, I'm doing this for Kennedy too. We as kids, can't help that we find other boys attractive and with you both being parents you should understand that."