The Skin I'm In: New Problems, Old Scars (Urban Fiction)

Chapter 11

(Kalifa)

As I walked into Starbucks, I quickly spotted Kalvin sitting in the back of the restaurant. I smiled and shook his hand while taking my seat.

"Hello Kalvin, how are you?" I asked not quite knowing where the conversation was going just yet.

"I'm great Kalifa, I'm just so glad you've decided to meet again. I know it seems suffocating but I appreciate the effort. Thank you so much." He smiled. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Can I ask you something? What will you get out of this? Why is this relationship so important to you?"

"Kalifa, the only thing that I want out of this is you... Your love, getting to know you. It's important to me because it wasn't my choice to walk out of your life. That wasn't my decision, that never would have been. I don't care that your mother was who she was. If she gave me the chance too, I still would have loved her the same. I want to build a relationship with you and eventually call you my daughter. All I want is the ok." He looked at me, waiting for his answer.

"The man that I once knew as my father turned out to be a sorry perverted excuse of a man. I am going to try to build this relationship with you but there's a lot of damage already done... Ok." I smiled.

"Thank you so much. Ok so here's a picture of my wife, Asandra, we've been married for 19 years now. Here's my oldest son, Kalvin Jr. He's 28, his mother passed away the day his brother was born. My second oldest son, Kareem he's 23, and my youngest daughter Kaleena, she's 19." He flipped through pictures of his family in his wallet. I can honestly say that I see a resemblance.

"Beautiful family." I said honestly. Although his daughter's complexion was a little lighter than mine, she could almost pass as my twin.

"I can't wait for you to meet them. They're already excited, I've told them all that I know about you. When can I take you to meet them?"

"I will let you know that a little later in the week. It was nice seeing you again Kalvin, I will make sure to give you a call, but I have to get to some other things ok?" I stood to give him a hug, surprising us both.

I headed to the mall to get a few things for tonight's date with Q. Ve'Quell still gives me butterflies sometimes and even though he doesn't make a big deal out of dates, I still love to get dressed up for him.

I went to my favorite store Intimacy to look for the perfect outfit. I decided on a classic look, not to much, a little simple. I headed to the nail salon to get a mani and pedi and was going to head home to get started on my hair.

To compliment my outfit, I decided to do my hair a little different. It was going to take me forever to get it exactly how I wanted so I'll just wait until after I pick Ve'Quell up. I was excited to be going out, it's actually been a while since I've dangled in the night air.

It got a little warm since I left earlier so I changed my clothes before leaving. I put on black wedged sandals and a short sleeve plain white tee. I arrived to the field 30 mins early so I decided to sit in and watch him play.

I stood on the gate that was behind the player's bench. A couple of guys from the team greeted me and let Q know I was there.

"Hey baby, you're early." He said with a kiss.