Another Chance

Darius

Omniscient POV

He knew he had told her that he wanted her to meet his family a while ago. His dad knew that they were expecting. His face paled. He stopped doing what he was doing with her request.

"Look that's your family. Mine isn't like that. They don't operate that way."

He had yet to say anything to his mom.

"Sure the one time they met you it was okay, but there's more to it than that. They met you as Janet the singer, not as my girlfriend then. Well I mean my dad knew. He figured it out, but this is something different."

"Well explain it to me because your dad seemed totally fine with us. Didn't he figure out that we were dating?"

"Yes, but this is different."

"Why is it different? He knows he's gonna be a grandpa. What is it about your mom that makes it this way? I would like to talk to her if that is okay."

"I don't want you to talk to her. It wouldn't be a good thing."

Why was he holding back? He didn't want to say anything to her. He knew he was stressing her out. It wasn't like he was hiding anything. He just didn't want to see her get hurt. His mom was on a whole other level of being unreasonable lately. He knew that Janet could be sensitive. He knew he was probably making it worse with her being pregnant.

"But why not Darius? You literally wanted me to."

"Look I don't want to talk about this anymore. I don't want you to talk to her. "

How did he even express to her that there was lot going on with his family especially his mom. He knew that she would be unaccustomed and unprepared for the how his mother could be. He mumbled excuses, but unspoken words hung heavily in the air.

They both lived different worlds with different expectations, different lives. He left her with anxieties and the growing weight of their differences in this situation. Something she had never experienced with him. He had never made her feel that way before.

The judgment she might face from his mother, a woman who held traditional values, was something that he again didn't want her to face. He'd feared the clash between their worlds, the potential for misunderstandings and hurt. He felt that Janet was accustomed to the adoration of millions, would be unprepared for that type of vulnerability.

He stammered, mumbling excuses about his mother's busy schedule, her reluctance to meet "someone like Janet." But it was all a lie. He knew his mother would want to meet her, but the chaos that would ensue could be bad. That night, Darius slipped out, leaving Janet alone with her anxieties and the growing weight of their differences.

******

"Hey bitch!" He came bouncing into their condo.

Janet didn't say anything letting Preston in the silently closing the door behind him.

"What's wrong with you? Why you sitting here by yourself?"

"Nothing."

"Oh it's somethin. Where D at?"

"I don't know. Out?"

"Out getting baby stuff?"

"I don't know."

"The fuck!?" Preston sat next to her. "Talk to me. What is the problem?"

"He umm...the other night after we left you and Clint he got weird on me that night."

"Weird how? Like he hit you?! Threatened you?! I'll fuck him up! Don't have me call everyone J!"

"No, nothing like that. He would never do that. He just got weird when I asked him about meeting his mom. He initially said that he wanted me to meet her. Then when I brought it up that we should go, he just fussed and got loud. Next thing I know he left out."