When You Left Me

21

Jasmine

Please Don't Say Anything

I stared into the molten gold irises of not Laurent as I previously thought but of Larry, and yet somehow, I still felt frozen in place by them.

He gazed right back at me with confusion swirling in the brown depths but he was motionless for a few moments more.

A slight movement to the side had my eyesight being dragged from Larry to a little caramel colored girl with black poofy pigtails who was tugging on his shirt viciously, saying she wanted a ice cream cone. Larry picked the child up after saying a few words and walked over to our table, sitting down in the seat adjacent to my own.

I could hear Waydi steadily cursing under his breath while I simply addressed the little girl first, bypassing the sentence I could see forming on Larry's lips.

"Wow, aren't you the prettiest little thing I ever seen. What's your name sweetie?" She clung to Larry's shirt a bit tighter but answered me nonetheless.

"I'm Liloh and I not little, I'm thwee and big." She said it so seriously and with such a sassy voice that I couldn't help my laughter. She was adorable and for some reason reminded me of Larry's ex, Lylah. I was in such a cuteness overload with the beguiling child that I almost forgot Larry was there.

Until he spoke up of course, his French accent deep.

"Jasmine, why are you here? And correct me if I'm wrong but you seem to have put on a ton of weight." I choked on my drink at Larrys bluntness. Geez, didn't any of these French man have any decency not to comment on a woman's weight? Liloh pulled on Larry's twists and told him that he was not nice, her eyes wide at her fathers blunt nature. He apologized to her and hushed her with promises of behaving.

It was such a scene that I laughed at the exchange and was about to answer his question when the waitress came back to the table. Larry took the liberty to tell her that they were joining Waydi and I, then placed his and Liloh orders.

Waydi watched her leave again and I made a mental note to get her number and name.

"So are you not going to answer me Jay?" I turned my stare back to Larry since his tone held an incredible amount of impatience and sighed.

"Well, first off, it's good to see you again Larry. Second, who is this adorable fluff ball you brought with you? And third, yes that tends to happen when you are carrying twins."
Larry's eyes grew big on his baby face and he started coughing, Liloh patted him on the back to ease her fathers spell. When he recovered from his coughing fit and adjusted Liloh on his lap, he looked at me and Waydi, his eyes switching between us.

"So, you guys are having twins..... Okay, I was not prepared for this today." Waydi, who had not said a word the whole time since Larry joined us, stated with a slight bitterness.

"They're not mine Larry."

"If they're not yours Waydi then who............?" Larrys sentence trailed off as he looked at me wide eyed. I avoided the knowing gaze at all costs, averting my eyes to anything and anyone that walked by.

"Jasmin-" Larry opened his mouth to say something but the waitress had cut off his sentence when she brought out Waydi's and mine order, the latter taking up most of the table. I saw Liloh looking at the cinnabons and I handed her one without hesitating. She squealed with delight and ate it happily and I couldn't help but smile at the child.

"Yours and Lylahs?" I questioned and Larry nodded his head, cleaning the icing off Lilohs face.

"Does Bambii know?" I suppose I was being far too nosey.

"Yeah she knows, I told her as soon I had got back with her. She's okay with it. Liloh loves her." I felt my own smile as I muttered that's good, happy that it didn't drive a wedge in their relationship. I started eating everything in front of me like a starved dog, only stopping when I took a sip of my coke. Larry watched in awe as Waydi just laughed softly, sliding me his pickles from his burger knowing i would ask. Liloh giggled and said yay eating cwontest, and grabbed another Cinnabon.

When the waitress came back with Larrys order, I stopped her from leaving .

"What's your name sweetheart?", She looked surprised for a second.

"Oh I apologize, I didn't introduce myself, I'm Saria." My face lit up at the name, reminding me of my favorite Zelda game. I wrote something on a napkin and handed it to her. She blushed, wrote a reply then handed it back to me. After reading it I nodded my head and she nearly scurried off back to work. I felt Waydi's eyes on me but I ignored him, just smiling to myself.

"So are you going to tell my twin that you're having his twins?" Larry broke the iceberg that was suddenly in the way with no remorse and I was jolted out of my thoughts. I sighed and played with the straw in my coke, a pout forming on my face. 

"What's the point Larry? He wouldn't believe they were his. I'm pretty damn sure you know what happened 8 months ago. He would just say they were some other homies of his children. I don't want to deal with that Larry. I can't have that stress, especially in my last trimester." Larry huffed, his eyes angry.

"Are you fucking serious? You know how much Lau wants kids. Matter of fact, I remember that being a huge issue when y'all were together. You didn't want kids back then so what changed your mind? My brother deserves to know that he has twins on the way Jasmine!" Larry was almost yelling, Liloh eyes widening at her fathers tone.

"I changed my mind the moment the doctor said congratulations , you are carrying two lives in your stomach. And don't you tell me what the fuck Laurent deserves! I owe nothing to a man who believed my rapist over me!" I was standing up now, my small frame shaking with anger. Waydi got up and put money on the table. He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, whispering for me to calm down, to think about the babies. He led me to the doors then walked back over to Larry.

"Look, I understand your position Larry. You love Jasmine but Laurent is your twin and he will always come first for you. But Jasmine comes first for me, and I won't allow you to stress her out while she's almost ready to go into labor. You know that Laurent was wrong and too blinded by his hurt to even see the truth in Jasmine's words. It's her choice if she wants Laurent to know about the babies, not yours. So stay out of it." Larry looked Waydi in the eyes with an intense expression, an unwavering determination.

"Are you saying that out of true concern for her or out of your own selfish desire to keep her to yourself?" The words were quiet but deadly, causing Waydi to break away first from the stare down and just walk away, ushering me to the car.

________
Larry

I wiped my daughters tears away, seeing how upset she was that I rose my voice to the nice lady.

"I'm sorry boo boo, papa didn't mean to make you sad." Liloh looked at me with eyes older and wiser than her three years.

"Papa, is oncle Lauy gonna have boo boos too?" I sighed and picked my daughter up as I paid the rest of the bill. I didn't know what I was going to do. I drove home with the same question running through my mind.

Do I tell Laurent?

End Chapter

Does he guys?