Take Me Home {Completed}

Chapter Forty-Four

Unedited

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  "When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"

– Sydney Harris   

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Chapter Forty-Four:

"Where would you like to eat? You pick," Parker asked as they pulled out of his apartment complex. He remained silent, giving time for Nola to come up with something as he mulled over all that had happened in the past hour between Nola, Mr. Harper, and him. He could not believe that Mr. Harper entered his home and basically harassed Nola. "We should report Mr. Harper. What he did - questioning and yelling at you like that..."

Nola noticed that Parker was tightly gripping the steering wheel to the point that his knuckles were turning whiter than snow. She knew it was a sign of anger and frustration, her heart picked up its beat as a response to the emotions clouding Parker. "I don't want t-to."

Parker glanced over at Nola to see her staring out the passenger window intently. "You can't be serious. He should not have acted that way towards you. You don't deserve that."

Something came over Nola when his words finally settled with her. She kept thinking about his last sentence 'you don't deserve that'. Her thoughts became consumed with the fact that Mitch would have begged to differ. Nola knew, in Mitch's eyes, she had done more than enough to earn a harsh yelling because she defied and attempt to argue against a man.

But as Parker's words cycled over in mind, she considered the severity of going against a man. "So," Nola looked over at Parker. "You don't think I deserved what Mr. Harper did?"

Parker blinked, completely shocked by the question that just rolled off Nola's tongue. "What?! No, of course not."

Nola gulped, "but, I argued with him ... he was just in pain and angry..."

"How does someone being in pain or being upset, give them a right to inflict the same emotions on someone else? He had no right to yell at you like that and keep pushing you. He didn't ask for your side of the story, he took his daughter's side and didn't hear you out." Parker shook his head, disgusted with Douglas.

"But, I attempted to argue with him..."

Parker was at first confused at why that mattered but then he realized that Mitch taught her not to argue with a man. "Bumblebee, you have the right to disagree and voice that disagreeance with anyone, even men. I've been trying to tell you this since day one, speak your mind."

"But, I'm afraid."

"You talked, at first, about how Mitch was teaching you how to be a woman. But, Nola he wasn't teaching you anything, he was just constantly planting fear in you. Now, even when he is gone that fear is has taken root." Parker glanced over at her to see that she was staring at him, listening to every word he said. "You need to let go of that fear. You need to get back on the Monkeybars, B."

Nola rolled her eyes, "I thought we went through this ... I don't know how."

Parker spoke up, "you get rid of fear with courage. Try to gather the courage to do things that scare you and make you feel afraid. See, courage is something you spend and you get it back, many times tenfold." Parker sighed, "and, just know, not everyone is like Mitch."

Nola had a feeling that Parker was trying to slyly remind her that he was not like Mitch. "I know."

"... this is the twelfth time I've circled around my block. Where do you wanna go for dinner?"