Change (Stud-x-Fem)

Chapter 13: Let Me Explain...

After all this, KD was sitting there and hadn't said anything. She was angry to the point of no return because now, not only was somebody messing with her best friend, but she had been put into the situation and she hadn't done anything. I was staring at the wall because I knew Joell was pissed at me and I wanted her to cool off before I went and tried to talk to her. I finally decided to get up and knock on the door.

"Jo? Are you okay baby? I wanna talk to you. I know what you saw and what you heard and I want to explain to you exactly what it is." I stood there praying that she would open the door and let me in. I stood there for a few more seconds and heard the click of the door being unlocked. 

I gently opened the door and saw Joell sitting on the floor in her huge bathroom crying. It honestly broke my heart to see it. Seeing someone you love with all your heart crying is enough to break even the strongest person's heart. I stood there and looked at her, getting sadder and madder as each tear fell. I finally went and sat next to her after I grabbed her some tissue. I sat down on the floor next to her and wiped her tears and held her. She didn't fight back, she just took the tissue and laid her head on my lap. I ran my fingers through her hair and let her do all the crying she needed to before I started to explain anything. I heard a knock on the door and KD opened it and asked if she could come in. She sat on the toilet seat positioned in front of us.

I finally got the lump of anger out of my throat so I could actually make a sentence. "Jo, I have a legitimate and 100% honest explanation of what that was you heard. I only want to tell you if you want to hear it because I don't want you to be upset with me." I sat and waited for a response. Finally, she picked her head up and looked at me and nodded as of to say she was ready to hear what I had to say. I took a deep breath and started to tell her the story about the prank call. KD got up off the toilet and came and sat next to us and pulled up the video on her phone to show so Jo could have proof that I was being honest. 

"Do you believe me, baby?" I got some more tissue and wiped the remaining tears away. She looked at me and nodded again. We sat there in silence for a little longer until KD spoke up. 

"Yo Jayy bruhh, we gotta do something about this Leah bitch. This shit not sitting with me and I know it ain't sitting with you. She trying her best to sabotage yall relationship and that shit not okay. I know you don't wanna get outta character and all that shit but bro I'm ready to put an end to all this shit." I could tell that KD was getting angry all over again. 

"But what you mean tho? Like you tryna jump? You know ion jump K. That shit weak. IF and that's IF imma fight imma hit one on one, you know that shit. Jo don't want me to fight anyway. So that'll be the last thing I do in fixing this problem." 

"Oh nahh, I know she don't. I was talking about me. I don't want you fighting either, hell. I'll do that shit. It'll get handled though. Yall ain't gone have to worry bout shit else from her."

"Look I'm not about to sit here and go back and forth about this KD. You not finna fight either okay? Let's get that straight right now. Nobody here fighting any damn body unless that bitch tries some shit herself."

All of a sudden, Jo started crying again. I tried to hold her again but she got up and went into her room and laid on her bed. I got up off the bathroom floor and followed her into her room. I sat on the bed next to her. 

"Are you okay baby girl? I hate seeing you like this." I was hella worried but I wasn't trying to show it. All she did was nod her head, but she ended up crying even harder. I asked if she wanted me to hold her and she said no, which threw me off, but I just sat down in the chair next to her bed. The fact that she said she didn't want me to hold her made me feel weird because she never turned down a hug or a cuddle, but I didn't press that issue because there was already enough going on. I sat in the chair and watched her until she fell asleep. KD was in the other chair, but she had fallen asleep long before Jo did. 

I was on my way to sleep when I heard a ding! from Jo's phone. She didn't wake up at the sound of it, so I checked it for her. It was a text from someone she had named "Cousin Layla ❤️🤞🏾🤷🏾‍♀️" saying "come over tomorrow". I looked at her lock screen and smiled. It was a picture we had taken together the first time I came to her house. I locked her phone and sat it back on her night stand. I was trying to go back to sleep, but something was keeping me awake. I have no clue what it was but it wouldn't let me go back to sleep, so I stayed up and sat there until Jo woke up. She turned over and faced me and I moved her hair out of her face. 

"Do you feel any better baby?" She looked at me with warm eyes and nodded. 

"Yes, baby I feel better. It's all just a lot, you know? It's stressful and tiring. I'm sorry baby." She reached out and grabbed my hand. It looked like was about to cry again so I stopped her. 

"Baby I know you're stressed out, you haven't done anything wrong, so don't apologize. We'll get all of this straightened out soon enough." I smiled at her and she nodded and smiled back at me. Then I remembered the text.

"Oh babe, your cousin Layla texted you." As soon as I said that her face became flushed and she snatched her phone off the night stand. 

"Baby, did you open my messages?" The way she looked at me when she said that scared me lowkey. 

"No baby, I didn't open anything, you got the text and I just looked at the screen to see what it was in case it was important. Is everything okay baby?" Something felt off and I just couldn't put my finger on it. I wanted to help with whatever it was but she wasn't telling me what was going on. 

"Oh, I'm sorry baby... I didn't mean to yell at you I'm sorry." She kept apologizing and she couldn't look me in my eyes. 

"Baby is everything okay? You're acting kinda different... I know that this situation is stressing you out, but I'm worried about you. Is there anything else going on that I need to know about? You know you can talk to me about anything, I'm willing to help." I sat and waited, hoping she'd tell me what was on her mind that was bothering her so bad. All she did was look at me. 

"Yes baby everything is fine, I'm sorry." That was all she said and I didn't want to push it, so I didn't ask anything else. I turned the TV on the break the silence in the room and we all sat there and watched it. When Jo fell asleep, KD came over to me and sat on the floor next to my chair. 

"Yo bruhh, don't get mad at me for saying this, but it's something up with shorty. I know she told you that there was nothing besides this that was wrong, but I don't buy that. It's something going on, I can tell it." I didn't even get mad at KD because I had seen what she was talking about, and if I can see it, I know KD can because she's so good at reading people. Jo's change in body language and the way she acted, in general, was different and I didn't like the fact that she was keeping something from me. 

"Nah, I ain't mad KD. I see what you talking about. She hiding something from me and I don't like that shit KD. What if she's physically hurt or somebody else fucking with her on some dumb shit. It could be anything and I wanna help but I can't figure out what it is." I was really getting upset. Not mad at Jo, or anybody for that matter, except for Leah for causing all this shit. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to start to go about helping her and making things better. KD ended up falling asleep next to me on the floor and I still couldn't get my mind to calm down so I stayed up wondering and worrying until I heard the birds chirping again.