T A K E A S T E P B A C K

9️⃣N U E V E9️⃣

I woke up feeling a little bit more tired than usual. I sighed and got out of bed and my mom opened the door to my room.

"Get ready for church. I found us one to visit," she said and I nodded. I got out some denim jeans and a white dress shirt. I pulled it over my head and put my necklace on. The only thing I would dress up for is Christ. Even though I'm extremely suicidal, there's this part of me that doesn't want me to die until He wants me to.

I heard a knock on my door and I opened it and Henry and Lorenzo stood there like the twins in the one horror movie. I sighed buttoned up their collars and hey smiled at me.

"Y'all are getting to old for this," I said and they shrugged.

"And you're too old to just now get a boyfriend," Lorenzo said and I gasped and Henry looked st us with confusion.

"What?", he said dumbfounded.

"Don't tell Mama. I'll tell her when I'm ready," I said and he shook his head.

"She's gonna be so happy. Tell her soon. Mama said that she didn't want you to be alone. Now you not, tell her!", Henry shouted shaking my arm. Mama came into view and I sighed and looked at her.

"Tell me what?", she asked and I scowled Henry for being so loud.

"I'm dating someone," my voice was shaking and my heart was thumping out of my chest.

"I wanna hear more about him. Tell me after church," Mama said surprisingly okay with this. I sighed a breath of relief and gave her a small smile.

After that extremely long sermon I didn't learn nothing from, we went home and changed.

"We going to the movies!", I heard one of the twins yell. I sighed and got up. I was going to go to sleep anyways. Unless the movie was interesting. I came downstairs in the same jeans from before, but a black shirt replaced my white one.

I looked and saw everyone standing there, "What are we waiting for?", and right as I said that. The door opened and there he stood. Dressed in all black and a hood over his head, "Why is he here?"

"We are going to the movies with his family," Henry whispered back to me. I rolled my eyes as I saw Jahseh look at me.

I ended up driving to the movies with him. So much for avoiding him. I sat in the passenger seat with my arms crossed over my chest.

"You're still mad at me," he said and I ignored him. We got to a stop light and he sighed, "It's not my fault your all likable and shit. I'm sorry."

"The light's green," I said and he started driving. Thank goodness he didn't say anything else to me.

"Thanks," I mumbled and I got out of the car. I ran over to my mom and she handed me a ticket.

"Is that your boyfriend," she asked me and I shook my head.

"Of course not. That's preposterous," I said and she just laughed at me.

"Who is he then?", she asked.

"His name is Isaiah. He has really curly hair, tall," I explained and she nodded her head.

"The guy with the tattoos on his face," she asked and I nodded slowly, "He should come over to dinner."

"Really?", I said surprised by her reaction. I nodded and texted him that he was coming over for dinner tonight. I went inside the movie theater and sat down. To make my day a little better, Jahseh didn't sit around me at all. I don't know exactly where he sat, but I knew it wasn't around me. My momma and Henry sat next to me.

I slept through like half of the movie and woke up at the end. I got up and used the bathroom and when I got out everyone was standing at the door waiting for me. I rubbed my eyes and walked over to them.

"How did you sleep through that amazing movie," Henry asked me and I shrugged.

"I never liked pirates," I said. We all went home and I rode with my mom this time. Good right? Yes, very very good.

I heard this bump as I was helping my mom make spaghetti. I went up stairs and saw Isaiah on his knees holding his head.

"Are you okay?", I asked running over to him and he nodded. "We have a door," I said laughing at him.

"I wanted to surprise you," he said and I smiled at him. He put his hands down

"Well you succeeded," I said kissing his forehead. I helped him up and turned around seeing my mom watching us.

"My baby finally has a boyfriend," she said sniffling. What is she crying for?

"Why you crying Mama?", I ask and she just smiled at me.

"This means so much more than you think it does. I'm going to go finish the spaghetti now," she said and I walked over to help her, "No no no, I'll have Henry and Lorenzo do it. You go spend time with him."

What is she acting so weird for? This woman scares me sometimes. I just sat at the table and talked to Isaiah as the rest of my family worked on dinner. He was telling me about how his grandfather had cancer and his mother is depressed.

I don't think I would've been able to go through all the pain. My grandfather died when I was two and I remember my mom crying her eyes out everyday.

Dinner was finally ready and everybody got themselves a bowl. Isaiah and I told them thank you and my mom was about to start interviewing him.

"Y'all smell that," Lorenzo said and I raised an eyebrow at him. Isaiah looked down nervously.

"Smells like weed," Henry said nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry," Isaiah said and my mom just shook her head.

"Just don't have her smoke anything," my mom said and Isaiah just nodded and my mom continued what she was going to start.

The how are you going to be good for my daughter questions that everyone dreads but answer anyway. Everyone finished eating and Isaiah helped me with the dishes.

"Your mom is nice," he said and I laughed.

"Yeah. Just don't catch her on her bad days," I said and he nodded.

I looked up from scrubbing my bowl and his face was inches away from mine. He looked into my eyes and smiled.

"Thank you for inviting me," he said and I nodded. He leaned in and kissed me. Right there in my kitchen over some dirty dishes. I didn't really mind he tasted good.

He pulled away from me and smiled, "Glad I didn't stop trying," he said and I smiled.

Goodness.