Love Has No Labels (BWWM) ✔

Chapter 10: Living For Angie

Angie's sobs subsided, as she calmed down from her tantrum. She got up from the floor, dusted herself off, and looked up to see that she was on St. Nicholas Avenue, which was far away from Madison Avenue, walking wise. She started her long walk home in the rain when she heard a car honk at her.

"Angie!" a woman's voice called.

Angie looked to see that it was Maria, sitting in the driver's seat of her husband's car. She got out of the car in her raincoat and rushed over to Angie, concerned.

"Are you alright, mija?" she asked. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Angie replied, her voice broken.

"Come on, I'll take you home," Maria said.

She took Angie's hand and led her to the car. She opened the car door for Angie, allowing Angie to willingly get in the car. Maria got in the car afterward and the pair were off. 

"So what were you doing in the rain at this hour?" Maria asked. "I thought you lived around Madison." 

"It's a long story, Maria," Angie replied, her voice still broken. "And it's all my fault." 

Angie started weeping again. Maria stopped the car at a curb and put a calming hand on Angie's shoulders. 

"It's alright, hon, I'm listening," Maria reassured. 

Angie took a deep breath and told the whole story, starting with the breakup with Jermaine. She even included meeting Austin, how long she'd been seeing him, the get-together at Cheyenne's, her first attack, Austin saving her life and staying the night at her apartment, and the argument at the train station after her mother found out about her relationship with him and forbade Angie from seeing him.

She also told Maria of her mother's disdain for white men, rooted from her father's death and the white teenager that got acquitted from the accident. Most importantly, she confessed to Maria that the handyman that Angie was gushing about a few months back was a nineteen-year-old white man. She then told her about how she ended up in this area. 

"Wow, after everything he did to you, you went in his car?" Maria asked, shocked. 

"I didn't know what I was thinking," Angie replied, her head hung down. "Plus, he said that the bus wasn't coming in an hour and the Transit Authority suspended the 6 train because of a water main break." 

"Girl, the 6 was working fine, he was bullshitting you," Maria said, her eyes narrowed. 

"Oh," Angie only said. 

"Well, I don't blame you," Maria said. "I guess losing that man that you really love, your emotions kinda clouded your judgment."

"That's true," Angie said. "I love him, Maria. I even daydreamed of spending my life with him. And he loves me, too. I have a man that wants to love me, and I can't let him because of my mom. If I had grown serious with him, my mom would do anything in her power to make Austin uncomfortable. I wanted nothing but the best for both of us, but I broke his heart. Our fight drove him to tears, I mean, he started crying, Maria! He really loved me!" 

"I know," Maria said. "I think it's time that you need to tell your mom that she is interfering with your happiness, and she needs to get a grip on your father's death. I mean, she's not doing your father who's looking down from Heaven any good by being so bitter. " 

"She's been bitter for thirteen years," Angie said. "But I just can't bring myself to confront her like that, I mean, she sacrificed so much for me and Marina, sending us to the best schools New York has to offer, helping me land an apartment to myself, and fighting my battles, I just can't."