Complicated

43. Complicated. [Finale]

[A/N: This chapter is longer than any chapter I've written.. I usually aim for 3k words but somehow I went over 5k so.. you're welcome? Just don't hate me at the end of the story ok.]

The day just felt worse as it progressed. Chresanto was going to be out the hospital the next day but he felt no desire to go out and do anything. After hearing about Roshon, he couldn't help but mourn. What made things harder for him was that he had the decision to go see his dad, which overwhelmed the hell out of him. Because of Roshon's death, he had to tell Tiffany and give him more time to himself before seeing his dad. She agreed and eventually went to tell Chresanto's father that he's going through some things that he'd rather deal with on his own. With that being said, Chresanto's dad was okay with the situation however, he wanted to see Chres in two weeks or less, no exceptions.

A week and a couple days later, Roshon's wake and funeral were set to take place. It was a cloudy Saturday morning when everyone was in the cemetery for his burial. Michelle and Kiloni went along with Chresanto for support while Courtlen stayed with Abby and the babies at the hospital; Chresanto stood inside the circle of people, in front of where the casket was being lowered. Eventually, Ilianeliz came up and stood next to him. As the casket went deeper, Ilianeliz broke down and cried hysterically, practically collasping onto the ground. Before she fell, Chresanto caught her in his arms and let her cry into her chest. She kept muffling into Chresanto's chest, "It's all my fault, it's all my fault.. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.." Seeing her like that triggered Chresanto to cry himself, but still tried to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. This was all the realization that he lost one of his best friends since his childhood forever.

Later that day, Chresanto went back to the house and moped on the couch watching tv. He knew that eventually, he had to continue living his life. Chres worked up the energy to go upstairs to Michelle's room; she sat on her bed going through stacks of paper work. Michelle looked up as soon as she heard the door creak open. "Oh hey, Chresanto. How ya feelin'?" Chresanto's demeanor was tired and emotionless. "I dunno.. I'm chillin.." he said walking in and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Aww.." Michelle disregarded her papers and went to sit next to Chresanto. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, "things will get better, I promise."

"That's what my dad used to say.."

"Well, if you won't take my word for it, take his." Chresanto took a deep breath and twiddled his thumbs. "When you twiddle your thumbs, you're either thinking about something or you wanna say something. Which is it?"

"I talked to my mom.." Michelle squinted her eyes, "your mom?"

"Mhm.."

"I thought she wasn't around..? That's why you're in foster care."

"I know.. she's the detective on my case."

"Tiffany?! That's your mom? How did I miss that.."

"Michelle! Listen.. she's kinda one of the reasons I ran off in the first place but she came to the hospital when I came back because she was worried and all that.. I asked her to keep me safe with her police friends and she was for it but.."

"What she do to you?"

"Nothing.. it's just.. she told me that she wants to go see my dad and she wants me to go too. He wants to see us." Michelle closed her eyes, cupped her hands together and put them over her mouth. She moved her hands over her mouth and took a deep breath, "do you want to see him?"

"..I don't know." Michelle took her hands off her face and put her hand on Chresanto's. "Want some advice?" He nodded without looking at her. "Think about how you feel about it in the future if you don't go. If you're never given this opportunity again, would you be mad that you didn't take it when you could've?" Chresanto stared blankly at the ground, thinking. "Yea.."