Infatuation

Chapter | 7

I was sitting on my bed, dressed in my sweats and my hoodie. Friday was finally here. Damn. It just hit me all at once this morning when I saw my dad crying on my Nana's shoulder. He finally broke down after hiding all those emotions. I wasn't even ready for all this. I can't handle it. It's too much, to be honest. But I have my bestfriend Lo by my side and my family, so I'll make it.
A hour later, we made it to the hospital. When we made it to the room, we were welcomed by love from our family. I hate to say it but I hate seeing my Aunt Lisa. She's my mom's twin sister and she looks and acts too much like my mom so seeing her is going to make this so much worse.
"Hi babygirl." She said, pulling me into a tight hug. "Everything's going to be okay. Me and Uncle Melvin are here for you, okay?"
I just nodded as a few tears fell from my face. I greeted the other family members in the room, like Uncle Melvin, my dad's brothers Uncle Rell and Uncle Tyler, my mom's bestfriends Tyra and Kollen, my grandpa from my mom and dad's side and Lo finally arrived too.
"Hey Bri." Lo said, squeezing me tight.
I hugged her back. Having my bestfriend here made me feel a lot better.
"Hey Lo." I said, dryly.
"Rosa texted me to send her condescends."
I just nodded when I seen the doctor walk in.
"Hey everyone. I wish we were seeing each other under better circumstances." Dr. Roberts spoke.
My Aunt Lisa was weeping in a corner while my nana was trying her hardest to hold my dad together. I grabbed my mom's hand and kissed her forehead.
"We're ready doc." I said, speaking up.
"Alright, Nurse Amber?" He nodded.
Nurse Amber took a deep breath and unplugged the machine.
Right then, I didn't breathe. I didn't blink or anything. I was just watching my mom as God sent down three angels in white to take her spirit up to heaven, where she would be stress-free and pain-free. Her heart beated regularly for a few seconds until she finally flat-lined. The moment I heard her flat-line, I burst out in tears and fell to the floor. Lo caught me before I made it but she fell with me. She pulled me into a hug as I cried my eyes out. My bestfriend, my other half, my love of my life, my mother had passed away.
***
The rest of the day, I was in my room. I didn't want to see nobody, not even Nana. I had a bedful of tissues of my tears and I was almost out of Kleenex. Then someone knocked.
"Please leave me alone." I cried.
Nana poked her head in. "Someone's here to see you, babygirl."
"I don't want to see anyone, Nana."
She poked her head back out and a few seconds later, Langston walked in.
"Hey Bri. I'm so sorry for your loss." He said, sitting a bag on my dresser and sitting next to me on my bed.
I immediately fell into his chest and squeezed him tight. He didn't speak, he just rubbed my back as I cried. After a good half hour, I sat up. I glanced at my dresser mirror to see my eyes bloodshot red and bags under my eyes.
"I can't believe my mom is gone." I finally spoke.
Langston sighed, shifting on my bed. "Come here Bri." He patted his lap.
I sat on his lap and laid my head on his shoulders.
"From what I heard downstairs, your mom was an amazing woman. She was very career-driven, hard-working and a beautiful woman. Yeah, she was young, but it's all within God's plan. He makes no mistakes. All of this is going to benefit you. Although you may not see it yet, this is going to make you a stronger person. He gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers, alright?" He picked up my head by lifting my chin.
I sighed and nodded.
"Now I don't expect you to get over today or tomorrow. I mean, you can't get over your mom passing. But don't let this drag you down. The only way to go is up." He smiled and hugged me.
"Thank you, Langston."
He lifted me up and sat me on the bed. "No problem. I'll call you okay?"
I just nodded again as he made his way to the door. "Wait, what's in the bag?"
He grabbed the bag off my dresser & dug in. "Kleenex, some headache pills, a carton of Golden Oreos -your favorite- and I put your cookies and cream ice cream in the freezer." He smiled again.
I blushed. "Thanks Lang-Lang."
He laughed. "Still don't like that name. But you're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he walked out.
I smiled for the first time that day.
The next morning, my family was still in town and my dad wanted all of us to meet for dinner that night. But I personally didn't want to be in a roomful of people mourning my mothers death. So I took Langston up on his offer to spend the day with him and his niece. I woke up at noon and got dressed. I didn't know what he had planned so I dressed causally. My black fitted tee and skinny jeans screamed "I may be mourning the death of my mother, but you'll never know." I slid on my red Toms and went downstairs to wait for Langston to show up.
"You going out, babygirl?" Nana called from the kitchen.
"Yes Nana." I said back, as I put on my necklace.
"Have you checked on your father?" She asked, wiping down the counters.
"No, not since last night."
"Go check on him."
I sighed and walked to his man cave in the back of the house. I knocked twice before walking in.
"Daddy?" I asked.
He let out a big sigh before picking his head up off his desk. "Yes sweetheart?"
I was stunned to see his normally clean-shaved face to have a small stubble and his eyes bloodshot red, as mine were last night.
"How are you, daddy?"
He sighed again and patted his lap. "Come here."
I sat on his leg.
"Honey, I just took two weeks leave from work, so I'll be here more often. I just can't work with everything going on."
I stopped him. "I understand. It's hard for me too. I know it's kind of hard to tell, but daddy I'm hurting too."
"I understand, but now I need this time to myself. Trust me, it's going to be worth it in the end." He reassured.
As much as I wanted to say 'But daddy, what about our bills? Can we even afford you taking off work like this?' but instead I said, "Okay."
He smiled and kissed my cheek. "Im glad you understand, babygirl. Now do you need anything?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm good. I'll be home by 7." I kissed his cheek. "Bye daddy."
"Bye sweetheart, have fun." He said.
I nodded and walked out. As I made my way to the front, I seen Nana giving Langston a cup of lemonade.
"So then that's her when she was five. Her hair was such a mess to do." She smiled, pointing at a picture in the family photo album.
He laughed. "She looks the exact same. Still the same beautiful girl."
"That she is. You know, you guys make a very good-looking couple." She smiled, eating a peanut butter cookie.
I stayed behind the wall to listen in on the conversation.
"Nah," He shook his head. "Bri isn't trying to be in a relationship at the moment."
Nana looked at him for a second. "Are you?"
He was quiet for a few seconds. "I'd like to try with Bri."
I smiled to myself. He wanted to be in a relationship with me, I thought.
"You better get her before somebody else does." Nana stood up. "She's a rare one, Langston."
I cleared my throat as I rounded the corner. "Langston, when'd you get here?" I smiled.
"A few minutes ago. Your nana offered me lemonade and cookies, and I just couldn't pass that up." He replied.
"Yeah," Nana smiled. "I didn't want him to be bored."
"Well thanks Nana, but we have to go." I grabbed Langston's hand as he got up.
"Okay, have fun baby." She kissed my cheek.
"Bye Nana." Langston and I left the house and got in the car.
We had rode in silence the first few minutes besides the soft music playing on the radio.
"You feeling better?" Langston said, putting his hand on my thigh.
I turned to him and cracked a small smile. "Yeah, a lot better today."
"I'm glad, shawty."
I looked out the window as we passed a path of houses. "Where are we going?"
"Going to get my niece, Marlene." He smiled.
I stayed silent until we pulled up in front of a two-story, red brick Victorian house.
"Here we are." He turned off the car and got out.
He came around to open my door and grabbed my hand as he led me to the front door. He rang the doorbell. I took this time to look around the yard. There was a rose garden and perfectly trimmed grass. The door opened and a woman in her early-40's appeared.
"Lang-Lang! Hey nephew! Come give your Aunt Carol a hug." She smiled widely.
Langston smiled back and gave his aunt a hug. "Auntie, this is my..."
I stopped him. "Hi, I'm Briana."
She looked between the two of us before shaking my hand. "Hey Briana, just call me Ms. Carol. Come in, you two."
She stepped to the side and let us walk in.
Damn, this place is almost as big as ours, I thought.
"Marlene is upstairs getting dressed. She'll be down in a few." Ms. Carol said, walking us to the living room. "Y'all need something? A drink, some thing to eat? I just made burgers."
"Nah auntie, we good. How's Porsha?" He asked.
Ms. Carol shrugged and sat on the love seat. "She's doing better, rehab took a toll on her though. You guys should talk."
"No, I said I wasn't ever talking to her again." He spoke sternly.
"Lang-" She was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Excuse me." She then got up and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Who's Porsha?" I asked.
He looked at his lap. "My sister and Marlene's mom. She been addicted to crack since I was 13."
I leaned onto his shoulder. "Why don't you want to talk to her?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He said softly.
"Lang!" A little girl yelled, running towards him.
"Marly!" he replied, picking her up in the process. "How's my favorite little niece?"
"Awesome!" She frowned a bit when she noticed me. "Who's that, Lang?" She whispered.
He turned and smiled at me. "Marly, this is Bri."
I stood up and smiled at her. "Hi Marlene."
"Hi Bri. You're pretty. You like my uncle Lang-Lang?"
"Marlene, what'd I say about minding your business?" Ms. Carol said, walking back into the living room.
"Sorry auntie." She said, lowering her head.
"Marly, where's your bag so you can come to my house?" Langston said.
She jumped down to the floor. "It's upstairs, I'll be right back." She ran towards the stairs.
"Lang, can you please talk to Porsha? Just at least say hi." Aunt Carol pressed.
He ran a hand down his face and sighed heavily. "Alright, Alright, I'll speak before I leave."
"Good. Matter of fact, she's on the back patio. I'll go check on Marly." Aunt Carol said, nudging Langston toward the patio and walking upstairs.
I followed behind Langston as he stepped onto the back patio. Sitting there was a woman with her hair in a high ponytail smoking a cigarette.
"Porsha?" Langston called.
She turned and smiled widely. "Lang!" She put out her cigarette and got up. "I missed you."
He walked into her arms. "I missed you too."
"How are you? You've gotten so big. You look just like Daddy." She smiled.
"I'm good. How are you, P?"
"Eh, better. I've been sober four weeks now. Carol say if I keep it up, I can get an apartment and get back custody of Marly."
Langston swallowed hard. "Well, we bout to head out. We'll bring Marly back tomorrow."
"Wait, I don't get to meet your girlfriend?" She smiled. "I'm Porsha."
"Briana."
She looked me up and down. "Cheerleader?"
"Dancer."
"Ah. I used to be a cheerleader myself about six years ago in high school. I made co-captain."
"I'm captain of the dance team this year myself." I smiled.
"I might come see you one day."
"You can feed everyone else false hopes in this house but don't feed Bri any." Langston snapped, walking back in the house.
I apologized and followed him back.
"Langston, why would you say that?" I hissed.
"It's too much for you to understand, Bri." He said.
"Okayyyy, I'm ready Uncle Lang!" Marly yelled, running down the stairs.
Langston put a smile on his face. "Okay, you ready to have fun?"
"Yes!" Marly yelled.
"Marly, are you going to come give your auntie a hug?" Ms. Carol said, standing by the door.
Marly ran over and hugged Ms. Carol. "I love you auntie. I'll be back, I promise."
"I love you too babycakes." Ms. Carol laughed.
Ms. Carol handed Langston the bags. We walked outside and put the bags in the trunk. Langston buckled Marly in the back seat.
"Be safe, Lang." Ms. Carol said, giving him a hug.
"I will." he sighed. "I love you okay?"
"I love you too." She turned to me. "Watch my baby. Watch Langston too, make sure he stays out of trouble."
"Of course." I smiled as I hugged her.
Langston and I then got in the car and rode off down the street.

Porsha on the side.