Tough Love *COMPLETED*

Chap. 32 • "Memory"

Christopher Brown

I woke up feeling the lack of a small, warm, curly haired body encased in my arms. That's weird, I could've sworn I brought Aya back here last night...

Ah, shit.

At this point, my stupidity is inevitable. I'm always saying some dumb shit to her, knowing damn well I shouldn't. She gave me a chance with trusting me and whatnot, now here I am treating her like a hoe.

I've never seen this brother of hers, but that makes sense because she said she's not in contact with him. Aya is too smart to go off meeting up with an ex, so that's out the picture.

It should've never been in the picture in the first place.

The real question is, why does her brother want to meet up after so long?

~~~~

Aya Weathers

"Okay, cut to the chase. What made you want to meet up with me after so long?" I asked my brother as I plopped down into the seat across from him.

"Well, hello. How are you, Sevion? How have you been for these past 8 or 9 years?" He quoted with a slight eye roll.

"You don't even remember how long ago it was. Fourteen. Not eight, nor nine. Fourteen fucking years that you weren't there." I'm not finna sit here and be buddy buddy with him, or even pretend to be interested in the life he lives now. There's so much untold shit from over the years, and that's what I'm focusing on.

"I know you may be a little upset—"

Why do niggas always say this when they know I'm blown?

"A lil' upset? Bitch, what? Sevion, do you– What– I–" I stopped in the middle of my frustration to take a deep sigh. "Talk. Just talk."

"What do you want me to talk about first?" He scratched his head, causing me to stare at him like he was crazy.

"Start all the way from when yo' ass walked out on me." I folded my hands together, ready to hear his bullshit explanation.

"Can you not put it that way?" He said with pleading eyes.

"Nigga, shut up. Now speak."

That sentence highkey made no sense, but I'm mad.

"Brielle got pregnant my senior year of high school. Mind you, she was a college student. She felt as if we should stay together because that would be better for the baby, and she could finish her courses from where she was at. So I agreed. I didn't think Pops would get strung out on the shit he was selling. I figured he would step up since Mama was in jail."

"So how stupid did you look when you found out it was the complete opposite? You drunk off that dumb bitch juice yet?" I chuckled to myself, but it wasn't amusing. I laugh to keep myself from getting too angry.

"Chill. When I came home to see y'all, I found him knocked out on the couch with a line of coke on the table. I checked his pulse and..." He trailed off.

My heart immediately dropped to my knees. My dad and I didn't really have the best relationship, but the thought of him dying only killed me. And to think that my mom might not even know.

I'm not crying. I'm not devastated. But it is a little tough knowing that he died alone. I couldn't imagine it.

"I knew you stayed with Auntie Lani. I didn't know her address, number, nothing. I didn't even know that she lived in another state."

We lived in Virginia before all the mess. After the big blowup, I moved to Arizona with my mom's sister. Besides for all the mess, I enjoyed life in Tappahannock. I don't remember much, of course, but I do remember loving everything about the town. The people were so sweet there.