Prove It [Odell Beckham Jr. love Story] (First Sight Pt. II)

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"Yes ma'am......no she's fine, she's sleep.."

That's what he thought. The plane ride here wasn't too bad, but it made me a little nauseous so he had promised me that we'd explore Paris after I took a nap. So for the last 20 minuets I've been laying in bed pretending to be sleep. He still hasn't caught on.

"No ma, we need this now....I get it but-.....ma, I'am thinking bout the baby, the entire purpose of bringing Lana here was to keep her away from all the stress back in New York.....I know what I'm doing..."

Odell was sitting at the foot of the bed while on the phone with Ms. Heather. I wanted to wait until he was done talking to notify him that I was up.

"I get it ma...yea, thanks for taking Dre back for the week. I appreciate it. Love you too"

He hung up the phone and with my eyes still shut I could feel him cuddle up behind me on the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to his chest. I felt his cool breath glide across my neck as I laid in arms. Then I felt his hand press against my stomach and move in circles. "You ain't even sleep." he whispered in my ear, causing us both to laugh.

My eyes shot open and turned my body to face him. "How'd you know?"

"Because you talk in your sleep." he smirked.

"I do?"

"Yea," he pushed some hair behind my hair. That was news to me.

"What do I say?"

He shrugged. "It's different every night. Sometimes you say my name. Sometimes you say random words like taco and puppy.." we both laughed. "And sometimes you say some name like...Zuri..or Zahara..or-"

"Zalena."

"Yea!" his smile grew, but mine subsided. "You okay?"

"Yea..that's my mom's name."

He face quickly became serious. "Baby, I'm so so-"

"Stop, its okay." I pecked his lips then giggled. "You didn't know." he shook his head. Then he kinda just stared at me. Normally, I could get a read from Odell on what he was about to say next but this time was a little different. He seemed more concerned than curious. Or maybe a better word would be suspicious. "Babe...why you don't ever talk about your mom?"

I paused then bit down on my lip. A sigh slipped out as I began to twiddle my thumbs. "I..I guess because there isn't much to say about her. She passed away when I was younger."

To think there wasn't much to say about my mom would be a lie if I ever told one. She was beautiful, smart, soft, and loving. I remember her hair was so thick and dark. She was from Somalia, her complexion was so rich and chocolate. I used to be jealous because my siblings and I inherited our complexion from daddy... at least I thought I did. But her skin was like pearls. Once the light hit, it would glisten the entire duration she sat in the sun. And she used to sing, her voice was like something I never heard. Again, another trait I envied considering I was tone deaf.

"How?"

"Huh?" Odell's speaking snapped me right back to reality.

"How? Like how did she die..if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, no it's fine. Um, she was an addict. It was my birthday and my dad took me out for lunch and that was also the day I got my braces removed." I let out a small chuckle. "Umm, my brothers had a little surprise set up for me when I got home. And when I went to go find my mom to thank her for the brownies she had waiting for me on the table, I um..I found her in the bathroom. She had overdosed. It was cocaine."

He didn't say anything. He just rubbed my back and held me closer to him. "Alana..why didn't you tell me?" I shrugged. To be honest, ever since that day I never really spoke much of my mom to anybody. None of us did. We weren't ashamed or anything. It's just..why bother bringing it up?

"I didn't mean to hide it from you..that's never what I wanted to do. It's just touchy, ya know?"

"Is that why...when I was-" I let out a small giggle then nodded, knowing what he was about to ask before he even spoke fully. See, I told you I could read him.

"That's a pretty obvious question, don't you think?"

He shrugged then nodded. Then the room grew completely silent. Neither of spoke, but it wasn't awkward. There was just no need for more. He understood where I was mentally and because he understood that I didn't have to express it. But I guess it doesn't hurt to talk about it either.

"I wish she was here...ya know? To be there when we have our baby." Odell smiled.

"I wish I could have met her. Prove to her that her daughter was in the right hands. Even after everything.."

"She was understanding. If I love you then that's all you needed to be accepted by her."

"Good..I wish she was here for our baby too."

No matter who I belonged to genetically, my mother was Zalena ("Okobi") Cardenas. That's the woman I mourn over, talk to in my prayers...apparently in my sleep also, and wished was here through every milestone in my life and relationship with Odell. DNA results couldn't wipe away the fact that I begged God almost everyday of my childhood to bring me back the one person I believed on this earth could truly protect me and have my back through anything I had to deal with. Adoptive mother or not, she took care of me and made me feel safe. That's more than a lot of people could say...

"Maybe we could do something special for her?" Odell suggested.

"Something special like what?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I know we about to have a boy now but maybe if our second baby is a girl we could like...we could name her after your mom or something?" the thought of having a daughter and naming her after my mom had never crossed my mind. Firstly, because before I met Odell I never even wanted kids. And secondly, because I didn't think I'd ever heal to the point where I'd be able to normalize that name in my life again.

"You'd wanna do something like that? Genuinely? You'd be okay with that?"

"Of course...baby, that's your mom. I want you to talk to me about her. Whenever she's on your mind I want you to be able to share that with me. I'm in love you Alana. We're best friends. We share how we feel."

I didn't realize I was crying until he wiped underneath my eyes. He cupped my cheek then pulled my face into a kiss. I let him roll on top of me and relaxed as his hand rubbed along my body. But then suddenly, we heard his phone begin ringing. "Ignore it." he pulled away from a quick second to address the noise then went right back into the kissing. As much as I loved where we were in life at this exact moment. I knew that there was an entire world turning outside of his beautiful hotel room. We still had things going on so I gently pushed back and shook my head.

"It might be important."

"What's more important than this? We're on vacation."

"Dellie...it could be Stan or something. Just answer it, please." he sighed then rolled off of me.

He grabbed his phone, which was randomly thrown around in the bed with us then answered it. He put it on speaker. "Hello?" a soft, weepy voice spoke from the other end. I looked at him, confused. He seemed just as confused as I was.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"...It's me...Sasha..."
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This chapter was deep? Do you like the idea of Odell and Lana having a baby girl named Zalena? And why do you think Sasha still hasn't gotten the hint?? 😳