Brittany Hills Chronicles: Act 3

Antwan 72

After that first gulp, I felt guilty as fuck... so guilty that I got up, walked upstairs, and poured the entire bottle out; the strange thing is I didn't do it for me... I did it for Terron because I knew he'd be guilty about me already breaking my promise to him. I walked back into the living room and grabbed my phone off the couch, I started to call Terron and call him back but I hesitated, there was no need to rush him back but when he got back I would have to tell him the truth because I hated lying to him. I knew these next few days, were going to be tough; I was probably going to lose my dad in the next few weeks, the last thing I wanted was to lose Ronnie as well.... There was nothing I could do to stop my dad from dying but I had to stop being so self-destructive because I knew that would only push Ronnie away and I knew I was going to need his support when.... when it happened. I heard the keys in the door and my eyes instantly started burning, I hadn't even seen him yet and I knew I wasn't going to make it through this conversation without breaking down.

"Antwan...." Terron said placing the food on the table, I turned my head and blinked back tears, if I started crying then I wouldn't be able to ge the words out so I bit down on my tongue and the physical pain distracted me from the emotional pain.

"When you left... I may have had a small drink, don't worry I poured the bottle out but I didn't want to lie to you about what happened. So when you left.... my mom called and told me that she was coming home with.... with my dad." I said taking a deep breath because that shyt was starting to fuck with me. "For the past few months.... weeks... I'm not even sure anymore but my dad has been in the hospital, he uhh.... he has Stage Four Cancer and he doesn't have long....." I said fighting the tears that were threatening to fall from my eyes.

"Antwan look at me....." Terron said as I tried turning my head, I didn't want him to see how close I was to breaking but his voice was like a siren's song and I had no choice but to obey. Our eyes met and instantly my eye burn, blurred, and the next thing I knew I was crying into his chest. "Ayy look.... you stuck by me when I was at my lowest, I'll never give up on you... or us... I understand why you've been acting the way you've been acting and frankly, you've handled it a million times better than I could've. It takes strength to be able to smile knowing everything you've gone through so you don't have to hide your tears from me." He said blinking back his own tears.

"I could've handled it better.... I could've gone to see him and now..... now we're on borrowed time. With him being gone, at least I could pretend that everything was okay but now that he'll be home.... I know I'm not going to be able to leave, I'm going to be too scared... I probably won't sleep, I probably won't eat because I can't stop it, but I want to be by his side when..... when he......" I started crying again and Terron pulled me into his arms.

I literally cried myself to sleep, but the next morning I woke up feeling.... calm, it was like having Ronnie by my side gave me strength, now that I wasn't carrying this burden alone it was somewhat.... comforting. We got up and got dressed, for practice, our first game was tonight and I was already on thin ice with Coach Stevens so I wanted to make sure I didn't give him a reason to kick me off the team. We were the first ones to arrive which was definitely a shock to Zyn when he arrived but he couldn't help but smile when he saw us standing outside the gym.

"I don't know if your drunk ass remembers what you said yesterday, but I had to make a lot of promises to Coach Stevens to let you suit up for tonight.... if you score anything less than 25 points let's just say practice is going to be hell these next few weeks." Zyn said and I almost laugh. "I'm serious bro.... don't let me down." He said and I nodded.

"All you need to do is get me the ball...... honestly I don't even know why I'm asking you, my Ronnie is the point guard so as long as he gets me shots I'll make them." I said smiling.