Symphony ◆ Joe Anoa'i◆

Chapter 10

The day after, Joe and I got into an argument about the whole twerking thing. The video started circulating the web, people started calling me a bad mom and Joe called it a bad decision on my part before insulting me.

It was really annoying and we did not speak for the rest of the day because he had no right saying that.

I walk over to the cribs to see both twins sleeping and a soft smile comes to my face as I watch them smile in their sleep.

"I love it here." Joelle says as she sits down on my bed and I climb on besides her.

"Me too." I softly respond as we look outside. "Joelle we have to talk."

"Ok." She looks up at me as she cuddles up to me.

"When you go home, please cut your mother some slack." I look down at her. "I know that you want to move here but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Your father and I will try to fly you out here or visit you as much as we can. We can always facetime as well."

"But it's not the same."

I kiss the top of her head, "I know but it's life. What we can do is make it a little easier."

"With dad working, I never get to see him."

"When I was young, I thought the same thing because both of my parents worked in TV." I sigh as I think about my relationship with my estranged father. "I lived with my mom and her husband. There were times where I would see my father more on TV than I would in person. My mom bought us a phone to communicate and I learned to be grateful for the time that I had to speak with him. It's never enough but as you get older, more opportunities begin to present themselves."

Joelle goes silent for a moment.

"Are you still getting married to my dad?" Joelle quietly asks.

"Why are you asking?" I let out a small chuckle to ease the hurt.

"I heard you guys arguing this morning." I sigh deeply. "My dad wasn't being too nice and then I saw you playing with your ring. When dad left, I saw you take it off and I... didn't know if you guys were still together."

"Your dad and I are still getting married." Joelle smiles at me. "We just have a lot of things to talk about before that happens."

"I really like you Amerie." 

"I really like you too."

---

When Joe returned from work, we spent some time with the kids before dropping them off at my mom's place for dinner. They'll be spending the night there and I have Amelia staying there too which made Joelle explode with happiness.

As a way of saying sorry, Joe wanted us to go to a drive through cinema with Jon and Sofia. I only agreed to go because I wanted to see Sofia.

"What's with the long face?" Sofia asks as the boys pose with some fans.

"Joe was such an asshole to me about the twerking in the bar." I roll my eyes once Joe lock eyes with me.

"Damn." Sofia pulls a face. "Jon made do that shit infront of him, then he fucked me silly on the balcony."

"And Joe was supposed to be the cool one." I kiss my teeth. "I'm beginning to think that I got stuck with the boring, conservative one."

Sofia bursts out laughing and I can't help but join in.

"Things have really changed since having the kids." I tell Sofia. "We used to be fun loving and so in love with eachother but now, we argue so much. It makes me wonder if this was how his relationship with Galina came to an end."

"Don't put that out there." Sofia gives me a look. "Keep talking like that and you guys might just end up the same wa--"

"Alright, we got ten minutes to grab some snacks." Jon approaches us. "The movie starts in forty minutes so be quick."

I ignore Joe as we make our way into the gas station where we stockpile on a bunch of snacks, donuts and drinks. Joe pays for us all and we soon enter our separate trucks which we rented for the night. 

"Are we ever going to talk?" Joe asks as he glances over at me.

"Are you ever not going to be a douchebag?" I respond and he scoffs.

"Real mature."

"Just like you calling me and my friends hoes." I give him the side eye. "I didn't know that dancing was hoe behavior."

"Amerie, I didn't mean it like that." Joe sighs. 

"Whatever dude." I look down at my phone and I start texting my mom who is giving me an update on the kids. "Even Joelle heard you call me that."

"What?" Joe looks at me and I narrow my eyes at him.

"When you decided to go hulk on me, you forgot that our daughter was here. She heard everything and she even asked me if we were breaking up." I don't tell him about the ring part because who knows how he'll react.

Things go silent between us as we come to a halt at a stop light.

"You said our daughter." Joe rubs his neck as he looks ahead.

"So?"

"Our daughter." He repeats and realization hits. "Oh Amerie."

Joe places his hand on my thigh and I place my hand on top of his.

I accepted Joelle as mine.

We don't speak another word as we pull up at the cinema and thankfully, there aren't too many cars around. Jon and Sofia park a far distance away from us and it doesn't take much to understand why as we hear Sofia let out a scream which is followed by Jon's grunting.

"What happened to us?" I ask Joe as I turn to face him. "We used to be like that, fun loving and so in love."

"We grew up, we had kids." Joe answers and I shake my head. "What?"

"That doesn't mean that we lose ourselves." I lean towards him. "The problem isn't me, it's you."

"What do you--" I place my finger over his lips.

"You've changed." I tell him. "When we met, you knew who I was and you accepted me for that. Over the course of our relationship, I started changing myself to fit you better. I didn't mind until I started giving myself and my life up for you. You have never sacrificed anything for this to work, I've sacrificed everything."

Joe pushes my hand away, "Don't say that. I gave up seeing my daughter for you."

"Maybe you saw her less but you are the one that gave her up." I narrow my eyes at him. "I bought my first home and I let you move in. I took you and your baggage in, I let your family take over my home. I missed out on a lot of first experiences because it either had to be shared or you had already experienced them."

"So, what are you saying?"

I lean back against the window, "Just watch the movie."