Comfort Inn Ending

Chapter 26

Kehlani's POV:

My tattoo appointment was in 4 days and my flight was in 3. And my dad still doesn't know about it. But what's the most he can do? Im grown now.

"Excuse me?" Someone said breaking me from my thoughts and reminding me where I was. At work folding clothes.

"Where can I find this shirt?" She said pointing to A manikin.

"Oh it's over here. Follow me."

The next couple hours were just like this. Finally I got on my lunch break. I walked into the break room and saw my friend Jen.

"You ready for our trip?" She asked me with a bright smile.

"Well it's not really a trip. More of a quick drop by."

"It can be if you want."

"What do you mean?" I asked her confused.

"Well I haven't really been to L.A in a minute so I wouldn't mind staying for as long as you want."

"I'm sure staying long would be fun but I don't really got it like that shorty" I said making her laugh.

We continued to talk about our plans for the following days and what our time in L.A would be like until our break was up.

I was finally done with work. Instead of walking to the subway, I decided to walk around. I work near the SoHo area and I love it with my whole heart. It's so beautiful. The people here are a little snotty but they're just as beautiful as the area. I really want to live here one day.

On the ride home, I kept trying to play out how telling my dad about my last minute trip would go. He was kind of unpredictable sometimes and I feel like this is one of those situations he wouldn't be to cool with. Something else that's been on my mind is that night I had with Fayzo. And Khalil. Oh god. I have a lot of confrontation to be doing.

I reached my stop and made my way home. I opened the door and was met with the faint yet familiar sound of the T.V playing in the distance. I quickly greeted my sister and my dad before going to my room to change and prepare for this potential argument.

After taking a few breaths to calm down, I was ready.

I walked to the living room and said, "Hey Liya can you go to your room real quick? I need to talk to dad."

She picked up the doll who's hair she was braiding and went to her room.

"What's up?" My dad asked.

"Ok. So basically. Hm. Ok now that I'm 18, I feel like I should have more independence." The look on my dad's face already made me want to stop.

"Uh huh." He said.

"Well...an opportunity came up. My coworker and very good friend of mine who is not a stranger at all offered for me to...go to L.A with her for the weekend." I said saying the last part super fast.

"Go where?"

"L.A."

"You mean California? All the way across the country?"

"That would be the location of the City. Yes."

My dad let out an unamused laugh.

"Uh huh. And all this is happening when?"

"This weekend."

"You mean 3 motha fucking days from today?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how stupid you sound right now? You want to go all the way across the country with a girl that's what? 17? 18? And you decided to tell me your master plan 3 days before you go!?"

I didn't say anything back.

"What business you even got being over there? You wanna party with the all lil rappers and the models?" he said with a Vally girl accent that almost made me bust out laughing.

"Huh?!? I can't hear you!" He yelled.

"I'm going to get a tattoo." I said quietly.

"A WHAT! Lord have mercy. Imma fuck around and have a heart attack if you don't stop playing like that. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Grown! Dad I'm 18 now! And you always tell me how mature I am so why did your mindset change? And why are you acting like I didn't think all this through!? If you would've asked me I could've told you my plan and you would see I know what I'm doing!"

"Know what youre doing?" My dad said laughing.

"Yeah. We have a good plan. I don't even know why you're tripping right now. The amount of people I know that are my age that are doing so much worse stuff than this is crazy. I just want to have a fun, spontaneous trip with a friend and get a tattoo. You know? Normal TEENAGE things!"

He didn't say anything for a while which scared me.

"You know what? You're right. You're grown now. Right?"

"Yes."

"Ok well now that you're grown, when you come back from your little trip you better have a plan with what you're going to do with your new grown life. And since you said you don't want to go to college you better think hard." He said getting up from the couch.

Before he left the living room he stopped.

"Oh and grown people don't live with their parents."

He left the living room, leaving me with my thoughts. When did it all go wrong? When did my dad switch from being the strongest, funniest person I knew and wanted to be like to being the exact person I swore I would never be. Was he ever even that person or was I just blinded by the ignorance of my innocence?

My legs felt week and I fell onto my knees. It was moments like these that made me miss my mom more than ever. Despite her leaving me, there was still nothing I missed more than her hugs. Her voice. Her smell. Just her.

This is when I would usually try to get myself together and check on my sister but fuck I just need someone to check on me right now. Today, I just let myself cry. I have to let myself feel in order to heal and that's exactly what I'm doing.

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Aww Kehlani🥺 Do y'all think Kehlani's dad was doing the most or was he just looking out for his daughter? How about Kehlani? Do you think she had a valid argument or was she being naive🤔

Also thank you guys so much for all the reads🙏🏽 I really appreciate y'all adding my story to your reading lists too💕