𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 | 𝐊𝐕

XIII.

Chapter Thirteen.

One week later.

"You sure have been in a good mood lately." Mrs.Bennett pointed out with a smirk as Justice entered the kitchen with a smile on his face. He never showed all of his teeth like this on a regular basis.

She noticed that a little over the past week, he had been more smiley and always had his nose in his phone. On some nights, she would hear him on the phone being all sappy.

If they were in the car together, Justice paid his mother no mind. Mrs.Bennett could be having a whole conversation with her son and he would barely listen to a word she said, which frustrated the hell out of her. He would be too busy texting whoever this mystery person was.

"I mean life has been treating me well since I got out." Justice shrugged, going into the pantry to grab a bag of Ruffles. Though this may have been true, there was more to it than what he was telling.

"Mhm." She pursed her lips together. "Who is she?" His mother squinted, cutting straight to the chase. She wasn't dumb, she knew Justice like the back of her hand.

"Who is who?" He tilted his head to the side, acting oblivious.

"Ja'von, don't play with me." Mrs.Bennett warned, pouring some sugar into the pitcher of Kool aid she was making. "Is there somebody?"

"Yeah, well maybe...I don't know." Justice shook his head, causing his mother to raise a brow.

"What does that even mean?" She frowned, stirring the drink with a large plastic ladle.

"I recently started talking to somebody, but it's not serious or nothin' yet." He replied, opening the bag and placing a chip in his mouth. "We just been chopping it up."

"You like her?" Mrs.Bennett inquired.

"Yeah, I do." Justice smiled a little once he finished chewing.

"How much?"

He then got quiet for a few seconds.

"A lot." He finally replied, causing his mother to then smile. "Probably too much for my own good, you know I get attached fast as hell."

"But.." Justice trailed off.

"Uh oh, but what?" Mrs.Bennett leaned against the counter, placing all of her attention on her first born.

"Despite how much I like her, a big part of me is scared to move any further with what we got going on."

"Why?"

"Cause of my past, momma. Once I tell her about me being in prison and why, she won't even wanna deal with me anymore." Justice said, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at his sock covered feet.

"You don't know that though, Jus. The best thing you can do is be honest. Now, I'm not gonna lie to you, there is a big possibility that she will leave you in the dust but there's also a chance that she may not. You won't know until y'all sit down and have that conversation."

Justice nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just be in my head so much, man." He groaned.

"And that's the problem." Mrs.Bennett told him, placing the pitcher of Kool aid into the fridge to get cold. "Stop overthinking. Use that big ass cranium you got for something positive."

Justice sucked his teeth, "You foul for that." He mumbled, causing her to laugh as she held her stomach.

"You know I'm just messing with you. But on a serious note, just talk to her about your situation. Maybe not right now but whenever you see fits and you feel like you're ready."