A Missed Opportunity

54

✧𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑✧

I keep secrets. A lot of them. I have to. A lot of them have never seen the light of day and will never see it. I keep them from everyone. When I say everyone, I really mean everyone.

Which is why my parents have no idea I've been on a few dates with my son's mom. Exactly what they didn't want. Unlike my grandparents, they don't care as much about my son having been born and continuously raised out of wedlock. They care that he was born away from me in the first place. And they don't like Kiara for that reason alone.

It almost feels like everyone around us is actively rooting against us. It's not a great feeling, let me tell you.

My mom hasn't stopped insisting on family get-togethers. She tries this weekend, but I'm quick to tell her my new puppy means I basically can go nowhere other than work and sometimes to Kiara's place. They been coming to mine lately.

She then decides we're having dinner at hers still. I'm just bringing the dog. I try telling her the little fucker isn't ready to be around people yet, but she says he can stay outside. I tell her I don't want him outside like that, and she tells me my apartment is too small for an energetic puppy, and he needs time to be outside anyway. She says that's why he's ruining my carpets.

I tried arguing, but just as I was telling her he was perfectly fine, he started chewing the carpet.

Yeah. Chewing. As in putting the tiny strands of whatever the carpet is made of in between his tiny front teeth and tugging with all his might.

Yeah, okay. Fine. He needs to go outside and be out there for a while. And I need the number of Alex's dog trainer. So, by the end of that call, I end up agreeing to have yet another family dinner. Pretty surprisingly, she reminds me to bring Kiara and Cameron.

She doesn't just say Cameron. Cameron and Kiara. Both of them.

I make no promises before I get off the phone. By the time I'm on the phone with Kiara though, I realize we're all going. She says she wants to see Aaliyah and says she wants to offer herself as a babysitting service for them again. She hasn't reminded them she's ready for babysitting yet.

Kiara also seems to think this is a peace offering. Once I tell her my mom has directly invited them both, she gets excited. For whatever reason, she says she'd like to be on better terms with my mom. I still don't understand why, but when do I really understand her?

Never. Which is why I still don't know what I'm supposed to call her. She's more than a friend, more than my son's mom, but I don't know if she's my girlfriend. I think I'm supposed to ask her.

I'm probably supposed to ask her.

But that's scary. I mean, what if she says no? My ego took a number of hits already after she said no repeatedly when I asked her out.

"Noah, sweetheart, I need you to move those boxes for me while you're here please. I'm going to end up doing it myself if you don't."

She calls me things. Sweetheart, for one. And Darling. Once, she called me babe. Super quick though—didn't even catch it until after the fact.

"Yes, ma'am." I call back to her, already on my way to grab the few boxes she slid out of her closet and into the living room. I'm supposed to take them down to the storage unit in the basement. All the way below all of these apartments.

I bet it's creepy as hell. I mean, it's a basement of an old apartment building. And I don't really want her down there all by herself with heavy ass boxes. So, before we go to dinner at my parents' place, I gotta get these boxes down there before she decides she wants it done and now and will do it herself.