Twisted Fate

Chapter Nine

Twisted Fate

Chapter Nine

I couldn’t lie, being home felt so good. My mom greeted me at the airport with a big hug that was more than needed. She had a container of her leftover roast, which was my favorite waiting in the car. I could tell she was buttering me up for a talk that I wasn’t looking forward to. I had avoided it for the first hour that I had gotten home but I needed to talk to her.

She wouldn’t let me avoid her forever, so I made my way to her room where she was laying on her bed texting someone. It was hard to ignore the smile on her face. “I guess something changed while I was away at school.” I spoke and she quickly looked up from her phone.

“I’m just laughing at a coworker who sent me this little video. Not much has changed around here.” She sat up and patted her bed. “But I can sense something has changed with you. You and Paige have been fighting a lot lately.”

I sighed as I walked over to her bed. I climbed in it sitting in the spot that she had touched. She placed her hand on the side of my face. “What’s going on with you Raven?”

“I mean not much. I’m still trying to focus on school.”

She gave me a look that let me know she wasn’t buying the story I was trying to sell to her. I laughed a little before getting more comfortable cuddling up to her. She smiled as she placed her arm around me. “Who is he?” She asked and I bit my bottom lip.

“His name is Jay.”

“Senior?” She asked and I instantly wished I could tell my mother about something else.

“No. He’s not in college. We met at a party a few blocks away from the school. A party that Paige begged me to go to. She’s always telling me I need some one mom but because she messed with his brother who did her dirty, she’s just so against him as if he did something to her.”

My mom laughed. “Your avoiding telling me about this boy. He must be like how your little friend Tevin was. That’s why she really doesn’t want you dealing with him.”

“But I was friends with Tevin regardless of what he decided to do with his self. That’s not fair of me to judge Jay for the same thing mom. That would make me a hypocrite.”

“You are acting like you known this Jay character all your life.  You knew Tevin since you were a young girl Raven. You don’t know Jay the way that you knew Tevin.”

“Well that’s what I’ve been doing. Trying to get to know him. She acts like I’m marrying him or something. She’s bias mom.”

“What did his brother do to her?” She asked and I sighed.

“He had sex with her while he had a girlfriend. But she likes him either way. One minute she’s acting like she doesn’t and then the next minute she’s sitting there saying she misses him. That’s so backwards.”

“You shouldn’t judge your friend for being confused about something like that. You went through your moments of liking Tevin and then saying you were done with him just to take him back baby.”

I sighed. “Yeah but I didn’t bug anybody about what I felt all the time. She’s just so needy sometimes mom and I’m trying to focus on my own stuff. She doesn’t like Jay, so she doesn’t even ask about him anymore. She just makes smart comments about how he’s not good for me.”

“Well maybe as your friend she sees some stuff you don’t see. You are in a vulnerable place with Tevin being killed baby. Are you really sure you like him or are you just trying to distract yourself from dealing with Tevin?”

“I like him. Tevin wouldn’t want me to wait around for him knowing he’s never coming back. Jay is not that bad. He’s sweet. He makes me laugh. Sometimes he has little attitudes like he didn’t want me to come to Tevin’s funeral but that’s not bad.”

“Why wouldn’t he want you to come to your friend’s funeral?”

I shrugged. “Because he thinks I’m not over him.”

“Well you don’t get over someone overnight. Especially not someone you shared a bond with and is never coming back to give you some type of closure.”

I sighed. “I know that. But I’ve talked to him a lot about Tevin so maybe I haven’t made it easy for him. I even cried to him about him mom.”

“He let you cry over him?”

“Mmhmm. He didn’t say anything bad either. Just asked if I was thinking about my friend then he told me whenever I need him, he would be there.”

My mom hugged me tighter. “If you needed someone to talk to about Tevin you could have called me Raven. I get Paige’s point of view in this. I get yours as well, but I think I’ll have to side with Paige on this baby. You don’t know Jay. You like him but you’re in a vulnerable state.

I think you need to take some time to focus on your books. Make sure that your over Tevin and that he’s not forcing you to rush to get over him.”

“He’s not mom. And why do I have to pretend to not like Jay because of Tevin. We weren’t together. I mean we said we love each other but Tevin wouldn’t even leave what he was doing alone.”

“Jay is willing too leave behind what he’s doing. You said he’s not in college. Is he trying to get into school? What do you really know about him other than comparing him to how he is like Tevin?”

I looked at my mom in her eyes. “I guess not much. Not yet. I still want to get to know him mom.”

“That’s fine just take things slow right now Raven. I sent you to school for your education not whoever this Mr. Jay is.” She reminded me and I hugged her. Words would never be enough to thank my mother for all that she was doing for me to help me to get into school.

“I promise mom the last thing that I’m going to do is drop out of school or lose focus on what’s important.”

She smiled. “I know that baby. Now go get ready for Tevin’s wake. We’ll have to get up early for your flight back to school so you don’t miss too much class.”

I nodded my head as I got up from her bed. I went to my own room and my phone was ringing. I picked it up looking at Jay’s name. I answered the phone and sat on the edge of the bed hoping he wouldn’t get too upset about my choice to come to pay respect to Tevin.”

“Hello.”

“Was sup lil mama? You wanna go get some food or something, I need to talk to you.”

“I’m not home.”

“Well where you at? I’ll come get you?”

“I’m back home.”

The phone got silent. I pulled it away from my ear to see if Jakaveon was still on the phone, but my home screen was showing again. He hung up on me. I shook my head as I tried to call him back, but he didn’t answer.