Dangerously In Love

Chapter Three

Words written in italics are flashbacks. Words written in regular text are present day.

Aaliyah POV:

"Matthew, I told you to stop bringing all these little girls to my house!" I heard Ms. Sandra fuss at him. I was standing in the foyer, while the two of them talked. My feelings were hurt but I kept a straight face.

"Ma, you don't have to be rude to her. She's my friend." I heard Matt defending me. We've been friends for two years and he recently introduced me to his parents. His dad loved me but his mom was a totally different story. Every time I'm in her presence she's always cold towards me.

"And this is my house! I don't want her here!" She said raising her voice. It was like she got loud on purpose so I could hear her.

"That girl ain't done nothing to you Sandra, let her be." Mr. Marcus said standing up for me. That's my nigga. Whenever Ms. Sandra has slick stuff to say about me, he always come through with the defense.

I took a deep breath and followed their voices into the kitchen. As soon as I walked into the room, all eyes were on me. "I'll just go Matt. I don't want to disrespect your mom's house or her wishes." I spoke up, avoiding eye contact with them.

I had honestly never done anything wrong to this lady and I was still confused as to why she hated me so much. If she'd been anybody else, she would've gotten a totally different response. My Mama taught me to never be disrespectful to adults in any circumstance. Especially since it was my best friend's mom.

"You don't have to go. Sandra just running her mouth as usual. You can stay, I pay the bills in here, she don't run nothing." He said elbowing me, with a smirk on his face.

"It's okay, I don't want to cause any friction. I'll just go home and study." I smiled as I backed out of the kitchen. "Bye." I called as I waved to them. I was supposed to be studying for the test that would determine if I would get into the nursing program. Matt invited me over to his house so he could help me study.

"Should've done that from the beginning." I heard Ms. Sandra mumble under her breath. I literally had to bite my tongue to keep myself from giving her a smart ass remark.

"Come on Li, let's go to your place. We can study there." Matt told me. "Let me get my jacket and I'll meet you at the car."

"No, it's okay Matthew. I don't wanna cause any trouble. Stay here, I can study by myself." I told him, shaking my head. I'm sure that Ms. Sandra would've found a way to complain about him coming to my place too. So I just shut the idea down to prevent all of that from happening.

"Baby girl, don't do that." He sighed.

"I just don't wanna cause any trouble Matt. I'll be okay, I promise." I explained as I shrugged my shoulders. The relationship Matt and his mom had was super tight. They shared a bond like no other and I didn't want to come between that.

"You know you're not trouble to me, Li. Don't worry about her, she's just running her mouth like she always does. I know this test is important." He replied lowly. I didn't want to cause any tension between them or their family so I just wanted to remove myself from the situation to prevent any conflict.

"I'll send you pictures of the material and you can quiz me on FaceTime." I suggested.

"Okay." He eventually agreed after moments of silence. "Text me when you make it home and just FaceTime me when you're ready to start studying." Matt sighed as he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his chest for a tight hug. He kissed my forehead and I pulled away from him, not wanting to give his mother any other reason to talk bad about me. I try to avoid conflict with this lady at all costs. For the sake of Matthew.