Devin's Chronicles: Love Ain't Supposed To Hurt

I woke up to the sun shining brightly in my face. Dang�it was bright enough to make a blind man see. After everything that took place last night, I was exhausted. The only thing that was keeping me up right now besides the sunshine is the smell of bacon coming from the kitchen. I stepped into my pajama pants and went into the bathroom. I took a piss, then washed my face and brushed my teeth.

�Knew sooner or later you were gonna bring your ass out that room� my mama said. 

�Morning to you too� I responded, grabbing the apple juice out the refrigerator. 

�You stayed out late again last night huh?� 

I breathed out deeply knowing that I was about to hear just what I don�t want to hear. 

�Now Teddy you know I done told you about coming in this house all time of night. That jackass ain�t that damn important� 

�That jackass is your future son in law and you need to start treating him that way. Matter of fact, I don�t even wanna hear what you got to say now or ever so please just drop it� 

�Nigga I don�t know who you think you are but last time I check I was the damn mama! When I talk you gonna dammit listen whether you like it or not. Who are you to tell me how I need to treat somebody? My mama been dead! And if she was living, I would still call him a jackass because that�s all he is, a no good jackass� 

I knew that I should�ve stayed in bed. Mama was referring to my boyfriend Derek as the �jackass�. We�ve been talking for a little less than a year now and she disliked him with a passion. We went out clubbing last night, had a few drinks, did a lil something on the dance floor and went back to his place. That�s when things got a lil freaky if you know what I mean. I didn�t get back home until about four this morning. 

�I don�t know what you see in him anyway, he ain�t got shit and damn sure ain�t worth it. Now I need you to come by the job later so you can go pay the light bill. I�m going to run by the bank before I go to work� 

�I can�t do that. I�m suppose to meet up with Derek later on� 

�Boy I will cut you with this same butcher knife if you tell me what you supposed to do again! What you gonna do is go pay this bill like I told you and shut the fuck up!� 

I dared not say anything else. All I could do was stare at the butcher knife she had waving in my face. I swear my mama is bipolar as hell and I mean Jennifer Lewis bipolar at that. I was glad when she got gone, it�s a shame how she just effed up my morning. Since I couldn�t eat, I washed up and got dress to go. 

�Hey Devin, how you doing� one of mama�s co-workers greeted me. 

Mama had been working at the hospital for a long time and she had a lot of friends and people that respected her. I don�t see how with her short temper but I guess that�s life. I knocked on the door of the security room. 

�Bout time you got here, thought I was gonna have to catch a case� 

I know I was already going to have to listen to Derek later on and here she come bullshitting. She finally handed me the money for the bill and just as I was about to head out, she stopped me! 

�Oh Dev�I almost forget there is someone I want you to meet� 

�Man is you serious!?� 

�Terrell what�s your 20?� she asked through her radio. 

Whoever it was responded and walked to the lobby. There was no one there except a custodian doing his job. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at us. 

�It really has been a long time� he said. 

�I told you. He hardly even looks like the same lil boy years ago. Dev, do you know who this is?� 

For the first time in the pass two or three minutes, I just noticed how good looking this nigga was. He was brown skin with brown eyes and dreads. His facial hair was trimmed neatly and he was very well in shape. 

�Come on Dev, you know who this is� 

�Nah mama, you may know him but I don�t. I ain�t seen him a day in my life� 

He chuckled a little bit and that made me a lil uncertain. 

�Get that a lot lately since I been home� he said with his masculine voice, �it�s me Teddy�Terrell� 

I looked at him with this crazy expression. I didn�t know anyone named Terrell. Teddy was a very old nick name of mine but no one ever called me that but�oh hell no! 

�T.J!� 

He looked at me and smiled. I looked back at him in disbelief; it can�t be. There is no way that this could be the same T.J I knew as a child/adolescent. Back then, Terrell was a little innocent average kid. We weren�t the most popular kids but that doesn�t even matter anymore. So many memories flooded my head. He blossomed from a caterpillar to a butterfly�a fine one indeed. 

�It�s been a long time��I managed to say. 

�Yeah it has� 

�Guess I will leave you to alone, I need to be getting back to work anyway. Don�t forget to go pay that bill� mama said, leaving. 

�So what�s good�you just gonna stand there and stare at me?� 

�Hell I�m at a real loss of words right now� 

��I gotta get back to work but maybe we will be able to chill some other time� 

�um yeah� I said, turning around and walking out of the door. 

Seriously, my mind was filled with old memories I hadn�t thought about in like forever. T.J and I were close like brothers coming up. We honestly thought we were cousins until we were told otherwise. It�s been so long and he looks so different. T.J didn�t look as half as good back then as he does now. Wow�guess that�s life.