Fallin 4 u

16.

Justine Indira Skyers-1992
Charlotte, North Carolina, America

I got out a black long sleeve Bardot bodysuit and a red checkered skirt that just about touch my knees. I had a black chocker on. I left my hair curly hair down giving it a side parting because I wasn't bothered to put it in any other hairstyle.

I went downstairs proudly looking to go to DeVante but my mood kind of changed when I saw his father look at me. He didn't bother to smile, she just gave me a blunt stare. I smiled back, tying to be nice but it just looked awkward.

We gathered around the table and sat down. I picked up my fork but DeVante nudged me on the arm which made me drop it.

'What?' I whispered in a annoyed tone

'Prayer' he whispered back

'Oh'

I saw his father look at me again but he seemed unhappy with my behaviour. Still not a smile across his face. I paid it no mind though and graced the table.

After the prayer, we started to eat. His mum made chicken, roasted ham, cornbread, collard greens, sweet potatoes and so on.

His father started to probably introduce himself to me only leading to several questions.

'So... Justine tell me.... where are you from?'

'I grew up most of my life in the Bronx which was New York'

'Hmm that's a place'

'Yeah... they are nice areas but it's way dangerous in places like Brooklyn, Bronx and Harlem.' I listed 'I'm lucky I'm still living because the conditions I lived there were frightening'

'What do you mean by that?' He asked curiously

'Like gun shots, robberies, gangs. All that drama.' I said 'it's even way more scary because it happened both night and day.'

'Were you ever part of that kind of mess?'

'Donald!' Mama Degrate said embarrassed

'No no it's cool.' I said 'I wouldn't say gang but after school I would have a set of friends and we would hang out spending our time singing, rapping sometimes we would even protest if something ain't right on the streets'

'What kinda of things did you guys protest about?'

At this time I was growing bored of his questions. DeVante could see that I was growing tired of answering them but isn't this what a parent does when they meet their child's boyfriend/girlfriend?

'Usually in New York, it would be a community of whites, blacks, Asians and Latinos/Latinas. And sometimes there were things that blacks, Latinos or Asians couldn't get away with but whites could. We would join local community protests so that they would understand what we go through'

He looked at me and started eating his food. I felt like he was trying to poke out things bad about me just because I grew up in New York, kind of had the street thug look and maybe because my accent was really thick and slang.

I heard mutters from the table by him but I acted as if I could hear him. He was saying stuff like, she's a street thug, changing my son to become one of them, what parents makes their child live in that kind of environment? Let alone be on the streets.

Mama Degrate seemed uncomfortable and tried to tell him to stop but I didn't seem it was working.

'So what was your childhood like?'

I already told him but since he doesn't want to hear, I tell him again.

'I had a rough childhood' I explained 'My parents had me at a really young age about 16/17 and my younger sister four years after me'

I saw His father advert his eyes straight onto DeVante's.

'Hmm I see... what did your parents do as a living?'

'Oh can we not discuss this' I said laughing nervously

'Sure darling' Mama Degrate said smiling

I felt uncomfortable answering that question. He's already started muttering shit under his breathe about my life choices what more do I need?

It got silent and all I heard was the cutting of the silver ware and the chewing of us eating. That's when big mouth Donald wants to start opening his mouth assuming what my parents did as a living. The things he said really hurt me. He continued to mutter under his breathe saying how my father probably sold drugs, my mum was a stripper and shit. And he really hurt DeVante especially saying this is the kind of women he wanna be around with.

I started to tear up and Mama DeGrate started to realise it. She told him to stop repeatedly but only to be ignored. DeVante was sitting next to me and I felt his body tense up a bit as I put my hand on this thigh. My hand was shaking rapidly and I felt embarrassed as well. My head was held down and I was barely eating my food.

'Don't worry' DeVante mouthed to me

Even though he tried to cheer me up, personally feelings started running back through my mind as I thought about the times my parents were nearly being evicted several times, the times I was left alone at night with my sister so my parents could bring food on the table. Man it was scary.

A tear fell onto the table as his father continued to mutter in bad things about me. DeVante grew so mad that he nearly spilt his drink on the table and the food nearly fell on the floor.

'Look you might've been out of my life after you abandoned me so many times, but you have no right to be judging her based on her background. You don't know what the hell she's been through!' He told 'She's not a street thug, her parents aren't bad people and she's certainly not changing my image. All these tattoos, writing love songs and piercings was all me, something I wanted to do but I couldn't do it because I was under your roof living under your stupid rules. Once I was gone, I was able to breathe, able to do things I've always to do. Girls like her inspire us dudes to write poems, love songs because they make us go crazy for them. It's crazy how you can't see pass the baggage of Justine and see how nice, beautiful and creative she is but everybody else can. This is how I felt when you disrespected me, hurt me, made me feel worthless because you couldn't forgive me for the decisions I made. Now I don't want any forgiveness from you now because look where I've got after all the chaos. I had to go through so many stuff on my own and I had now one to comfort me because you blocked the people I loved away from me. And I'm not going to sit here and let you make Justine embarrassed, upset and disappointed.'

Wow! Just Wow! I had no idea DeVante was going through so much shit. I kept my eye on DeVante the whole time as he stood up for me and himself. He seemed angry and upset as well. His eyes started to get watery and as soon as you knew it, a tear came shedding down. I've never seen a grown man so emotional like that in my whole life.

The whole table was quiet and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to say something but I knew it would've ended up getting worse. My hands were still shaking and I touched DeVante's arm but it was like hot and tensed with anger. I pulled away because I was scared.

'Fuck this man, I'm not sitting with a man I call a father' DeVante cursed out leaving the table slamming the door

All eyes were on me and I was scared as shit. I was thinking that it was my fault and I made matters worse.

I gave one last glance at everyone and got up running away to find DeVante.