A Girl Like You // D. Swing [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 13

Journey Hayes

"You're getting married, huh?" Quinita asks, sitting across from me at the dinner table, watching as I ate. "Mhm." I respond with a small smile as I took a bite of potatoes. "Is it to that one boy Sunny was telling me about? Donnie or something like that?" She asks and I chuckled lightly before correcting her, "Donald. His name is Donald, ma and yes."

She smiles and reaches across the table, "Can I see it?" She asks hesitantly, looking up at me. I knew she was hesitant because she wasn't exactly sure of how I would react if she touched me but I didn't mind.

I extended my hand closer to hers and she grabbed it, examining the ring closely. She smiled widely, "It's a gorgeous ring. He must really love you." I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. How did you feel when Dad first asked you?" She smirked and let out a small chuckle as she sat back in her seat.

"I'm not gonna lie... I was kind of hesitant to marry your father. Before he found out about me being pregnant with you, he was out here doing whatever the hell he wanted. Then, once he found out about you, he then proposed and I turned him down at first because I felt like he was trying to trap me and prevent me from leaving him and I came so close to doing it..."

"Why didn't you?" I asked. By this time, I'd stopped eating and I stared at her as she told her story.

She paused and bit the inside of her cheek as she gathered her words, "As contradicting as this is, I didn't want my child growing up in a broken home- but that still didn't make a difference." She says and just like that, the awkward elephant in the room is reintroduced and it becomes painfully and awkwardly silent between the both of us.

Before I could see it coming, she starts to cry. "JJ, I'm so sorry for what I've put you through. I'm not trying to be the victim here in this situation, but I was going through so much and I know that it's not an excuse b-but I didn't know how to cope. I don't want you to hate me, but I wouldn't blame you if you did."

I was so sick and tired of crying but with all of these raw emotions she was bringing to the surface made it hard. I sniffed and wiped my eyes, "Believe it or not, I don't hate you anymore. I'm older now and I realize that we go through shit, it's life... Not that, that's an excuse or anything but, I just wish you hadn't left us when we needed you the most." I started to cry harder and she rushed to my side and she wrapped her arms around me and feeling her touch ignited something in me that hadn't been ignited in a long time.

"We needed you and you weren't there!" I sobbed and she held me in her arms and consoled me. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry." She rubbed through my hair and I relaxed against her, allowing her to comfort me as we both shed tears.

This was something we both needed. We both needed to heal, but we couldn't do it alone. No matter how much I tried to deny it, I needed her, and she needed me too.

"I love you." I cried out and she hugged me tighter, "I love you too, JJ."

*** Two weeks later ***

"I miss you." Donald's baritone voice adorned my ears and I paced around my bedroom, wrapping the phone cord around my finger. "I miss you, too. It kills me being away from you. I wish I could, like, minimize you and bottle you up so I can always have you here with me." I chuckled softly as my voice cracked. Tears surged my eyes and I inhaled heavily to try and contain my emotions.

My emotional and physical attachment to him had grown stronger than I'd realized and I was honestly going through it. Since leaving, I'd fallen into a slight depression and it's been hard to try and uplift myself and remind myself that this was only temporary, but then, there was always that 'What if' in the back of my mind.