Irreplaceable (DAVE EAST)

59

"Where Kofi tall ass at?" Deja asked. She seemed like she was back to her normal self, but Zaidee quickly assumed that, that was because Antwon wasn't around.

"He left to go meet with somebody." Zaidee said before thinking on it. She hoped he wasn't stupid enough to be gone to meet some female.

"Oh." Deja nodded. "Well what you been up to?" She sat down beside Zaidee with a smile on her face.

"Deja." She said nonchalantly.

"Hm?"

"Girl. What the hell is going on with you and Antwon. I mean like, I see what's going on but you need to fill me in." Zaidee didn't feel like doing any small talk. She wanted to get straight to what was really important.

Deja sighed. She didn't really wanna talk about it, but at the same time she did and she knew she needed to.

"Take your time." Zaidee looked at her.

"Well, a few weeks ago, he just... he.. well he had... like- um—"

"Deja." Zaidee cut her off. "He what?"

"Well I had a feeling something was going on with him. You know- well you don't know, but him and his dad get into it a lot. He doesn't like fighting in front of his mama, and he doesn't want to fight his dad. So he like holds all that inside. Usually me and him would just talk it out, I would be a shoulder for him to lean on. But like, a few weeks ago, he just snapped. Like he doesn't wanna talk about it. I have a feeling that something really bad happened but he won't talk to me about it. He would just start taking his anger out on me. Like he'd start by like hitting me and then apologizing and he'd be like my dad just... or I'm so sick of my dad. And now he just hits me whenever. I'm still trying to be there for him, but he's like... I don't know." Deja stared off with a confused look on her face.

Zaidee was quiet for a minute, trying to think off the right words to say. "Well, I understand that you wanna be there for him and all that. But you don't have to be in a relationship with him to be there for him. He has friends. If he's taking out the anger that he has towards his dad on you, you need to distance yourself from him because that is not okay. Out of all people, I would've expected you to never end up in a situation like that. You need to end things with him, for your own health and safety. I know you don't wanna hear it, but he doesn't love you. He can't possibly love you if he's constantly hurting you and talking down on you. He's full of negativity that you don't need in your life. Obviously he doesn't appreciate you, so you need to get away from him before things get too out of hand. Because it is possible for him to do something that can't be fixed, and we don't need or want that. You understand what I'm saying?" Zaidee was hoping that she could convince her to just up and leave him because he was toxic.

"I understand what you're saying, but we're in love. I know he loves me, he's just going through a hard time. Even if I wanted to leave him, the way things are right now, he'd probably beat the fuck out of me." Deja tried to make Zaidee look at things the way she was looking at them.

"Y'all are not in love. You might be in love with him but he does not love you back. You know how bad he treats you and talks about you. You need to let that go. And you can leave him. Even if me and Kofi have to go with you and stand behind you while you break up with him. You deserve better than that, and it's only gonna get worse from here." Zaidee wanted Deja to understand that Antwon was not what she needed.

"You right." Deja agreed. "But I just can't see myself without him. I love that nigga."

"Well do you love yourself? Because you are dragging yourself through the mud right now, and I'm really trying to make you see what's best for you. Like I said, it's not gonna get any better with him." Just as she got done Deja's phone started ringing.