The Boy Next Door

Chapter 24

Valentina

"Wait, what?" I said. Jay nodded his head and sighed. "I'm telling you the truth. Why would I lie to you?" My man says. I was speechless. Of course, Jalen would never lie to me. I felt like shit for even thinking that he would.
Jay gave me his phone unlocked. I read all of his dm's and yes, Mya was in there but for a completely different reason. Turns out, Jay wanted to surprise me and he asked for her opinion about a ring. He was gonna propose. Once again, I felt like shit.
"I guess I kinda ruined everything, huh?" I said, giving Jay his phone. I wasn't the type of bitch who needed to go through my mans phone 24/7. I trusted Jalen. He was the one who gave me his phone so that he could show me that he would never do me dirty.
Jalen grabbed my hand. "You didn't ruin anything at all. I'm still gonna propose." Jay says. I smiled. "As a matter fact," Jalen gets down on one knee and digs in his pocket. I immediately began to cry. "I wanted this moment to be more special but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that I love you and I wanna be with you forever. Valentina, baby will you marry me?" Jalen says. "Of course I'll marry you!" I cried. At this point, my eyes were all red from crying, nose was all snotty. But I didn't care.
The next morning, I woke up with the biggest smile, and a heart so full. I was about to give birth to a baby girl in less than 2 months, engaged to the love of my life. My nail tech career was flourishing. All I needed to do was opening up my own shop. So much was happening in my life, and I was only 21.
I haven't talked to Mya since everything that happened yesterday. Of course, she was blowing up my phone. I mean, yes I was going to talk to her about it but when I was ready. I just needed some time to think about the situation.
"Jay, wake up." I said, gently shaking my now fiancé. It was so weird to say that I was somebody's fiancé. The minute I met Jalen though, I knew he was gonna be mine forever. I mean, I know that may sound corny but whatever. I loved it. "What's wrong, baby?" Jalen says. "Nothing's wrong. I just wanna go out for breakfast." I say, putting my hair in a bun.
Jalen ended up taking me to ihop. I was craving waffles and to me, they had some bomb ass waffles. As we were getting in the car, Ellie texted me. She said, "so why did i have to find out from Instagram that my baby sister was engaged?!? 🤬" I covered my mouth to keep from laughing and replied with, "good morning I'm sorry sissy 😭 I'll call you when I get home. Jay took me out for breakfast."
"I'm so so happy for you. But I'm also butt hurt that I had to find out the way I did!" Ellie tells me. "I know, I'm sorry, El!" I said. Jalen and I had just got back to the house and, like I said I would, I called my big sister. She was upset with me because I didn't tell her about Jalen proposing. I felt so bad.
"Alaïa Saige, you are showing out today!" I said, scolding my unborn child. We were going to name her Alaïa Saige Cruz - Santiago. Jalen and I chose to hyphenate her last name because we wanted her to have both of our last names. My baby girl was kicking so much today.
"Jay, it's starting!" I shouted. About a minute later, Jalen came running in the living room. He handed me the bottle of water that I asked for. "Thank you, baby." I said. "Mhmm!" He says, paying attention to the tv.
Jay and I recently just started binge watching this show called "Girls Incarcerated" on Netflix. I originally started watching it myself, then I put Jay onto it. And now, we both watch it together. Instead of ordering out like we usually do whenever we binge on Netflix, I cooked. I made lasagna with garlic bread and a nice salad as a side. Jay liked when I cooked.
We watched our show until about 10. After that, I was starting to get tired. Jalen and I both started to get ready for bed. As soon as I lay my head down, my phone rings. Mya was calling me. I sigh and answer the phone. "Yes,Mya?" I said. "Hey, I've been tryna get in contact with you all day." She says. "I know. I needed time to think." I say. "Think about what?" She pressed. "A lot of things. Like this friendship, for example." I said, sitting up in bed. Jalen was using the bathroom. "What you tryna say? You don't wanna be friends anymore?" Mya says. "Mya, we've been best friends since elementary school. 1st grade, to be exact. Why would you lie to me?" I said.
I didn't wanna end a 15 year friendship over the phone, so I asked Mya to meet up at a park near my house the next day. Of course I was nervous because, I've never had to do something like this. I felt like I was breaking up with somebody. Also, because I was so nervous, I asked Jay to come with me for moral support. My emotions were running high at this point.
I told Jaylen to stay in the car. Of course, this man didn't wanna listen at first. He was so sure that Mya would lash out and wanna hit a pregnant woman. Mya was crazy, but she wasn't stupid. Anyway, I found Mya sitting at a picnic table.
"Thank you for coming to meet me." I said, sitting down. "Are we gonna continue to be cool or not? Cause I got somewhere to be." Mya says. I laughed and tried to keep my composure. She was lucky that I was 8 months pregnant cause if I wasn't, I would've jumped across this table and  snatched that dollar tree wig right out her scalp. "Mya, you definitely didn't have this energy on the phone last night. So, wassup? Que paso?" I said. "No, cause what you're not about to do is make me out to be the bad guy here. You got me fucked up." Mya says. I laughed. "Are you deadass right now?" I questioned.
Mya really showed her true colors. I was beyond disappointed. It hurt that she wouldn't admit to her wrongdoing. Which is why I felt less bad about ending this friendship. On one hand, I was upset because this was a 15 year friendship, thrown away. On another hand, I was starting to see our friendship dying the past couple weeks.
"Are you okay, baby?" Jay asked. I sat in the passenger seat. "I'm fine. All I know now is that Mya has always had it out for me." I said. "What you mean?" Jalen wanted to know. I took a deep breath and put my seatbelt on. "Well, she admitted to secretly being in love with you. Which is why she did what she did." I said. "Are you serious?" Jay said. I nodded my head and called my big sister.

Tania

~ 1 month later ~

"Hey, what're you doing here? Did you not get my text messages?" Malcom says, stepping all the way out of the house. "Well, I wanted to see you. I miss you!" I whined. Malcom grabbed my chin. "Tania, listen. We can't keep doing what we're doing." He tells me. "W- what are you saying?" I asked.
I haven't seen Malcom in almost 2 weeks and I missed him like crazy. After his wife called and threatened me, he's been keeping his distance. He said he was doing that for my safety. It just sucked because I really needed him. He made me happy.
Malcom sighed loudly and looked down at me. "Tania, we can't see each other anymore. I'm sorry." He says. Hearing him say those words cut deep like a knife. It felt like my heart had shattered into a million pieces. Suddenly, I heard a car pull up. "Aww, shit." Malcom says under his breath. "What the fuck is going on here?!?" Malcom's wife says. "Baby, this isn't what it looks like." "Malcom, shut the hell up!" She says .
Before I knew it, I was being dragged by the hair coming from my scalp. "Ahhhh!!" I screamed. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from my husband, bitch?! DIDN'T I?!" She says. Before I could say anything, I was punched in the face several times. "You gonna learn time stop messing with married men!" She said.
"Well, clearly he wasn't happy over here if he was at my house all them times!" I yelled from my car. The bitch had ripped out all my tracks, which were laying in the middle of the street now, my lipstick was smeared, and I had a black eye. "Bitch, keep talking shit. You gonna get ya ass whooped again!" Malcom's wife says. Malcom was holding her back. "I'm not scared! Come get me, bitch! Instead of coming for me check ya nigga next time." I shouted. Then, I put my seatbelt on and drove away.
As crazy as it may sound, after getting my ass beat, I still loved him. Yeah, he had me looking like a clown ass bitch in these streets. But, there was something about him that was just so irresistible. The way he made me feel. The way he looked at me when we fucked. I was a fool for this man.

Jacob

"Anything else you want me to get while I'm out?" I asked Indya. "Can you get me some cookie dough ice cream?" My fiancé asked. "Of course, baby. Anything else?" I said. "And a pack of Kit Kat's?" "You gonna eat them together?" I questioned. "Mind your business." Indya sassed. I laughed. "Aight, what else?" "That's it. Ooh,can you pick up some pizza on your way home?" Indya says. "Okay, mama. Let me finish up here, and I'll call you once I'm on my way home." I said. "Okay. Be careful. I love you, papa!" I smiled. "I love you, more." I said. Then, I hung up the phone.
It was a beautiful sunny Saturday here in California. I decided to run some errands. First, I went to pick up my dry cleaning. Then, I went to get a haircut, and now I was at the grocery store. I haven't been home all day and I was so fucking tired. All I wanted to do was get home to my pregnant fiancé.
I would've never thought that I would be engaged. A month ago, I popped the question to the love of my life. I've been on cloud nine ever since. Things just feel easier when you're in love. It was very corny, but it was also true. For me and Indya, at least.
"Jacob? Is that you?" A squeaky little feminine voice said from behind me. I was annoyed because I knew exactly who's voice that was. My crazy ex-girlfriend, Paola. I haven't seen her in almost 2 months. Things were going good until now. What the fuck?!
"Paola, I'm not in the mood for your shit today. What the fuck do you want?" I said, closing my trunk. She put her hands up as if she was surrendering or some shit. "Chill out. I just came over here to say hi." Paola says. "Bye!" I said, getting in my car. "Come on, Jacob. Don't be such an asshole! I just wanna talk." "Talk about what? There's absolutely nothing to talk about here. You are from my past and I have moved on. You need to do the same, Paola." I said. I put my seatbelt on, start my car, and pull off.