From A Dream To Reality (Sequel)

Playing Favourites

Chapter 14

Playing Favourites

                You sat at the foot of your driveway for the past 30 minutes now. The time just seemed to slip away. As always, you were drifted away in thought. Coming home to so much unfortunate news left an extremely bad taste in your mouth. The issues weren't what angered you the most because by now at the age of 20, you knew life was no fairy tale and that we'd face circumstances. The taker was the silence you parents permitted about these things. It made your stomach hurt knowing how well you were doing in New York while they suffered here. Don't get me wrong, you had issues to handle but nothing financial... That shit could have been taken care of... Doesn't make sense. The word why kept flashing like a flickering light about to blow out. Why? You wiped your face and began getting angry again. Man, it just seemed like life had dealt you a bad hand lately. So much bullshit was going on back in NY and now you come home to more bullshit? When was your break coming... Suddenly, a car pulled up on the sidewalk. You didn't bother acknowledging whoever it was. The sound of car doors slammed. "Hey [Yn]..." You didn't respond. The three of them huddled around you. "What's wrong girl..." "Yeah, we came to see you." Monique, Chelsea and Darnell were standing before you. No lie, it was exciting to be back with the squad. You wanted to see them just as bad but you couldn't pretend anymore. No more pretending that you were okay. The touch of someones hand against your back gave you a bit of comfort. "What chu sitting on the driveway like a sad puppy for?" His voice was so deep. You looked up for the first time since their arrival. Darnell was the first person you saw. Damn.... He looked so good... The two of you locked eyes on each other. Once a huge, curly fro was now shaved down. It was the perfect size. Of course he had some facial hair going on. His look was so mature now. And don't get me started on those green eyes. You looked over at Monique. She looked flawless. Her hair was now cut into a chic, asymmetrical bob. Her body looked so much more mature as well. Lastly Chelsea, well, she looked the same lol. Somewhat. But her hips were a bit wider. As for the face, it appeared more womanly then her usual baby face. These people looked so unfamiliar, but one things for sure... you had a lot of history with them. The three of them sat down around you and awaited an explanation. In the meantime, they hugged and kissed you. "Haha," you laughed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry our first reunion of two years had to be like this," you wiped your face. "Come here, its okay girl." Monique smiled in empathy as she fixed your face. Her hands softly caressed your face. "I miss you guys," you got a bit choked up. "Awh..." They all hugged you at once."[Yn]! Can we talk baby?" Your parents came down the drive way as well. "How y'all doing," Darnell stood up and greeted them. The girls as well. "Hi everyone." Everyone watched as you stood to your feet. The six of you made a circle in the driveway. "Would you like us to come back later Mr. and Mrs. [YLN]?" Your dad nodded, "Yes. If you don't mind Darnell. We need to speak to [Yn] about some private matters." "No no, its fine. Come on in. Maybe the support of her friends is what she needs Daryl." He nodded in agreement, "Good idea. Come inside everyone." Monique and Chelsea wrapped their arms around you as you made your way to the living room.

                The three of them were startled whenever they saw the foreclosure sign outside. "Oh my gosh, Mr. and Mrs. [YLN]," Monique rushed over to hug them, "I'm so sorry." She immediately began crying. You, Chelsea and Darnell watched from across the room. Monique was a tough chick... Always came off as the hard type but she had a soft spot. Especially for your parents. It was hard watching this, honestly. You sat back on the couch and grabbed a pillow, clutching it into your chest. The two of them sat beside you. Chelsea pulled you into her chest. "I had no idea... So... What does this mean for you guys?" "Well Monique," your mom began speaking, but you cut her off, "Yeah... I had no idea either..." Your parents looked at you in shame. You sat up from leaning on Chelsea, "Why didn't you say something? Huh!" Monique walked over to you, but you shoved her away. "Please, calm down [Yn]..." "HOW THE FUCK IM POSE TO STAY CALM WHEN MY PARENTS DON'T HAVE A FUCKIN HOUSE ANYMORE?!" "[YN]! NOW THATS ENOUGH!!!" You stood there, breathing hard. It just didn't make sense. All you wanted was a damn answer. "[Yn], please sweetheart," Darnell reached for your hand. He couldn't bare the hurt in your eyes as you stared at him. Monique encouraged you to sit down. The last thing they wanted was to see you and your parents argue during these times where the support was needed most. Your dad and mom sat on the couch across from you. The silence echoed throughout the house. Minus the sound of sniffling. "C-can you please just explain..." "Go ahead Michelle. Tell her everything." "Yes, everything... Don't leave not a damn thing out either. You can't just call me Ma, call me and tell me something is wr...." "NOW [YN], I DON'T CARE HOW GROWN YOU THINK YOU ARE BUT I'M NOT GONE LET YOU TALK TO MY WIFE LIKE THAT!" "WIFE? Y'ALL NOT EVEN TOGETHER," you reached for the divorce papers, "AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT?!" The papers flew through the air as you threw them. Your dad stood up as though he was about to approach you, "Daryl, DARYL!!!" He shook his head, then sat down. His hands covered his face. "Sit [Yn], please... Let your mother speak..." You sighed, then obeyed Chelsea's suggestion. This was not easy for you, nor anyone else in this room... But how would you move forward without explaining things. So you decided to stay on hush mode. "[Yn]... Babygirl... Look... I honestly wanted to tell you... Explain things but it just seemed like I could never reach you. Everytime I-I'd call, you always seemed so busy. Didn't feel like you car...," she took a deep inhale, then exhaled, "cared." "But Mom... I.." "Let me finish. That's just how I felt, okay... I'm being honest here. Now, me and your father as for the divorce. It's almost final. We've just decided maybe we do need to be apart. We tried, tried our best to make things work but we just never seem to be in sync. I don't know... We were fine," she wiped her face, "Things were great. But then I lost my job. I wasn't fired. Laid off. Your fathers been paying things by himself for the past year and a half," you were now sitting on the edge of your seat, "I kept a few jobs. But none of them seemed to be paying enough. As for your father, well, his business was going down the drain too... Our relationship seemed to crumble around this time too. With the two of us working so many hours just to keep food on the table, we never really had time for us. So stressed out and..." "Mom," you covered your mouth. "Yeah... I'd try to reach out to you but.. I don't know.. Things didn't feel the same [Yn]. I don't even know if you noticed but, we're missing furniture. Also had to sell one of our cars." You looked around and noticed just that. The furniture went missing along with the pieces to this story. You felt sick to your stomach... Everyone watched as you rocked back and forth... "W-Why," you sobbed loudly, "WHY DIDN'T YOU... Mom I would have been there for you!!!" She watched you, shaking her head. "What about the house in New York," Chelsea asked, trying to help. "That house," your father said, "I sold it. Sold it so a family whenever I moved back in with Michelle." "Is the mortage they're paying helping you, since you're the landlord?" "Somewhat but not enough..." You were still upset by what your mom said... How dare she feel that way... But was it your fault? Were you that busy? "Mom... How long have you felt this way... How long have you felt like I didn't care..." "Si-Since you left." "I thought we were fine though..." "Yeah, you thought." Your head tilted to the side, "Really now?" "Yes. Really... Hell.. We've all felt that way!" "Who is we?" You stood up and sat on a recliner away from everyone. "WHO ELSE HAS FELT THIS WAY?!" No one spoke. Everyone just stared at you. It made you feel guilt, guilt mixed with anger and a shot of resentment. Monique started speaking, "I don't know [Yn]... It just seems like you've forgotten about us..." Your head started shaking in denial, "Whoa whoa whoa, where is this coming from..." Were they right? It just didn't make sense... Things seemed fine between everyone... Maybe you could have called more... But it didn't seem fair. Felt like you were being JUMPED on. "You make it seem like I never tried though... Like I've made an effort to talk. Everyone seemed just as busy too!" "No ma'am. Me and Chelsea tried to call you at least once a week in the beginning but we stopped since you stopped calling back. You always talked about how you and Diggy were doing this and that. Interning, classes, fashion shows, trips, clubs, restaurants... Need I go on?" Was she right? You hardly had time to check your phone.... "Chelsea?" She didn't say anything but the look in her eye let you know she felt the same way. "Wow," you folded your arms, "Seems like you guys have had conversations about this behind me back..." "No no no, it wasn't nothing petty [Yn]... Now you know me and your parents always been cool. I'd still stop by everynow and then to check on them. Even call. They'd ask if we'd heard from you and vice versa..." "I mean if she made the effort [Yn], why couldn't you?" "Are you serious Dad, she lives down the street. I'm hundreds of miles away!" "You know thats just a damn excuse. Besides, you have the money to come." "Thats not even cool... So that means you knew about this Monique? Chelsea? About my parents strugglin'?" "No. They never told us about that. Just about how MIA you been since you Diggy." "You say that like he's my life... I am my own person. He doesn't control me. So, if you're implying that he's taken me away from you all or that he's the reason I don't come, thats not the case. I accept things as being my fault. But don't blame my man. Don't do that... He's been nothing but good to me." Everyone sat around in silence for a for minutes. What you thought would be your friends coming inside to comfort you... Seemed like they turned on you. I mean, it wasn't like they hated you... Just felt like you got too busy for them. Don't even get me started on your parents... Them lying about being okay... Then coming home to a foreclosure and dirvorce papers. Enough to send you to the damn hospital... You didn't know what to make sense of all this mess. Were they right? Or just being dramatic? You got an instant headache trying to go back in time. The longer you sat there, the more you did recall getting a lot of missed calls. The guilt began to eat at you. You never wanted them to feel belittled or like they didn't matter... Its just, well, you had a life of your own now. It was hard to keep up with things. Extremely. No one knew the things you had to face. No one understood. But one things for sure, you did care.

                Nearly an hour passed by. The tension in this room was crazy right now. A strong vibe of hurt lingered all throughout the atmosphere. You sat back as you listened to everyone speak on things. It was hard sitting through each person's plead but everything had to be put on the table. It just seemed like everyone was ganging up on you. But that wasn't the entire basis of the discussion. Everyone spoke on how they were doing personally, as well as how the whole situation applied to things. Your mom was now speaking. She said a lot of things that hurt you. Not hurtful things toward you, just things that you couldn't bare hearing. It was already hard hearing that everyone felt like you abandoned them. Even though it wasn't intentional but the matter of the fact was that you did. But your mother for some reason kept speaking about Daniel. It was as though she felt like he had taken you from her. That's when the conversation got a bit heated. You didn't want people speaking badly about bae. Hell nah. But, you heard her out. Here's where things were currently... "DO YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF RESENTMENT TOWARDS HIM MOM? WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO YOU?!" "THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M..." "NO, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!" To be honest, you were right. Your mom did feel that way, she just didn't want to admit it. Who wants to admit that they felt as though they're daughter was swept away by their man. Truth was, your mom had a strong attachment to you. You were her only child... Her only baby girl. Whenever times got hard, specifically with your dad, you were there. She wasn't honestly thrilled about you leaving for New York but she knew that you were in love and didn't wanna hold you back. Even though it seemed like she was the one who had to convince your dad, it was even harder on her. It didn't really hit her until things got hard and she needed you the most. Now that her and your dad faced issues, you weren't there the way she used to be. So because of that, her mind tied Daniel as the reason of your absence. But of course, she didn't wanna admit that. She didn't even realize that that statement had come outta her mouth. "Mom... I don't want you to feel like Daniel took you from me... And I apologize if you felt this way." She was a bit silent. "Mom... Ma!" What was she...."Michelle!" Even your dad was a bit worried. "You wanted to know why I never told you huh... Why I kept silent on things..." She got up and walked over to you. "Why? Why mama?" "I FELT EMBARASSMENT! SHAME! I COULDN'T FIND IT IN MYSELF TO ASK FOR HELP! HOW COULD I COMPARE TO SOMEONE LIKE HIM..." "WHAT DO YOU MEAN..." "HE HAS MONEY... HIM AND HIS FAMILY ARE PERFECT RIGHT," she said sarcastically, "ANYTIME I CALLED TO SPEAK TO YOU, YOU ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT HOW THEY WERE DOING THIS AND THAT FOR YOU!! HOW COULD I COMPARE!! NOT TO MENTION DIGGY OFFERING TO PAY YOUR TUITION AT PARSON'S!" "But mom... he offered..." "IT DOESN'T MATTER! THE POINT IS THAT I FELT BELITTLED... WHO WANTS TO FEEL LIKE THEY CAN'T TAKE CARE OF THEIR CHILD... I HAD TO STILL FEEL LIKE I CONTRIBUTIED... WHICH IS WHY WE STILL WANTED TO PAY!!! SO YES! WHILE YOU WERE IN NEW YORK WITH YOUR NEW MAN, ME AND YOUR FATHER WERE STRUGGLING, TRYING TO DO OUR BEST TO HOLD THINGS TOGETHER!!! NOW EVERYTHING IS A FUCKIN MESS [YN]! NO MORE PRETENDING... HERE IT IS..." At this point, you were speechless. You hated that she felt this way but what could be done at this pont. Besides, it wasn't your fallt she couldn't find it in herself to ask for help. That was her own pill of pride she had to swallow. Your dad got up and hugged her. The whole room was silent. Suddenly, there a knock at the door...

End of Chapter 14; Playing Favourites

You are the most amazing fans. Do you realize how well my book is doing... I get 1k views in two days on a single chapter.... Thank you so much... I'm speechless....