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Quest begged me to ditch dinner and spend the day with him. Now, I regretted putting my family first.
“Solana, you’re getting ahead of yourself. You need to calm down,” Dad urged.
By now, my mom and aunties had caught wind of the commotion and joined the audience, frustrating my father more. Perception mattered to him more than anything, so he couldn’t dare let the family see me challenge him and win.
“I don’t need to calm down. You need to understand how crazy this sounds. You invited Pierre here on my behalf. You told him things I never said, and now I need to calm down. I’m not a kid anymore, and you can’t just go around making decisions for my life.”
“I can and I will,” Dad insisted.
“Alright. Everybody, just take a moment.” Uncle Ross interjected because Aunt Xora gave him that look, begging him to do something fast.
“Ross, I don’t tell you how to raise your child. Don’t tell me how to raise mine.”
“She’s not a child, Lucas. That’s the problem!” Uncle Ross fired back.
Now, his brother was challenging him, too, and that sent Dad spiraling. “I know what’s best for her!”
“You don’t even know me! How can you know what’s best for me!” My throat was growing raw from all the partying last night, and now reiterating things I had said a million times.
“That’s enough, Solana!” Mom yelled, trying to regain the control my father failed to wield.
“Enough of what?” Tyson asked, turning the corner with Mack and Gianni in tow.
“Your father is trying to pimp me out,” I yelled.
“What?” Tyson yelled, waiting for somebody to fill him in on the details.
“Watch your mouth. I would never do anything like that. You’re blowing this whole situation out of proportion,” Dad argued.
“You don’t even get it, and that’s the sad part.” I no longer had an appetite or the strength to pretend we were one big happy family. “Since you think Pierre is so fuckin’ great. You date him.” I sneered as I passed my father and walked out of the door.
I could hear them all arguing in the distance about who would come after me like this was a dramatic ploy on my part. During the drive home, I contemplated packing all my shit and disappearing. Some days, it felt like the only way I’d ever get to live my life for myself.
I needed to see Quest, but I decided to take a nap first. If I went to him right now with puffy eyes and flushed cheeks, he’d lose his mind, and I didn’t have the energy to fight with him, either. I didn’t even bother changing my clothes. Instead, I buried myself under the comforter and closed my eyes until I heard the front door.
Yanking the blanket back, just in time to see Hailo looking empathetically at me, I asked, “How did you get in my house?”
“I used Gi’s key. He wanted to come himself, and so did Tyson. They were all worried about you, but I figured it needed to be me. I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself.”
“It didn’t matter.”
Hailo climbed onto the other side of my bed and made herself comfortable. “Anyway, you have some explaining to do.”
“What is there to explain?”
“Why you’re lying to everybody.”
“I’m not. I came home.”
“No, you didn’t.” Hailo chuckled and dropped her head before explaining. “We went out for breakfast to your favorite spot, so I decided to be nice and drop you off food because I figured you were hungover like the rest of us. Imagine my surprise when you weren’t home when I came over.”
Damn, Hailo is good.
I didn’t have a rebuttal, so I snuggled up with my pillow because I was even more tired than before I arrived at my parents’ home.
“Go to sleep all you want. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Hailo announced.
Closing my eyes, my subconscious painted a vivid canvas of my future with Quest. A beautiful wedding. Having children and giving them everything my parents didn’t provide. The dream unfolded like a gentle dance, weaving together threads of hope and anticipation. Then, suddenly, it was gone, leaving the residue of fleeting emotions.
