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It was Journey, and she looked absolutely disgusted. I laughed at the look on her face as she shook her head and took a seat on the towel where I had originally sat. I lay in Za’Kai’s arm and witnessed his kids and mine bond with each other. I said a silent prayer, hoping that this thing worked. I didn’t want to be that woman who brought different men in and out of my kids’ life. I hoped that it wasn’t just Za’Kai’s dick that had me in a daze for the time being. This high that he had me on, I wanted to stay on it.
15
Journey Evans
“Ohhh, my God. Look at my baby. You look so beautiful.” My mom did the most as she walked over to me, cuffed my head in both of her hands, and placed kisses all on my forehead.
“Maaaa, moveee! You going to mess up my make-up,” I whined as I gently put my hands on her waist and pushed her away from me.
I loved my mom to death, but I swear she did the absolute most at times. I was only going to my eighth-grade prom, and here she was, kissing me, crying, and carrying on like it was my senior prom. I didn’t know if it was the pregnancy that had her so emotional or what, but she was being mad annoying. I wouldn’t tell her that, though.
I knew that I could be stubborn as hell at times, but these past few months, I witnessed with my own two eyes my mom being thrown curve ball after curve ball, and I didn’t want to add more onto her plate. Although I never said it, I always thought of my mother as a strong woman, but she showed me just how strong she was after everything that took place between her and my father.
I still couldn’t believe that day. Like, I actually witnessed my mother get beaten like she was just a random person on the streets, and the person who beat her was someone I used to love. Someone I used to adore. No amount of money, apologies, or anything would ever be enough for me to want to have a relationship with that man ever again. I was completely done with that coward.
“Girl, that little bit of make-up I put on you. Hush,” my auntie Sky said as she stood behind me and my dress.
It really felt like it was my senior prom instead of my 8th grade dance. My aunt, Brooklyn, and her girlfriend, Kassidy, and my grandmother had all come over to watch me get dressed. On top of that, my mom had the outside of our doorway decorated with balloons and a sign so that my pictures could come out even better when the professional photographer that she’d hired captured everything. She had food catered and even a stylist had come by early this morning to do my hair.
There was a knock at the door, and my stomach turned a little bit because I had a feeling who that knock belonged to. It was Milton. Remember the boy that I got caught kissing in the hallway a while back? Well, he and I had been back in contact for the past few months, and honestly, I liked him. I think the last time, I didn’t give myself enough time to actually like him because my head was too far stuck up Raheem’s ass for me to realize how good of a catch Milton really was.
Speaking of Raheem, I can honestly say that was a situation that I had actually washed my hands of. I was too young to continue to put up with things that he was putting me through. Two months ago, I called him from the burner phone that he’d given me. Somehow, his phone answered, and I was left to sit there and listen to him and his baby mama have sex. I should have just hung the phone up when I heard the first moan, but I was so nosey that I chose to still listen.
When the sex ended, I still didn’t hang up the phone, and that’s when I heard them talking about their son that was on the way. I swear that was the final straw for me. I was thirteen years old and didn’t need to be dealing with that type of drama, so I got rid of the phone that he’d given me. I now had my phone back, and he’d started texting and calling me on there, but it had been a month since I’d had him blocked. A month of no communication, of not seeing each other, and honestly, I didn’t miss him.
When I was with him, he made me feel like a grown woman. When I was with Milton and just having conversations, he made me feel innocent, like the thirteen-year-old girl that I was, and I liked that.
“Girllll, this boy is handsome. They didn’t make the middle schoolers like this when I was in school,” Kassidy joked as she opened the front door for Milton.
I blushed when I saw him come inside because he looked so handsome. Milton had always been handsome to me. This was the first time that I’d seen him all dressed up before. It was crazy because I used to think that seeing Raheem shirtless with a pair of gym shorts on that sagged so low that you could see his entire ass in his boxers was sexy, but seeing Milton in this suit, you couldn’t even compare the two.
Milton had a dark complexion, and he used to have braces a couple of years ago. Because of that, his teeth were super straight and white, might I add. He was smiling from ear to ear right now as I stood there in my floor length dress, and his deep dimples showed. He had a head full of long hair that he had pushed back into two French braids. I didn’t know much about boys’ hair, but it was obvious that he'd gotten the front of his hair lined up or something today.
I found myself blushing as I looked at him and told myself I had to have been crazy in the past to not have wanted him because in the words of my mom describing Za’Kai to her friends and sister, he was so beautiful. Milton’s mom came inside the house and stood behind him. The two of them were really twins.
“You look beautiful,” was the first thing he said to me once he was close enough.
“Thank you so much.” I smiled.
I could tell that he was nervous. He was in a room filled with women who had some big ass personalities, so I would be nervous too. With shaky hands, he removed the corsage from the box and placed it on my wrist. The photographer was there to take pictures of the entire thing, along with my mom, who hadn’t stopped crying since earlier this evening when Auntie Sky started my make-up.
We took a ton of pictures inside the house, and then we finally made our way outside. The limousine that my mom had rented for the night was outside the house, and we took a ton of pictures in front of it as well as inside.
“Text me as soon as you get there, Journey. I love you and enjoy your night. I want you back home by ten. You know I will go down to that school in my robe and house slippers in a second if I have to,” my mom threatened as we got in the car.
I rolled my eyes at her because she never missed an opportunity to embarrass me. I watched as she went over to the driver, said a few things to him, and then the doors were finally closed.
“I like your mama. She’s funny as hell,” Milton said the moment the car drove off.
“To you, it’s funny. To me, it’s annoying. I love her, though,” I let him know, followed by a smile.
“You’re so beautiful to me, Journey. I swear I don’t want anything from you. I just think that you’re a beautiful girl. I don’t want to sound corny or nothing like that, but I haven’t been to sleep in twenty-four hours. Going to prom with you feels like I’m going to prom with Beyoncé. You know I’ve had a crush on you since we were in the third grade, so this moment means everything and more to me. I just wanted to express that to you,” he said, followed by a kiss on my cheek.
I blushed so hard at his words that I didn’t even have a voice at that moment. When Raheem sweet talked me, it always sounded rehearsed. Like, it was something that he said to all his girls when he wanted something from them. With Milton, it was so genuine. He made me believe everything he said when he said it.
After another twenty minutes, we finally pulled up to the banquet hall where the prom was. The driver came around and opened the door for me, and I got out. Milton came out next, and like the perfect gentleman, he asked if it was okay to hold my hand. Once I gave him the okay, he grabbed it, and we walked inside together. Because I now attended a new school, I walked into the hall and was attacked by so many people with hugs and them telling me how much they missed me. I hadn’t seen the majority of those people in months, and I could see mys
elf going home tonight and begging my mom to transfer me back there.
