It's something for most of the ride to the mail salon until Tia speaks up. "What did that fuck head do?" My mouth is moving before my brain even registers what I'm saying. "He wouldn't leave me alone all day, and then right before I came to the car he stopped me in the hallway and pretty much told me I can't keep anybody in my life, especially family.." I let the tears fall freely now. I don't even care that Jarell is in the car, I need to let this out.
"What is wrong with him?!" Sophia says angrily from the back. Jarell a hand falls on my thigh and it bring me comfort almost instantly, the tears stop and I groan in frustration. "Who the hell does Donny think he is? Not to sound big or anything but I'm the reason he's even back here!" The twins chime in with helpful words of wisdom and by the time we arrive at the salon I'm over the incident, I'm just ready to get my nails done. The receptionist smiles at me the moment I walk in the door, "Hailey! You bought guests!" She wiggles her brows at me. "Yes I did, three mani pedis please." She quickly calls to the back.
"Make that four actually." Jarell says to her and she happily nods. We get seated in the back so they can do our toes first, when the lady rings the color wheel around I choose a light pink color. Jarell is across from me so I decide to look over and see how he's doing. He's already looking at me and for some reason it makes my heart stop for a second. I look away with a blush in my cheeks. Once we're all done with the pedi they start on our hands. I get a pink French tip to match my toes. When the man comes to collect the money Jarell insists on paying for the three of us plus himself.
"You really didn't have to do that." Sophia says to him. "We're all friends now, I like to do things for my friends." We leave it alone and decide to go to the old school clothing store. Once we're inside it's like kids in a candy shop, I grab jeans, t shirts, tank tops and jackets. I end up spending $250 but I'm not even upset about it. I force the twins out of the mall before we all go broke, we decide on food and then home so we could do homework. On the drive to their house Tia sparks a blunt and I never been so happy to smoke.
"Oh by the way, I took a Uber to the school so I'll need a ride back to my place." Jarell says as we pull into the girl's driveway. "No problem." I can see Tia make a face at me from the rear view mirror and I let out a snort. "See you guys tomorrow! Don't forget prom is in t minus two weeks and three days." They salute me before disappearing into their house. "What's the address?" I look at Jarell who's smiling at me all cute like. Where the fuck did that come from? I think to myself before shaking the thought away. "Actually I was hoping I could come back to your place with you?" Ah fuck it.
When I pull into my driveway I see Stans car there. "My boy!" Jarell gets excited as he exits my car. "Can you pop the trunk? I put my bag in there." I pop the trunk and he grabs his backpack. We head inside finding Nancy and Stanley sitting at the counter. "Hey guys." I greet them and they both smile back at me. "Nancy this is Jarell. Jarell this is Nancy." They shake hands and I notice Stanley wink at me. "We will be in the den." I tell Nancy and she nods.
Once the three of us are inside I shut the doors to the den and make myself comfortable on the window couch. I spread my books out in front of me while the boys talk to each other for a while. I don't know how long I was doing homework for because soon I could smell food in the oven. I hear a lighter and look over Jarell who is holding a blunt in his hand, there four more on the table in front of him. "When did this happen?" I ask as I put my books away and join them by the coffee table.
"Well when you stopped responding to our conversation we let you work, it's been about a hour or so." Stanley says to me. The smell of weed fills the air and I allow it to surround me, the smell has always been calming to me. "Music?" Stanley asks and I point in the direction of the speakers. "They are Bluetooth." He connects and soon the sound of Phora fills the air. I lean back against the couch and wait for the blunt to come to me, I hear the lighter and look over at Jarell who's sparked another and is handing it to me. "We are having our little personal party. One for each of us then one to smoke together." Jarell smiles at his idea.
Nancy knocks on the door fifteen minutes later and says dinner will be done in 20. "Leaves us just enough time to smoke this one." Stanley says. Jarell sparks it and then hands it to me. "Is this why you wanted to come over?" I look over at him as I pass the blunt to stan. "Partly, I wanted to talk to you about something." I nod and leave the conversation alone. Once we're done we join Nancy in the dining room and my mouth waters at the feast she's prepared.
She made fried chicken, baked macaroni, cornbread and greens. She also made fish and rice, I hug her and she laughs because she knows how much I love food. We all sit at the table and dig in to this amazing food. The door bell rings and Nancy goes to answer it, Stanley asks Jarell what he wants to do with his life. "Well right now I'm Vice President of jersey inc." my eyes bulge and I choke on some cornbread. "Vice President?! How old are you?" He laughs at me. "I'm 19, I invested in the company at 16 and worked my way up. The pay was the best I'd ever had and everyone was so welcoming and accepting." I smile at his success and give his hand a squeeze. "That's-" my sentence stops short when I see Donny walk in behind Nancy.
"What the hell?" Stanley rips the words right out of my mouth. "I came to talk to my girl." Donny says confidently. "I'm not your girl Donny. Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of everyone. You know like earlier?" I see his fists ball up but I stand firm on what I said. "Fine. I was wrong for how I acted earlier.. and how I've been acting these past few weeks. You don't deserve that, I hope you can forgive me." He stares me in the eye the whole time. "I would have believed you if you weren't such a liar." He frowns and Nancy smiles at me. "Did you forget I can tell when you lie? Your pupils dilate and then your eyes go from light to dark."
Donny stares at me for a minute before turning and walking right out my front door. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, "excuse me. I'm going to bed now. See you later Stan." I make my way upstairs unable to sit down there with everyone. Time passes before there a knock on my door, I don't answer hoping whoever it is will go away. I hear the door open then close, Jarell appears above me. "Hey.. you okay?" He lays beside me and I turn to face him. "No. I wish he would just be honest and tell me what he wants. Why he lied to me.." I look up at the hazel orbs that have become my haven. "Life has a weird way of working, in due time everything will be revealed. Until then you just have to go with the flow of things." He kisses my forehead, I scoot closer to him and his warmth encases me, soon I'm asleep.
YOU ARE READING
A Ghostly Love
Horror"Come on break a few rules with me." He said as he stared into my soul. "Ohhh no you don't Donny. Last time I did anything with you, I ended up in a holding cell." He looked over at the cemetery behind us and sighed. "Fine, I'll go alone." Next thin...
