When Different Worlds Collide ✔️

Enough- Erik's POV

Erik's POV-

There was nothing that made me happier than when Kat was happy, and I mean genuinely happy. I hated to admit it, but those times were few and far between. She always had so much going on in her head. She always had so many things that she was worried about. Her weight, her parents, her worth... It all brought her down and made it hard for her to genuinely enjoy the moment that she was in.

That was why I was so ecstatic to see her having fun and being happy. Her and Nia were talking to some of the other girls about Nia's designs, though I was sure that Kat was more so talking about the business aspects of the shop. Earlier, she had been running around playing tag with some of the little ones from the block. Even when I first went to go pick her up, she was just... happy. She had an air of acceptance around her that I had never seen before. It was absolutely spectacular to see.

"She's doing better than last week," Chris commented as he stood beside me as I watched her from several feet away.

"Yeah, she had a rough week," I replied and turned to see my mom and some of the other women setting up the food on some long tables that they had set out for the occasion.

That meant that it was almost time to eat. It was the one thing that I was worried about with Kat. I just hoped that it wouldn't trigger her enough to ruin the good day that she was having.

"I'm glad that she's doing better. I don't know how she has done it... But I'm pretty sure that she just got adopted by the whole block, by the way," he replied with a laugh.

"For real. When you said that you were bringing her to Thanksgiving, I thought that the annual Thanksgiving block party was going to eat her alive and make her want to leave. Instead, Kat has earned some serious brownie points and is pretty much loved by everyone," Darius said incredulously.

"You doubted her charm?" I laughed.

"No, for real..." Carter agreed. "She's adorable. I don't know how anyone could ever dislike her."

Unfortunately, that left a bad taste in my mouth because the very people who were supposed to love her, disliked her and made her feel like garbage. Everyone that she grew up around except for just one or two people has treated her with disdain and anger.

"Imbeciles..." I muttered.

"What?"

"Imbeciles... Those are the only ones that dislike her," I said.

"I feel like there is a lot to unpack there..." D commented.

"You have no idea, and it's way too much for Thanksgiving," I replied just as Kat looked up and met my eyes. She smiled at me and excused herself from the girls' conversation.

"Talking about little ole me?" She asked as she approached us all with a grin.

"You're pretty full of yourself to assume that," Chris joked.

"It's not full of oneself when it's exactly what you were talking about," she replied.

"You don't know-"

"Baby?" She asked with wide eyes and an eyebrow raised, looking cute as hell.

"You know that you're practically all I talk about, Kat. Of course, we were talking about you," I answered her with a laugh and put my arm around her easily.

"You're annoying," Chris told me as D and Carter made whipping noises from behind me.

"Not to me," Kat defended and kissed my cheek.

"That's not that great of a compliment. You're annoying too," Chris joked with a loud laugh.

"At least I've got a girl," I shrugged.