Haven't You Heard?

Chapter 11: The Struggles of Love

"How long have y'all been dating for so far?" Prince asks, causing me to snap out of my thoughts.

I look towards him and shrug. "I don't know. Not that long really." I say, beating around the bush.

"Stop beating around the bush. How long have you and Charles been dating?" Prince asks in a stern voice, breaking the last sentence apart each word. I swear this guy can read my mind.

"God, Prince! It's been less than a month." I shout in an aggravated tone.

"The fact that you are now telling me really sucks. But it isn't even a big deal." Prince says calmly. "I think that I'm gonna go now." Prince says before heading towards the door.

I run after him to ask him this question that has been bugging me for about two minutes. "Wait! Are you mad at me? I mean it's not that important, anyway. I just- well I ah... are you?" I stutter.

Prince just scoffs. "I ain't even mad at you. I'm just disappointed and I wish you the best in your new relationship. I will call you later, Patrice. Bye." Prince says sadly, before walking out of my house.

Now I know he is pissed at me because he never calls me Patrice. I don't know how I could have screwed up this bad. But being that it caused my best friend to become 'disappointed' (just another word for angry) in me, then it ain't even worth. As much as I would hate to end this thing with Charles, even though it's been a good relationship this past month, I think that I am gonna have to. But Prince can't be that mad at me, could he?
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Thursday, November 23, 1978, Lé Petité, Los Angeles, CA

I pull up to a little cafe called, 'Lé Petité' and park the car. I walk inside and head towards the table that Charles had reserved for us. Before I walk into his sight, I take in a deep breath.

I need to think about what I am about to do. I am about to screw up my relationship ship just so I could fix my friendship. Now any normal person would say that this is a crazy idea and that the friendship is not worth it to begin with. But I don't know. It's like this, I know that Prince cares because he would not get this mad if he didn't but then again, Charles has also proved that he is actually very sorry for what he has done. But then again, Prince has never hurt me before. So I guess that what I'm about to do is right, right?

I finally walk to Charles' table and he stands up. He pulls my chair out for me and I sit down. He gives me a quick peck on the lips before walking around to his side of the table. "Hey beautiful! How was your day today?" Charles asks as he leans on his fist and smiles at me.

I smile back at him before responding. "It was a'ight but it is better now that I get to see you." I say with a nervous smile.

I am not exactly sure how to bring up a something like this. "Well it's all good now, baby. Oh! Guess what? I even got you a little something something that I think you might just like." Charles as he reaches in the pocket of his blazer.

He pulls out what I believe is a necklace in a little box but it happens to be more. He opens up the box and shows me the heart shaped diamond earrings, the heart shaped diamond necklace and the the heart shaped bracelet. "I got you this because every beautiful girl deserves to be pampered once in a while with some beautiful jewelry. And I also want you to wear this to a dinner that I am taking you to tomorrow night." Charles says with a wide smile.

I can't do this. I thought I could but now I'm realizing that I can't do Prince is just gonna have to deal with this new reality. I mean he literally just gave me some diamond jewelry. Am I supposed to take it and dump him? "Oh my god it's so beautiful, Charles. I really do love it." I say before leaning next to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"And yes I will go with you to dinner tomorrow night but where is it?" I ask. Charles nervously chuckles.

"See, I'm glad you said yes already because if I told you what it is before, you probably would have said no." Charles say. I give him a death glare and then he proceeds to tell me about the so called "dinner date". "It is going to be at red lobster. That will be when you meet my mother and my sister and my brother." Charles says nervously.

"They are here for thanksgiving and they kept on asking me about who's my girlfriend and when can they meet her. My mom said how about tomorrow night and before anyone else could say that they were free or not, she kind of just made that day official." Charles says. "Please tell me that you will still go? Please, please, pleeeeaaaaassssssee?" Charles pleads.

At first, the pleading was adorable but now he is really getting on my nerves with the begging. I don't really want to meet his parents. Every boyfriend that I have ever had, I met only two parents and ended up never seeing those two guys again. I get extremely nervous and the parents usually hate that about me. But if I want Charles to shut up, I guess I have to go. "Fine! I will go. But don't make it all weird and shit. Every experience with my boyfriends parents turns out to be terrible. So I'm counting on God for this one." I say with a slight chuckle to ease the tension.

Charles gives me a tight hug from his seat and starts kissing my face. "Oh! Thank you, baby. Don't worry because this is going to be great. My family will love you. I mean they must. I know I do." Charles says.

Did he just tell me he loves me? I am not so sure what to say back. I mean the normal thing would be I love you back or something. "I have to use the restroom really bad. Excuse me." I quickly say before quickly getting up from my seat and heading to area of the cafe where the phones are.

I pull 50 cents out of my pocket and put it in the phone. I dial the number that I haven't dialed in about three days. "Hello?" I hear his deep voice say.

"Hey peanut! How you doing?" I say trying to start some conversation.

"What did you really call for cause I know it wasn't to know how my day is going?" Prince says with a chuckle.

He definitely sounds like he hasn't forgot about anything I told him. "Well I am- we are just- you won't- you know what? I am gonna call you back later? Maybe even meet you somewhere because I have to tell you something that needs to be said in person. Love you, peanut. Bye." I say as I'm about to hang up the phone.

"Wait!" I hear Prince shout. I hum in response. "Are you sure that your ok? It isn't Charles, is it?" Prince asks.

"It is but not in the way that you think. I got to go but I will talk to you later, peanut." I say.

"You know I love you, right?" Prince asks in a concerned tone. See! It's that same heart fluttering thing that happens when he says that. I may need to go to the doctors to get that checked out.

"I know. And I love you too. Bye." I say before finally hanging up the phone.

Who would have known that this would be so hard. If I knew love would be this way, then I would have thrown it out of the window, along with my heart.

Ok so from now on, y'all have to pay attention closely because it's gonna get confusing up in here. Did we all realize that the year of '78 is almost coming to an end? I could never stay in one year or month for too long so please bear with me here. And also, I really want people to answer the questions below more. I love reading your answers. And if you ask a question in the comments, I will definitely reply. Anyways, please enjoy, comment and vote. Thanks❤️✌🏾

Q-What do you think Prince's reaction will be when Patrice tells him about the date?

A-I think he will be pissed all over again🤔 What do y'all think?