Fault

Chapter 11

We pulled up to a huge mini-mansion on the corner of the block, right off North Avenue. The neighborhood seemed safe, wholesome, and full of well-to-do families. Ever since I was younger, I've always been taught to be aware of my surroundings. Most importantly, I was always urged to let SOMEONE know where I was, or at least who I was with at all times. Because this was my first time at Jeremy's house, texting both Mone' and Tionna the information to my whereabouts was my first order of business.

My first thought when entering the home was that it was alluring, but smelled entirely of weed. "Here we go again with the smoke," I thought to myself. Everything was decorated beautifully, but not how you'd think a young bachelor would have it. This was unmistakably not the home of a single man. 

As we made our way up the steps, I heard the loud voices of a group of people. This was uncomfortable for me because for one, he told me he had his own place, and secondly, he never mentioned anything about having company over.

When we rounded the corner, I began to take notice of the many family pictures on the wall. None of them were of Jeremy, his mother or the one sister he had told me about.

"I thought we were going to your house?" I asked stopping dead in my tracks. I refused to take another step without answers.

"Yooooooooooo, Jeremy! Wuddup fooley!" said a voice from a room to Jeremy's left.

"What's good, Cuzo! Check it out, this is my girl Shi Shi."

"How you doin'? Nice to meet you," He said with a quick nod as I peered into the room.

"This is my cousin Terrence, and behind him are my cousins Shayna and Sienna."

"Oooouuu, Jeremy she's so pretty! Where you find her?" Sienna said with a smile. She was a cute chocolate girl with a thick Chicago accent.

"Hey Y'all, thank you!" I said bashfully.

"Wachu on Jeremy?" Terrence asked. He was busy playing a video game that never lost his focus.

"Aw nothin', I just stopped in to shower, then we're about to go grab some food from the taco joint."

"Oooooh I want some tacos too, lemme grab my shoes!" exclaimed Sienna. Shayna jumped up too.

What the hell was happening? It was nice to meet his people and all, but to be completely blindsided by all this was unnerving. Thanks to Trey, I was no longer the type of person who trusted everybody's company. This was a new side of Jeremy that I needed to figure out. Even Stevie Wonder could see that things weren't adding up.

I sat with his cousins while he took a shower and freshened up. There was nothing shy about these people, and they made sure to ask me a million questions about myself. In the end, they turned out to be cool as hell, which allowed me to let my guard down a bit. Sienna was 19 like me, Shayna 18 and Terrence was 22. I learned from them that the house actually belonged to their mother, Jeremy's second cousin. She had won a medical malpractice lawsuit involving her youngest daughter years ago. The girl was now wheelchair bound and entirely dependent upon a home-care nurse.

It was difficult to mask my disdain about being slightly deceived once again. When I told them about Jeremy's claim to the house, they all laughed hysterically and simply brushed it off as if his behavior was typical. Jeremy was such a fun person to be around, but the small lies were becoming problematic. What was it about me that made him feel like he simply couldn't come straight out with the truth? The thought was interrupted when he casually walked into the room lookin' and smelling like all things wonderful.

"Y'all ready?"

"Yeah!" Everyone said in unison.

We had a great time, but it was difficult for me to address the untruth about his living situation. It wasn't until he dropped me off later that night that I was able to confront him through text. I wanted to do it privately face to face, but his cousins never left our company.

"Why did you lie to me?" I texted.

"Huh? What did I lie about?" He replied.

"You told me you had your own place, but that's really your cousin's house. Why did you lie? You don't even have your own room! Your cousins told me you sleep on the floor..."

Typically, his responses came immediately, but after about an hour, I sent another.

"I want you to know that I'm not judging your situation, I just wanted to understand why you told me a lie, that's all...Call or text me back!" Was my final message.

I didn't hear from him again at all that night...