Harlem's Perspective.
"Harlem! Stop! Where are you going?!"
The sound of the pouring rain almost drowns out Kyree's voice as he follows me out of Tiana's house. I stop storming off and turn to look at him. "I need to clear my head."
"You don't have a car! Where are you going to go, Harlem?" He yells over the rain.
"I'll be back." I respond, not wanting to tell him where I'm going. I turn back around and run off, towards the only place I know to go when my entire world is falling apart.
The conversation I just had with Tiana was the worst. I didn't want to tell Tiana because she's one of the most important people in my life and her approval means everything to me, but, it seems as though she doesn't approve. I mean, what am I going to do without her? How am I going to raise a child without my best friend? I can't do anything in this life without her backing me. She's my backbone.
I run for what feels like forever and finally reach my destination. Soaking wet from the rain, I stand outside of the door and knock on it three times. Honestly, I'm afraid of what I will see when the door swings open, or what he'll say or do, but I'm not sure where else to go. This is all that I know...
The doors swings open and a shirtless Christian opens up. He looks me up and down, confused at first, then he raises an eyebrow at me. "What do you want?" He asks me.
"I didn't know where else to go." I reply, on the verge of tears.
"You always do this shit, Harlem. Come crawling to me when you have no other option. I'm nobody's last resort."
"Please." I beg. "Just let me explain."
He sighs and rolls his eyes, then opens the door slightly more and lets me in. "Let me get you some dry clothes." He says before closing the door and locking it. He jogs upstairs and comes back minutes later with a fresh white tee and some of his basketball shorts. I take off my soaking wet clothes and change into the ones he gave me.
"Now, you said you wanted to explain, so, explain."
"I left because I couldn't handle everything that was going on. You had strong feelings for me that I just couldn't reciprocate and I just knew you deserved better. I'm sorry I left the way that I did but you know when I'm overwhelmed I like to just run away from shit." I explain.
"Well, thanks to you I don't do relationships anymore. Just like you." He chuckles. He walks over to his couch and I follow him, wet clothes still in hand.
"Can I have a bag?" I ask him. "For these." I hold my wet clothes up.
He goes into the kitchen and brings me a grocery bag. I put my clothes and shoes inside and tie the bag up, placing it on the floor beside the couch. I sit down on the couch, a few feet away from Christian and turn to him. "How have you been?" I ask him.
"I'm good. I found out I have a 2 year old son. My store is opening soon so I'm almost out of the streets. Life is good. Now let's skip the small talk, why are you really here?" He asks.
My heart drops when he reveals that he has a son. Things already weren't looking too good, now they're even worse. He's going to think about how he just got thrown into fatherhood and he's not ready to have 2 kids. He's going to throw in my face that I left him. He's not going to want to help me. I shouldn't have came here.
"Actually, I'm kind of exhausted. Can we talk in the morning, please?" I ask him.
"And you want to sleep here?"
"Please?"
"Fine. But you're sleeping on the couch. I'll bring you a pillow and a blanket. And we're talking first thing in the morning so you can get out as soon as possible." He says.
