Self-Made

Chp 22 (pt 1)

You've been ignoring my presence for damn near three months on end, and you wanna know how I've been? I was pissed.

I scoffed before responding. "I'm doing fine, with or without your help. Bye."

His voice boomed through the reciever. "Taylor, you better not hang up on me."

I rolled my eyes at his use of my middle name. Sighing, I placed the phone back to my ear.

"I know you're upset with me, and you have every right to be. But you won't disrespect me."

"You mean like you've been doing to me, right?"

"Camille-"

"I know I was wrong to drop out of school, but am I really such a disgrace of a daughter that you had to disown me, daddy? You usually support me in everything I do. And for you to just disregard my entire presence was wrong."

He sighed before speaking. "You're far from a disgrace, sweet heart. I just wanted what was best for you."

"Is my happiness not what's best for me?"

"Your mother and I worked our behinds off, years on end to ensure your happiness. You know that."

I was silent, and he took it as an opportunity to continue. "I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did. I would never do anything to purposely hurt you. I just want the best for you."

I felt my eyes begin to water, but I blinked the tears away, sniffing.

"This isn't a conversation meant for the phone."

I felt as if my feelings couldn't be properly expressed 900 miles away.

"Of course. We can meet for lunch tomorrow, and resolve all of this."

I gently bit my lip. "I can't. I'm out of town for work until next week."

"We'll meet for lunch next Tuesday, then."

Silence was shared until he spoke again. " I know I haven't been much help...any at all. But you seem to be doing just fine on your own."

"I am."

"I can tell. I'm proud of you."

Although we hadn't officially resolved the situations, we had spoken, and I was grateful for that. No matter what, I'd always have love for my father, and I actually anticipated seeing him. We talked for a while longer, and when we hung up a few minutes later, I couldn't help but smile.

I stood, tossing my phone on the bed, and making my way over to my suitcase. Rummaging through it, I glanced up at the sound of someone knocking. I dodged the various amount of clothing and shoes that littered the room in my attempts of finding correct attire. It took me damn near two whole minutes to make it to the other end of our big ass room, where the door was located.

Standing on my tip toes, I looked through the peephole before unlocking the door and turning to retrun to my clothing endeavors. Gio followed behind me, closing the door.

"I heard that you and Ant have a date."

I shook my head, tossing unwanted clothing onto the bed, smiling. "It's not a date."

"You seem unusually excited."

I held up a black romper, and she shook her head, frowning. I tossed it into the pile before continuing.

"My dad called."

She slightly smiled, and her eyes widened. "Y'all fixed shit?"

I couldn't help but to laugh. She was just like August. Unable to get out a full sentence without placing a cuss word in between.

"No, but we plan to once I get back. It felt so good to hear his voice, Gio. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed, but-"

I turned my body towards her, and I couldn't help but to notice that her smile had dropped.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I ws just gonna ask you to watch T.J. for me."

I chuckled. "Oh. Well, it's no big deal, I'll just reschedule with my dad."

"Nah, it's alright. I'll just ask Trim's mama.....Where are you and Ant finna go?"

Ignoring how quickly she'd shifted subjects, I shrugged. "I don't know. He wouldn't say. He just told me to dress casual."

She turned up her nose. "Like I said. A fuckin' date."

I laughed, rolling my eyes. "The furthest thing from one. I'm not tryna get into all that with August, again. I just wanna focus-"

"On your money, yeah, I know. You use that same lameass excuse every time."

I scoffed at her, holding up a romper, and she shook her head, frowning. I sat it back down, facing her completely, placing my hand on my hip. "Excuse me. Was it not you who said that I didn't have to be worried about him? That I could just get my money, and focus on myself?"

She frowned her face up at me. "I never said that bullshit."

"Oh, but you did." I held up a cute, semi-formal dress and she nodded. I smiled, satisfied, before prancing off to the bathroom.

"Say what you want. Y'all niggas want eachother in the worst way."

A/N: Okay, so I'd posted this once, before, but it somehow got deleted, and only a certain part of it posted. So I had to basically recreate the same exact scene from scratch. I don't believe I left anything out, though.