Luckily for me, I didn't cry myself to sleep. After leaving Dre's, I ordered myself a pizza to lift my mood and spent the rest of my night hauled up in my room with homework, getting my mind right listening to the radio. But I still woke up the next morning with my energy on a low.
I pushed through my mood, throwing on jeans and a sweater, styling my braids, and throwing on some shoes. I wasn't in the mood for breakfast, so I just grabbed a bottle of water, leaving the house after grabbing a jacket.
Locking the front door behind me, I let out a breath, tugging at the bottom of my sweater, turning around only to freeze, seeing Q's car parked in my driveway.
Oh no.
I crossed my arms as I watched him get out of the car. "This is not what I meant by space."
"I know, I just decided not to listen." He responded. "Can you get in the car, please?"
"Quincy, I'm really not tryna do this today. I don't even know what to say to you." I admitted.
"Okay, then we don't have to. I won't even talk to you on the way to school."
"Then what's the point?"
Quincy clearly was not prepared for the type of rejection I was giving him, it showed all over his face. "I love you." He weakly defended. "And I'm tryna make it right."
And he really couldn't let that be on my terms?
I mentally debated with myself for a minute before slowly starting to walk to his car, getting in the passenger's seat, putting my backpack in the back like normal.
"I got you breakfast." He spoke, handing me over a McDonalds' bag.
"Oh." I opened the bag, inspecting the contents, pulling out the hash browns as he started to drive.
Quincy kept his word and didn't speak to me the whole drive. He just played the radio and focused on the road ahead of him. I caught him occasionally glancing my way as I ate, but I didn't want to be rude and call him out.
At least he was trying.
The ride was slightly more awkward on my end, seeing I genuinely had no idea what I wanted to say to him. It was something that kept me staring at my ceiling before I was able to fall asleep. I said what I said in my emotional and angry rant, but I didn't know what I wanted to say in approaching a civil conversation.
Did I want to be invasive and ask every question under the sun? Or take what I already knew and be fine with it and move on? Did I want to angrily and sternly threaten I would leave him if he wanted to be dishonest with me again? Or let him hold me while I cried to show him how much he hurt me?
I just wanted to handle this all the right way.
But I had no idea what that was.
Quincy parked in the student parking lot, leaving us sitting inside in silence for a minute. "You hate me?" He suddenly asked, making my head snap to him.
"No." I shook my head. "I'm just... disappointed, I guess. I don't know." I reached in the back and grabbed my backpack. "We'll talk later okay?"
"Yeah." He agreed, and I just slipped out of the car, putting my backpack on, and walking into the building. I threw away the empty McDonalds bag and made a beeline for Mr. G's, glad to see Nicki already inside, chatting with Mr. G with a smile.
"So?" She asked, looking to me. "How'd it go? What'd he say?"
"That she wasn't lying," I replied with a huff, taking a seat, placing my backpack on the seat in front of me.
YOU ARE READING
90s Love
General FictionSet in California in the 1990s, follow Janae in her journey of navigating her high school life in an environment where it's easy to slip through the cracks. And the love she found along the way that stayed by her side through it all.