𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑
"Nyla, what i'm supposed to do, bro'?" Deion panicked, cracking her knuckles with a flushed face from being scared. "Calm down, Dee. Your period is probably just late."
"I haven't had it in two months and they keep sayin' that I screwed that boy at Cori party." Deion fell to her knees, placing her hands over her face. "What if i'm actually pregnant, Ny?"
"Chill. You're not pregnant. I don't see a bump and you're not having any symptoms. Are you?" Nyla asked, only making Deion's panic worsen.
She was having almost every symptom in the book. Random nausea, frequent urinating, stomach cramps, extreme hunger, not liking any of the foods she normally liked and she could smell anything from a mile away.
"Okay, i'm not gon' tell you that you not pregnant 'cause I don't know now." Nyla said after Deion had explained her symptoms to her. "Damn, Dee. All that? What if you are pregnant."
"Oh, man." Deion whined, laying on her back before she began crying. "It's gon' be okay, Dee. We don't even know if you're actually pregnant. We can go get a pregnancy test or sumn'." Nyla suggested.
"No! That's basically giving into believing that i'm pregnant. I don't want to believe that. I'm not pregnant!" Deion spat.
"Okay, girl. But if you are, can I be the god mommy or are we doing an at home abortion?" Nyla inquired, making Deion sit up and give her a death stare. "Imma' stop talkin' now." Nyla placed her index finger over her lips.
"Hey, what's goin' on?" Dane entered Deion's room, making her immediately wipe her face. "Uhhh. Dee's going through a bad break up right now." Nyla stood up, quickly making up an excuse as to why she was crying.
"Oh. Well, you didn't tell me you had another boyfriend. You good? Can I do anything to help?" Dane inquired and Deion shook her head no. "Okay well, Nyla ya mom's outside."
"Okay." Nyla let out a nervous breath. "Bye, Dee. Feel better. I'll see you at school." Nyla gave Deion a hug before exiting her room.
"Now, you ready to tell me what's really wrong?" Dane stepped into her room, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Huh?" Deion frowned.
"I been raising you since you was six years old. I know when sumn' wrong wit' my child. Now, you ready let me know wassup?" Dane titled his head at her.
Deion huffed, sitting next to Dane on the edge of her bed. "I think i'm pregnant." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Please say something."
Dane's first instinct was to shout, "what the hell?!", but he wanted his daughter to always feel comfortable with coming to him about situations like this and yelling at her wouldn't make her more uncomfortable than what she already was.
"Okay. Why you think you pregnant?"
"I don't remember. I got drunk that night at Sancori party and blacked out. People keep sayin' we went in the bathroom and—you know, but I don't remember any of that."
"Who is we?"
"Me and this dude. I—I don't even know who he is. I think his name is Pop or something like that, I don't know. I don't remember anything." Deion began crying out of frustration.
"I promise i'm not a hoe, dad. I was just drinking irresponsibly and I got carried away. I just don't remember anything."
"It's okay. Do you have his number or sumn'? Maybe we can call him? See what's goin' on? Or we can go to the store, i'll get you a pregnancy test."
"I—Pregnancy test?" Deion was cut off by her mother, Carly entering her room. "Pregnancy test for what? Who pregnant?" Carly folded her arms over her chest.
Deion looked at Dane, hoping that he would speak up for her. Carly scared Deion sometimes; she was so strict. Before Deion went to Carly about anything she'd go to Dane first.
"I just know Deion ain't pregnant after she been runnin' wild wit' them hoodrat friends of hers that I told her to leave alone. I just know Deion ain't pregnant!" Carly shouted.
Deion lowered her head, looking down at her feet before her tears began to fall again. "Helloooooo. You don't hear me talkin' to yo' fast ass?"
"Alright, Carly. That's enough. Everybody makes mista—mistake? That ain't no mistake, she been doin' this stuff. Now she gon' suffer the consequences."
"Like I said, she made a mistake!" Dane shouted back. "You act like you never did anything bad as a teenager. We can discipline her, but not like this. This, this is toxic parenting. We ain't on that."
"Maybe toxic parenting is what she need 'cause clearly the other parenting ain't working. You sittin' here pregnant." Carly spat.
"Bro', shut up and just let me handle this 'cause you not makin' it no better." Dane said, seeing Deion was now sobbing. "We don't even know if she pregnant yet, bruh."
"Dane, she's clearly pregnant. Let's—Get out!" Dane got in Carly's face. "'Cause you ain't understand what I said the first time, so get out. Imma' parent my daughter how I want. I got this." Dane forced Carly out of the room before slamming the door in her face.
"Aye, aye. Look at me. Look at me." Dane told Deion, making her look up from her lap with red, puffy eyes. "You gon' be 'ight either way. Okay? Stop cryin'. Daddy always gon' make sure you straight. Do I not?"
Deion nodded, sniffling and wiping her face of the tears that dampened her cheeks. "Okay then. Stop cryin'. Imma' go get some tests from the store. I'll be back. I love you."
☀︎︎
"NO NO NO NO NO." Deion stumbled as three of the drug pushers dragged her to the back room.
"Gotchu' right where I want you." One of them smiled, rubbing his hands together.
"What we doin' first, boys?" The other asked, looking at the other two hungry, desperate men while little Deion shook in fear.
Suddenly, the garage door sprung open as the flashing lights of a large truck blinded them. Three gunshots fired off to the hearts of the three men and all of them dropped dead.
A shadow began running toward Deion, making her scream in fear. "Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm not a bad guy." Dane said, approaching Deion.
"I got you. Come on. It's gon' be okay. Come on." Dane said and Deion allowed him to pick her up and place her in his truck safely.
That night, Dane and Carly took Deion into their home and from that day forward, they treated her as their own child.
The adoption papers couldn't make them any closer; They were family before and after signing the papers that made them her legal parents.
☀︎︎
While Dane went to the store, Deion took it upon herself to call the phone number that was left in her notes, thinking that it would get her somewhere in this mystery.
"Hello?" Deion said as the other end of the call picked up. "Yo, who this?" The boy on the other end of the call answered. "Hey, I don't know if you remember, but i'm the girl from Sancori's party."
"It was plenty girls at that party, baby imma' need you to be specific." He said, making Deion find familiarity in his voice.
"I'm the one that everybody keeps saying you screwed in the bathroom. Do you remember?"
"Oh, yea. I don't remember that but niggas swear we did. You remember anything? I was drunker than a skunk, we probably did."
"No, I don't remember anything but, the thing is, i'm kinda' having a pregnancy scare right now." Deion lowered her tone to a whisper so that Carly couldn't hear her. "I never had one of those before."
"Watchu' mean pregnancy scare?"
"Like my period hasn't come in two months. I get nauseous like three times a day, I have to pee almost every fifteen minutes, and my senses are much stronger." Deion explained to him.
"Ah man."
"Yea...."
"You ain't been doin' it wit' anybody else before or in between the day of that party?"
"No, I been celibate for a year and three months." Deion paced back and forth in her room.
"Okay, umm. Can we meet in person? 'Cause I still don't know who you is or remember what went down that night, but apparently sumn' did. So, maybe we can talk about it more in person. You took a test n' stuff?"
"I'm about to in a little."
"Alright, text me and let me know what it say. You cool wit' meetin' up?"
"Yea, yea. Wait. I don't even know who you are. What if you're a murderer. You a whole stranger. I don't even know your name."
"What nigga you know finna' sit here and entertain this bull? Man, is you cool wit' meetin' up or not."
"Okay, fine."