𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑
"The hell." Dane mumbled to himself as stepped into his home, hearing loud wails escape from Deion's mouth. "Deion?" He quickly threw his keys down before jogging up the wooden stairs.
The loud wailing triggered Dane so much. It hurt to listen. The cries were similar to the way she was crying when she was kidnapped, which made him vigilant. "Deion!" He shouted, immediately going to his daughter's aid as she sat in the floor almost in a pool of her own tears.
"Deion," He said a little more gently before grabbing her by her arms and helping to her feet but she collapsed in his arms. "I can't do this." Deion cried. "I don't want to do this."
"What's wrong, baby?" Dane grunted picking Deion up off her feet, carrying her bridal style before gently placing her on her bed.
Not receiving a response, Dane went on to examine her body, making sure her and the baby are okay. He placed two fingers on the pulse of her neck, feeling her pulse beat rapidly. "Okay, you need to calm down." He told her.
"Deion. Deion." He snapped at her, grabbing the panicky girls attention. "Breathe. Look at me." Dane said before demonstrating an inhale and exhale for her. "Breathe." He told her, gently before hearing her sniffles calm down.
You can say that both of them relaxed after the breathing exercise because Deion crying was making Dane anxious as well, but he stayed calm for his daughter. "Okay. Now," He placed his hand on top of hers. "You can tell me what's wrong. You know that, right?"
"I don't want it gone but I want it gone. It's too much and I—I feel like..." Deion trailed off, holding her head before bursting into tears again.
"Hey. Hey. Hey, look at me." Dane grabbed her face. "You just overstimulated right now, okay? You just need a nap and you'll be fine. It's just the hormones, baby. I understand you're going through a lot right now but imma' need you to lay down and relax your nerves." Dane ordered her, lying her down on her side and tucking her in bed.
Her father's calming hand stroked up and down her shoulder, prompting a sudden rush of slumber to overtake her. It seemed as though all of her worries vanished as she slept.
"When you gone learn to be a dad, Dane?" Carly interrupted his thoughts, making him turn around, looking at her lean on the door frame with her arms folded. "You acting like she's your fuckin' friend. That's your daughter. Act like it! " Carly yelled.
A frown came upon Dane's face, looking at Carly like she was crazy. He took a quick glance at a sleeping Deion before looking back at Carly. "I understand y'all 13 years apart in age, but you chose to be her dad! Not her broth—aye. Aye. Aye!" Dane cut Carly off, snapping at her, making her hush in milliseconds.
"Don't you see my daughter sleeping? Is you crazy?" He spat, getting in Carly's face. "She's our daughter." Carly folded her arms over her chest, keeping the same tone, which made Dane push her out of Deion's room and shut the door behind them.
"Well you damn sure ain't actin' like it. You treating our daughter like she a thug off the streets. It's not about bein' her friend, Carly. It's about making sure our daughter is okay above anything else. You too trapped in that toxic cycle of the way yo' parents was parenting you. Did that not mess wit' your mental? Get outta' that!"
"I ain't the happiest that my sixteen year old is pregnant, but what more can we do besides tell her things that she already knew? The least we can do is comfort and be there for her. Don't make this a dreadful pregnancy for my baby. You hear me?"
Carly rolled her eyes, storming off downstairs. Dane scoffed shaking his head and turning around to step back into Deion's room.
Deion slept for over four hours before awakening from her slumber. Her father spent the whole time waiting for her to wake up while lounging on the sofa in her room. All he was doing was making sure she slept soundly and that Carly didn't wake her up.
"You up?" Dane groaned, sitting up and stretching before removing Deion's baby pink fur blanket from over his body. "Mhm." Deion hummed in response, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Feel better?" Dane sat on the side of her bed and she nodded in response. "Good." Dane muttered, wiping the crust out of Deion's eyes. "You know...while you was sleeping, I had some time to think and I just thought about how I don't know who yo' baby daddy is."
"Oh you know him alright. You just don't know that he's the daddy." Deion groaned, standing up to go to her connected bathroom to brush her teeth and Dane frowned. "I think you'll be pissed if you found out who he was."
"Well, the older you get the more I learn to rise above wit' you. You've made a lot of stupid decisions in your lifetime; like that time you cut yo' hair when you was eight 'cause you wanted a buzz cut? Yea, that was stupid. I can take it. Hit me." Dane leaned back on her bed, resting on his palms.
Deion stepped out of the bathroom, frowning with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "Alright, that was unnecessary." She said, going back into the bathroom and spitting her toothpaste out.
"My bad." Dane chuckled. "But, who is he?" He inquired. "You know the boy that I was fighting that one day when you came outside and saw him and his friends on our porch? Yea, him."
"What?" Dane scrunched his face up. "See. I knew you would be mad." Deion slapped her thigh, continuing to brush her teeth.
"No, i'm not mad. But, it's just like, outta' all the niggas on the block, why him?" Dane cringed. "I told you it was alcohol. If I was sober, he woulda' been the last person I chose to end my night with."
"If you was sober, ending yo' night with somebody shouldn't be on yo' mind at all." Dane went back into daddy-mode. "Right." Deion shrugged sarcastically.
"Don't play wit' me." Dane stood up, going into the bathroom and squeezing the back of Deions neck, making her raise her shoulders to her ears. "Okay!"
"I'm finna' go to work. Call me if you need me, okay?" Dane said and Deion nodded in response before he left her room.
About an hour later, Deion found herself downstairs making a full course meal. She was starving and all she could think about was hurrying up so she could stuff this food down her throat.
In the middle of stirring her pot of homemade cheesy mashed potatoes, her phone began to ring as she receiving an incoming call from Armani. "Wassup." She quickly answered the call before going back to stirring her pot.
"Yo." He said and silence took over the other end of the call. "What?" Deion rolled her neck, growing impatient with him not saying anything. "Fuck is you talking to me like that for?"
"Cause why you callin' my phone and not sayin' nothing for? That's irritating. You just pissed me clean off."
"I'm outside." Armani simply said, ignoring the fact that she was upset. "Outside my house?" Deion questioned. "Nah, i'm outside yo' liver like Ms. Frizzle and the magic school bus." Armani slickly remarked.
Deion jerked her head back before rubbing his slick comment off. "What you bein' outside my house gotta' do with me?"
"Nigga, it's yo' house and i'm here for you! Is you dumb?" He yelled. "I was being sarcastic, dummy!" She replied.
"I'm finna' take you to meet my parents. Let's go." He ordered, causing Deion to turn her face up into a mug. "Yea, absolutely not." She chuckled, continuing to stir the pot. "I ain't askin'." He chuckled, returning the same energy.
"I gotta' get ready. You know, take a shower and stuff." She placed the wooden spoon on the rectangular glass bowl that rested on the stove before turning it on low. "Ain't no time for a shower nigga. Hurry up." He rushed.
"Would you rather me go around your family stank as a football team?" She slickly remarked, taking the frozen spinach bag and banging it against the counter.
"Well I would hope you not stank as a football team without a shower. If you do, I highly advise you to seek a doctor and quickly."
"I don't even know why i'm goin' back and forth with you like i'm finna' go anywhere wit' you. I'm finna' hang up. Goodnight."
"Deion. I swear on my grandkids toes—." Before he could get his threat out, the call ended making him huff in anger.
❥
About five minutes later, she heard the loud engine of a car fade in the distance, making her assume that Armani had left.
A couple minutes later, the house alarm sounded, letting her know that somebody had just came home. "Daddy? You home early." She said walking out of the kitchen and looking down the hallway only to not see her father anywhere in sight.
"Lets the fuck go, man." Armani said, startling Deion, making her let out a small scream before holding her chest.
"How the hell—how the hell I got in here? Y'all back door unlocked, do better. Now let's go. I ain't playin'." He grabbed Deion's wrist before basically dragging her, causing her to lose her balance and fall.
"Dang. Forgot you pregnant. Get up. My bad." He leaned down, trying to help her to her feet but she swatted his hands away. "Move!"
"Okay, you get up on yo' own, humpty dumpty." Armani placed his hands up his hips, watching her stand up on her own. "How you even got past the dogs?"
"Them niggas was knocked out. Now go do whatever you gotta do, and get ready." He shooed her away before pushing her to the stairs. "Stop. My daddy crazy and he kill people." Deion said in attempt to get him to leave.
"Mines too, love." He began dragging her upstairs. "Which one yours?" He kept a grip on Deion's wrist. "I'll open every door in this hallway." He said when Deion didn't answer him.
"That one. Dang."
-
"Oh my goshhhh." Armani dragged. "Deion, hurry up, bruh." He began growing impatient with how long she was taking in the bathroom.
"Pussy fat, thighs thick like cold grits. Trick, i'm Yung Miami who you fuckin' wit'?" He mumbled, standing up from the bed and entering Deion's walk in closet.
"BITCH. Where the Shisa?" Armani held his hands up in a shrugging manner before looking around. "Lightskin, no belly, i'm Pop." He turned around, skipping to her nightstand before rummaging through the drawer. "Trick a nigga. Smoke all his Reefa." He pulled a couple pads out of the drawer.
"City girl shit. Nigga swipe the visas." He began throwing the pads into the air like it was money. "I get them racks—Pop." Deions voice startled him, causing him to jump.
"Wassup." Armani responded, quickly hiding the pads under the covers, looking at Deion slightly peep her head out of the bathroom. "What are you doing?" Deion asked with a mug.
"I was just..." Armani trailed off, looking around. "Investigating." He shrugged. "Why you playin' with my pads?"
"What? These?" Armani took the pads from under the comforter and held it in the air. "Yea..."
"You ain't gone need 'em for a while anyways." He shrugged, going back under the blanket to retrieve the pads and place them back where he found them.
"You finna' piss me off. Can you pick out an outfit for me?" Deion asked, being irritated from his childish actions.
"How you gone say i'm pissin' you off then tell me to pick an outfit out for you? I ain't nobody slave, nigga." He said and Deion just gave him a blank stare. "But, I got you brodie. You 'bout to be dripped out." He rubbed his hands together, crab walking back into her closet, making Deion roll her eyes and continue what she was doing in the bathroom.
"Oh, yea. This hard." He pulled a onesie out by the hanger. "Ain't this them things y'all be twerkin' in at sleepovers?" He asked, but didn't receive a response. "Aye, Dee!" He shouted her name.
"What?" Deion responded, peeping her head out of the bathroom. "This hard ain't it?" He laid the outfit out on the bed. "Bitch that's pajamas! Armani, please don't irritate me." She frowned.
"Ohhhh." His mouth formed into an oval, picking the outfit up off the bad. "Y'all be twerkin' in 'em like it's an outfit." He shrugged, hanging the onesie back up, making Deion scoff and go back into the bathroom.
Armani finally began thinking critically before he pulled out a white cropped tank top. "Okay. Okay. We startin' off good. This just the foundation." He mumbled, cautiously laying the shirt on the bed.
He went back into the closet and pulled out some hunters green sweat shorts before laying it out on the bed. "I ain't tryna' have her lookin' like a stud, nie." He mumbled, scratching his head before looking back in the closet at her shoe collection.
"Alright." He spotted out a pair of Air Force "Alright." He nodded, grabbing the shoes and leaving the closet. "BOOM." He threw the shoes on top of the bed before following up with a frown.
"That shit look lame." He kissed his teeth, twisting his hair before going back to look in the closet. "Ouuuu. Ouuu. Ouuu!" He geeked, spotting an emerald green cap hanging up on her wall.
Oh, yea. That's pressure right there." He said after gently laying the hat on top of the outfit. "That's pressure right there." He repeated with his hands on his hips, nodding.
"And, then, uh." He trailed off, going to her jewelry rack that was placed on her dresser and taking a couple of gold necklaces and bangles off the rack and placing them on the bed. "And some of these too." He pulled a pair of white Nike socks out of her sock drawer as well before placing them on the bed.
"Aye, Dee!" He shouted. "You gotta' see this cuh'." He placed his hands on his hips with a loud grin. "My, my, my, my, my, my." He began shaking his head.
She peeped her head out the bathroom, examining the outfit. "Why do you have shoes on the bed, Armani?" She inquired and he went silent before taking the shoes off the bed and placing them on the floor. "Pass me the stuff, bro'." She huffed, becoming more annoyed at the sight of him.
He trembled with fear, grabbing the clothes, jewelry and shoes, handing her everything one at a time. About five minutes later, she stepped out the bathroom with her makeup done and outfit on.
"Whewwwwww." Armani geeked, fanning his hands before jumping in circles. "That's so pressure!" He dusted her off, making Deion let out a small chuckle. She didn't really want to laugh because she was planning on staying mad, but he was too funny.
"Can you help me put my necklaces on? My hands too slippery from my lotion." She held her necklaces up before Armani grabbed them and went behind her to clip them around her neck before slapping the back of it, making her hiss and quickly throw a punch at him.
Frankly, she missed as Armani stepped back and started chuckling. "Lets go before I turn you every way but loose in here." She grabbed her beige crossbody bag, turning off the light in her room.
❥
"Why you being so nice?" Deion inquired as Armani opened the car door for her, allowing her to get out. "My mama told me pregnant hoes get emotional, so I gotta be extra nice." He shut the door before clicking the lock button on the remote twice.
"Bitch-."
"Come on. Let's go." He cut her off before she could even start. He didn't want to hear it.
𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃