excuse any mistakes.
𝐌𝐢𝐞𝐤𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐢 𝐃𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧
𝙹𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴𝚈 𝙲𝙸𝚃𝚈, 𝙽𝙹.
𝐊𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐮
Today 7:55 PM
That's you in that Kia?
Yeah
Delivered
Shortly after, a knock came at her car window, and as she glanced over, she saw Keanu outside. Opening the door, their eyes met, but she quickly looked away, causing him to chuckle.
"What's funny?" Mieke chuckled grabbing her Deep Ocean Blue Small Lady Dior bag.
"You still can't hold eye contact with people." Keanu remarked. He held the door open for Mieke as she stepped out of the car, closing it behind her after she exited, and she locked it.
"Boy, please. I'm a psychologist. I have to maintain eye contact when people are talking."
"Then you still can't hold eye contact with me."
"I held eye contact with you for a good 6 seconds when we first saw each other."
"You looked away though. You look good." he complimented. Mieke glanced at him, smiled, and then looked away, a habit she'd had since they met during her freshman year of high school. Whenever he complimented her, she'd look at him, smile, then divert her gaze.
Handling compliments from him remained a challenge for her, and it amazed him that she was still the same after all this time.
"Thanks, Keanu." She replied softly. "You don't look too bad yourself."
"I know. I look good." Keanu shrugged.
"Still cocky. Some things never change." Mieke said, shaking her head as they headed towards the restaurant. Once inside, they were ushered to a private area, and thankfully, nobody seemed to notice them together amidst the good handful of people in the restaurant. "The view's nice."
"You came here before?" Keanu asked.
"Nope, first time for me. How've you been?" Mieke asked, setting her purse beside her as she took a seat opposite Keanu. "I see you made it to the NFL and the team you always talked about. Congratulations! I'm really proud of you."
"Preciate it." Keanu grinned. "For real."
While he appreciated everyone congratulating him on making it to the NFL, during the draft, all he could think about was how he wished Mieke were there to share in his joy, congratulate him, and express how proud she was. Seeing it happen now made him genuinely happy.
"I been good, just chilling. What bout you? What you been up to? I'm proud of you for becoming a psychologist. When I saw you and processed it was you, I couldn't help but smile. You always talked about wanting to become that, so seeing you achieve that, I'm really proud of you."
"Boyyyyy," Mieke drawled, smiling. "Thank you so much. I've been good, just taking it easy. What have I been up to? Hmm, mostly working and staying inside the house, to be honest."
"You? Inside the house?" Keanu asked and Mieke rolled her eyes "Nah you gotta be partying."
Anyone who knew Mieke in high school would tell you that she was always outside. She attended every party, every event, Just everything. Mieke was just barely in the house. She loved being outside and having fun. To her, staying indoors was fine, but it was only enjoyable when she didn't feel like going out.
"Yesss," Mieke chuckled. "My young and turnt days are over. I can't even remember the last time I went to an actual party that wasn't a family member's birthday celebration or something."
The waiter arrived, and Keanu and Mieke placed their food orders and while waiting for their meals to be prepared, they opted for drinks. Keanu ordered a Dr Pepper, Mieke got water.
"How your sisters nem doing? They good?"
"Yeah, they're doing well. Haveli is pregnant and engaged. Remember Duke?" Mieke asked, and Keanu nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "Well, he and Khouri are dating now. Dakota's in college, studying at FAMU. And you might be surprised, but Bryce is doing good too. He's a big music producer now or something like that."
"I missed a lot. When yall started talking to Bryce? And Haveli pregnant? She the main one that used to talk bout how she hate kids."
Bryce's current bond with his siblings might give the impression that they were always close, but that wasn't the case. He only started talking to them about five years ago. His mom never approved of Derrick moving on and having other children after their relationship, which was her first love. So, she used to act strange, keeping Bryce away and filling his ears with negative words. Consequently, Bryce developed not just a dislike for his dad, but also for his siblings.
"Exactly! Remember how we used to joke that she'd end up being the first one among us to have a kid, and look, it happened. But yeah, we started reconnecting with Bryce like five years ago. My dad added us all to this group chat to try and build a bond among us because he randomly went ghost on all of us and that's when we started talking. He's really cool, and now we're all really close with each other or whatever."
"That's wassup. Whatchu mean he went ghost?"
"He disappeared. After you and I broke up, he and my mom ended up getting a divorce a few months later. I wasn't really sad about it because, as I told you, they needed to divorce. Anyway, my dad was active in our lives initially—picking us up every weekend for a couple of weeks, and we'd all hang out together. Then, he randomly vanished. He kept sending money for a while, then suddenly stopped and went completely missing. There were investigations, and you know how the only way Dakota, Haveli, Khouri, and I would see each other was through our dad, because our moms can't stand each other. So, for the four years he was gone, we didn't talk or see each other. I almost forgot they existed until my dad unexpectedly added us all to this group chat, apologizing and all. The divorce really affected him badly, even though he asked for it. I used to bash my dad to you because my mom always fed me lies, making me think he was the problem, but Keanu, it turns out my mom's the problem."
Derrick and Cyrinna's relationship was incredibly toxic. While Mieke enjoyed going out for the fun of it, a significant reason behind her constant outings was her inability to bear the home environment, where her parents incessantly argued. Her mother, Cyrinna, frequently directed her anger towards Mieke verbally. Cyrinna harbored envy towards Mieke and consistently found ways to project her hatred onto her.
"Didn't I used to tell you that? I told you yo dad got his faults but yo mom ain't completely innocent, especially with how she used to treat you." Keanu remarked. "She still treat you that way? Or you standing your ground?"
"I cut her off," Mieke confidently stated, which brought a smile to Keanu's face. He held his hand up, and she gave him a high five. "Period."
"I'm proud of you, Meeks. You used to talk to me bout about cutting her off, but you also doubted yoself, saying she's your mom and allat. And now, look at you. Youn talk to her at all?" Keanu asked, and Mieke nodded. "That's wassup. You ain't deserve the way she treated you at all."
"Thank youuu. I never thought that day would come, honestly, but she really did it. I cut her off back in February of my senior year. She got me so angry, and I was already dealing with a lot, so I snapped at her. She kicked me out, thinking I'd come running back, but nope—I went straight to my granny's house. She tried reaching out a few times, but I was exhausted from the back-and-forth, so I blocked her on everything. She didn't even get a ticket to my graduation. She was furious and went on a whole rant on Facebook. I read that post and even liked it."
"Nah liking it is crazy." Keanu started laughing. "It's good you ain't fall for her reaching back out to you because she was just gone continue treating you that way. Her behavior wasn't gon change just because you stood firm on your decision. Dakota still lived with her?"
"Yeah, Dakota was still living with her. You know Cyrinna adores the hell out of Dakota. Their bond isn't as strong now, though. After our dad opened up to us about everything, Dakota's liking for my mom kind of increased. And it's not like Derrick was lying. Dakota confronted Cyrinna about it, and that lady admitted to doing it. She has no shame. Dakota told me she was mad when she found out that our dad reached out to us."
"Instead of being happy her kids' father alive and shit and wanna build a bond with them, she gets mad? It's something wrong with her."
"Literally."
"How yo granny and papa doing?"
"How's your family been? I'll share about my granny after you fill me in on yours."
"They good. Chiara's bout to graduate. She's going to the University of Chicago though. We just went to her signing day two weeks ago. Sage bad as fuck now. Chiara's calmed down a lil bit though. She claim she's on this peaceful journey, but that demon of hers still be popping out, so I don't even know what she's talking about."
"Not too much on ChiChi," Mieke chuckled. "Not she's about to graduate already. I'm shocked that Sage is bad like not my lil good boy. How's your mom and Rulo? Ouu, how's my fav?" Mieke asked, and Keanu kissed his teeth, prompting her to burst into laughter. "Boy please not today."
"That nigga still dumb as hell."
"Not too much on Akamu. Is he finally done being a hoe now?" Mieke asked.
"Yeah, he's done. You remember Alena?" Keanu asked, and Mieke furrowed her eyebrows before her jaw dropped in shock. "Yeah."
"Alena and Akamu are dating each other? I thought she was gay. Not even thought, She told me herself that she's gay and wants me."
"When she told you she wanted you?"
"Ohhh..." Mieke drawled. "Alena always used to tell me she wanted me. I wish I hadn't disabled my old Instagram because I could've shown you the DMs of every time she messaged me, saying something like 'you're my girlfriend.'"
"They're both irritating. But my momma and Rulo good though. She used to bring you up every day, but then it started bothering Naomi, so I told her she had to stop. She knew what she was doing too."
"That's good. Who's Naomi?" Mieke asked.
"My baby momma."
"Baby mom? Yall not together?" Mieke asked picking up one of her chicken tenders.
"Meeks you know what you doing."
"What am I doing?" Mieke chuckled, genuinely confused. She just wanted to hear about his romantic life and such. She knew he had a daughter but had never heard about the mother.
"You really ain't been seeing shit bout me?" Keanu asked looking at her admiring her.
"I have. I just scroll past them."
"Wowww." Keanu dragged acting like he was hurt which made Mieke roll her eyes, "She died tho."
"Oh my God I'm so sorry. I really did not know anything about her. I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's cool. You ain't know. I already know you're about to ask how she died because you nosy. She died from a stroke when Skyler was 2."
"Oh my God that's so sad. That's why your daughters in therapy?" Mieke asked and Keanu nodded "Aw that's so sad. I feel bad. No daughter should be growing up without their mom, Shit, No child. How are you holding up with everything? Is the being an only parent hard?"
"It's fucked up. My mom always helping me out. Sky doesn't remember much about her mom. She started asking about her mom last year, and now she's actually going through the grieving process, probably because she's around other kids more, and they're always talking about their moms and shit. It's hard now because she doesn't want to express her feelings, but she in therapy plus we trying out this new thing where, when she's feeling sad, Instead of just keeping it in we write letters to each other. Sometimes she be sending drawings. She loves drawing."
"You're such a good Dad." Mieke pouted.
"You think so?"
"Duh! I always knew you were going to be a good dad. You treated your siblings and my siblings well, and they weren't even yours. Some dads would've just given up. Some of them would've left everything in the hands of therapy, but look at you, using your own methods and stuff. Is it going well for her? Is she expressing herself?"
"Yeah it's going good. She ain't all the way there with expressing herself but she's doing it. You wanna see something she drew me?"
"Lemme see." Mieke smiled, and Keanu pulled out his phone. Keanu handed Mieke the phone, and she smiled.
It was a beautiful drawing of Keanu and Skyler outside on a motorcycle. The drawing had big words that said, 'DADDY, THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING ME!!!!! I LOVE YOU'
"Aweeeeee. She's so sweet. How old is she?" Mieke asked giving Keanu the phone back.
"Six. She's turning seven in may."
"She's a May baby, okay! She draws well for her age."
"Fasho.?So youn got no instagram?"
"I do. You tried looking for me or something?"
"I did. I found you on LinkedIn, but not on Instagram. I thought you had given up on being on social media and shit. I checked Charlotte and your sister's Instagrams, tryna to find you."
"I did, but at the same time, I didn't. I do have an Instagram, but it's private. I'm barely on that app anymore anyways. So, you checked through their pages and didn't find me at all? You was determined to find me huh?" Mieke smirked.
"Fasho. You saw what I did to talk to you? You were on my mind damn near every week, so when I saw you at that office, I was like, 'Nah, I gotta talk to her. I don't care what I gotta do.' I was considering not doing it though because you always avoided looking at me, and that first time we saw each other, there was this look in your eyes, and I won't lie, that shit hurt."
"Really? Oh my God. Sorry. I just really disliked you at the time, but now I don't, so... win?"
"Win." Keanu smirked nodding and Mieke smiled. "You live around here asum?"
"Yes the queen lives here. Why? You must wanna come over and be around the queen."
"Shit, You want me to?" Keanu asked.
"Another time. Dakota is there right now, and I know if she sees you over there, she's going to run with these narratives. She already asked me today if I see us getting back, like, girl."
"Whatchu said?" Keanu asked.
"Why do you want to know what I said?" Mieke furrowed her eyebrows, picking up her cup and drinking water through the straw, maintaining eye contact with Keanu, who was looking at her. "What was said about how I can't hold eye contact with you? That's what I thought."
"You blinked. You couldn't do it. Whatchu said when Dakota asked you that question tho?"
"This is an eye contact contest, not a staring contest. I told her that you and I are a closed chapter." Mieke set the cup back down.
"Closed chapter huh?" Keanu asked.
"That was before you called me at work."
"So what you thinking now?"
"I don't know. My feelings aren't just going to magically come back because we're talking now. Everything I felt for you, it all faded away because of everything that happened. I hope you understand though like I went from hating you because I thought you were apart of that and now I know you weren't. You're still very sexy though." Mieke smiled and Keanu chuckled.
Mieke had a knack for slipping something unexpected into the conversation. Back when they were dating, she'd casually drop comments and then suddenly slide in a compliment about him. It was amusing how that aspect of her hadn't changed at all. Her ability to seamlessly blend in those unexpected compliments was a part of her charm that remained consistent.
"You gone let me change that?" Keanu asked, and Mieke looked up from her plate to meet his gaze.
"What?" she asked, taken aback. "You want to change my feelings not being there for you?"
"Yeah. I know it ain't gone be easy but I wanna rebuild yo trust and create something new between us. It's gone take time, effort, and patience but I'm willing to put in the work if you up for it. I know after what happened it ain't easy for you to trust but I wanna rewrite our story, not erase our relationship but build something stronger from it." Keanu expressed.
"You know this won't happen overnight?"
"I know. I'ma do whatever it takes though. Ion even care how long it takes."
"And what if I don't get the feelings back?" Mieke asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Then we are a closed chapter." Keanu said. He and Mieke held eye contact for a couple of seconds before she looked away.
Mieke was honestly surprised by her own thoughts. She couldn't believe she was actually considering giving Keanu a chance to try and reignite those feelings that had faded away.
Her mind was racing. Memories of their past together, the good times, and the laughter they shared started flooding back. She remembered the connection they had, the comfort in each other's presence, and the way he made her feel.
"Okay." Mieke looked at him and Keanu started smiling which made her smile.
"Okay what?" Keanu smirked and Mieke rolled her eyes while there was a smile on her face.
"I can't promise you anything but I'm willing to give it a try. You could change that."
•••
i'm so mad i can suck peanut butter through a straw rn gn.