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chapter three:
decisions, decisions
"SO you really leavin'?" xavier's girlfriend asked, watching him walk towards the door with his friend, cameron, with bags full of his clothes and other items they had in their hands.
after days of consideration, xavier finally decided to move him and his things out of the apartment he stayed in with hailey. it was a tough choice, but he had to in order to move on from what they had.
he started the packing process the day before, taking all day to pack each and every item he had. it was an exhausting task, but he pushed himself to complete it. he wasnt going to stay with hailey another day.
xavier and cameron put the bags of his belongings in the trunk and backseat of cameron's car. as cameron closed trunk, xavier went back inside to grab the last few things he had. hailey tried to stop him in his tracks, but he pushed past her.
"why you gotta leave, xavier? I'm not understanding." haliey said, grabbing him by the forearm and turning him around to look him in the eye.
" 'cause I'm not about to stay with somebody who cheated on me, hailey." he answered, snatching his arm away and grabbing his last few things to take to the car. "don't worry 'bout me no mo'. I'm done witchu."
she looked at him in disbelief as he left without saying anything else. she was too speechless to put up the fight she wanted. she didn't comprehend why he'd throw away all of the years they spent together just because of one incident, but xavier comprehended very well. he wasn't going to stay with her, for it would only give her the green light to keep doing what she did over and over again. not only that, but he'd clown himself endlessly for tolerating it.
xavier made it to cameron's car, tossing whatever he had in his hands into the back seat, and he closed whatever doors that were left open. he sat in the passenger seat and ran his fingers through his locs in anger and frustration.
now that he moved out, he had to find a place to stay, and possibily a whole new source of income. his job payed him somewhat okay, but he went 50/50 with hailey when it came to rent, so relying on his bi-weekly pay check wouldn't have been enough for him. he just knew he wouldn't be in the right head space to work for a while anyway, so quitting was a decision he planned on making. he had alot on his plate
that he now had to get rid of. he just didn't know how he'd do it just yet.
"you can stay wit' me 'til you figure somethin' out." cameron said, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I got more than enough room in that big ass house. I could use some company."
"I ain't gon' get in the way of you and yo' girl?" xavier asked, remembering that cam would bring his girlfriend over during certain days of the week.
"nah, nah. not at all."
xavier nodded as cameron pulled out of the parking lot of the apartment complex. he felt tears swell in his eyes, mind rambling on and on during the car ride. he was hurting so much, continuously asking himself why she'd done him the way she did.
his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out to see who it was. he stared at the phone for a while, debating on whether or not he should answer the facetime call that he was receiving. he wasn't in the mood to talk, but he didn't want to be rude. after seconds of debating, he blinked his tears away and answered, seeing the face of angel appear on the screen.
he was knocked into a trance-like state, forgetting all of his troubles when his pupils landed on her. angel looked gorgeous. her hair was done perfectly with bouncy curls in it; her makeup enhanced features on her face beautifully. her lips, his favorite feature of hers, were lined with a brown liner and topped with a soft pink tinted gloss.
the way she looked always had him feeling some kind of way, and the look in her eye was something different. she was something he had never seen or expected to come across.
"hey, handsome. you doin' alright?" angel asked and he nodded his head in silence, not being able to answer verbally due to how stuck he still was due to her beauty.
"nigga who is that?" cameron asked as he pressed on the break at a red traffic light, and he looked over to look at xavier's screen. "how you bag that, nigga?"
xavier smacked his lips and mugged cameron as angel laughed at the comment, and his friend quickly looked away from him.
"I was callin' to see if you were free in the mornin' at ten. if not then maybe we can reschedule for the day after, or the weekend." she said while roaming around her home.
"to go out?" he asked, receiving a 'mhm' and head nod from her. "yea, I'll be free."
"okay, suga', I'll see you tomorrow then. same place, right?"
"yes ma'am." he answered, and cameron's head jerked back in response to his reply.
"alright, baby. I'll talk to you later." she lastly spoke and blew him a small kiss.
he nodded silently and the call ended. cameron took quick glances over at his friend with a 'really' expression on his face, leaving xavier confused.
"nigga said yes ma'am. the fuck is wrong witchu, man?" cameron finally spoke up and xavier scratched his head while looking out of the window ahead. "you just pissed me off."
"what else was I 'posed to say?" xavier asked, gallic shrugging and cameron shook his head in disapproval without giving a response.
the two arrived at cam's house after some time. they got out of the car and unloaded the vehicle, bringing in xavier's belongings bag by bag, item by item. luckily, he didn't have too many to bring in, so the boys were done after a few minutes or so after going back and forth from the car to his guest bedroom.
"you can put all your shit in the these drawers. don't lay in the bed yet, though. I gotta wash the covers and shit." cameron said before walking out to leave him be.
xavier's frowned, having an idea as to why he said what he said. he shook it off and started unbagging his clothes, folding them and putting them into drawers. once he filled one, he moved onto the next.
the night grew and he finally finished. he had moved over to the bed to sit on since he feet got tired, moving the covers and sheets off of the spot that he wished to sit on before cam took them to wash and dry them. he stood up and stretched his limbs while letting free a yawn. he was tired and ready to go to bed.
before he decided to take a shower, he picked out an outfit for tomorrow so he wouldn't have to rush doing so last minute.
he was a bit scared to go out with her if he was to be completely honest. he had trust issues, so he didn't trust her fully though he genuinely wanted to go out with her. he had a small fear that she'd do something he didn't appreciate, or maybe use him if things did go further than what he expected.
he also felt that maybe he was moving too fast with bringing another woman into his life. he has just broken up wit hailey not even a full week ago and he was already on to the road to befriending the next woman. it didn't feel right to him.
but maybe he'd be able to dismiss any negative feelings and enjoy himself tomorrow. it was something he needed.
LAYING on her back, angel rested in bed as she watched tv. her hand stroked her feline's fur as she slept peacefully on her tummy. angel loved times like these, because they were so calming. they also made her realize that maybe she was better off without a husband and children, and staying some sort of cat lady for the rest of her life. it seemed much better than waking up to others bothering her all the time.
the doorbell rang, making coco jump a bit. angel shared soft 'shh's to her, comforting her to let her know that she was alright as she sat up slowly, holding the baby close to her body. she placed her feet onto the floor and stood up, making her way to her front door through the dark home. the doorbell rings ignited again and she huffed heavily.
she opened the door to see marvin standing there. she looked at him with a mean, angry look.
"we don't ring doorbells after the sun goes down, you know that marvin." she said lowly and he looked at her with confusion evident in his expression. "my baby's tryna sleep, doofus."
he smacks his lips and waves her off before saying "that lil' ass thang'll be 'ight. she got all day, everyday to go back to sleep."
angel rolled her eyes, walking away from the door. she turn on lamps in the living room to create a dim lighting for the two, then told marvin to sit down on the couch. she locked her door as he followed her directions, and she turned back around, staring at him.
"you had all day to come. why are you just now gettin' here?" she asked in the same, low and calm tone as before.
"I had shit—" he was cut off by her pointing at coco, who was shifting in her arms, and he sighed. "I had shit to do, my love." he answered in a lower tone.
"whatever, marvin. just say whatchu gotta say so I can go to sleep." she said walking over and sitting on the same he sat on, leaving a huge gap in between them.
"well, y'know, I've been runnin' the business for a while, and I'm lookin' forward to expandin' it." he began, earning low 'mhm's from angel. "but I can't 'cause there's kind of a rodent in the pack that I'm tryna get rid of."
"and who would that be?" she questioned, catching onto his figure of speech.
"I was thinkin'.. maybe.. ice." he hesitantly stated, referring to one of the guys that worked for him.
"and why you say that?"
"he's just been.. movin' funny. and everytime money go missin', he go missin' as well an—"
"so get rid of him." she said bluntly and he looked over at her as if she was stupid.
"it ain't that easy, ang'. if his body drop, the police get to barkin' and I ain't havin' it." he said, being visibly distressed at the idea of havoc being caused due to the possible scenario.
"let me take care of it then."
"but what if it ain't him? that'd just be a waste of time, baby."
marvin didn't want to risk getting rid of someone that most likely wasn't guilty. taking someone out was something you couldn't take back at all. once it's done, it's done.
the room fell semi-quiet. the only thing that kept the room from being completely quiet were the sounds from the television that came from the other room. she could tell that he was stressed out, but didn't know how to console him. even if she did rub his shoulder, or more, he'd still walk away with the same problem in his hands.
"it's like ever since you left, shit's been hectic for no reason." he began to ramble, more to himself. "niggas gettin' besides themselves, stealin' from me.. it's gettin' ridiculous, man."
during their relationship, angel helped marvin run his business a bit. having her input, along with her being hands on with things, kept him going and actually have stability with what he had going on. when she left, he lost balance. he was left with an amount of stress he couldn't fathom until now.
he looked at her in silence and she blinked blankly at him. she could tell in his eyes that he was going to ask her something, so she started shaking her head in disagreement.
"no, I'm not doin' it again. I told you I was done with that." she said referring to working with him again since she knew that was what he was going to bring up.
angel vowed to herself that she wouldn't get involved in what marvin was up to. she did it before and it brought nothing but anxiety to the table for her. she also had her own things going on. she didn't want to mess up anything that was going on in her own lane.
"c'mon ang', I need you." he begged, and she held some sort of a digusted frown upon her face. just for a little bit.
"find someone else to do it, 'cause I aint doin' it." she said, making him huff heavily out of defeat.
"at least check ice out for me, okay?"
she nibbled on her inner cheek, pondering about whether or not she should do it for him. she didn't like deep diving into other people's business. she was a 'one and done' type of girl. she also didn't like to see marvin in a mood of sadness. it didn't spark any sympathy or empathy that she could've shared with him, but seeing him in a sad state made her annoyed in a way.
the nigga was always sad about something.
"..sure, but you owe me, marvin."
- 𝐌.