I'm rushing home as fast as I can. What's going on with Leah? . . why is she crying? That girl is a bundle of emotions. I park the car and walk inside. Ariana is sitting on the couch. . she gets up walking over to me. "She's upstairs crying her eyes out . . . but before you go up there I really wanna know what you were doing at Carli's house. ."
I take off my coat and shoes and open a bottle of beer first. I'm really not in the mood to argue with Ariana right now . . but the look on her face tells me that I couldn't dodge this conversation with her, even if I tried. "Tell me!" She continues, looking right at me, waiting for an answer. "I will check on Leah first if you don't mind" I say, heading towards the staircase. . Ariana stops me from going up there. She's holding on to me, giving me that look. I turn to her. "Sweetheart, there is no reason for you to get upset, ok? I went there for Corey . . . why are you making such a big deal out of this?"
"I don't know! . . I'm confused, ok?! . . I'm sorry for what I said about Corey . . of course I want him to come with us . ."
"Are you serious?" I ask, feeling relieved.
"Yea . . . I mean . . I still have a lot of warming up to do but . . . of course I'm ok with it, he's your son . . I'm sorry I got crazy"
"It's ok . . ."
"But I don't like the fact that you went over to Carli's house . . . ."
"Ariana . . . why are you acting so jealous?"
"I'm not acting jealous . . . I just wanna know . . ."
"I went there for Corey . . . not for Carli . . . get that through your pretty head, alright? . . I love you! there's no need for you to worry . . . but I am worried about Leah right now . . ."
"Yea . . . she's a mess . . . I have no idea what's going on with her . . . she came down crying out of nowhere, asking for you . . . I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't tell me a thing"
"Alright . . . I'm gonna talk to her . . . I love you . . . you know that right?" I say, looking at Ariana, waiting for her to form a smile. "I love you too, Michael" I give her a kiss and run upstairs to Leah's room. I can hear her crying. I open the door and walk inside. She's on the bed, hugging her pillow. "Princess? . . I rushed home for you . . what's the matter? why are you crying?"
"Anthony broke up with me, dad . . ."
"I'm . . . I'm so sorry to hear that, Leah . . ."
I take a seat on her bed . . she's crying so hard. . her mascara is running. I take her in my arms and give her a kiss on the top of her head. "I really loved him, dad . . I did! I trusted him! . . you know what he did?? . . he went out with that whore Cassandra . . . Cherelle told me . . she saw them together at the mall . . . I confronted Anthony over the phone . . I called him and asked him why he was with Cassandra . . . he got really mad at me and hung up . . . I called him back asking him why he hung up on me and that's when he told me didn't love me anymore and broke up with me . . . ."
"I'm so sorry, baby girl . . . . but there will be other boys . . there's plenty of fish in the sea"
"But I want Anthony! . . . I loved him, dad!" Leah says, hugging me.
"I know you're hurting . . . a break up is always a painful thing to go through . . . but now you have time to focus on yourself. You don't need a boyfriend to be happy, ok? . . boys come and go . . it's your family that's always gonna be by your side . . . when you're old enough, you will find the right person to share your life with . . . Anthony wasn't the one . . . but that's ok . . . because there will be other boys . . ."
"I don't want anyone else . . . I want Anthony . . ."
"Now you say you love him but that's gonna change, I promise you . . . one day you will wake up and ask yourself why you even fell in love with him in the first place . . . a human heart is very sensitive . . . take care of it, ok? . . love yourself for a change . . . be a good girl . . do good in school and when you are happy, good things will happen to you"
"Dad . . . I'm wearing his hoodie! . . because it's the only thing that makes me feel close to him right now . . I wanna be close to him . . I wanna talk to him and tell him how much I love him. ."
"Take it off and throw it in the trash . . . he broke your heart, didn't he? . . . he doesn't deserve your tears, honey . . wearing his hoodie will not help you feel better . . it will make you feel worse . . ."
"I'm feeling the worst I have ever felt, dad . . . there is no cure . . . I'm just gonna sit here and drown in my own tears . . ."
"Leah . . please look at me"
She slowly looks up at me. "What?"
"You are a beautiful, young lady . . any boy would be happy to have you"
"No . . . I'm not pretty . . compared to Cassandra I'm a nobody!"
"Why would you say that, Leah?"
"Because she's gorgeous . . . she's perfection . . I'm not surprised that he's got a thing for her . ."
"Leah . . you're every bit as pretty as Cassandra is . . . I'm sure of that . . . Anthony is young. . he's too young to know the value of a woman's heart. One day his heart will be broken too and then he will realize that breaking someone's heart is not funny . . . because it hurts . ."
"Yes it does . . . my heart is hurting so bad, I can't even breathe . . . ."
I lay down on the bed . . Leah is laying on my shoulder, sobbing like crazy. "Your heart may be broken now but a heart can be fixed"
"No it can't, dad . . . not mine . . . mine is destroyed . . ."
"I have a heart and I went through so much in my life and it still works! . . your heart is strong enough to get through this . . you'll soon be happy again and you won't even care about Anthony"
"Maybe . . . but not right now . . . I really miss him . . ."
"I know you do, sweetie . . but that pain will go away . . sooner than you know . . . trust me"
"Thank you dad" Leah says, cuddling up to me. I kiss her on her forehead. "Dad . . I know I'm grounded and everything . . but . . I think it would really make me feel better about myself if I could get some new clothes . . . ."
"Get new clothes? . . . need I to remind you that you recently bought a ton of clothes with my credit card money?"
"I know . . . but I want new ones . . . whenever I feel down, shopping for clothes makes me feel better . . ."
"You really mean that?"
"Yes . . . can you take me shopping tomorrow after school? . . ."
"Ok . . . if it really makes you feel better, we can do that"
"Thank you daddy . . . thank you!!!"
"You're welcome . . . now get ready for bed . . it's a school night"
"Ok . . . . I love you, dad"
"I love you too . . . . night night"
________________
I walk downstairs . . Ariana is in the kitchen reading a magazine. I sit down on the couch and check my phone. I have 2 missed calls from Carli . . . should I call her back? I walk out to the backyard and decide to call her back. Not sure what to expect from Carli right now . . she was acting really weird today. I dial her phone number and wait for her to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Carli . . . . you called?"
"Yes . . . umm . . . Corey told me about the vacation . . . going to Switzerland sounds lovely!"
"Good to know! . . happy you like the idea! . . I still have to break it to Ariana and the rest of the family . . I think she's expecting us to go somewhere tropical . . but Corey really wants to go to Switzerland and I want to make that wish come true for him"
"Michael . . . you have no idea what this means to me . . . Corey and I have went through so much struggle . . . money-wise . . . and taking us on this vacation with you means the world to me . . . I just cannot put in words what your generosity means to me . . ."
"Hey. . . don't worry about it . . it's my pleasure to take you all on this vacation, Carli"
"I've really been struggling with money . . . I work so much just to make ends meet . . I can't afford nice things . . not for me and not for Corey either and it breaks my heart . . I just want you to know that I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart, Michael"
"Don't even mention it . . . . it's my pleasure"
"I love you Michael . . . and I mean that in a friendly way . . I really do love you . . . ."
"That's really nice, thank you Carli . . .me too . . of course I love you too . . you and Corey"
I look to my right and my heart freezes. . . she scared me . . . Ariana is standing there and she's mad. "What did you just say?" Ariana asks, walking up to me. Before I get to answer, she takes the phone out of my hand and throws it out of our backyard. "WHAT THE FUCK, MICHAEL?!"
To be continued . . .