*The next day*
Surrounded by books, workbooks, study sheets, and papers on my bed, I try to get some extra credit work done before Jafaris comes over to take me for lunch. My mind is still spinning with Zakia's betrayal. I personally could not believe she'd do something like that. But, Jafaris is right. They have changed since I have been gone.
I've yet to tell Jafaris why my sister acts the way she does around him. Or why she didn't approve of my dating him. I'll be sure to bring that up at lunch in a few minutes. I tell myself as I do a double take at the clock on the t.v. guide channel.
A FEW MINUTES! SHIT! I jump up and frantically go through my closet. "Damn it. I'm washing clothes." I go through my drawers and find the dark blue Juicy Couture jogging suit and my dark blue Nike's in the closet.
The doorbell rings and I hear my mom invite Jafaris in and telling him that I will be down in a minute. I open my room door to see Zadia standing there. Yeah, my heart skipped a beat and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
"Zadia, excuse me. I have got to go." I try to get past her without touching her but she won't move.
"I don't want you to go." She whines.
"And why not?"
"I...uuh...need help with my math homework." She says nervously.
"No, you don't." I gently move her by shoving her out of my way. I finally make it by.
"You can't go."
"Why not? Did father or mother say I can't?" I turn to her. "You know you always say that but then you never give me a real reason. You just say you don't. That's it. Nothing else." I fold my arms.
"I can't tell you why. Can't you just trust me on this? Trust that I know what I am talking about on this?"
I sigh and think about what Zakia has done. "Sorry, sis. I am going with my own feelings on this one."
"You'll be sorry." With that, Zadia leaves and goes into her own room and slams the door shut.
I shrug my shoulders not caring about her attitude problem. I make my way downstairs and greet Jafaris with a hug.
"I'm gone, Mom!" I yell at her from downstairs.
"Alright! Be safe you two." She yells from upstairs.
"We will." We say and then leave.
We end up at the River Walk. We get out and start walking.
"After this, we can get something to eat." Jafaris suggests as he takes me by the hand.
"That sounds great."
"So, your sister. Zadia. I heard her giving you shit before you came down the stairs."
"Yeah, she was. Since I started dating you, she's been acting completely bonkers. I wanted her to tell me why but she never does. She just makes another statement that leaves me more confused than the last. I want to know what the hell is going on."
"I can give you the answer to that."
I listen.
"Before I went to rehab, I was out running the streets and all that. Making a bad name for myself. Your sister, Zadia took a serious liking to me, thinking I was one of those dumb thugs that dealt drugs and had a lot of money."
"You didn't?"
"I wasn't dumb. But, I did have money. But, I chose wisely on what type of female to spend it on. If they just wanted shit and did nothing for themselves, then no. I didn't find them worthy of my money. Zadia was one of those girls. I mean even if she kept herself up that would have helped but she didn't. She only fixed herself up when she knew I was taking her somewhere nice and expensive."
"What do you mean by keep herself up?"
"Meaning bathing or combing her hair. Deodorant. Those things, the basics. But, she..." He scrunches his face up in disgust. "didn't and I could tell. Everyone could tell. For some reason she always smelled of wet dog and ass. We dated for all of three months, no sexual interaction."
I nodded and figured that it had something to do with that. "So, what happened afterwards?"
"She tried to smear my name. She started these dumb rumors that weren't true. Sum it up, she took the break up hard. I think she was trying to get me to commit." He shakes his head. "One of her friends at the time told me that she was thinking about marriage already."
My face twisted up a little, remembering that Zadia always wanted to get married young and live happily ever after. "Did you tell her to try and fix herself up?" I skip what I wanted to ask.
"I did. But, she always thought I was talking about make-up, high heels, and tight ass outfits." He smiles. "Though, that is attractive and a turn on to me, if she isn't comfortable with wearing that, then I won't force her."
I sigh.
"She's gotten a lot better over the years. I finally think she got what I was talking about."
"Dang. I know why she was smelling bad." I turn my head.
"Why?"
"She had something wrong with her underarms and she got depressed. We all had it. Zakia's just went away. But, I and Zadia had to have surgery. She didn't want surgery because she was scared. It took her a few years to convince her that surgery was fine, on top of that I had to go first to show her that I was okay."
He shakes his head, "you had it and you didn't smell like that."
"Because I tried my best to hide it. I didn't want anyone saying I stink or calling me names. I cared too much about what people thought and said back then." I find myself defending my sister.
"Well, still. It wasn't just that either. I also don't tolerate lies or any type of cheating. And it just seemed as though that's all she did. Lie and cheat. I am not sure how she is now. But, that's probably why. She's probably still upset about what happened or jealous."
"Maybe. I feel horrible." I hang my head.
"Why? No."
I stop and lean on the railing, looking out at the river. "Because I feel like I came back to strangers. Zakia lying to me about Seth. Now Zadia being jealous because I have something she had. I don't understand it."
"Well, I know you don't really want to just write them off like we talked about earlier. So, maybe you should have an intervention with them. Everything out and on the table. Nothing is off limits along with emotions. Just get it all out."
"That sounds like a great idea, Jafaris."
He hugs me from behind. "I want you and your sisters to be close again. Especially when you've told me stories of how close you guys used to be."
"Yeah. We used to be thick as thieves."
The rest of the evening with Jafaris, all I could think about was how to do this intervention with my sisters. I know it has to be a complete surprise. Jafaris said that I could even use his car. And since I got my driver's license in Rehab, I thanked him. He didn't seem to mind the talk of the intervention, he even threw in some ideas that I should try to do. 782Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51gNvpNltl
