She sighed into the phone. “That sucks, but I get it. Is everything okay, or…”
“Everything’s fine. My mother’s just still not satisfied with me staying here. Naturally, she’s using my father to try to force me into submission.” The thought of him coming here to bully me pissed me the hell off.
Sam was quiet.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I’m really starting to think you should listen, AJ.”
I shook my head in protest although she couldn’t see me. “Not happening. I won’t be the cause of you dropping out.”
“I’m not dropping out! I already told you I’d just go to a local school until we could come back here…together,” she said desperately.
Her sentence trailed off and I heard the fear in her voice that she’d so bravely fought against since finding out the truth about my life. She wasn’t supposed to have to worry about me or be contemplating dropping out of school for me.
“AJ, please…I’m scared for you,” she admitted, her voice shaking when she did.
It wasn’t until that very moment that I actually considered going home a real option. I sat there listening to the woman I love sniffing back tears through the phone and it broke my heart. This was my fault. No, I didn’t want things to go this way, but at that moment, I felt like telling her everything had been just as big a mistake as I thought it would be.
“Just say that you’ll really listen to what your father has to say tonight and you’ll think about it.”
For Sam to be taking my father’s side on this was eye-opening. I stared at the wall in disbelief that not even a full month after finally getting to Charleston with Sam…I was thinking about packing up and leaving again.
*****
Sam
Terrell sat in the desk chair patiently while I paced back and forth between my bed and Deanna’s. The last time I talked to AJ at around eight o’clock, his father had just called to say that he’d nearly made it and should be here by no later than 9:30. For whatever reason, I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. To make matters worse, AJ wasn’t answering my phone calls.
“And you can’t go over there, why?” Terrell asked for the fifth or sixth time.
I sighed. “Because his dad is probably there by now, and I already told you our history. That’d just be a bad idea.”
Terrell nodded. “Well…want me to go?”
I looked at Terrell and deliberated. “No…okay, yes…I don’t know. I don’t want it to seem like I’m checking up on him.” Which was true, but I still had a bad feeling that just kept persisting.
Shaking his head at my indecisiveness, Terrell sat quietly.
“Okay…go ahead,” I finally decided.
Without hesitation, Terrell stood to his feet and headed for my door just as his phone rang.
“Hang on one sec,” he said to me just before answering the call. “You’re on your way up now?” He asked.
That had to be Maisha, and it didn’t make sense for Terrell to have her waiting here while he ran over to AJ’s when I could just go for myself. When he ended the call I was already pulling on my boots.
“I said I’d go; it’s not a big deal. You can just keep Maisha company while I run over there right quick,” he offered.
“I can handle it. If I hear him and his dad talking, I’ll come back. I just need to make sure he’s ok.”
Terrell would never understand why I was so concerned without knowing what I knew about AJ’s current situation. When he saw that I was determined to do this on my own, he backed off.
“Well…just call and let me know everything’s cool when you get back.”