“Yeah, Pops. You’re right. That doesn’t mean anything, though. Ya dreams get worse the older I get.”
“Not necessarily. I just know when my son is about to do some dumb shit.”
Laughing, I replied, “Well, I’m not about to do anything dumb so…”
“This friend of yours, Pen, you’ve been running behind, what’s the deal with her?”
This was the thing. Just when I was geared up to introduce Pen to my parents, she up and caused me to change everything between us. With as much as they’d heard her name over the months, I knew my parents were more than a little curious about me and Pen. They’d even watched a couple of her games after learning she was the one, I was going to watch play.
“Wait, you had a dream about me and Pen?”
“All I gotta say is, whatever the hell you’re about to do to hurt that girl, don’t.”
I was baffled because why couldn’t it be the other way around? How he figured she wasn’t the one hurting me?
“What you mean? She—”
“You’re about to make excuses,” he interrupted me. “Which tells me you already fucked up.”
“No, I didn’t. She did,” I explained. “When have you ever known me to bring up any woman to you or Ma? Never,” I answered for him.
“So, what’s different about her?”
Sighing, I rubbed at my forehead, removing the tension there. “It doesn’t matter now, Pops. I’on fuck with her anymore.”
“You were just at her game yesterday.”
“And before the night was over, she had a problem, so I dipped. She asked me to stay away from her, so I am.”
As if Pen heard me talking about her, a message from her came through.
Mrs.:Hey. Can you come over, so we can talk?
My fingers weren’t quick to message her back, but I did turn my read receipts on just for her messages. I needed her to know that I was reading this shit. Fuck out of here with them mental games and shit. One minute she wanted me gone for good and the next, she wanted to talk.
“You didn’t answer the question. What’s different about her?”
Mrs.:I know I made you mad. I just want to talk and clear the air between us.
“Do I need to put ya mama on the phone, so she can pull whatever it is outta you?”
Chuckling, I replied, “Nah, Pops. On some real shit, I was really feelin’ Pen even though we were only friends. When she’s not being mean as fuck, she’s a dope ass person. I wanted you and Ma to officially meet her and everything. Shit was just busy with her schedule. In hindsight, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. No need in getting Ma’s hopes up if it ain’t anything serious.”
“My son having a female friendisserious. Sometimes we forget you’re grown and want to be all up in ya business, but we’ve been patient when it comes to Pen. We were sure you’d be bringing her by at some point. Ya mama didn’t want to push, and for once, I was happy she minded her own damn business.”
We both busted out laughing.
Mrs.:Zeus… I see you reading the messages.
Me:You don’t get to call me that anymore.
“Well, it’s good things didn’t go far,” I stated.
“I don’t know the circumstances, but just like that, you’re done with her?”
“No choice but to be done with her. Some shit you gotta let go and realize it wasn’t for you.”
“In your case, she wasn’t for you.”
