"Hey Dom, can I talk to you about something?" DeAndre says, snapping me out of the peaceful state I was in, forcing me to realize that I've been scrubbing this one dish for the past 20 minutes.
"Yes, DeAndre?" I pull the dish out and gently drop it into his side of the sink before wiping down the counters. "well, you know valentine's day is coming up, and I was hoping you and I could, you know, grab a drink," he looks desperate, hell he even sounds desperate, and I've never seen a desperate DeAndre, so I do what any decent person would do, "yeah, I don't think I'd mind that, just tell me where and when" he looks ecstatic with what my response was, which just confirms what Tony said, maybe I should listen to that boy more often.
"I'll see you around Pierre" DeAndre takes his apron off and heads out, I smile slightly at him. I can't help but think of one thing, the way he says Pierre, it doesn't feel the same as when Toby says it, or maybe it's just me. I don't dwell on this too much though, and not long after, I take my apron off too, and leave, to see the two people keeping me stable right now, Tony and Devante.
"Hey Dom, is dad coming back" Devante says, he looks scared, for the first time in his life I'm seeing him scared, not of monsters or ghosts, but of his father. "no he's not my love, and even if he does, I promise he'll never lay a hand on you" I kneel down and say, wiping a tear from his face. "I'm not afraid of him hurting me, I'm afraid that he'll hurt you, just like he used to" Tony seems startled when Devante says this, mostly because I never told him how violent my father would get sometimes, not that it was any of his business.
Tony's brother, Jamal, awkwardly cleara his throat, before saying "y'all need a ride? I'm catching one with my homies so Tony can use the car for tonight." Tony nods at him, and then takes the keys from him and we leave, almost like we want to forget everything, with my father, but that's easier said than done.
The ride back to my apartment is quiet, rightfully so, we have to drop Devante off before going to that stupid party I said yes to for some reason. The air feels heavy when we walk up the stairs to our apartment, a lot comes flooding in, my mom, my dad, Faye, Dev all of it, it feels like my entire life I've been battling with demons I didn't even know existed, and now they've found me, and I'm scared.
When we walk into the living room, Faye is sitting on the couch crying, "he was here wasn't he?" she lifts her head up to say this, showing her red eyes, "yeah, he was, we took care of it though" Tony says, squeezing my shoulder I'd normally expect Faye to be mad that is in our family business, but instead she hugs him, "I'm sorry I don't know what's gotten into me, it's just if Dom or Dev got hurt, I don't know what I'd do" she says when she pulls away, Tony nods, it doesn't look like the hug irritated him, it's more like he feels for us, which I don't want him to, we'll be fine.
"Hey uhm, Faye" I chase her into the kitchen, "Tony and I are going to this party, so I appreciate you trying to make some tea for us, but we'd love to leave now" she nods her head without turning around, and we leave.
"hold on I'll open the car door for you," Tony says, rushing to open the door for me afer he sees me struggle to open the door on my own, "thank you sir" I say, fixing my eyes forward, "Why didn't you tell me, that you father was abusive? I mean you don't have to, but I just thought we were close enough for you to at least tell me that, you know" he places his hand over mine, and then does his best starting the car with one hand, I wait until the car is moving before I respond "I'm honestly just ashamed, I can easily fight my father off, mom made us take self defense as kids for a reason, but I always freeze, and he ends up hurting me, and I'm ashamed that I let him abuse me" it feels good to get that off my chest, it's been there for a while, and Tony feels like this safe haven I've created for myself.
"when I was five, my grandfather came home late, he was drunk, and he had two young women with him, my cousin was out partying so I was home alone, and without warning, he took off his belt and beat me until I cried, after that, he had sex with these women in front of me, he did this a lot, last time he did this was last year, my point is, I could easily knock the old man out, but I don't either, so it's not your fault Dom, ok?" he's almost tearing up by the time he finishes, which makes me tear up, "I'm sorry that happened to you Tony, you're a truly special person" he doesn't respond, instead he gives my hand a little, and we spend the rest of the drive in silence.
We finally pull up to Toby's place, which looks packed, as usual, red cups everywhere, half naked boys, if hell exists, this is it, but it's also turnt up, and I'm down for that any day. "Glad you could make it, Tony, Dominique, welcome to mi casa" Toby says, looking cheesy and pointing at his house like it's some Hollywood mansion, we all laugh before going in.
"Hey, could I get you two anything to drink perhaps?" Toby says, two red cups in his hands, with god knows what in them, but that's the point, the point is getting turnt up, why? Because we can.
After some time, Toby disappears, and Tony sort of does too, but he stays where he can see me, I know this because I catch him staring a few times. "Hey girl, what's up with you?" Delilah says to me, walking up to me with Tokyo, "nothing much, just DeAndre asked me out, and Tony and I are like besties now.." Delilah and Tokyo let out a loud gasp, "You mean McDonald's DeAndre? The one who looks like a 13 course meal" Tokyo pulls up a chair, she seems way too invested in this, I laugh, "yeah, that DeAndre" Delilah pulls up a chair too, "girl did you say yes? Please tell me you said yes, well knowing you, you probably said no, but he's hot" Delilah talks way too fast for her own good.
"yeah, I said yes" I respond, "but, before anyone gets too excited, I'm just saying yes to see where it goes, that's all" Delilah winks at me, pointing to the dragon ring I always keep around my finger, "he's gonna marry you" she sings.
"who's marrying who?" Toby says, coming up from behind me, "DeAndre asked Dom out," Tokyo says, Toby looks disappointed, but instead of putting that into words, he smiles and says "oh, wanna dance, Dom?" I couldn't imagine what this is about, but I'll never turn down a dance.