NiaJean wakes up the next morning
with the man in the pictures on her mind, her father. She is still groggy from staying up so late
but she starts trying to sort out the thoughts in her head. Thoughts she’s never contemplated
before. She creates a list of questions
in her head that she might possibly ask her mother. She’s still not sure if she should just leave
the subject alone since the man never made any type of impact in her life but
she is still curious. She wonders why it
didn’t work out with him and her mother.
She wonders why he left or if her mother left him. She wonders how often he’s seen her in her
lifetime and why he’s never made himself known to her or her brother. She wonders what really happened. It must be a very touchy subject for her
mother because she’s never wanted to talk about and the few times the subject
may have come up, it is immediately detoured to something else. What did this man do to her that was so bad
that she can’t talk about it over twenty five years later?
Her mind is now filled with
doubt, with confusion with concern and curiosity. She sits and contemplates how she’s going to
bring up the subject to her mother or if she should even try. Before she has time to really overindulge
herself with even deeper thoughts about the situation, she gets a text on her
phone from Sebastian. She leans over and
picks up her phone from the night stand and reads it. “We’re on our way.” She puts her phone back down and tries to
detour her thoughts. She begins
wondering why she hasn’t heard from Brian but tries not to think about it too
deeply where it would lead to depression.
She closes her eyes and tries to rest for a few more minutes until
Sebastian and Sage arrive.
When Sebastian and Sage arrive,
he knocks on the door instead of sending another text letting her know he’s at
the door. She goes down stairs and opens
the door. Sebastian is standing there
with an odd look on his face while Sage jumps in the doorway toward her mother
to give her a hug. Sebastian hands
NiaJean Sage’s backpack and hesitates in the doorway instead of leaving like he
usually does. NiaJean gives him a
strange look and he gives her an awkward smile. NiaJean looks at Sage as she intently
watches the exchange that is taking place. “Sage honey go on up to your room, daddy and I
need to talk for a minute.” Sage looks
at her then at her father and they both look at her as though they are telling
her to go on. She takes her backpack and
heads upstairs. NiaJean steps back out
of the doorway and invites Sebastian in without saying a word.
Sebastian walks in and heads for
the living room. They both sit down on
the couch and find themselves in an awkward silence once again. Sebastian finally breaks the silence. “Look, I meant what I said last night.” She takes a deep breath and says, “Sebastian,
you were drunk.” “I wasn’t that drunk and you know that’s when my true feelings
come out anyway, when I’ve had something to drink.” “Ok so what are you going to do about Sabrina?” “I’m going to tell her I don’t want us to be
a couple and I’m going to break it off. She
can keep it and I’ll do my part but I don’t want to commit to her.” ” NiaJean
looks at him disappointed. “Really
Sebastian?” He looks at her with the
utmost seriousness. “NiaJean, I’m still
in love with you.” She shakes her head
no at him and says, “No, you are not, you’re just scared.” He shakes his head no back at her and replies,
“I know how I feel and scared is not it.
I want you back.” “Sebastian,
please don’t do this right now.” “Do
what? Express how I feel?” “No, add confusion to my life. We’ve been doing fine co-parenting all these
years so let’s just do that and nothing else.
We tried us many times and it didn’t work.” “We were a lot younger; I think we’ve both
grown over the past ten years. Don’t
you?” “Yes, I do but in different
directions. Let’s just leave this alone
for now ok?” “There you go. You are the queen of putting things off and
not dealing with what’s in front of you.
Well it’s not going to go away just because you don’t want to talk about
it now.” “I don’t want what you want! I don’t even think you want what you think
you want!” “I know what I want!”
Sebastian looks her in the eyes
and leans forward to kiss her. She
pushes him away. “Don’t even think about
it! It’s time for you to go!” He backs off.
“Alright, I’ll go.” “Please Sebastian,
just deal with your current situation.
We’re fine the way we are.” He
shakes his head as he thinks about what she said then gets up to leave. He sees himself off while NiaJean sits on the
couch in disbelief.
Sage walks in the living room and
looks at her mom sitting on the couch looking distraught. “Mommy, are you and daddy getting back together?” NiaJean looks at her with an awkward smile hoping
she didn’t hear much of the conversation.
She is unsure how to answer at the moment. “Ummm….”