The Baby They Bonded Over

Nadia rolled her eyes, “Are you fu*king kidding me? Listen to yourself! First of all, that time I was late for work and needed a ride was because you had my car towed the night before and refused to get it out the impound lot! Jeremy wasn’t magically in the neighborhood. He was the only friend I have, who wasn’t at work already, able to come and get me. I was still late to work! And when I was sick? I didn’t call him. Sylvia told him I was sick even though I had already asked you to take care of me. But I bet you don’t remember what you said when I asked you!”

“What?”

“You told me that you couldn’t afford to get sick because it would slow you down at work. But, come to find out, you were off that week and lounging with that bi*ch Keisha! Yeah I know about that because her messy ass threw it in my face the very next week when she came in to get her hair done. So Jeremy, knowing way before I did, the kind of asshole that you are, sent over his cleaning lady with some soup to help me get better. Why? Because that’s what friends do! And as far as my mortgage goes … the only reason it was late was because I had to pay the fu*king impound lot all those damn fees since you were so adamant that you didn’t park in front of that hydrant, which is why my car got towed in the first place! Notice how all of those times Jeremy swooped in to save the day was because you had already dropped the ball? Our relationship ending was your fault and your fault alone. I’m not going to explain anything else to you and better yet, I don’t have to because I’M NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND!”

Nadia slammed the door in his face and waited to hear him leave her steps before she peeked through her side window. She watched as Jeremy and Sylvia pulled up. They jumped out the car. Sylvia ran up to the door while Jeremy and Paul began exchanging words. Nadia opened her door and ran outside to try and diffuse the situation. Paul and Jeremy began a shoving match as she and Sylvia ran up to break them up.

Paul pushed Jeremy back first. “Yo, back the fu*k up off me! No, Nadia! No! Don’t open your door now! Go back inside and wait for me to bust his ass! Don’t come out here now trying to listen to what I have to say!”

“This isn’t about listening to you! This is about stopping Jeremy from wasting any more of our time on you! Jeremy, let’s go inside. He’s definitely not worth it!” Nadia pleaded with Jeremy while Sylvia tried to pull him back toward the house.

“Another day, another time brother,” Jeremy yelled as he was pushed into the house.

Paul simply yelled, “Yeah whatever brother.”

The feelings of rage Paul felt in that moment were enough for him to go out and hurt somebody, but he made a better decision and just went home. He thought about the conversation he had with Nadia the entire way, and seeing her tear up just solidified his position that he needed to get back together with her. He didn’t care what she says. Her actions said that she still felt something for him. He’s not going to give up that easy.

Sylvia searched up and down the street making sure there weren’t any photographers around to snap pictures of that argument. Last thing Jeremy needed was any more bad publicity regarding this entire situation surrounding Paul’s stalker like behavior. Shaking her head, Sylvia followed the new couple into the house after assuring herself paparazzi wasn’t hanging around.  She looked at the two of them having a calm discussion about what just happened. The moment they were sharing was something different that she’d never seen in them. They actually care for each other and it scared Sylvia that this fake relationship they were orchestrating just may ruin something real between them. She needed to figure out how to end this catastrophe before it blew up in all of their faces.

“Listen guys,” Sylvia disrupted their conversation. “I know I said I would back you guys in this decision, but-”

“But nothing, Vee!” Nadia stopped her before she could finish. “You said you were going to support this because you know how much I need Paul to be gone. You saw how he was just now.”

“I know what I said, but I just feel like you guys are making a mistake. Love is something to cherish and to hold on to, not to fake and make a mockery of. You two are playing with something that shouldn’t be played with. Forget about the pregnancy, what about you? What do you think happens when people start faking they’re in love with each other? Eventually one of you is going to catch real feelings and then what? I can’t have my best friend and my sister hating each other because of a situation that went too far.”

“You’re being unbelievably selfish right now, Sylvia. I know how you feel and I agree with you to a point, but Jeremy and I have been friends for a long time. We have love for each other and that won’t be ruined. If anything we’ll get a long even better because once again, he’s coming in to save me from Poor Choice Paul.”

“You guys are talking about me like I’m not standing right here,” Jeremy mistakenly intervened between the two sisters arguing.

“Shut up, Jeremy!” they both yelled at him. Jeremy shook his head and sat down to finish watching the dispute.

“That’s where the problem is, Nadia and you don’t even realize it. You’re so used to Jeremy coming in to save the day that you don’t see that this time you may actually be his downfall. You guys can’t see what I see from the outside of this sh*t storm looking in. The only thing to come out of this will be heartache.”

“You want us to be so miserable like you. Just because you’re scared to love Amy entirely doesn’t mean you get to judge this. This is working. This is going to get rid of Paul for good. This will make Jeremy and I even closer as friends and you can’t stand the thought of losing your best friend to me. But guess what? You can keep him. As soon as this is done, you will have your best friend back. I will not have him in any more tabloids or blog articles. He won’t be fighting to defend my honor anymore.  I’ll make sure to never call him for anything ever again after this,” Nadia ranted sarcastically.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Sylvia snapped.

“Okay, enough!” Jeremy barked. The anger in his voice got their attention and their silence as he spoke, “Sylvia I know what you’re worried about but this isn’t up for discussion. Either you’re with us or you’re not. This doesn’t work without you. We need to get this together for Nadia. And as for me, I’m going to be here for her until Paul lets her go. You can’t change either of our minds about this. And in all honesty, this is going to happen whether you want it to or not because I am a man of my word. I told Nadia I would do this for her so I will. What are you going to do?”

Sylvia smirked admitting defeat when she said, “Say I told you so when this sh*t blows up in y’all faces.”