Destined

36.

"Who the hell is this?" My mother asks me, she hadn't even given him the handshake he offered.

"Jayon," I say his name once more.

He gulps slightly.

"What is he? Not your boyfriend I hope," she says irritably.

"Mom," I sigh.

No, he wasn't completely my boyfriend but he was someone that I definitely would want to be in my future. We had never made it official, and now it was gonna take me some time to get used to being around him again. I just hoped him meeting my mother wouldn't mess anything between us up, because we were already having problems as it was. She just didn't need to make it worse.

Her birthday was tomorrow, the Fourth of July. I'm sure that's why she brought so many bags of food, she was throwing a family barbecue to celebrate two holidays in one. Our family barbecues we're always special.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way, but I am extremely fond of your daughter. I would do anything for her, and I mean anything," Jayon looks into my mother's eyes, I could tell he was telling the truth.

"Anything huh?" My mother glares at him slyly.

"Yes," he answers.

"I think the question I should be asking is what have you already done for my daughter?" My mom sits on the edge of her recliner chair, crossing her arms.

Nervousness fled through my blood stream after the thoughts that had popped into my head cane when my mom had asked that personal question. I was hoping she wouldn't ask something like that but then again, I knew my mother.

Jayon looks at me anxiously, rubbing the back of his neck in a worry. He didn't know what to say, because the things he'd done for me were things I would never want my mother to know and he knew this.

"Mom, I know you don't approve of me having serious feelings for guys, but I'm about to be 17 soon, this was bound to happen.  I want him to be my first, my first everything and hopefully my last," I say, pushing my braids behind my back confidently.

"You think you're grown Dj? You barely just turned 16, I don't know why the hell you keep saying you'll be 17 as if your birthday is right around the corner. Plus, you wouldn't know the first step to being in a relationship because that's not a priority,"

Jayon shakes his head.

"I didn't say it was a priority, but if I want to be with Jayon I will,"

"Under what roof?" My mother's voice raises. "You can be with him when y'all both have a place to call home,"

"We do have places to call home. They're called our houses," I say to her, crossing my arms.

"Right, houses that y'all live in. Neither of you pay the bills to them," she says irritably.

"Actually I did help my mother with the bills before," Jayon cuts in, earning a look of sincerity from my mother.

"Oh did you?" She questions him. "With what money?"

"I worked before summer started. Did lots of construction during the whole school year, now I just get summers off," He answers. I looked at him, unbelieved by what he was saying.

I didn't know he worked with construction, and I never thought he would be helping his mother pay the bills.

"Oh, wow," my mother says; she had been just as surprised as me. There was actually many things I didn't know about Jayon.

He nods, showing a smirk in my direction.

"Well. I'll think about this. Has Dj met your mother yet?"

"No, but my mom knows about her and has been wanting to meet her," he quickly answers.

"Alright, well if what you two have is real, I would like to meet your mother as well. I feel like I should atleast know her," my mother says, letting out a sigh of relief. I could tell she was overwhelmed. I doubt she would actually meet Jayon's mom, it just sounded like a responsible thing for a mother to say in this type of situation. I only assumed they would never meet because my mother was always busy.

"Thank you Dj's mom, she'd love to meet you too," he smiles at her once again, holding out his arms for a hug.

"Please, call me Ms.Johnson," she says grinning, allowing him to hug her.  I was overjoyed with excitement. I didn't expect my mother to give in to Jayon so quick. He won her over when he announced that he helped his mother with her bills. She had a weak spot for men who knew how to handle their business with no complaints, that's how my dad was when they first met, all the way until they got divorced.

It still shocked me that she said she wanted to meet Jayon's mother though. She wasn't even eager to meet Amber's mother when I brought her home and introduced them to each other. Then again, my mother wasn't eager with Amber's presence at all. Luckily though she grown on her the older me and Amber has gotten.

Amber. Man, I already missed her.

***

Me and Jayon had helped my mother with all the groceries getting put away. It was fun watching them get acquainted with each other, that was all I ever wanted to happen.

Jayon ended up laying with me on the couch. My mother had been with us watching tv for awhile, until she got tired and realized she missed her bed. Now it was just us, him laying over my thighs while I played in the little curls of his hair.

"I like your mom," he tells me.

"I'm glad,"

"Y'all look alike," he says, looking up at me.

"Everyone says that," I roll my eyes.

I had been getting compared to my mother since the day I was born. I loved her, but I hated getting reminded of our resemblance.

"Because It's true," he strokes the side of my leg.

"Mhm,"

"I missed you Dj. I really did," he said. He began to raise his body away from me so he could see me face-to-face clearly.

"I missed you too Jayon," I laugh.

"No, on some real shit. You were all I was thinking about. I tried to get rid of you, the thought of you. Even though we didn't spend a lot of time together, I remembered every little detail of you. The way you laugh, smile, play with your braids, the way you got angry with me, the way you shed tears over the dumbest shit...everything."

I nod, rolling my eyes at his last statement. I had so much to say to him but I didn't know how to put any of it in words like he did. He didn't know how good he made me feel when he said things like that to me.

"I know you're tongue-tied as fuck right now, but I just want you to know that I don't wanna lose you again, not any time soon," he says, sliding closer to me.

He palms the side of my face, playing with my bottom lip with his thumb. "I especially missed these, your pretty ass lips,"

He looks in my eyes before beginning to move in closer to my face, sealing a soft kiss on them. I wanted to kiss him more, I just wanted him in general, but luckily I had self control, or at least I made him think that.

He lets my face go, moving his mouth to the right side of my ear slowly.

"Let me show you how much I've missed you,"