Page 96 of Without Bound
I turn on his music and walk back downstairs to find all eyes on me.
“All good, dear?” Francine asks.
“Yeah. I’m sure he’ll sleep for a while so we can have dinner with him when he’s up.”
“Oh that’s a good idea. I think he has a fold out table we can bring up,” Vivian begins, but I put a quick stop to that shit.
“Actually I meant only Francine, Darius and me. He doesn’t need a lot of people around right now. In fact, y’all can leave. He’s sleeping. I’ll make sure he checks in with you in a few days.”
Vivian’s jaw drops to the floor and the look on everyone else's face is quite amusing.
“Excuse me, but I think we have a right to stay. He’sourfriend,” Viv throws back.
“Yeah, and it’s your fucking fiancée who put him in this condition. Why are you even here, Vivian? Go home and take care of that asshole because I’m sure he needs someone to lick his wounds now that he lost his best friend and his niece.”
“Anais,” Camille gasps, but I roll my eyes at her.
“I think that’s inappropriate,” CeCe chimes in.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you all think. Especially you, CeCe,” I growl, pointing a finger in her face. “All he has asked for was your support and you have done nothing but judge him. You look down your nose at he and I, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what I did that is so awful. I know he was right there for you with Luca. He has always been right there for every one of you, supporting you through heartbreak and happiness, and all he asked was for you to be happy for him.”
I’m suddenly full of rage and my chest heaves with anger. They all look back at me with ashamed faces and some –aka CeCe– don’t look at me at all. Tears begin to build in my eyes and I refuse to let them see me cry.
“Excuse me,” I say and rush past them and up to Bishop’s room where I climb into bed with him and cry myself to sleep.
“Ana.” The whisper of my name causes my eyes to flutter open.
The light is fading in the room and I stretch my limbs out, rolling over to see what it was that woke me. When I turn I see the smiling face of Francine. She pushes my wild hair away from my face and lays her soft hand on my cheek.
“Hi doll. Why don’t you come down and have some dinner.” I look over my shoulder and see Bishop still sleeping hard.
I face Francine again and nod my head. “Okay,” I agree just as my stomach gurgles loudly.
She laughs and stands back to allow me to climb from the bed. I follow her downstairs where Darius sits at the table amongst plates and dishes of food.
“Should we wake Bishop?” I ask them.
“No. Let him sleep. Plus, that boy has plenty of meat on his body. He’ll be okay missing a meal.” Darius winks, standing from his chair and holding mine out for me.
I thank him and sit, picking up the glass water that sits in front of me and quench my parched mouth.
Francine plates some food for me –macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, a dinner roll and a slice of ham– and pushes it in front of me.
“Thank you.” I pull the plate closer and stab my fork right into the macaroni and cheese, only now realizing how hungry I am.
With all of the chaos of the last two days, I didn’t eat much more than a protein bar and a few too many sodas. The protein bar was shoved into my hand by Keyara as I grabbed my backpack and an overnight bag that she packed for me. She was playing mother hen and insisted I eat something because how could I take care of Bishop if I couldn’t care for myself, first.
When I called her after contacting Bishop’s parents and told her what had happened –breaking down into hard sobs– she told me she would pack some things for me and have them ready to pass off.
“I apologize for how I behaved earlier. I guess I was a little overwhelmed,” I say, humbly.
“Sweetheart,” Francine sets her fork down on her plate and reaches over, placing her hand on mine. “Don’t apologize. What you did was give those friends of his a swift, hard kick of truth. And the truth isn’t always so pretty when it hits you in the face.”
“My brilliant wife is correct. You told them exactly what they needed to hear but didn’t want to. Bishop has been everyone’s number one fan for all of the happy moments in their lives, and he’s also been there to console and support them through the lows. When he needed them the most, they weren’t exactly as supportive as he has always been.”
I swallow back a ball of emotion that builds in my throat.
“After you walked off, I gave them all a talk of my own. I had to bring out momma Frannie and boy did they revert to the fourteen year old kids who had just been caught ditching school.” Francine chuckles at what seems like a memory. “I think what it comes down to is their desire to see Bishop happy and having all of the things he deserves. What they failed to see was that with you, that is exactly what he has.”
