Page 12 of Bruised Hearts

“You live with your family?” Landon finally looked up as if he didn’t hear all of this commotion.

“Hell naw, but they don’t seem to know that though.”

“Well, hello. Who might this be?” The older woman and another lady were looking amused, but I was horrified.

“This is my friend, Ariyah.” I reached out my hand with a plastered smile on my face.

“Heyyy Areola, I’m Landon’s nana Adrienne. You don’t train in clothes? Got your lil flat chest all out, you gone catch pneumonia in them thangs.” Nana had completely butchered my name, but I wasn’t about to correct her. I was still trying to process how he casually brought me to meet his family.

“Don’t do that. Let her get to know us first. Hi, Ariyah, I’m Landon’s mom, Blaise. This is his big headed daddy, Devin. This is Mela, Milo, and Mila. Wait, where’s Mila?” The girl from the restaurant who screamed Landon was beating her walked in with headphones on. I reached out to shake her hand, when she flinched. I looked at Landon, and he gave me a knowing look. I remembered what he told me about her, so I had no idea what to do. Walking over to her, he leaned down and smiled.

“Jammy Jam, we good?” She removed her headphones and nodded.

“We’re good. Who is this?” Her tone was more stern that her parents. Landon reached down and hugged her and you could see the love between the two.

“This is my friend, Ariyah. Is she good?” Mila looked at me causing me to smile.

“No! Have her step away from me, please.” Everybody looked horrified, including me, but Mila put her headphones back on and walked up the stairs.

“I’m sorry, she’s autistic and it takes her a while to warm up to new people,” Blaise tried to explain while looking embarrassed.

“It’s okay. I’m sure she didn’t expect to meet anyone new today.” I shot Landon a look who seemed to ignore it.

“I guess we’re all surprised today. Shouldn’t you be training, son?” Him and Devin exchanged a look, but I had no idea what it was about.

“I am, and me and Ariyah agreed no sports talk tonight. So, moms leave your podcast topics outside alone with your husband’s opinion.” Landon seemed annoyed, and I got on guard.

“Whewwww, somebody trying to show off in front of his lil yea. Did I say it right, Jr?” Adrienne popped her tongue out of her mouth as she did a lil dance.

“Grow up, nana.” He hugged her and I could tell they had that kind of relationship. I was confused on why she called him Jr though, knowing he was adopted. “The pizza here.” Landon walked towards the door, but I noticed Devin never took his eyes off me. I was grateful when Landon walked back in until I saw him with four boxes. He knew they were coming. I wasn’t going to confront him in front of his family, but we were definitely going to talk about this later. Sitting at the table, I gave a fake smile when he looked over at me. Milo came and sat in my lap as if he had done it a million times, and I was shocked.

“Lo Lo, you don’t even know her. Get up.” Mela was looking at me as if I was trying to steal her brother, and I wanted no problems.

“You don’t know her either,” he said it so matter of fact; he thought he won the argument.

“Neither one of yall know her. Lo Lo, she’s mine, get yo own girl.” Landon was joking with his lil brother, but his words made me nervous.

“Unt unnn. You said she was your friend.” Lo Lo’s clap back caused me to laugh.

“Yall got a problem on your hands. Nana, you hear-…” I followed Landon’s shocked face and fell out laughing. Adrienne was laying on the counter knocked out snoring. “Pops, get yo damn mama. Embarrassing!”

“Twin, yo wig done fell in the stool next to you. If you gone wear the shit, at least get some good glue.” Adrienne sat up and fixed her wig causing me to laugh.

“Aerola, don’t laugh too hard. I might not have strong glue, but I got strong hands. Remember that.” My mouth did an O shape, and I was rendered speechless.

“Ignore her, she will be back sleep in five minutes.” Landon was trying to make a joke, but I was definitely taking his advice. I looked from person to person as they continued with casual conversation, but sweat had begun to build in the palm of my hands. The sound was sending me into a panic attack, and I couldn’t seem to slow it down. Everyone was laughing and joking, but I was fighting for my life.

“I see Milo got you occupied. I’ll fix your plate for you. How many pieces you want, baby girl?” Blaise was looking at me with a soft welcoming expression with no awareness to her triggering me. Baby girl. Such a simple term of endearment that most people say without even realizing it. However, that was what my dad called me. I hadn’t heard it since I was six years old. Don’t do it! I heard Stone’s words ringing in my ear causing me to jump up fast. I sat Milo in the chair and looked around the room at all the faces staring back at me confused.

“I’m sorry. I gotta go.” I struggled to breathe while Landon looked confused.

“Ariyah-…”

“I forgot.” Landon walked over to me, but I jumped back as if his touch would burn me. I had no idea if they could see me shaking, but the room was closing in on me and I had to get out of here.

“Forgot what?”

“My-… Nothing, I just have to leave.” Not waiting for him to say anything else, I ran. The closer I got to the door, the more I could feel relief trying to come. When I got outside, I didn’t stop running. I kept going until I could finally breathe again. Sitting on the curb, I held myself as I silently cried. I knew better. I shouldn’t have allowed this to happen. Things like this give you hope, and I couldn’t afford that. Hearing a car pull up, I wiped my eyes and got ready to tell Landon to just let me go. Standing to my feet, I stormed over to the window, but nobody was in the backseat. Titan got out and walked over to me.