Love. Pain. Piece

J. Latrice

Description

Milan and Melanie are best friends but when tragedy strikes they are forced to live together. Love starts to blossom between Milan and her mystery man while Melanie is left to her own devices with a mutual friend turned lover. Pain drives these friends further apart and both girls’ lives start falling apart Piece by piece.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 20 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669874829
• Langue: English

Extrait

LOVE. PAIN. PIECE
 
 
 
 
 
 
J. Latrice
 
Copyright © 2023 by J. Latrice.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023907560
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-7484-3

Softcover
978-1-6698-7483-6

eBook
978-1-6698-7482-9

 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Rev. date: 04/20/2023
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
818088
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
CHAPTER 1
Melanie
Tap! Tap ! “Mel! Are you up?! Mel!” I slowly opened one eye while whispering “Damn! Not again!” I knew that it was no one other than my bestfriend Milan. This was her 3 rd time this week coming to my home after 1am! I sat up, wiped my eyes & made my way to my window to see Milan standing in the yard wearing Nike slides, booty shorts, & an oversized hoodie holding a joint with a big smile on her face. I put on a fake smile because I was tired as hell but I knew she needed me. I tiptoed downstairs cautiously trying not to wake my parents. Before opening the door, I turned the alarm off. I lived in a quiet neighborhood with green grass, porches, & nosey neighbors. Milan lived totally opposite. She stayed in the hood. The hood that never slept. Everyone knew everyone & there was always some drama going on no matter the night. Her mother did her own thing & dealt with numerous men & had. Drug problem. Milan & I didn’t talk about it much but her being at my house was her way of escaping.
I never was much of a smoker until I met Milan. She wasn’t necessarily a bad influence but there were so many things that i got introduced to because of her and needless to say my parents didn’t care for her because of it.
“Girl! You ain’t gonna believe who asked about you!” Milan said while taking a hit of the blunt.
“Who!” I questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Milan smirked & said
“Giiiiirrrrl! He’s tall, brown skin, got the kind of waves that make you sea sick, & got a big dick!” She chuckled, passing the blunt to me.
“Oh my god Milan!” I laughed. “Jamel?” I guessed. “Yep!” Milan exclaimed
“Wait... how do you know he has a big dick? Milan please don’t tell me you…”
Milan burst into laughter cutting me off.
“No! I wouldn’t do that to you! I know that’s your man. In your mind.” She whispered with a smirk.
I gave her a side-eye.“Whatever.”
Truthfully, I really did like Jamel. He was always so nice. He complimented me often and was always a gentleman. He even used to walk Milan and I home from school before he got a scholarship to that private school to play basketball.
Jamel was good at all sports really. He played a little of everything. Basketball, football, baseball, and soccer. He even ran track. He had many friends & tons of girls who would have loved the chance to be with him. He was never the player type though. He lived in the same neighborhood as Milan & was raised by a single mother. His mother was nothing like Milan’s mom though. She was a hard worker. Went to college & had a good job at the hospital as a RN. She was gone a lot so Jamel & his brother pretty much did what they wanted but he was just the type of guy that I could see myself with
We continued smoking, laughing, and carrying on. When I looked down at my watch I realized it was almost 4am. I got up abruptly and whispered “Shit!” I really needed to get to bed. I had a huge exam in the morning. I always did well in school but had been slacking a bit as of recently and lord knows I didn’t want to hear my parents’ mouths about me failing another test. This would for sure get me grounded. I always felt guilty for leaving Milan because I knew that she had no one to talk to.
I sat on the step for a while pondering my next move. I knew Milan wouldn’t be happy about me calling it a night.
“If you gotta go then go.” Milan finally spoke.
“Are you sure? I could stay a few more minutes” I replied, not wanting to upset her.
“Bye Melanie,” Milan said in an annoyed tone.
She stood up, dusted the debris from the porch steps off her butt, and began to walk off throwing up the peace sign.
I knew Milan was upset but I was sure she would get over it. She always does!
A few hours later I woke up to the smell of blueberry waffles and turkey bacon. I sat up in bed and wiped my eyes, removing the little bit of sleep that I did get from them. I hopped off of my bed as my stomach began to growl and threw my slippers on. I went into the kitchen to greet my parents and baby brother Mason. Mom smiled at me warmly while breastfeeding mason & said “Morning Mel Bell. How did you sleep?”
I plastered a smile on my face and spoke back “Okay I guess.” Dad looked at me eagerly while stirring his coffee and said,
“You probably shouldn’t have been up all night with Milan then.” “I know dad “I retorted, rolling my eyes.
“I’m just trying to be a good friend to her. You know her situation,” I continued. “Yes, Mel & that’s very unfortunate. Mom chimed in.” But that doesn’t mean putting her before your responsibilities and well-being. Don’t you have a test today? “She asked. I nodded my head in disappointment. I knew they were right but I felt they didn’t really understand how close Milan and I really are.
Dad walked over to me & kissed me on the forehead“You have such a good heart Mellie but I just want the best for you.”
“I know dad. “I whispered back while picking through my breakfast. I had suddenly lost my appetite
My parents were well aware of Milan’s living situation. We had been friends since the 9 th grade. My mom tried to be there for Milan because she knew how important it was to me but Milan never respected my parents. Honestly she didn’t respect anyone. Once while Milan’s mom, Sherry was out of town and Milan stayed with us, my mom overheard Milan tell me to lie to my parents about where she was going. She would sneak out & come back inside smelling of weed and sometimes liquor. The smell was so strong it would linger through the house. I tried to warn Milan several times that she had to calm down if she wanted my parents to like her. She didn’t care though. She did what she wanted at home and felt my house should be no different.
After breakfast, I ran upstairs to get dressed for school. I had tons of clothes and a beautiful room. I had a large vanity mirror where I would often play in my makeup and a tall door mirror where I would go through several outfit changes. I’m not very conceited but I knew my parents had good genes. I’m average height for a 16 year old girl but I’m also very fit shoulder length curly goldish/reddish hair & curls that were a good mix of my mom’s straight hair and my dad’s coils. My Skin the color of butterscotch with a face full of lightly marked freckles. I inherited them from my caucasian mother. My full lips were an indication of my African American DNA.
People would always accuse me of thinking I was “all that “because of how I looked. I would often go home in tears because I was always picked on. That was until I met Milan my freshman year of high school. I was the new girl. I had just transferred on the account of my dad’s new job as a lawyer for a large law firm. Before I had arrived from Michigan I had no problem getting friends but when I moved to New Orleans girls my age saw me as being stuck up which was far from the truth. I always smiled but I didn’t talk out of turn when people talked around me. I didn’t want to seem too desperate or needy for friends.
It had been about 2 weeks since I started here & I hadn’t made any friends. The girls would walk by me & laugh. I’m guessing it was an intimidation tactic & back then it worked. They would pretend to be my friend to get me to let them copy my class work. I had mostly honors classes & I took my school work seriously. I was naive and desperate for friends so i agreed. They would go as far as calling me a hoe if they saw a guy flirting or being too nice to me. I didn’t even like any of those guys but my mom always told me to accept a compliment. I hated that people didn’t try to get to know the “new girl” before they passed judgment.
After 3 whole weeks of being picked on & pushed over, I sat alone at a lunch table in the corner. I put my head down and began to sob silently. I heard footsteps approaching the table so I pulled myself together.
“Hey!” Milan said loudly.
I sat up hesitantly & replied “Oh hey…”
When I looked up, I saw a very pretty girl standing before me wearing some distressed jeans and an oversized graphic tee with Tupac’s face on it. She had jet black hair that was blown out and pulled up into a messy bun. I could tell that despite it being a “messy” bun she took