The Realest Ever (19 page)

She dried the last of her tears and offered him an embarrassed smile.  “I guess there’s no chance of us staying together, if I go to counseling?”

Donovan returned her smile, but he shook his head.  “No.  We’ve already done irreparable damage to our relationship – me and you.  But I’d like to still be your friend.”

Brianna chuckled at that.  “Sorry.  That’s not gonna work.”

Donovan expected as much.  “I understand.”

“But I would like it if you held me again,” Brianna said.  “For old times’ sake.”

Donovan’s heart melted.  He quickly pulled her into his arms.  She fit so comfortably.  He nuzzled the top of her head and kissed it, too.  Her hair smelled nice.  But even as he fought off his own tears, Donovan knew he made the right decision.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Brianna didn’t leave for another thirty minutes.  After seeing her out, Donovan collapsed on his recliner.  He was emotionally drained, and he felt physically spent, too.  He almost didn’t answer his cellphone when he heard it ringing, but he thought it might be Kyra.  Hearing from her always brightened his mood.

Donovan rolled his eyes when he saw his mother’s name on the caller ID, but he took the call.  He was
furious the last time he talked to her, and he wanted to take back some of the mean things he said.

“Hello
, mother.”

“Baby, I know you said you’d call me when you were feeling better.  I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am for telling your business to Brianna.  I was one hundred percent out of line, and I understand if you’re mad at me for a long time.  I don’t know what got into me.  That was disrespectful and stupid, and, and I was only doing what I thought was best for you.  That’s the only
thing I ever worry about; what’s best for you.  I would never–”

“Mama, it’s alright.”

“–ever do anything to interfere with your relationships – no matter who you want to be with.  It’s not my business.  Lord, I don’t know what came–”

“
Mama
, did you hear me?”

“No, baby.  I’m sorry.”

“I said it’s alright.  I forgive you.”

“Thank you, Jesus!
” she exclaimed.  “Thank you too, baby.  I’m sorry for calling Brianna.  Have you talked to her?  Did you work it out?  I want to apologize to her, too.  I don’t know what possessed me to call that girl.  It’s just, I was worried about you, baby.”

“I know, Mama.  And I love you for that.”

“Did you talk to Brianna yet?  Did y’all work everything out?”

“Yes,” Donovan said.  “She came over here.”

“Oh, thank God!”  Beverly sighed.  “Baby, I thought I ruined everything for you.  I been so worried.”

“We broke up, Mama.”

“Wha,
why
?”

“I told you me and Brianna had problems,” Donovan
said.  “It didn’t have anything to do with you.  I tried to break up with her two times already, but she wouldn’t let me.  This time I wouldn’t let her stop me.”

“But, but Donovan, she was so good for you
!  Let me call her and apologize.  Maybe you two can still fix this.  When I talked to her, she told me how much she loves you.  I think–”

“
Mama
…” Donovan warned. 

“Oh, okay, baby.  You right.  If you don’t wanna be with her no more, that’s your decision.  I won’t interfere.”

“Why thank you,” Donovan said with a grin.

“Are you sure it didn’t have nothing to do with me?” Beverly asked.  “I don’t think I could live with myself if I broke you two up.”

“I assure you it didn’t,” Donovan said.  “This has been a long time coming.”

“Alright,” Beverly said.  “I mean
, if that’s what you want.  I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,
” Donovan said, but that wasn’t true.  He was quite gloomy and stressed-out about the whole ordeal.

“So, I guess this means you and Kyra can be together now
.”

Donovan chuckled.  “Mama, me and Kyra are just friends.  I know you find that hard to believe, but it’s true.  I didn’t break up with Brianna for Kyra, and I’m not going to get in a relationship with Kyra now that I’m single.  She’s my best friend.  The one time we kissed turned out
horribly
, and we’ll never do that again.”

Beverly
finally accepted what her son had been telling her all along.  And it was painful.  “Oh my God, Donovan.  I’m sorry.  I was so wrong about y’all.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, Donovan.  I don’t think it is.  I feel bad about what I did.  I feel like I should do something to make up for it.”

“Do you really want to make it up to me?”

“Yes, baby.  I’ll do whatever you want.  Tell me.”

“Stop hating on Kyra,” Donovan said. 
“That’s what you can do for me.  She’s had a rough time, pretty much her whole life.  She has always respected and looked up to you.  When you let her live with us, that was the best time of her life.  She loved you like her own mother.  She loved the time you spent with her, taking her to get her hair done and stuff like that.  The only thing she ever did wrong was kiss me
one time
.  And if you want to know the truth about that,
I
was the one who kissed her, Mama.  My life would be so much better if you stopped hating on Kyra.”

After a pause, Beverly cleared her throat and said, “Alright, baby.  I’m sorry I was mean to her.  I won’t do it again.”

Donovan noticed a change in the quality of her voice.  If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she was crying. 

“Thanks, Mom.  I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.  And, could you tell Kyra I said I’m sorry.”

Donovan smiled.  His who
le body was warmed by her comment.  “Sure will.  She’ll be glad to hear it.”

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Donovan didn’t talk to Kyra until later that night.  He knew she was upset from the moment she said, “Hey, what you doing?”

“Nothing,” he said.  “What’s wrong?”

“My damn aunt,” Kyra said and blew out a sigh. 

Donovan was grading papers
.  He pushed them aside and reclined in his computer chair.  “What’d she do?”

“Just bitching about
everything
,” Kyra complained.  “She said I wasn’t keeping my room clean, but I do clean it.  I clean it every day.  It’s just that we got three people in one room, so obviously it’s gonna look junky, especially with Q’s school papers and stuff.

“I asked her again if I could clean out that spare bedroom so we could get some breathing room, but she won’t let me.  And she won’t do it herself!  She
don’t like nobody going in there.  Why would she keep a room full of junk when it’s three people squeezed in one little bedroom?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Donovan agreed.  “Did she tell you she only had one room available before you moved down here?”

“No!  She said she had a three bedroom house, and she had plenty of room for us.”

“Where are you?” Donovan asked, noticing
Kyra wasn’t trying to keep her voice down.

“Down the street,”
she said.  “Just walking.”

“Just walking?”  It wasn’t
completely dark yet, but the street lights were on.  Donovan immediately feared for her safety.

“I can see the house from here,” Kyra said.  “I just walked to the corner.  I’m on my way back.  Just had to get out of there for a second
, get some fresh air.”

“Oh, alright.”

“I can’t wait to move out of here,” Kyra grumbled.

“I know you can’t,” Donovan said.  “Have you heard back from any of the schools you applied for?”

“No.”

“Did you apply for the office clerk
job at J.T. Elder?”

“Yeah.”

“I know the vice principal there.  I’ll call him and put in a good word for you.”

“Thanks,” Kyra said.

“As far as your aunt, I think she’s just a hater,” Donovan said.  “She doesn’t have anything good going for herself, and she don’t like to see other people trying to make something of themselves.  I saw it in her eyes when we brought groceries that time.  She didn’t look like she appreciated it
at all
.  It was like she wanted to have something to complain about.”

“I think you right,” Kyra said.  “That’s why she doesn’t like you.”

“Me?”

“I know, right.  How could she not like you?  You’re the most likeable person I know.”

“Aww, gee, thanks.  But for real, she doesn’t like me?”

“She
hasn’t came right out and said it.  But you can tell by the way she acts every time I bring up your name.”

“Like when?”

“Like when you’re coming over or when I was telling her about my new car.  I have to thank you again for helping me with that, Donovan.”

“I didn’t do much.  I found out about that charity through our counselor at school.”

“You’re so modest.  You won’t take praise for anything.”

Donovan grinned.  “Okay,
you’re welcome.  I’m glad you like the car.  But you’re probably the only person I know who would refer to a ’99 Escort as ‘
new
.’” 

“It’s new to me.”

“Yes it is.  You know, if your aunt doesn’t like me, and the only thing I’ve ever done is try to help you, maybe she doesn’t want you to get too independent.  She wants to hold you down, which is worse than a regular hater.”

“
For real,” Kyra agreed.  “I think she wants me to stay here so she can keep getting food stamps and whatever else she’s trying to scheme on.  Yesterday she asked if she could put my kids on her tax return next year.  I haven’t even been here two months, and she’s already thinking about tax returns!”

“Damn,” Donovan breathed.  “Yeah, you got problems.”

“What else is new?” Kyra said.  “Anyway, I don’t mean to be calling you with this mess all the time.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“What about you?” Kyra said.  “How was your day?”

“It was fine.  I’m good.”

“How’s your girlfriend?  Is she feeling any better about, you know, me?”

Donovan considered his response.  He wanted to tell Kyra what happened, but there was a chance
Kyra might do the unthinkable and say she had more-than-friendly feelings for him.  Donovan would have to come clean about his feelings for her, and then they’d prove everyone right by jumping into a (most likely doomed) relationship.

It was silly, but Donovan needed to prove to himself and his mom and even to Brianna that he didn’t break up with
her so he could be with Kyra.  The best way to do that was to keep Kyra in the dark about the breakup, for now at least.

“Brianna’s fine,” he said.  “I haven’t had any problems with her.”

“That’s good,” Kyra said.  “Did you take your mom to church today?”

“I did,” Donovan said.  “It was nice.”

“I want to go to church sometimes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  Why you say it like that?  Don’t you think I should go?”

“Of course,” Donovan said.  “I didn’t mean
to sound surprised.  I’m happy to hear that.”

“I would go with you,” Kyra said, “but me and your
mama should probably never be in the same building at the same time.”

Donovan chuckled.  “
You can come to church with us if you want.”

“Please!” Kyra said with a smack of her lips.  “I know Miss Beverly don’t like me.”

“As a matter of fact, I talked to my mom about you today.  She told me to tell you she’s sorry.”

Kyra’s mouth fell open.  “Sorry for what?”

“I don’t know,” Donovan said.  “Kicking you out, treating you bad when we were kids.”

“She apologized?”  Kyra never expected that, not in a million years.  “
Why
?”

“
Because I told her she was wrong for hating on you.  I told her you were my friend, and you weren’t going anywhere.  And you never did anything wrong in the first place.  I got sick of her talking noise about you.”

Kyra made it back to her aunt’s house.  She sat on the front porch with a huge smile on her face.  “You’re such a good friend, Donovan.  You’re too good to me.”

“I just want you to get yourself situated, so you can be happy.”

“Me, too,” Kyra said.  She stared
at the purplish sunset disappearing behind her neighbor’s house.  “I can’t wait ’til I have a normal life like you.  I wanna sit on the porch at my own house, have a good job so I don’t have to struggle anymore.  I want to start going to church.  Maybe I’ll meet a man…” 
Like you!  A man just like you!
  Kyra giggled at her subconscious.  That was silly talk.  There was no chance of her meeting a man
just like Donovan
.  He was as unique as the stars that were starting to appear in the sky above her.