BrookLyn's Journey (19 page)

He held the door open for Gabby and
BrookLyn.
“Go inside where the fun is
,
”
h
e said.

It took a second but Gabby
finally
moved her feet
and stepped
away from the madness called her past.

He turned
to
Shante
.
“Chill or leave.”
He seemed awfully serious.

S
he
must have
decided to chill
,
because she didn’t leave the porch.

Safely inside, BrookLyn
peeked out the window, she wa
tched as Shante wa
lked slowly back to where she
had been
sitting when
they arrived.

Gabby
seemed to come back to reality, realizing that BrookLyn was still shaking a little.
“Are you okay?”

“I think so
,
but I’ll be much better when we get back to your house.”
She
wanted to
get
away from all of the music, people
,
and noise.
Otherwise she
’d spend the rest of the night looking over
her
shoulder
.

But
being here meant something to Gabby
,
so
BrookLyn
didn’t say anything
more
about
going home
and
they
stayed.
Gabby
took
her
from room to room introducing
her
to her friends
.
They all
kept telling
BrookLyn
not to worry about Shante. They said she was always starting trouble
,
but
BrookLyn thought that
if she
still
had a thing for Gabby that was trouble
she
didn’t need.

Gabby grabbed
her and gave her
a long kiss on
her
shaking lips. If she were focused
,
she would
have
realized
BrookLyn
was
really
ready to go. Gabby took
her
by
the
hand and
they
walked to her friend Shaniece’s bedroom.
They
sat down on the bed and she started explaining Shante.

BrookLyn braced herself for the whole story. Maybe she wasn’t as ready for all of this as she had thought. Maybe she was just desperate to get away from her parents. She shook it off and focused on
Gabby’s
words.

“We used to date awhile ago and Shante cheated on me. I never loved her
,
but
I
felt extremely violated when she cheated. I broke up with her. It took me a
while to believe in people again and that was around the first time I saw you. All my fears washed away into the ocean.
”

Gabby
turned and
took BrookLyn’s hands in hers.
“
I have no desire to be with
,
or
even
near
,
Shante. I haven’t seen her for a
while. I don’t always come to my friend’s parties because Shante is usually there. I guess she heard about you from the others. I never mentioned you to her. I’d rather stay away from her than fight with her. I’ll never let anyone
hurt you
—
including Shante. I promise. You are my forever love, BrookLyn.”

This weekend was becoming too much for
BrookLyn,
with the
whole
Shante drama
,
but
then
the words that flowed from Gabby’s mouth managed to capture
her
soul
, again
.
She just smiled and
nodded
. They
hugged
and
kissed
then
Gabby
led her
back out to the party.

M
ost of the people were
out in
the backyard
, so they went there
and stayed away from Shante.
BrookLyn
didn’t say much
, her eyes were constantly searching to
mak
e
sure Shante wasn’t close.

A guy walking by caught her off guard
. He
spoke to BrookLyn
.
“My name is Cam,”
he
said
.
“You really are as pretty as
Gabby
said you were. Maybe, you’re even prettier than she told us.”

BrookLyn felt her cheeks go warm. “Thanks.”
She
awkwardly
went back to
watching
everyone.
Some were sitting at the small table playing cards
and others were
danc
ing
to the loud music the DJ was playing.

“Want to dance?”
Cam asked her.

“Um
...
” She didn’t know if she wanted to dance with Cam
,
but he grabbed her hand
and
pull
ed
her toward the circle of people before she could utter more of a
protest.

Gabby smiled and
bobbed her head
to the music.
BrookLyn didn’t dance often
and had no confidence in this department
. So she
just moved awkwardly
from side to side
,
simply moving to the beat.

“You’re
a
pretty girl with a cool name.”

“Thanks
, I guess
.”

“You
really
are pretty.”

BrookLyn
smiled
,
wishing Gabby would come and rescue her. She glanced in her direction
,
watching her talk to her friends
,
unaware of
BrookLyn’s
desire to be rescued.
Just in time,
the music slowed down
and
BrookLyn’s hips immediately stopped swaying. She looked at Cam. Just as he reached in to slow dance with her, she
scampered off
with a wave and quick words
.
“Thanks for the dance.”

“Thought you were going to keep me safe?” She nudged Gabby jokingly.

“Cam’s innocent. Y
ou were safe.”

“I saved myself from the slow dance
—n
o thanks to you.”

“I was right here watching.”

BrookLyn rolled her eyes. Cam stared at her
from
off in the distance. He waved and she waved back unsure of his intent, but sure of hers. She was here with Gabby and that’s exactly where she was staying
.

Chapter
Six

They
enjoyed the rest of the night without incident. Periodically,
BrookLyn
was still able to catch a glimpse of Shante. Although she didn’t bother
Gabby
again
,
her eagle eyes started staring in
their
direction.
Sometimes when
BrookLyn
peek
ed
over Gabby’s shoulder
looking
for her, she
would catch Shante
looking directly at
her.
It made
her
uncomfortable but Gabby never left
her
side
,
becoming a reflection of
her
shadow. When
she
went to the bathroom
Gabby
even stood directly outside the door making sure no one bothered
her
.
She
was surrounded by
Gabby
’s
wall of protection.

At the end of the night,
they
walked down the driveway to the car holding hands
,
almost forgetting about the incident with Shante.
BrookLyn’s
peace was shattered
though
,
when
they
were startled by a loud crash.
T
hey
turned toward the thunderous noise
and
saw Shante swinging an aluminum baseball bat
,
shattering the front window of Gabby’s car.

BrookLyn’s
mouth fell open as the partygoers rushed to the street where
they
had parked the car.
She
had a clear view of Shante repeatedly swinging the bat
as if
she was a professional ball player
. It hit
the glass window
,
cracking it over and over. Sh
ante
looked like a deranged woman
,
as shards of glass flew into the air with some landing in her curly hair.

Gabby grabbed
her
hand tight pulling
her
down the driveway
,
closer to her car.
BrookLyn
could hear
Gabby’s
breathing getting louder and louder. Her warm hands were on fire.
T
his was going to be serious.

Next thing
she
knew,
she
was standing alone as
Gabby
made a mad dash toward Shante
who
was now working on the headlights.
BrookLyn
’
s
blood pressure rose, as
she
stood frozen with fear watching Gabby run toward her car.
She
wanted to run and hide but
she
couldn’t take
her
eyes off of Gabby
.

BrookLyn
slowly moved behind a tree
,
blocking Shante’s view of
her
.
She knew that Gabby would protect her
,
but
she had thought it would
only
be
from her parents.
She crouched down by the tree and chewed
nervously
on her fingernails.

“What are you doing?” Gabby yelled
,
losing all the composure
BrookLyn
was used to seeing her display.

“I told you that you’d regret leaving me
.
” Shante dropp
ed
the bat on the ground behind her.

The
clanging reverberation
of the bat hitting the ground echoed
,
star
t
ling
BrookLyn
.
What happened between these two women to create such madness in Shante?

“For the hundredth time, you cheated on me. I left you because you did me dirty
.
What I regret is
ever
being with you. You are out of your mind, Shante!”

“You’ll never get rid of me,” Shante screamed as the tears streamed down her face.

BrookLyn
thought Gabby was going to crawl out of her skin
,
as
she
watched her ball up her fists
,
getting ready to attack with the strength of a lion.

“Please
.
D
on’t hit her, Gabby,”
she
mumbled. The crowd stood in awe as they circled them. The
drama
queen standing in front of her had a hold of
Gabby’s
attention so she’d never hear
BrookLyn
even if she had the courage to intervene.

Next thing
BrookLyn
knew
,
Gabby snatched Shante by the collar of her shirt
,
picking her up off the ground
,
letting her hang in the air.
Shante’s
feet dangled as the gathering crowd became more animated. Not one person, not even Max the peacemaker, stopped Gabby. This was bound to happen
,
so
BrookLyn
supposed
tonight was as good a time as any.
She
just wished
she
wasn’t a witness.