Moving Forward: Part 4

I nervously paced in front of Roc’s door. I went to knock, but I chickened out. I
was about to go back to my room, when Prince came up behind me. “You can
do this,” He assured me. I smiled hoping he was right. He knocked on the door,
then ran off before I could chicken out.
Asshole.
“Since when do you knock on my door?” Roc asked, when he saw me standing
outside his door. “You usually just barge right in.”
“I know,” Ireplied, shyly entering the room.
Roc eyed me skeptically. “You are never this quiet. Are you sick?” He joked,
laughing at my tentativeness.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted, smacking my hands over my mouth, when I realized
what I had said.
“You’re pregnant,” Roc exclaimed. He buried his face in his hands. “Damn it
Aaliyah.” He angrily slammed his fist into the wall, causing me to jump.
“You have to get rid of it,” He demanded.
“What? No I can’t do that to my baby,” I retorted, waves of anger overcoming
me.
He laughed. “You can’t possibly want to keep it. Things are hard enough. And
now you want to add a baby to it.”
“I may not be able to care for it, but someone else will,” I cried, and I could feel
the tears building up again. “I’m not going to kill it.”
“But you know first hand what it feels like to be unwanted,” he muttered.
“You take that back Roc,” I yelled, and I nearly smacked him across the face.
“You know if you had a chance for a better life you would take it.”
“Yeah but--”
“No buts Roc,” I croaked, wiping my tears. “I’ve giving it up for adoption, and
that’s final.”
--
Roc sat next to me in the adoption agency, his lips pursed tightly. I knew he was
upset that I wasn’t going through his oh-so wonderful abortion plan, but there
was no way in hell that I was going to kill my child. His hands were clenched into
tight fists, and then didn’t relax until our name was called by a short, fat woman.
“Hello, Mrs. August,” she greeted me warmly, giving Roc a sidelong glance. “Is
this the...

Her words trailed off as she waited for me to complete her sentence, and softly
explained that he was the uncle of my baby. Immediately, her posture relaxed,
and she offered my brother a pat on the arm for being kind enough to “look out
for me”.
“I know that you’ve been looking over the list of potential parents that I sent you,”
she noted kindly, leading the two of us to her office. “And I know that you picked
out one very fine young woman.”
There was a quick pause in the conversation where the woman ushered us
inside of her small office before checking the time. She shook her head after
reading the time then offered the two of us a seat.
“I picked Tasha,” I reminded the woman, settling myself in one of the chairs. I
noticed my brother tense at the name, but I ignored his behavior. He just wasn’t
going to let go of the fact that I was keeping the baby.
“Oh yes!” the woman nodded her head, and I leaned forward so that I could
read the nameplate on her desk.
“Mrs. Smith,” I said politely. “I thought that I was meeting the adoptive mother
today.”
She nodded her head, her fingers flying through the papers. “It appears she is
running a little late. Once she arrives you will be able to spend some time with
her just so the two of you can get to know each other. But while we wait, it might
be good for you to meet some other couples just to make sure your choice is
final.”
The three of us sat awkwardly in silence until the door opened slowly revealing
a professional woman with a large man standing behind her. She smiled at me,
revealing rows of crooked teeth. I forced myself to smile, already knowing that
she was no longer the top candidate for this child.
Mrs. Smith could tell that Roc and I were disappointed by the choice presented
to us, so she ushered in three more couples. Each couple had something
horrifyingly wrong with them, especially couple two, who were Christians,
planning to adopt in order to cleanse my baby of the sins I had taken a part of
by getting knocked up.
By the time two hours passed, I was damn near ready to kill this fatass lady, but
a knock on the door distracted me.
“Hello,” a gentle voice called out to me, and I looked over in awe at the beautiful
woman standing there.

Now, let me tell you; I ain’t gay or nothing like that, but this woman was bad. She
had this smooth caramel skin that practically screamed “African Queen” along
with hair so nice that it had to have been done at one of those fancy salons only
people like Beyonce and Alicia Keys could afford. And lord let me tell you that
she had eyes prettier than anybody else’s.
“Hi,” I mumbled. “I’m Aaliyah and this is my brother Chresanto.”
Roc frowned at the woman, folding his arms across his chest, and she looked
at him as though something was registering in her brain. Confused, I looked
between the two, but Roc was already glaring out the window.
“Hi Aaliyah, I’m Tasha,” she smiled. “It’s nice to meet y-”
Before she could finish her sentence, my brother stood up. “I hate to interrupt
your little ‘girl-talk’, but we need to leave. We have to meet our friend Prince for
lunch.”
Roc gave the two women in the room a tight-lipped smile, then dragged me out
of the room. Once we made it outside the building, I turned on him.
“What is wrong with you? I liked her,” I glanced back at the brick building,
wishing I at least got to finish the interview. “She was nice.”
“I don’t like her,” he responded.
I stared at him in shock, anger washing over me. “What is your problem? You
just over here gettin’ mad ‘cause I didn’t just get rid of the fucking baby!”
“You don’t understand,” he mumbled. He looked back on the building, a frown
on his face. “Damn, can’t the bitch just leave us.”
Turning around, I saw Tasha walking over to us, her pumps clicking on the
pavement. I smiled warmly at her, hoping that my brother would keep his mouth
closed.
“Before the two of you leave, I wanted to give you my number,” she handed me
a business card with her name with CEO INTERSCOPE RECORDS stamped
at the top. “Call me when you have some time to talk.”
I stood there, staring at the card when the sound of someone whistling made
me lift my head.
“Hey girl,” Prince greeted. “Who’s this beautiful woman?” he raised an
eyebrow, earning himself a laugh from Tasha.
“I’m Tasha; you must be their friend, Prince,” she shook his hand, her smile
never leaving her face.
Prince looked back and forth between Tasha and I. “Y’all look alike,” he
commented. “The resemblance is actually mad crazy!”
Tasha smiled, then hugged me goodbye before quickly making her way down the street. Shortly after she left, Roc slapped Prince upside the head.

“Don’t go around comparing my sister to that woman,” he hissed.
“Hey!” I grabbed Roc’s arm. “You need to chill. She’s adopting my baby.”
“No, she ain’t,” he retorted snatching his arm away from mine. “That bitch ain’t
going nowhere near that baby.”
I stood there my eyebrows raised in disbelief as Roc walked away from me and
Prince. My friend wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders.
“That was harsh, Chresanto!” Prince yelled, addressing Roc by his real name,
something he only did when he was serious.
Without turning around, my brother flipped him off. “It had to be done.”

Part 5...