Xavier never did have much love for rainy days. It never failed that every time it rained, something bad would always come along his way. Today it was pouring, and as he sat in his car, sitting in student parking he stared hard at his cell phone.
The buttons seemed to make a menacing face. He was supposed to call her today around this time, but he couldn’t find the will power to do it. What would she tell him this time? A month ago things were great, but yesterday she dropped a bombshell…
It was a Thursday, and it had been raining then too.
“Do you…I mean, you love me right?”
Xavier instantly knew something was up when she asked him that question. She never asked things like that, she wasn’t that kind of girl. And more importantly, he was never that kind of guy to ever have her ask him things like that.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“What’s wrong? You’re not even going to answer my question?”
And it all went down hill from there. “Something’s wrong because you don’t hold your tongue. You say whatever you gotta say regardless of how it may come out.”
“Wow…You’re really not going to answer my question…”
“Okay. I love you. Now it’s your turn. What’s wrong Le’trice?”
“You’ll find out nine months from now. Figure that out.”
And just like that, she hung up in his face without even giving him the chance to respond. Nine months. At first he couldn’t quite piece it together until he turned on the TV and saw a commercial that had a family sitting and smiling. The man was holding his expecting wife, their daughter grinning from ear to ear asking when the baby would come.
“Make sure your nine months are good for you and your baby!” He remembered how it felt like someone dropped a ton of bricks on his head.
But now he sat in his car. He wanted to call her and get some questions answered, but another part of him wanted to pretend as though he never knew her. It wasn’t like she had been faithful these last two years they dated. However, he always said it was weak for a man to walk away from his responsibilities.
Just like his dad walked away from his, as did his father’s father.
So, the question whirled around in his mind. Would it end with him, or would the cycle just keep going on and on?
“Hello?” He snapped into reality for a moment. He hadn’t realized he dialed her number, “Hello? Xavier?”
“Le’trice…”
She sighed, “What are you going to do, Xavier?”
But all that Xavier could do was hold the phone and watch the raindrops cascade down the windshield.