Chapter 3 Aviana Scott
AVIANA SCOTT
AS SOON AS I stepped out of my car in front of the office building Friday morning, I noticed Mia climbing out of hers down toward the corner.
I bit back a laugh, watching her dramatically slip oversized black shades onto her face.
She swung her purse over her shoulder with a groan loud enough for me to hear even from a distance.
I shut my car door and locked it with the key fob as I walked up the sidewalk to meet her. “You good, sis?” I teased, nudging her gently with my elbow.
Mia let out another exaggerated groan. “Do I look like I’m good?”
“I mean…” I gave her a playful once-over. “You look like you fought with the liquor and lost.”
She groaned louder and waved me off. “Don’t remind me. Who told me to take that last shot? Oh wait, you did.”
“I told you to sip it, not bathe in it.”
She rolled her eyes behind those blackout shades. “Whatever. All I know is my soul left my body somewhere around shot number four, and I still haven’t found it.”
As we walked toward the office doors together, our heels clicked in rhythm on the concrete.
“Pray for me.” She winced. “If I make it to lunch without throwing up or cussing somebody out, it’ll be a miracle.”
I giggled as my phone rang in my purse. When I dug it out, I saw the screen lit up with a video call from Jeremy.
I wiped my hands on a napkin, grabbed the phone, and hit accept. Jeremy’s face popped up on the screen with a big, mischievous grin.
“Hey, boo!” I greeted.
“Hey, Avi.”
Hearing his voice, Mia quickly snatched the phone from me. She smiled into it. “What up, nephew?”
“Tee Tee Mia, what’s good?”
Mia and Jeremy caught up for a minute. “All right. I’ll let y’all talk. Love you, J!”
“Love you too, Tee Tee,” he said before she handed me back the phone.
Mia hung back, waiting for me to finish my call before she went into the building.
“What’s up, Jeremy? What are you doing calling me so early?”
“You think you could spot me twenty dollars?”
I raised my brow, looking at him through the screen. “Twenty dollars for what?”
He leaned back, like he was trying to play it cool. “Me and some of the guys from the basketball team are going to Buffalo Wild Wings get something to eat after school.”
I wasn’t so sure. “Basketball team, huh?”
“Yeah.”
I narrowed my eyes, still skeptical. “You sure about that? I heard you’ve been hanging with some other folks.”
“I promise, Aviana. I’m just going with the guys from the team.”
I sighed, shaking my head but smiling. “All right. I’ll send it, but don’t have me looking crazy if I find out you’re with somebody you’re not supposed to be around.”
Jeremy grinned. “Thanks, Aviana. You the best.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I said, laughing. “Go have fun, but be smart, okay?”
“I got you. Love you.”
“Love you too, J. Be good.”
Hanging up the phone, I followed Mia through the doors of Dream Realty.
Alfred and Antoni were in the lobby surrounded by the entire office staff, already beginning our morning briefing.
Alfred’s welcoming smile beckoned us forward. “Ah, Mia, Aviana, right on time. We were waiting on you.”
“Oh, really?” Mia asked with a playful smirk as she swayed inside. “What did we do?” she joked.
Antoni laughed along with her. “We were just about to announce the new city-wide property manager position.”
I instantly held my breath as I sat in a plush chair meant for waiting clients. Vying for the property management position for months, I had been pouring my heart and soul into every task and project in hopes of proving myself worthy.
As Alfred cleared his throat, my pulse quickened. I glanced at Mia, and she gave me an encouraging nod.
“After much consideration,” Alfred began, “we have come to a decision.”
My heart skipped a beat as Alfred’s gaze swept over the assembled staff, finally coming to rest on Mia. “Mia… congratulations. You’ve got the job.”
Confused, my eyes darted toward Mia, meeting her baffled expression. Her eyes blinked owlishly as the twins inched toward her with proud expressions while the staff began to clap. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to do the same.
“Though we had many qualified candidates, after careful consideration, Antoni and I felt that Mia’s exceptional performance as the Hyde Park office manager more than qualified her for the dual role.”
As Alfred and Antoni gave Mia congratulatory hugs, I noticed the sympathetic and sorrowful glances she cast my way. Despite my own disappointment, I managed to give her a small smile of encouragement, silently urging her to embrace her victory.
The rest of the staff joined in the celebration, offering their congratulations before the twins finished their morning briefing.
When the briefing was over, Alfred and Antoni bid their farewells and made their exit as everyone else dispersed to their cubicles and offices.
Mia hurried toward me. Her eyes were so apologetic. “Aviana, I didn’t apply for the position. I swear. I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head, offering her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. You deserve this opportunity, even if you weren’t expecting it.”
Mia’s shoulders sagged with relief as she wrapped me in a tight hug. “Thank you. I’m sorry again.”
I continued to reassure her that everything was okay, but happiness for her blended with a bit of envy.
I loved my best friend. Yet, while I was genuinely thrilled for her success, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being pigeonholed by my own circumstances.
Stuck in a marriage where there was no passion and a career where there was obviously no growth, I yearned for the courage to seize control of my own destiny, just as Mia had done.
DAMAR SCOTT
A few blocks away in Hyde Park, my son, Jeremy, and I were hitting the basketball court, something we’d done since he was little. The sun, finally coming out, beat down on us as we played one-on-one.
“Ah ight, ah ight, ah ight,” I chanted as I caught the ball. “I need a break. Let’s take five.”
“Dang. You can’t keep up, old man?” Jeremy taunted with a grin plastered on a face identical to my own when I was sixteen.
“You better pray you make it to my age.”
As we took a breather, I wiped the sweat from my face, catching Jeremy’s eye. “Listen, I gotta talk to you about something.”
Jeremy’s smile faded, replaced by a look of curiosity. “What’s up?” he asked, leaning against the chain-link fence.
I took a deep breath. “I been hearing about who you’ve been hanging with. Them streets ain’t no joke, and I don’t want you gettin’ caught up in all that mess.”
Though I wasn’t a hustler, being a popular promoter, I was tight with many of the dope boys in the city.
They knew me well, so they were also familiar with my son.
I had heard that he was in the streets, cliquing up with the 111 Boyz, a notoriously well-known street gang with territory in The Hundreds.
Jeremy’s expression darkened as his gaze dropped to the ground. “I’m not doing anything wrong, Pops.”
I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“I know you’re not, son. But I’ve seen how easy it is to get caught up in that life, even when you’re not looking for trouble.
But it can seem like you’re looking for trouble when you’re hanging with the wrong crowd.
And I know you’ve been hanging with the 111 Boyz. ”
“They’re my friends,” he protested. “I go to school with them.”
This was my reluctance with Jeremy getting older.
No matter how much I helped his mother financially, she was insistent on not straying too far away from the neighborhood that she was raised in because she wanted to be close to her mother.
Though she and Jeremy lived on a nice block outside of Roseland, I knew that it would be easy for Jeremy to venture into dangerous territories with his friends.
“That doesn’t matter. You know how many innocent kids are killed because of their association with the wrong crowd. You’ve seen it. I love you, and I ain’t gonna let you go down that road—not if I can help it.”
“So, what you tryin’ to say? I’m not supposed to have friends?”
Gritting my teeth, I looked down. I had once been a young boy facing the same fight.
For those reasons, I had always wanted my son to grow up differently—in a different neighborhood in private schools.
Unfortunately, as two teenage parents, we had been raising Jeremy as we grew up, so Stephanie and I hadn’t made the best decisions with the little that we had.
And, now that I had the finances to make his life different, Jeremy was nearly old enough to make his own decisions and had already formed bonds with the wrong crowd.
“Find some new friends,” I suggested.
As I expected, he immediately sucked his teeth, rolling his eyes up to the sky.
“Why can’t you hang out with your cousins?”
“They’re lames, Dad.”
“They are lames that won’t end up in jail or dead.”
“Dad,” he said, groaning.
No matter how much he grew up, he was still a little boy. I could see the tantrum brewing in his scowl, so I gently squeezed his shoulder. “Okay, okay. We’ll spin the block on this later. Let’s finish the game.”
As I resumed the one-on-one basketball game, I got more worried for him.
My bond with my son was incredibly strong; we practically grew up together since I became a father at a young age.
Growing up in the tough neighborhood where I saw too many young boys lose their lives to violence, the thought of anything happening to my son was unbearable.
“All right, Pops. See you later.” As we stood in the doorway of his mother’s home, Jeremy gave me a quick bro hug before attempting to pull away, but I brought him in, holding him a bit longer. I felt defeated, not having gotten through to him earlier.
“I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Bet. Love you too.”
He peeled out of my arms and scurried into the house. A knot formed in my stomach knowing that he was rushing, eager to be around trouble.
Standing in the foyer, Stephanie sighed, looking at my expression. We had already talked about the things I’d heard, so she knew that I was going to try to talk to him that day.
“Well?” she pressed softly.
Frustrated, I leaned against the doorframe and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my basketball shorts. “He wasn’t trying to hear anything I said.”
She scoffed with a light chuckle. “I’m not surprised. He’s a teenager. He doesn’t think we know anything.”
“Maybe we should consider transferring him to a different school.”
Her expression turned into disapproval. “And make him start over in his junior year?”
“Yes. That’s an inconvenience worth saving his life.”
“I’m assuming you want him to go to a school outside of this area. Who is supposed to take him to school every morning and pick him up? Considering the schedule you have, you won’t be able to, which leaves me to do it.”
“Or he can live with me and Aviana, as I’ve been suggesting for the last year.”
Immediately, she started to shake her head. “No. Not going to happen. I have nothing against Aviana, but this is my child, and he will be living with me.”
Before I could express the protest on the tip of my tongue, my phone started to blare in my pocket. Through my earpiece, my phone announced that Aviana was calling.
Growing frustration made me groan. “I’ll talk to you about this later.”
I turned my back on Stephanie’s defiant smirk and answered Aviana’s call while jogging down the porch steps.
“What’s up, baby?”
“Hey,” she returned with an annoyed sigh.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked as I heard Stephanie’s front door close.
She whimpered a bit, which let me know she was pouting. “I didn’t get the job.”
“I’m sorry, baby.”
I wasn’t sorry at all. I’d listened to Aviana endlessly talk about that job, pretending to be supportive while quietly hoping she wouldn’t get it.
The last thing I needed was her gaining too much confidence, feeling powerful, or realizing she could actually succeed without me.
Sure, more money from her meant less pressure on me, but it wasn’t worth the risk of her outgrowing me—or worse, deciding she deserved better.
I wasn’t about to let her outgrow me or us.
“Honestly, I wanted that job, but only because it was my only choice. It wasn’t my dream job, though. I want to go back to school,” she whined. “I’m thirty. I need a real career. I want to finally apply for nursing school.”
My jaw tightened. “That’s going to take so much time and energy away from us.” I sounded disappointed, just enough to make her second-guess herself. “What about finally having a baby? You’re really going to wait four years of school until you’re almost thirty-five to have a child?”
She blew an irritated breath, but I cut off any response she was about to have.
“I mean, seriously. By the time you’re done, who knows what’ll happen? You’ll probably be too busy for anything else. Is this really about school, or is it just another excuse to avoid finally having a baby with me?”
“I’m not avoiding anything, Damar,” she protested softly.
“Then why do you always need something else? We’re good as we are. You know I support you, but nursing school? Sounds like you just want reasons to avoid growing our family.”
When she fell silent, I knew I’d planted that tiny seed of doubt. I couldn’t let her grow past me. If she did, she might realize she deserved better, and I couldn’t risk that.
“I just want you here—with me,” I whispered gently, like I was offering comfort instead of control. “Is that so wrong? My business is doing great, baby. I can take care of us. Let’s focus on me putting a baby in you sooner than later so that you can go to school in a few years.”
“So that I can struggle with studying and taking care of our home with a child, Damar?”
“Baby—”
“I have to go,” she quipped with irritation. “I’ll see you at home later.”
As she abruptly ended the call, I could feel my hold on her slipping. The more independent she became, the less I could control her, and control was the only way I knew how to keep her close. It made me want to tighten my grip and remind her who she belonged to until she never forgot it.