SAM's POV

Great... I love announcements! I thought to myself. Holding my tingly left hand in my right, I follow Diggy into the dining room and sit down in my spot next to my mama. Some folks were still eating; others had already finished their desserts. My mama stood up, allowing everyone at the table to admire her dark blue, silky, laced blouse. Her white pants hugged her thighs. Her rosy red lips parted and a perfectly white smile revealed itself.

"Alright, everyone. I have an announcement to make. Most of you have probably never seen this man ever in your life, and you're probably wondering who he is." She places her hand on Antonio's shoulder. He smiles and looks up at her. "Well, I guess since most of y'all are family, I want you all to know that Antonio and I are actually co-workers..." Everyone's faces looked like they were waiting for her to give the punch line. "And... we just recently started dating."

"How sweet," Sister Wanda croons.

They're dating?

"We've actually been interested in each other for a while, but things weren't able to work out then... but now we're both where we need to be and very happy!"

"How long have you two known each other?" someone asks.

"Uh... ten years?" Antonio looks at my mom and she nods her head, wearing a huge smile.

"Probably a little more than that..."

"How come this is the first time I've ever heard of him?" Mrs. Justine gives my mom the look and she smirks.

"I didn't wanna say anything until it was serious. And like I said, we couldn't really do anything because he was already in a relationship. I was in a relationship, as you all know."

"Yeah. It was not a good time at all," Antonio says with his thick Spanish accent.

"So you guys are serious now?" I manage to ask.

"Yes, honey. I didn't want to keep this from you any longer either," my mama replies.

"Well, I figured something was going on since a strange man was staying the night at our house." Everyone starts to laugh, even though I was being very serious.

"I know, I know..."

"To Martha and Antonio!" Mrs. Justine raises her glass of juice and everyone claps. I'm still not feeling this whole announcement.

"So is that all you wanted to say?" I'm trying so hard not to sound like I have an attitude.

My mom was about to say something to me but Antonio cut her off. 

"Actually, I have an announcement as well." Antonio stands up and looks mom in the eye. "Martha, for these past years that we've known each other, you have been the greatest co-worker and friend that I could have. I can discuss any of my problems with you and you won't judge me or raise your voice; you're such a strong, beautiful woman and very patient. We both been through a lot with our past relationships, but I'm glad that won't stop us now. I know we've only been dating for a short while, but... I feel like I can't wait any longer."

He pulls something out of his pocket and gets down on one knee. The room is full of gasps.

"Martha Renee Goode, will you be my wife and marry me?"

My jaw dropped. I was frozen. Did he just propose to my mother?!

"YES! YES I WILL!" She immediately starts to cry as he slides a wedding ring on her ring finger. They embrace and kiss. I hear clapping and applause, but I don't move. My whole world has stopped... time has slowed down. I couldn't even feel my legs moving from underneath me -- pretty soon, I realized I was in my bedroom, on my bed, crying.

***

DIGGY's POV

I ran upstairs after Sam left the room. I offered to go check on her since she probably wouldn't wanna see her mom right now -- shoot, she probably wouldn't wanna see me either. But I thought about what Khalil told me and I should stop feeling scared about talking to her and just try to figure this mess out. 

Once I made it upstairs, I knocked on her bedroom door. "Sam?" 

No reply. 

"It's me, Dig. Are you alright?" 

Still no reply. I twist the doorknob; it's unlocked. I slowly open the door and peep my head in and see her laying on her stomach on the bed cuddling a pillow. I step onto her blue plush carpet and close the door behind me. "It's okay to cry, you know."

"Shut up," she mumbles into her pillow.

"Why exactly are you sad? Because your mom found a guy that makes her happy, or because you'll have a stepdad?" I walk toward her and sit down by her feet on the bed.

"He will never be my dad." She sits up and faces me. Her eyes are red, her eyebrows are crinkled, and a tear rolls down her cheek. "And don't talk to me about what I should or shouldn't be emotional about -- you've had both parents your whole life!"

"Okay, but why are you upset? I came to listen, not to preach at you," I retort back.

She shakes her head and says, "She never asked me. She didn't even tell me who Antonio was; she didn't even tell me she was dating! All of a sudden this random guy comes living all up in our house and now he's trying to marry my mother?! Who gets married after a few weeks of dating?! How crazy is that?!!!"

"Did you ever tell your mom how you felt?"

"How could I? She was always spending time with Antonio..." She rolls her eyes and lets out a big sigh.

I glance down at her carpet and then back to her. "Well... I don't know if you can talk her out of it, but you should tell her how you feel. And who knows, maybe this Antonio guy isn't that bad."

"Right... with the luck of my family and men? He's probably only after her goodies like I said before," she grumbles.

"Why are you so negative, Sam?" 

"Oh, I don't know. I guess because my dad left us before I entered high school and ever since then, my life has sucked. Not to mention my best friend..." She quickly cut her sentence off. I knew where she was gonna go with that. She's definitely still mad at me.

"Sam... you know I'm sorry about the way I treated you when I was with Julie. I didn't know she would lie to me. I didn't know a lot of things about her as it turns out..." I started thinking about all the drama that's happened within the past week.

"There's a lot you don't know about her..."

I looked at Sam confused, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing."

"...okay. I don't want you to be mad at me. I'm tired of this back-and-forth crap."

"I'm not mad."

"We should try to... 'preserve our friendship'," I said, thinking about what my mom and Khalil have been telling me.

"'Preserve our friendship'? Wow... you sound like my mom and Jake. They've been telling me the same thing." Sam tucks her hair behind her ear and chews on her bottom lip.

"What does Jake know about our friendship? What does he know about friendship period? Ha!" I roll my eyes at the mention of his name.

Sam scoffs. "Aight, seriously? Don't even. Jake is a great friend and you know it."

"He tried to sleep with my girlfriend--"

"Diggy, that's not true! Julie was the one that flung herself at him. No matter what you think, Jake's been one hell of a friend to me -- better than you. He actually cares about how I feel and how I'm doing."

"Did he tell you that?" I chuckle to myself.

"Yeah. And he told me he had feelings for me. He asked me to be his girlfriend."

My face fell. 

"Wait, what?"

"Mhmm. Couldn't believe anyone would want me, but he was there all along and I didn't even see it..." She blushes while hugging her pillow.

I grind my teeth and frown, avoiding eye contact with her. "I wasn't there for you?"

"Let's not make this about you, okay?" She rolls her eyes again.

"Of course. Because everything's always about you. Everything just HAS to go your way or you'll throw a fit until it does. And your friends and family and people that care about you have to get the backlash because you're not grown enough to admit when you're wrong," I shake my head in annoyance. "Just admit that you're not always right, Sam. I dare you."

"Get out of my room," she says in a monotone voice.

"And then you push people away when they try to help you--"

"Get out!" She shoots a death glare at me and I get up from the bed, holding my hands up.

"Alright," I nod and smirk, "Don't be surprised when you look around and nobody's there to hold you down."

I walk out of the room and close the door behind me. What the hell?! I'm sick of being treated like the bad guy. I can apologize so many times to Sam but she's not gonna hear it. Ughhhhh! I don't know what to do. I'm over it, man. I mean, how many times does a guy have to be pushed away to realize that he's not wanted?

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Hope u like this chapter! It's short but still something. BTW check out the song in the media box, it's Diggy's single "Honestly" :)