Chapter 6

Marcus had been staring at me for 30 minutes, “Where were you?”
    It was dinner.  The awkward feeling around the table was scary.  The only one who had been talking was Jalen’s mom.  She had been humming to herself the entire time.  It filled the silence though.  Brolic was eating silently.  Jalen was awkward.  Marcus looked pissed.
    It had to be the most awkward dinner in the world.
    “I went to Jalen’s job.”
    “What kind of job is that late at night?” Marcus asked.
    Jalen dropped his fork at that moment.  The dinner was so awkward.  Marcus had cooked a beautiful meal as usual but it seemed like no one really had an appetite for it.  Brolic was mad at Jalen.  Jalen seemed to be awkward with me.  Marcus was pissed all around.  I just didn’t even feel like eating.  I was just sitting at the table trying to hope Marcus didn’t chew me out too much for sneaking out.
    Jalen rolled his eyes at Marcus, “Is there an issue?  Don’t you work for Djimon?  Or is it the other way around? I don’t get why you boss him around all the time.  Aren’t you the servant…?”
    I was shocked that Jalen said it.  Marcus and I always had a weird kind of relationship.  Not a lot people understood it.  He was very overprotective but I always liked to believe that I was in charge?
    Was I though?  I whined a lot until he did what I wanted.  Was that really in charge?  Jalen had a point.
    Marcus was about to respond to him but Brolic jumped in instead.
    “You trying to protect your boyfriend?” Brolic asked.
    Marcus looked at me.  Jalen’s mom looked at Jalen.  I looked at the plate.  
    This shit was super awkward!
    “Excuse me?” Marcus asked, “Come again.”
    “Oh you didn’t know?  Your precious prince likes to sword fight with my brother,” Brolic stated with almost sickened grimace on his face.
    I could tell by the way he was looking how disgusted he was.  Brolic was NOT a fan of me.  He clearly wasn’t a fan of homosexual activity as well.  That was the most clear out of everything.
    Jalen’s mom looked over, “Son…”
    She put her hand on his hand.
    He pulled away, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    Fuck.  Brolic had just THROWN his brother out of the closet.  I was shocked.  Jalen got up off the table clearly bothered.  He walked up the stairs.    
    Brolic was a dickhead.  Jalen was the nicest person that I had ever met.  How the fuck could he just do something so backwards and shady just because he found out about his sexuality?  These Americans just didn’t seem to care about their families.
    I got up off the table.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” Marcus asked me.
    “Don’t worry about it.”

    I walked upstairs chasing after Jalen.  I found him in his room.  Luckily this time when I walked in on him it wasn’t in a compromising situation for once.  Jalen was just shaking his head.  It was clear that he was upset with what was going on.    He was looking out of the window.  He looked bothered.
    “Are you…ok?”
    He looked up at me.  He sighed a little bit.
    “I’m out of the closet.  I guess I’m doing ok…”
    “Why would Brolic do that?”
“He is complicated.  When my dad died it was just him and me.  We just had each other.  For a long time he looked at me as his role model.  I think me being gay is just coming as a real shock to him.”
Jalen was so understanding even to people who didn’t deserve it.
“I’m…sorry…”
    He actually smiled back, “Look at you caring about someone else.  There is a down-to-earth person in there somewhere huh?”
    I laughed, “Down-to-earth?  Ok now you’re going too far.”
    We both laughed for a little bit.
    “So now that I’m out of the closet.  How about I take you out?” he asked me.
    I was confused by what he meant.  Jalen was so handsome sitting there on his bed looking up at me.  He was sexy as hell and the he asked me seemed very suggestive.
    “Wait…like a date?”
    “I mean usually people date first and kiss second.  I guess we got it mixed up, but I still want to do this right,” he stated smiling at me, “I mean.  You are a prince and shit.  Can’t be sitting here acting like you a normal dude…”
    Why was I smiling so hard?  Snap out of it Djimon.  You are a royal.  I should have been carrying myself with more class and grace.  I should have been cheesing like some school girl.
    “Yes…”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well I’ll pick you up tomorrow.  Pick you up meaning American for walk over to your room.”
    I nodded.
    I walked out at that moment.  My heart was beating fast.  This was going to be my first “date”.  I couldn’t believe that Jalen has asked me out.  The way he did it was so smooth too.  I felt like I was all special. Jesus.  Why was my heart beating so fast?
    I went to my bedroom and felt like I was floating on air.
    I felt so into the world all of a sudden.  That was the problem with being a prince.  A lot of the time I felt as though I didn’t know what was happening with other people.  I felt removed.  For some reason Jalen reversed that.  He made me feel…
    He made me feel.
    He made me feel like a normal person.
    “What you doing?”
    Awkward.
    Marcus had walked on me hugging my pillow like some kind of princess.  I threw the pillow to the floor and stood up at that moment.  Marcus looked at me with this hard look.
    “I meant to tell you Marcus.  I am going out on a date…with Jalen.”
    He laughed, “You’re joking…”
    “I’m serious.”
    Marcus was breathing heavy right now, “Prince.  You are the crowned prince and rightful King of---“
    “I know my title.”
    “You can’t just date a commoner. You can’t date…date a man!  There is tradition.   You are.  You can’t.  Djimon  What would your mother think?”
    I looked at him for a minute.
    I turned the other way at that moment.
    “She isn’t around.  Is she?”
    “Prince…”
    “No.  No more.  You work for me.  Remember that Marcus.”
    I turned away from him.  I knew he didn’t want to let this go.  I know he was steaming.  I knew he was upset.  Right now I couldn’t think about that.
    Right now I had found another pillow to hug.  And that pillow for that moment was Jalen.  Nothing mattered.  The kingdom didn’t matter.  The throne didn’t matter.  The title didn’t matter.  The only thing that mattered was Jalen.

    “People are staring at me.”
    “You walked in here with a bodyguard and you are dressed like a million bucks…in the middle of Brooklyn… people are going to stare…”
    It was the next day.  Jalen had taken me out to a date.  The place looked like it served pizza.  To be honest I was expecting something a lot fancier.  I don’t know why I was expecting to go to some grand hotel with a horse and carriage ride.  We were in Brooklyn after all.  I had never been on a date but I just didn’t expect this.
    “He won’t bother us.  I told Marcus to give us space.”
    Jalen and I had taken a booth and Marcus was sitting a few booths over.  He had INSISTED on coming even though I tried to get him not to.  Marcus wasn’t taking no for an answer.  I could see his eyes burning from the distance watching us closely.
    “He looks pissed,” Jalen stated.
    Jalen was sitting across from me.  He was dressed in plain t shirt and a hat. He looked real good.  I had to admit.  His muscles were flexing out of his shirt.  His hate was flipped backwards.  The only thing that glimmered on him was his white smile.  He smelled good too.  It wasn’t anything expensive.  It seemed like just his natural man smell.  A part of me couldn’t help but to move closer to him in the booth.  He looked kind of hot in his little street kind of way.  He was making me feel way overdressed though.  I had a gold blazer with expensive shoes and a bowtie.  
    “He’ll survive,” I stated shaking my head, “It’s about us.”
    He smiled, “I like that.”
    Just at that moment.  A fat lady walked over to the table. She had the Italian flag stapled on her dirty looking apron.  She gave us a lazy smile that showed off her missing tooth.
    “What can I get you guys?” she asked.
    That was rude.  She didn’t introduce herself or even tell us what the appetizers were for the day.  I crossed my arms.  It was the first time I had eaten at a place like this.
    “Can I have a glass of Cordon Negro, preferably Freixenet…?”
    For some reason Jalen broke out into laughter.
    I was confused.
    The waitress seemed even more confused, “What?”
    “It’s a wine…um…”
    The lady rolled her eyes in the most unprofessional way, “What?  This is a pizza joint, Prince Ali.”
    “It’s actually Prince Djimon…” I corrected her.
    “---Can we get two slices each of your pepperoni pizza?” Jalen cut me off at that moment, “And two cans of sprite…”
    I was confused.  The lady nodded and walked away rudely.
    Jalen was still laughing when she did.  I had no idea what was so funny at that moment but I smiled hoping that I wasn’t being awkward.  I felt so out of place.  People were still looking at me as though trying to figure out who I was.  I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb.
    “I have had uh…pizza…I heard it was good,” I stated.
    ‘You never had pizza?” he asked laughing.
    “You just find me hilarious today don’t you?”
    He laughed at that moment, “No it’s not that.  I think it’s adorable.  In some ways you are so cultured and evolved but you have so much more to learn.  This isn’t fine dining.  I wanted to bring you to a place that was special to me.”
    “This…place… is special?”
    It didn’t look special.  It looked ran down.  It definitely wasn’t fine dining.  Still the fact that I was here with Jalen seemed to make this place bearable.   I just kept looking at his eyes hoping that I didn’t come off as a conceited piece of crap again.
    “My dad used to bring me here all the time.  He said it was the best pizza in Brooklyn.  I had to agree.  I felt like I wanted to share that with you?”
    “How did your dad die?” I asked.
    “A stroke.  Horrible isn’t it?  My mom kind of lost if afterwards.  She never was the same…”
    I shook my head.
    “I still plan on helping your mom with her treatment.  I have money now.  Just give Marcus all the bills,” I explained.
    He smiled and reached over to me.  He put his hand on my hand.  It made me shiver when he did it.  His hand felt so…comforting.
    “That means the most.  We have a lot in common.”
    “We do?”
    “Your dad is dead too right?” he asked.
    I nodded, “He was sick and then there was this rebellion in the country.  It was scary part of my life.  I wasn’t sure what happened but he died unfortunately.”
    “Wait…so you aren’t sure of the specifics…”
    I shook my head.  I had never asked my mother.  
    “No…I was young and I just didn’t know.”
    “You should find out,” he stated.
    Shit.  Maybe he was right.  Just at that moment the heavy set lady brought out the pizzas.  She set them down.  I looked at them.  They were covered in this orange looking grease.  The cheese was dripping all over the plate.  
    I poked at it with my fork.  What the hell was this?
    “Is this…edible?” I asked.
    Jalen laughed, “Of course.  It tastes better than it looks.  Do you trust me?”
    I smiled.  My heart was doing backflips.    
    “Of course.”
    Jalen smiled back.  He had the most beautiful white smile.  At that moment he picked up the pizza slice and started to feed it to me.  I bit into it and let the cheese melt in my mouth.  It was so FUCKING good.  He was pulling back the slice when all of a sudden I was joking going at it.  I took the slice away from him and started to devour it.  The sauce was amazing.  I had Italian food before but this was different.  This felt so sinful!
    “Slow down,” Jalen stated, laughing.
    He was watching me eat.  He wasn’t even eating himself.  It was almost as though he enjoyed watching me lose all my class and act like a pig.  For some reason I couldn’t even help myself.  For that brief moment all my demure and table manners had gone out the window!
    “It’s so good,” I stated, “I was never allowed to eat things like this…”
    I never had anything like it!
    “You can have mine as well,” he stated after he noticed I was making quick work of the meal.  
    “Are you sure?”
    “I insist,” he stated.
    I was so thankful to him for bringing me here that tears were coming out of my eyes. Literally.  Jalen was laughing at me but at this point I didn’t even care.
    “You got some cheese on your lips…” he stated.
    Fuck.  I was a slob.
    ‘Where?  Do you have a mirror?”
    “Here… let me get it…”
    At that point he did something that I was SO surprised at.  He leaned over to me.  And he started to kiss me.  He kissed at my lip first.  His tongue went all around my lips.  Damn.  This was definitely the best date.  Good food AND a sexy man kissing me.
    He kept kissing me.  His tongue was in my mouth.  He didn’t care who was around and neither did I.  It was the middle of the day but this felt so right.
    It felt so right to kiss him like this.
    Just at that moment the table slammed.  I looked to my left to see Marcus standing there.  He had had dropped down money on the table but really he was POUNDING the money on the table as though to disturb us.
    He was staring at Jalen hard.  I was kind of scared for Jalen how Marcus was staring at him. Jalen had more muscles but Marcus was trained in all sorts of fighting techniques.  Marcus looked like he wanted to use every single last one of them on Jalen at that moment.
    “To pay for your tab.”
    “400 dollars?” Jalen asked looking at the money, “We won’t need it.  Listen.  I got this covered…”
    “Are you sure? I know you are having financial issues…”
    “Listen.  I may not be rich but I still like to feel like I can take care of the person that I’m interested in from time to time.”
    At that moment Marcus literally grunted and walked away.  Jalen was watching him.  I felt so embarrassed by how rude Marcus was being.  That was ridiculous.
    “I’m so sorry,” I apologized to Jalen, “He’s just upset about the whole issue of me going on a date with a commoner and a man at that…”
    Jalen nodded, “Yeah.  Yeah.  I can tell.  That---Plus the fact that he’s in love with you.”
    “What?”
    “Don’t act like you don’t know,” Jalen replied, “You can see it a mile away.  That man is a jealous mess.  It’s fucking annoying honestly.”
    “Marcus is not in love with me.”
    “You are so blind to so much,” he laughed.
    “I’m serious.  It’s the other way around.”
    Jalen stopped at that moment, “Wait what?”
    “I was the one who the crush on Marcus,”I said, “Marcus had turned me down a million times.  He’s not interested in me at all.”
    “Wait you are in love with Marcus---still?” he asked me.    
    I sighed.
    A part of me knew I had feelings for Marcus.  That didn’t stop the fact that it wasn’t going to happen.  The only thing that I wanted to do was get to know Jalen.  Marcus made it clear that he wasn’t going to ‘break tradition’.  
    “Yes but---“
    ‘Why even come out with me?”
    ‘Jalen---“
    ‘You know what.  Let’s go.  Let me take you home.  I’ll leave the money here.”
    Jalen was bothered.  Fuck.  
    I had completely ruined the date!
    I could tell by his facial expression that I had completely turned him off.  He wasn’t smiling anymore. He wasn’t laughing like usual.  Right now he just seemed completely pissed.  It looked like I had really messed it up with him.  What the hell was I thinking?  Why the hell would I just do something like that out of the blue?  I felt like the biggest idiot.    
    The taxi cab ride home was quiet.  It was awkward.  No one said a word.  Marcus was steaming mad at me and so was Jalen.
    I felt like I could do nothing right at that moment.

    When we arrived home I noticed Jalen’s mom was probably asleep.  She went to sleep early as hell.  She was such a ghost of a woman really, just floating around the house and disappearing without saying much at all.  
    I walked into the living room following Jalen.
    I knew he was upset.  I just didn’t want him to be anymore.
    “Jalen can I talk to you?”
    “Yes?”
    “Look, I had a good time tonight.  I really…really like you…”
    “Can this be anymore gay?” a voice said.
    I turned to see that it was Brolic.  Brolic was sitting there in the dark living room.  Jalen walked over and turned on the light to see him.  It was odd how Brolic was just sitting there the way he was.  It was kind of creepy honestly.  Marcus had walked into the living room at that point when he noticed me gasp a little.  It was like Marcus had radar to know when I was in trouble now.
    It was kind of annoying.
    “Can Djimon and I have some time alone?” Jalen asked, “He needed to talk to me about something.”
    “That’s not going to happen,” Marcus replied.
    I sighed.  Marcus was being such a dickhead.
    Brolic piggybacked on him almost immediately, “I have to agree with the bodyguard.”
    “Like why are you guys so negative?”
    “Negative.  This coming from the son of a tyrant.”
    I turned to Brolic, “What did you just say?”
    “Do you know who your father was?  Do you know the kind of man your father was?” Brolic asked me at that moment, “Good question huh?  Because I do know.  There is a thing called google.  You should try using it sometimes.”
    “You are crossing the line,” Jalen replied.
    “I’m crossing the line?” Brolic asked, “No.  You know who crossed the line?  It was Djimon’s father.  He crossed the line.  The genocide of 1995 was started by Djimon’s father to kill everyone who wasn’t 100 percent loyal to Djimon’s family.  10,000 murders…here’s proof…”
    I looked at Marcus.
    Brolic had to have been lying!
    He had to be!
    Marcus turned his face down at that moment.  He turned his face to the floor.  Brolic at that point handed something to Jalen.  Jalen didn’t look at it.  Jalen was just shaking his head at his brother.
    I walked over to Jalen and took the papers out.
    There were all these articles.    
    My father started a genocide.
    My father was a war criminal.
    My father was killed in a rebellion by the people!
    My father---the tyrant.
    
        
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