• vanessa •

@username She looks normal.

@username Joel went from Emilia to this?! 🥴

@username i feel bad for joel he'll never have someone in his life that won't use him

@username if she makes joel happy, THATS ALL THAT MATTERS!

"Why are you reading those?" Tatiana questioned, taking my phone out of my hands. "They're just jealous that their future husband is dating a beautiful girl."

"No, I look normal. Whatever that means," I responded. "Oh! And I'm using Joel for his money or fame, haven't you heard?"

"Ay, bub," Tatiana frowned. "They love making up rumors. And nobody knows the truth except you and Joel." I sighed. "Let's go do something— we can invite—"

"He's in California," I interrupted. "They have something important."

"Apparently not important enough for you to remember," she responded. I gave her a small glare. "What if we take Brandon to get some ice cream? Or have Antonio meet us with Brandon and we can do something, just the four of us."

"And have people record me, again? Or harass me? I can't let Brandon be apart of that! He's almost four, he doesn't deserve that."

"You don't deserve it either! V, you cannot let some little teenager's opinion stop you from going out with your family. And you know I'll always have your back. Always."

"I can't—"

"Yes, you can! We're going, and they're going to meet us there. And you're not going to worry about anything!" I watched as she put my phone in her back pocket, and she pulled me to my feet. "Now go change out of your pajamas!" She pushed me towards my bedroom.

—

"Mami!" Brandon ran to me when he saw Tatiana and me. I rushed to him, and bent down to his height as he hugged me. "Quiero helado," he smiled.

"Me too," I responded, smiling at him. I motioned to the ice cream shop that we were in front of, and his eyes lit up. And before I knew it, he was dragging me to the entrance.

Within ten minutes, we were all sat down at a table with our ice cream. Brandon insisted on sitting beside Tatiana because she bribed him with a chocolate brownie.

"If you're going to give him a sugar high, maybe he can spend the night with you," Antonio told Tatiana.

"That's the good part of not having kids, you can give the kid right back to their parents. Especially after giving them sugar," Tatiana smiled. "But you know I would if my dorms allowed it."

"So, 'nessa, how are you?" Antonio asked, looking at me.

"We're not talking about that," Tatiana interrupted. "Ever since you picked up B, she's been on twitter reading indirects. Which are from a bunch of preteens who are jealous."

"No, I haven't," I told Tatiana. "I just went on Twitter, as one does, and searched Joel's name," I mumbled the end. "I don't see the big deal."

"It's not a big deal," Antonio said. "But, you shouldn't be reading that stuff. You avoided all the stuff people talked about when you were pregnant. You can avoid this too."

"It's hard to avoid it! It was easy to avoid the stuff about Brandon, because it was only a handful of people. But there are thousands of people saying how I'm using my boyfriend. And I didn't know who he was until the second time—"

"Vanessa?"

I looked up and saw the one person who'd make my day only 10x worse. "Oh my fucking g—"

"Mami!" Brandon scolded me. "Bad word!"

"Sorry," I apologized to my son.

"Oh my! Is that my—?"

"Yours?" Antonio interrupted. "I don't think you can leave and come back four years later and say that he's yours. He may be yours biologically, but he's not."

"Tones, it's okay," I told him. I looked at my mother, "You want to talk? Let's talk somewhere else," I stood up and she followed me to an empty table on the other side of the ice cream shop.

"I know you're mad," she told me. "It's okay to be mad. All I'm asking is for you to forgive me."

"I already told you, because dad forgave you, doesn't mean I should. My dad was heartbroken when you left, and I couldn't be because I had to be strong for him. I had to be strong for him, and I had to be strong for my newborn son! If you weren't okay with becoming a grandma, you could have said something instead of leaving before I gave birth. I needed my mother with me."

"Vanessa, I am so sorry. It was a huge mistake, I missed so much of your son's life, and yours. I want to be in both."

"I can't do that to him," I told her. "I can't do that to myself. You had four years to try and contact us, and nothing. Mo— I'm sorry, I c—"

"If not for me, for Isabella," my mother interrupted me. I looked at her, and waited for an explanation. "Isabella. Your sister, she's three. I took off the day after I found out. The day your son was born. I wasn't ready to become a mother again, let alone a grandma. Isabella went three years without her father and sister, because I was selfish."

"You're lying," I said. "You're trying to make me feel bad—"

"This is Isabella," she took her phone out and showed me a picture of 'Isabella'. She looked like me when I was that age. "She reminds me so much of you."

"Dad would have told me."

"He promised me he wouldn't. I wanted to be the one to tell you. Vanessa, you're a big sister. And I came back because I thought it was time for me to come back. Now, you don't have to forgive me."

I shook my head. It shouldn't be that easy for me to forgive her. I wasn't planning on forgiving her at all. But finding out I have a younger sibling, made me weirdly happy.

"Uh, V?" I heard Tatiana, and I looked over to that table. "You should probably look at this," she had my phone in her hands. I left my mother alone at the table, and walked back over to our table. I grabbed my phone and looked at whatever Tatiana was talking about.

@itsjoelpimentel Como todos ustedes me conocen personalmente, está bien acosar a mi novia cuando está con sus amigos. Piensa otra vez. Gracias*

Okay, well that was sweet, until my notifications went crazy with people tagging me in the replies. More importantly, how did they get my username?

<><><>

*since all of you know me personally, it's okay to harass my girlfriend when she's out with her friends. Think again. Thanks
(i put it in spanish bc it sounded better)

how's it going?
are you guys staying safe and washing your hands?

i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. i'm slowly writing more and more.

this chapter was more of a filler chapter, and more insight of vanessa's relationship with her mother. And the reason why her mother left.

🤩

talk to you guys in the next chapter!
(Idk when that is! I am still taking classes for college and still working! So please don't say "update!"   I appreciate it and all, but you can be patient, bc I'm not in high school or a teenager with all the time in the world anymore.  I wish I was, but I am not!!!!)