Page 21 of Her Loyalty

Tiana

"I'm so proud of you, baby." My mom said to me as we made our way out of the crowded building.

"You did it." She went on, making me smile.

"Thanks, mom." I looked down, blocking my face from the sun as we made our way out into the parking lot. There were so many people out here, I couldn't even find my car.

"You remember where you parked?" She asked and I nodded.

"Alright. Well I'm right here." She pointed to her car that was parked in a private employee space.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked and I raised my eyebrows.

"No, I'm coming straight home." I told her and she tooted her lips, directing her eyes in a certain direction. She was simply looking at Dominic, who was sitting on the hood of his car. Obviously waiting for me.

"Please don't." She said before walking off and I couldn't help but to laugh.

Shortly after, I made my way over to Dominic and he held his arms up.

"You did it, T." He smiled wide as I looked down shyly, a smile slowly creeping onto my face.

"You really did that shit." He went on, hopping off the car and pulling me in for a hug.

I couldn't help but to take in his scent. The scent that I'd missed so much and couldn't help but to get flashbacks about.

"Mm." I sniffed him one last time before we finally pulled apart.

"How you feelin'?" He went onto ask and I shrugged.

"Good, I guess. This is really only the beginning." I admitted.

"Now I have to find work then find a place." I explained to him and he nodded slowly.

"I feel you but I know you got this. You always have." He went on, hyping me up and I couldn't help but to smile.

Fuck, I missed him.

"So where you gon' after this? Going out with your friends?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of where a bunch of my classmates were.

"No." I shook my head, waving them off.

"I'm just going to go home, once I can find my car." I joked and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Home?" He asked and I nodded slowly.

"Na' you can't go home, T. This graduation night. You gotta live that shit up, ma." He pressed and I simply shook my head.

"So you tellin' me you really about to go and do nothing after a big day like this, T?" He went on and I shrugged.

"Yeah, that's all I've been doing these past few months. There's no difference today." I explained to him and he scoffed, looking away from me.

"Na' you ain't gon' home, T." He shook his head, making me raise my eyebrows.

"You coming with me, come on." He nodded his head towards his car and I stayed put.

"Where are we going?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know but all I know is you ain't gon' home." He went on and I smiled small.

"Okay. How about I go and find my car and I meet you at your house in an hour?" I asked and he nodded slowly.

"Aight, coo."

*

An hour later

"Here, Tiana. Stop bitchin'." Dom said to me as we sat in the car and he smoked his fifth blunt of the day.

"No, crazy. You know I'm not a smoker." I whined playfully and he smacked his lips.

"Hit this shit and stop playin' with me." He demanded and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine." I put my hand out for it and he took another long, hard pull before giving it to me.

Putting the blunt to my lips, he watched closely as I inhaled before blowing the smoke out of my mouth and then my nose.

"Damn." I heard him say under his breath and I smiled over to him, passing the blunt back.

"I ain't no smoker." He mocked, taking another pull and I softly hit his arm with a smile.

"I never said I didn't do it before, I just don't do it now. I don't like the way it makes me feel."

"You know that." I looked over to him as the sun shined on his brown eyes.

"Yeah, I know." He blew the smoke out, looking directly at me and I quickly looked down.

Though we were here chilling and I was enjoying this time he'd allowed me to have with him, things just didn't feel the same.

I used to be all over and kissing him when I wanted.

But now things felt robotic, as if I had to calculate all of my moves, calculate every thing I said.

I just felt like I couldn't be the me I used to be with him.

Sighing heavily, he took another pull from the blunt before he put it out in the ashtray.

"Talk to me, T."

"Whatchu feeling right na'.." He trailed off and I looked up into his eyes, confused if he wanted the real or the generic answer that I'd just calculated in my mind.

"Well I'm just happy that I gradu-"

"Don't give me that bullshit, T. How you feeling right na' with a nigga?"

"Cause one minute you smilin' and laughing in my face then the next minute you looking all down and sad."

"Tell me what's up, tell me whatchu feelin'." He asked and I sighed deeply, looking down at my fingers.

"Well you know how I feel, Dominic." I expressed.

"I ain't down there, look at me when you talkin' to me, ma." He demanded as I looked up into his eyes.

"Na' go ahead and repeat what you just said." He instructed and I pushed hair behind my ear nervously.

"I said you know how I feel. It's not easy to just sit here and talk to a person you love as if y'all are just friends."

"We been doing it for months na'." He shrugged and I slanted my lips.

"Yeah but that was through text. This isn't the same." I explained to him.

"And even then I feel this way, I just try my hardest not to because I know that you don't feel the same." I expressed and he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"I don't feel no ways about it. I can talk to you like the homie and feel completely normal." He said and though it's been four months, I had to admit hearing those words hurt me.

"Shit cool for me." He went on, making me roll my eyes.

"Yeah, you've stated that plenty of times."

"I know that you no longer feel anything for me on a relationship level.." I trailed off, tired of his nonchalant attitude when it came to this subject.

"But that doesn't change the way I feel. You asked for my feelings so let's not make it about you." I rolled my eyes, looking away from him.

"Whatchu gettin' mad for though?" He knitted his eyebrows as I sat back in the seat, sighing.

"It ain't even that deep, T." He went on.

"I'm not getting mad. I jus-"

"Nothing, lets just drop it, Dominic. I'm not in the mood for this conversation."

"Today's going good, let's keep it that way." I dismissed him.

"Aight, coo." He said and I scoffed to myself, looking down at my hands again.

* 2am

"Stop." I drunkly ran away from Dominic as I held the bottle of Hennessy in my hand.

We were supposedly having a graduation party back at his place but it oddly ended up being just me and him. And this bottle of Hennessy of course, that I was currently on a mission to finish to completion.

"Give me the fuckin' bottle, Tiana. You had enough." He spat at me as I ran away from him.

"No." I whined playfully. I hadn't even had that many shots but he figured since his scrawny ass got drunk quick that I was a light drinker too.

"Why should I even give it you? You've had way more than me." I joked and he couldn't help but to laugh.

"You can't be trusted with it either." I continued to run away from him.

"Man, Tiana.."

"Give me the damn bottle, ma." He laughed hard as I finally plopped down onto the couch, tired of running and he ended up doing the same.

"See now I'm tired because you want to play all night." I joked with him as he smirked, looking up at the ceiling.

We sat there in silence for a while as my mind drifted off to the good times before all of the bullshit went down. I was sure his mind was on something completely different, considering he had no feelings toward me anymore.

"I missed you, T." He ended up blurting out and I furrowed my eyebrows, not sure if it was the drink talking or him.

"You missed me?" I asked again, just to make sure he was serious and he nodded slowly.

"I missed you, T." He said again seriously, looking over into my eyes.

"I missed you too." I admitted, looking into his eyes as well for a moment before we both turned our heads back toward the ceiling.

Saying nothing else, we sat like that for at least thirty minutes. Just staring up at the ceiling as if it would talk to us and give us the answers to all of our problems.

Breaking me away from my daze, I felt Dom's hand on top of mine. He didn't say anything or break his daze with the ceiling while he did but I ended up looking down and attaching my hand to his.

Another thirty minutes went by as we simply sat with our fingers intertwined before he finally broke his daze.

"Tiana." He finally spoke and I said nothing, just looking at him. It was as if, he'd knew what he wanted to say but didn't have the right words to say it.

So instead of words, he used actions.

Gripping my hand tightly in his, he unexpectedly pulled me over into his lap.

"Dom, what are yo-"

"Strip." He spoke sternly before I could even get my words out, looking deep into my eyes.

*