Exposure

EX:50

Chapter 50~ FINAL PART 2

FINAL CHAPTER

Tiana's Perspective

"There is a past version of you that is so proud of how far you have come."-Abigayle Harrison

.......

HOT pink party balloons were scattered all around me as I tried popping as many as I could. Last night was nearly a blur. My lack of remembering what had taken place during my graduation party had nothing to do with my alcohol consumption, but more to do with living in the moment. I was in such awe with how much my friends had done for me, that I focused solely on enjoying myself.

After opening several gifts, taking a few sips of liquor, and many group pictures I retired for the night, but now morning had arrived and I was in the midst of helping Ally clean up the house before my ceremony later in the afternoon.

My foot made contact with another balloon creating a loud popping sound throughout the living room.

I put most of the balloons in a black trash bag before tying the bag up. Owen came over to where I was trying to hand me some more popped balloons.

"Oh damn you already tied the bag."

"No it's okay I can untie it," I gave him a smile opening the bag back up again.

Owen offered to help me and Ally clean up after the mess that was made last night. I told him that we could handle everything and that it was fine, but he wouldn't let up.

I knew that it was an honest gesture, but I also knew that he wanted to stay over longer to keep talking to me, which I thought was kind of cute.

He chuckled, "you don't have to do all of that. I'm about to take the trash out anyway."

"I said it's fine," I threw the other popped balloons into the trash bag before placing it in a corner next to us.

The sound of Ally talking loudly on the phone from down the hall distracted me. She soon made her way up the hall with a phone up to her ear yelling at the person on the other line.

"I'll be over later Andre dammit... I have to go pick up my dress from the dry cleaners first for the ceremony." She went on and on back in forth, coming into the living room with a purse on her shoulders.

"Imma be right back, I gotta go pick up this dress."

Owen and I nodded finding her conversation amusing.

She grabbed the trash bag filled with balloons on the way out still yelling on the phone.

"I guess she took care of the trash." Owen joked as we both broke off into laughter.

Silence fell over us as I stood in front of him placing my hands in my back pockets. The silence wasn't awkward, it just gave us a brief moment to observe one another. We hadn't seen each other outside of work in two weeks.

"Thanks for the handbag," I said referring to the new purse he had given me as a gift last night.

"You good, thought about givin' you more than that, but I didn't want to overwhelm you."

I chuckled, "it was more than enough Owen."

Lord knows how much I had missed him and his generous giving ways. There wasn't a man on earth who could live up to Owen in my eyes. My heart was telling me to get my man back but my mind was telling me to continue to focus on myself. I was stuck at a point between self-sabotage, going after what I wanted, or walking away from everything, which is also three things I'm very good at.