Just One Night

0.6

One Month Later...

Matisse Thybulle

I didn't believe Natalie at first when she told me Danielle left for New York. I thought it was just a prank the two of them were pulling to throw me off. But it turns out she wasn't lying. She really left.

It's been a month since she did and I haven't felt emptiness this bad in a while. I told Tobias about her leaving and all he could offer me was a pat on the shoulder.

Ben was absolutely no help. He was still sleeping with Natalie for goodness sake, so of course he didn't have time to deal with my moping.

Over the course of the month that she has been away, I did some reevaluating in my feelings for her. Turns out what I was feeling was absolutely real. And if she were here, I could tell her that.

Now I'm in Scottsdale with my dad and my sister Chloe. The league is on All-Star break, so I made the trip down to Azzy to surprise my dad.

My sister and I are currently hiking the Grand Canyon, enjoying the view it has to offer us. We sit atop a rock and talk.

"You've been very preoccupied since you've been back here." Chloe comments.

I look at her. "How can you tell?"

"You're my brother/best friend." She says. "How could I not?"

I sigh. "Then you'll know that what I'm about to tell you goes against everything we were raised to believe."

She looks at me. "What did you do Tisse?"

"I hurt someone, pretty bad." I chew on my top lip. "And in the interim, I ended up hurting myself as well."

She turns to face me completely. "Tell me everything."

I really don't like reliving what happened, but it's better to talk about it than to hold on to it.

"Ben and I went out to the club after a win. While we were there, we happened to run into some women." I start.

"Jesus." She mumbles.

I exhale. "I ended up sleeping with one of the women. Twice."

She closes her eyes. "You had sex out of wedlock?"

"Yes." I face palm myself.

"Oh no, Tisse." She groaned.

"It wouldn't be the first time." I mumble.

She looks at me and exhales.

"I ended up falling for her, but our miscommunication ended up driving us away from one another." I go on.

She rubs her forehead stressfully.

"She went to New York City to pursue her career in dance." I explain. "She didn't tell me she was leaving, she just got up and left."

"Did she need to tell you?" She asked me.

I shake my head. She runs a hand through her hair.

"You know what it's like inside a woman's mind. Tell me what her thoughts were at those moments." I plead.

"Okay, firstly, I could've done just fine without knowing about you doing the deed... however many times you've done it." She points out.

"But it was part of the story." I say.

"Don't care." She holds her hand up. "Secondly, she definitely liked you back. I don't know what went on between you two toward the end, but she felt the same way about you."

"Granted she didn't say for fear of being denied her true feelings, but she most certainly was feeling you."

I groan, running my hand down my face.

"If she just left like that, she was feeling some kind of way about you." She confirmed. "It's a common thing for women to want to get away from the one thing that weakens them."

She points her hoodie string at me. "That, my brother, was you."

"Her vulnerability was definitely shown during our hookups." I admit. "It's like she was an open book."

"I'm gonna stop you right there." She holds her hand up again. "Any woman willing to give herself to you, is an open book. You're supposed to read her like an autobiography, not a comic book."

"I'm sure she knew what she was getting herself into opening herself up to you like that. Then when feelings began to get involved, it sent you through a web."

I nod at everything she's saying.

"A way to a woman's heart is not through words, and it's definitely not through sex. It's through actions." She says. "Stop saying, just do."

She's definitely more qualified to speak on the female point of view because she is one herself. And I'm sure if a guy were to break her heart in any way, shape, or form, she would walk away from it as well.

I really think I messed up.

——

I stand in the kitchen washing the dishes. I can't help but to think about how navigating this would be completely impossible without the help of family and friends. Everyone was nice enough to share their opinions on what happened and offer me some kind of advice.

The most common thing I've heard so far is that I need to go after her. I made it known that I am not going to New York City any time soon. I will get up there when I have the chance.

However, it is a big city, and trying to find her will be nearly impossible. But it was also made known that the impossible will have to become possible if this is someone that I can really see myself with. And I definitely can.

Her beauty isn't like anyone else's that I've seen. She has the looks, but the personality is what makes her even more better. Now every day that passes by, I wish that I hadn't said what I said.

At the time, I had made the understanding that nothing good came out of sex. But she was that something.

Natalie gave me an in depth description of why she hung up on me a month ago, and I literally felt so bad. She really did like me, and I blew it. Everything I thought I knew was wrong. I completely misjudged the situation, but I thought I was being logical.

"Are you still upset about this girl?" Chloe asks me.

"Why do you ask?" I mumble.

"Because the dishes aren't washed thoroughly." She said.

I furrow my brows. "What are you talking about? Yes they are."

She picks up a plate and shows me the slight smidge of barbecue sauce on it. I purse my lips as she looks at me.

I exhale as she sighs.

"Move over." She said.

I move over a little to allow her to help me.

"I've never seen you so interested in someone before." She says.

"It's that bad, huh?" I say.

"Yeah." She replies.

We wash the dishes in silence for a while.

"You know, it's okay to feel this way about someone." She confirms. "You just have to be able to act on it."

I nod.

"I'm sure this woman is amazing, and she probably misses you a lot." She looks at me. "I think you should call her. You know... clear the air."

I nod again.

We finish with the last of the dishes before parting ways. I sigh as I go up to my room, trying to decide where I go from here. Whether she'll want to talk to me or not.

Once again, I'm talking myself into making the first move.