The Comfort In Our Love

Chapter 1: When I See Her

Author Note: The story is from Tapiwa's perspective throughout the whole story. Overall, I hope you enjoy the story :) Also, I will update every Sunday so Chapter 2 will be posted on the Sunday Sept. 5 2021. 

High school ended about 3 months ago but it feels like it has been a year. It's September and I started new classes with new people. I woke up in the morning to fix my black braids, brush my teeth and do my skincare. When I looked in the mirror my brown skin was so shiny it looked like I had wax on my face. I was wearing black tights, a black turtleneck and a light blue cardigan. I woke up so late that I didn't even have time to eat breakfast. I opened our dark wood door and rushed out of the house hopping on one foot and putting on my left shoe in the process. I ran about half a kilometer so I wouldn't be late for the bus. Luckily, I saw the light blue coloured bus just come in and I went in to sit in my usual seat at the front. I take public transit most of the time because I have been for years. About 20 minutes go by and I pull the yellow string for my stop. I rushed so fast down the stairs I almost fell on my face. I had the school map in my hands because I still got lost even after being here for a few weeks. As I walked on the cement towards the DNA building for my lab, I could see someone sitting on a bench under a tree to my left. As I got closer to the building, I realized it was Tino. Tino is my guy best friend from high school. He has always been a person I can lean on or vent to. I'm also the same for him.

I remember the day, in high school, when I was upset in class after my break up with my boyfriend Leo. Tino comforted me and stayed with me until the evening. We went to my favourite food place to eat sadza and nyama. The restaurant had wooden chairs with wood tables in the middle. We were the only ones there at the time since it was late. He sat across from me, staring, while I ate two bowls of muriwo by myself. "We just slowly grew apart.", I said with a tear rolling down my face. It's not like he did anything terrible to me or vice versa. We just started having different interests and slowly became strangers in our relationship. We broke up on mutual terms, but is it so wrong that I was a little sad it didn't work out? "Not everyone is meant to stay together", Tino said as I was starting my third bowl. "I know it hurts, it usually does. There is no rush to find that guy that you'll spend the rest of your life with. You are strong but it's okay to feel human emotions too. If you want to cry, go ahead. Let it all out until the bottled up feeling is gone". With those words I had tears streaming down my face silently while I was still eating. I don't know if it was because I'm going through a break up or if I wasn't being honest with Tino. A main factor we started growing apart was because I also started to realize I also am attracted to women. I never told Leo because we were drifting apart anyways. I wanted to tell Tino at that moment but I was scared of his reaction. He might have given an answer I wasn't ready to hear. So, I finished my third bowl of muriwo and he dropped me off at home. Till this day I still hadn't told him.

When I saw Tino on the bench he was sleeping as usual. "Tino we have a biology lab at 10am get up or we'll be late", I said. He groaned a bit while I was pulling him up. While he was half asleep, we managed to walk into our biology lab. We put on our goggles and white lab coats waiting for the lab to begin. We were going to examine plant pigments. I looked around the room and then to my left, at the white table beside mine, I saw her. Brown eyes, dark eyebrows, strong jawline, pink lips, dark wavy hair, and smooth chocolate skin. I was mesmerizing at how such a beautiful woman could exist. I couldn't help but just stare with a small grin on my face. She turned her head to her right and her eyes met with mine. I looked away so fast so she didn't see how red my cheeks became. "Tapiwa are you hot in here? Do you have a fever or something", Tino said. "Shut up Tino! Don't look at me and don't ask". It wasn't my first time finding a woman attractive but I haven't felt this flustered in awhile. After my break up with Leo, I just didn't get into another relationship or showed any interest in people. Maybe it was because I didn't care and I also didn't have the time while preparing for university. Seeing her made my heart race so fast that I thought I was having a heart attack. After my face came back to its natural color, I couldn't help but look over to my left again. There was something about her that made me want to get to know her. "Okay class. We don't have time to waste so let's begin the lab for today.', my professor said. With those words from my professor, I had to break my gaze and get to work.