Forever Yours: How it all Began

Chapter 8

I can't believe I'm about to graduate. Three volleyball championships, graduating top 10% of my class with a double major and a solid business plan, I'm ready to take on the world. 

As I search through the crowd, I finally see my mom and dad waiting on me. My dad picks me up and twirls me around like I'm still his little five year old girl. Though mom and dad divorced, he never stopped spending time with me. I turn and look at my mom who's now crying.

"Oh mamaaa. Don't cry."

"I just can't believe my baby girl has graduated college and will soon be moving halfway across the country."

I was fortunate to be offered an internship in government contracting at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. There I would learn all about contract management and supply chain sides of the business. Once I'm done, my plans are to move back to Dallas and start my own company.

"Mama, I'm not leaving until next January. I still have one more season of volleyball to finish. Plus I'm not staying there permanently. You can always fly out to visit me".

"I guess you're right baby girl. But I liked it when you were only a few hours away from me."

I gave my mama the tightest hug I've ever given her. I have to spend as much time as I can with her before I leave. She pulls out a wrapped box from her purse and gives it to me. It's a gift from her and dad. I open it up to see it's a cell phone. A blackberry. I jumped and hugged both of my parents. They really do their best when it comes to taking care of me.
My future husband definitely has some big shoes to fill.

"Your dad and I have one more gift for you."

"Really? What is it?"

My mom said I will see it later but for now, they had reservations for dinner. They wanted to hang out with me before I joined some of my friends later that night to celebrate.

After dinner, my dad pulls up to my apartment. I noticed that my silver Honda was no longer parked in my space. It was replaced with a brand new black on black Honda Accord Sport. I don't remember if my dad had come to a complete stop before I jumped out of the car. I ran to the car looking through the windows. The black seats with red pipe lining just screamed to drive me!

My dad and mom came up to me and asked if I liked the car. I love it! My dad gave me the keys. I unlocked the doors and climbed in. I took in the scent of that new car smell. It was fully loaded with red and black leather seats, sun roof, black rims, and dark tinted windows.

I told my parents to jump in so we could go for a ride.  Before pulling out of the parking lot, I let the sunroof back and turned on some music. I found a station that was playing M.C. Hammer 2 Legit 2 Quit. With my parents in the car with me, I couldn't blast the music like I normally would. We took off enjoying the beautiful weather. Since it's the beginning of May, that Texas heat was no joke.

We rode around just talking, mainly my parents reminiscing about my childhood. After my parents divorced, neither one of them remarried. I used to hope they would get back together, but so far, that hasn't happened. I'm just happy they learned to be friends again. It felt so good to have the both of them with me at the same time. 

———————————————————————

After riding around town for a bit, my parents finally left. It was now time to get myself together to hang out with my friends. I opened the door to my apartment and LaShae was standing behind it and popped the top of the champagne bottle. It scared the heck out of me. We laughed and jumped around like little kids. She told me there was a surprise in my room and that she would see me at the Docks later.

I wondered what kind of surprise she had waiting for me. As I walked down the hallway, I smelled a familiar scent of a man's cologne. It's the scent of Andre but I know he's not here. I still care and miss him no matter how much I try to push the thought of him out of my mind. We haven't talked in almost a year.  He tried contacting me after my meltdown at the Waffle House, but I rarely responded back. Even when I did, it was 1 or 2 word replies.

As I turned the corner to enter my room, I saw him. He was sitting at my desk. When he noticed that I had walked in, he stood up just looking at me. I couldn't believe he was here.

"Tahleea."

"Andre. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. I knew I wouldn't be able to find you in the crowd at graduation, so I came here and begged LaShae to let me in."

"You were at the graduation?"

"Yes. I wouldn't have missed it. I know it's been a while since we last talked and even then it was on bad terms, but I care for you so much and I miss you."

"Andre please let's not do this."

"Tahleea please stop pushing me back. I want us to be able to have a civil relationship. I want to work on us."

"Us? Our relationship ended before it really got started. I really believed you cared for me. I knew you could have any girl on this campus, but for some reason, you were able to convince me that I was the one. The one that you could maybe want to marry one day. The one that deserved my heart. You took what I gave you for granted and you knew how hard it was for me to allow you in my space."

"Tahleea I didn't come here to argue or rehash the past. I can't change what happened though I wish I could. It was a huge mistake that I will spend the rest of my life making up for if I have to. Just please don't push me out. I want to be with you. I need to be with you."

"Why do you need to be with me Andre?  You have Macy. Wasn't she really what you wanted? She was the one that you chose to be with you during one of the most pinnacle times of your life. I wasn't good enough to share that moment with you."

"I took her because I knew she would give me what I wanted. I knew you weren't going to be a quick lay. Macy and I have been there for each other in ways no one else would understand. That doesn't make what I did right. Matter of fact it wasn't, but I knew she would give me what I wanted when I wanted it. But you Tahleea, you are different. You have so much respect for yourself. You're not one to throw your panties at me every opportunity you get. Hell you never threw them at me. You made me come to you. You cared for me like none of my other so called friends. You are genuine and you don't have motives behind your actions. I need you because I know you are the one for me. You are the one that will carry my last name. You will be the mother of my children."

I just stood there staring into his eyes. I felt that what he said was true, but my wall was built with 100% steel and cement. If he wants me back, he'll definitely have to work his ass off, especially regaining my trust.

""Ok Andre. I'm willing to try this friend thing again."

"You just don't know how glad I am to hear you say that. I was going to keep trying until you caved."

Putting on that sexy smile, Andre runs over, picks me and twirls me around like a little rag doll. I think I've been able to put myself back together and strong enough to be friends with Andre.  Before placing me back on my feet, Andre kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for giving our friendship a chance.