ꨄThe Debutanteꨄ

91.

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Continued

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Tori groaned, gripping Anika's waist while she kissed her on the neck. She squinted her eyes, trying to resist the urge to take things further with her. "Anika hold on, shit. Where is this coming from? You can't be tempting me, Mm, like this..." Tori whispered, her head tilted to the side. "Anika..." She said. Anika's mouth frantically moved to Tori's earlobe. "Tori inhaled through her teeth. "Oh, fuck.." she mumbled.

Anika thought that things would escalate further than that, but to her surprise, Tori cut things short almost immediately. Anika was pushed off of her to the side of the couch beside her, not hard enough to fall but hard enough for her lips to separate from her skin. Tori stared over at her with a look of confusion. "Yo! What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked. Anika's eyes furrowed. "What?" She questioned. "...You don't want me?" Anika asked in a frustrated tone, almost snapping at her.

"What? Look, you know I'll always want you one way or another but I'm trying to honor our boundaries because I know if you get back with me, it'll be hell. Plus you're addicted to someone else. Remember? Cookie? The women you fell in love with?" Tori aske.

"This isn't like you, 'Nika. Let's stop." Tori said shaking her head. Anika wiped the side of her lip with her thumb, placing her tongue on the roof of her mouth with a look of annoyance. It was silent for a long time. Tori leaned over, placing her elbows on her knees while she sighed, rubbing her face with the palm of her hands then running one of her hands down her neck. She curled her bottom lip into her mouth, as if she regretted what happened.

"Since when are you denying me?" Anika asked. Tori turned to look at her, both of her hands intertwined together now. "Since when do you come over to my house in the middle of the night asking to bang?" Tori replied. Anika rolled her eyes, looking away. "You must still be in therapy." Anika said. "That I am. And I'm too far ahead to stop now." Tori said. Anika scowled. Tori furrowed her eyebrows. "You were the one damn near begging for me to get help and now that I am, you're mad about that now, too? Well, which is it?" Tori asked. She then waved her hand at her.

"Never mind that shit, why are you over here, 'Nika?" Tori asked. Anika crossed her arms, then looking down. "What if I just changed my mind?" Anika asked. "About what? About you and Cookie?" Tori asked. "About me and you." Anika said. Tori's face was confused. "About me and you? This doesn't sound like you talking, Anika. And plus, the only way I'll date you again is if Cookies' involved. I'm going to therapy for sex addiction, not polyamory." Tori teased. "Not gonna steal a woman I lost from a woman she won with." Tori shrugged.

"You used to be obsessed with me and now you're suddenly too good for me?" Anika Asked. Tori pointed at her. "I didn't say that, I said I'm still in therapy and I'm trying to respect boundaries, shit. If I didn't care so much about you wanting to see a better version of me, I'd have you pinned down right now like I used to. But like I said, that's in the past." Said Tori. "Can you just give me what I came here for? It's not like I'm a stranger or a prostitute on the street. We used to date- And that's what makes it a huge problem, woman." Tori said. The two of them started at each other in silence, and Tori realized the difference in her expression compared to how she looked usually.

She always looked so bright, so vibrant and happy. Now, she looked gloomy and in pain. "What...What's going on? Something happened, I know it did. You're not coming over here for a hookup or because you want me back. You're here for closure. So what's wrong?" Tori asked.

...

The two women sat on the couch, two glasses on champagne on the coffee table. Tori was on one end while Anika was on the other. Anika was hunched over, her elbows on her knees while she leaned her head down. "...And we've been broken up since..." Anika said. Her face was hurting, but she was unable to cry anymore. Tori's face was illustrated with surprise and sentiment. She shook her head. "Wait...wait..." She said. "She broke up with you and kicked you out of her house because she didn't want you to always be at the risk of losing your life due to Lucious?" Tori asked. "He shot me, after all..." Anika said. Tori exhaled. "That son of a bitch makes me sick." Tori replied. "I've just been hurting so badly that I just wanted to do anything I could to get rid of the feeling. To fill some sort of void, so that's where you came in. And I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have tried to use you for my pain after I tried to help you better yourself from using sex for your own pain. But...I just don't understand how could she do something like that and claim that it was out of love..." Anika said.