I heard something like a wheezing sound and my eyes flashed open, quickly turning off the water as I tried to locate where it was coming from. My eyes landed on Tara against the wall near the entrance to the restroom, her eyes closed, breathing deeply.
"The fuck?"
Her head snapped up and she seemed to finally realize someone else was in the restroom with her.
"I didn't...know you were in here," she said after a moment.
I didn't have any fight left in me to go over there and slam her skull into the sinks. I went back to what I was doing, this time keeping the water off so I could hear if she was approaching me on some sneaky shit or something.
"It works better to hold your head up," she stated.
My eyes opened again, giving her an annoyed look as I took her advice. Instantly, blood wasn't running down my shit.
"I figured that...I was just testing out my first idea before...I did that," I lied smoothly.
"Mhm," she chuckled a little, her voice sounding a little shaky.
I heard her stand up and my eyes popped open again.
Maybe her and her friends did see me. This was probably a set up and I was finna get fucked up for real.
"Whatever you're gonna do, go ahead and do it," I told her, still holding the paper towel to my nose. "My shit's probably broke anyways, so why not? If I already gotta go to the hospital, might as well make the most of my time there, huh?"
"I didn't feel a crack."
"What?" I snapped, looking over at her.
She was too close for my comfort, eight feet away from me.
"When I punched you...I didn't feel a crack."
"So what? Can't you still bust somebody nose without feeling a crack?" I asked.
"I don't know...unless I've bust your nose before, you're the only fighting experience I have," she shrugged. "I'm assuming it requires a crack."
"Be funny if you want to," I rolled my eyes. I flinched, realizing how sore they were. "Leave me alone. I'm going home and taking some pills."
"You said you wanted to talk," Tara stated.
"I did. And you beat my ass instead. Yeen gotta remind me," I snapped. "You wanna ask me about talking after the fact? When that's what I came out here to do."
"No...I told you from the jump that I wanted my 1 on 1. So, I got it, now we can talk. Nice compromise, isn't it?" she smirked.
"You're...real life weird, Tara," I stated.
"So...?"
"What were you even doing in here anyways?" I demanded.
"I started to have an anxiety attack...I guess cause of the fight. I get them pretty bad. Especially when we fight," she admitted. "It stresses me out...to fight with you."
"Oh," I said awkwardly, "I'm sorry...about that." While I was on the topic of apologizing, I took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being an ass all these years too," I said through the paper towel, my voice a little muffled, "I fucked up a good friendship with you all the way back in ninth grade because of a moment."
"I really liked you and it hurt a lot for you to just turn on me like that," she admitted softly. "You made me feel like something was wrong with me for the longest, but then, I had to realize it wasn't."
"How'd you realize that?" I asked, hopping off the sink and replacing my paper towel for a new one.
"The blood's slowing down now, ain't it?" she asked harshly. I guess I didn't phrase my question in the best way.
"Yeah," I shrugged, trying to soften my tone.
"I realized it was because I liked what I liked, and yea maybe I should've asked you if I could kiss you, but other than that, I did nothing wrong. I like who I like and I'm free to be that way. I realized that amongst other things."
"What else did you realize?" I frowned.
All these realizations, and all the progress I've made in the past few years had consisted of me getting better with my anger and irritation.
"That you liked me back," she smiled, leaning against the sink.
I was on my way back to where I had been sitting, two things of paper in my nose when she said that. I laughed, my hard work almost coming out of my nostrils. "That's cap, man. Funny, though."
"You do. And you were so stuck on being close minded that you didn't even realize it," she stated, staring at me in amusement.
"That's cap," I told her in a more firm tone, realizing that what I was saying wasn't sinking in her head. "I never liked you back. Not in that way."
"So you didn't kiss me back?"
I looked away from her face.
Definitely left that part out of the story when I told Caren and Nolina what happened on the FaceTime.
"What else was I supposed to do, man?" I threw up my hands. "It would have been...rude for me not to kiss you back."
"Rude?" Tara repeated, laughing a little. "Gialla Collins worrying about being rudeee?"
I blushed, turning my face away from her. "If you knew I liked you, why keep fighting with me?"
"Don't get me wrong...fighting with you was never a game," her tone turned more serious as she stepped closer to me, laying her hand at the curve of my waist. And I let her. I freaking let her. I stared into Tara's eyes. "But after I got over the way you treated me and started to accept who I was and stopped automatically thinking other people would love me the way that I loved myself, I realized shit. It was adorable how you'd keep coming back to me, arguing and hitting."
"Bruh, are you demented," I pulled back, "None of that screams 'I like Tara'."
"I think that you just have a different way of showing you like people. It's hella couples who rough play. Love doesn't always mean sweet touch's and shit."
"You were right but whatever," I turned away.
"I know I was," Tara said from behind me confidently. "But I also don't let nobody play me. You punched me, so I gave you that shit right back each and every time. Flirting or not."
"I know you did. Look at me now," I gestured to my face, crossing my arms at the doorway.
"Nolina's gonna be looking for me. I guess I should...go," she shrugged, looking a little disappointed.
I laughed at her little sorry ass expression.
"You thought that just cause I told you I liked you meant I was gonna be all 'Ohhh Tara, I wanna be with you forever'? That don't mean shit."
"I only ever said I thought that you used to like me," she said slowly, confusion on her face, "Not that you still...did..."
I froze, realizing my mistake.
"Whatever," I grunted, turning to leave the restroom. "Just tell everybody to stop looking at me like I'm the fucking 45th president and we'll be cool."
"I gotchu, but Gialla wait," she said, slight urgency in her voice.
"I gotta go. My mom'll be looking for me," I said quickly, jogging as far as I could away from the park restroom.
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