Beautiful Dichotomy

chapter 53

Samuel was trying his best to pretend like he wasn't panicking. He tried to get more information from her via text but all he got was her response:

it's not bad i promise.

The words were ringing in his head over and over. She had been dodging his calls all day, barely texting back and then says that. Was he doing too much in general? Was he overreacting?

Doing all of his ritualistic routine without thinking, taking off his shoes, dropping his bags off, changing into more comfortable clothes and now standing at the kitchen counter in front of the groceries he bought. His phone face down as he blankly stared at it.

"Uh, you forget something my dude?"

Samuel flinched at David's face now invading his personal space as he backed away.

"No, why?"

David shrugged casually, "you were just zoned out staring with all this stuff, I wasn't sure if you were trying to remember something."

"I can't stop thinking about this actually," deciding to open up to him for advice, he unlocked his phone to show the last few texts from Rae. David looked confused at first before reading over the four text messages he could see.

Hearing David's dramatic noises and audible "oof" sounds was making this situation worse. Seeing Samuel's lack of playfulness, David stopped and cleared his throat, "sorry uh- yeah she said it's nothing bad so don't stress too much."

"She's blown me off all day, I sent her a picture and that was her response, the 'we need to talk' text."

"I can read," David shot back, "and I can also read your energy right now," he waved his hands to gesture towards him, "it's so chaotic."

Samuel's free hand was busy running through his hair, pushing it further from his face. Closing his eyes tight, he snatched his phone back and locked it, almost slamming it face down on the counter. David now felt slightly guilty, not wanting to be dismissive to his friend, "I'll be honest, it's a little sketch, but until you talk to her, you really shouldn't get too worked up. It doesn't help anything to try and do damage control when you don't know if there's any damage."

"I get that dude. It's just how loaded those fucking words together are," he added, now reopening his eyes to look at David, "everyone knows that it's not a nice thing to hear and have to sit on for hours. She won't get here for another hour or so and she sent that two hours ago."

David mentally noted the time he'd like to leave by, to give them space and privacy. Nodding thoughtfully, he sucked his teeth, "call her and tell her that then."

"She's dodging my calls."

"Then call and leave a voicemail," he shrugged, thinking it was the best option, "what're you so afraid of anyways? That she will end things?" His questions slightly throwing Samuel off guard as he scoffed. Waving him off before pushing away from the counter to now pace.

"I mean we haven't really had the talk yet about labeling it. We're kinda just enjoying each other right now."

"Sam y'all have said that for literally months. She met your parents and you said you loved each other. I'd say you ya'll have a label."

"Do you think she's upset about that?"

"Does Rae seem like the type to lie about needing something from you? Something like being called your girlfriend?"

Samuel just shook his head, mentally crossing that off of the long list in his head.

"She does have a lot of family stuff still going on, so maybe she wants to talk about that?"