ALL TO MYSELF

XXVI - Tiffany

I woke up, realizing it was Monday and my best friend was back home so I decided to call her to catch up.

"Hello?" she answered in a low voice.

"Hey, why you sound like that? How was your trip?"

"I'm about to come over."

I could hear Pluto talking in the background but I couldn't make out what he was saying before the phone hung up. Lord please don't let them be arguing again. We just went shopping for a ring a few days ago and I can't see Pluto doing something stupid in 3 days. Actually, never mind. Yes I can. I got out of bed, doing my morning routine and getting myself together as I heard a knock at the front door.

"Liyah, what's wrong? Why you look like you been crying?" I asked as she walked in.

"I'm so tired. I'm tired of arguing, I'm tired of fighting. I give up."

"Talk to me. What's going on?"

"I went to a day party last night with Jas and Chelle and ran into Darius."

"Oh shit."

"It gets worse. After the party he took me back to my hotel and I was wearing a dress so my phone was in my purse and he called and .." she tried to get out between cries.

"Hold up, slow down. Breathe."

She took deep breaths until she calmed down.

"Darius took me back to my hotel so we could catch up. Nothing happened but Chelle posted a picture of us from earlier that night on her story. Somehow it made it to TSR and Taylor sent it to Pluto."

"I swear to God the next time I see her I'm beating her ass. But wait, how did we get here?"

"I didn't know about any of it until literally an hour ago. Pluto tried to accuse me of sleeping with Darius because I wasn't answering the phone."

"I know HE not talking."

"That's what I said. We got into an argument and he slipped up and told me he bought a ring. Tiff, I can't marry this man."

My eyes got big when she mentioned the ring and even bigger when she said that.

"You're just upset right now. Just give it some time and you'll bounce back like you always do."

"We keep having the same arguments over and over. It's always about his past and no matter how hard I try I just can't forgive him. I don't think we can come back from this."

"Come on, Liyah. I mean you met his mom, his kids. You live together, he wants to marry you. Are you really ready to throw away everything because you have arguments from time to time?"

"I could see if we argued about him leaving the toilet seat up or me getting makeup on something but this is bigger than that. The fights just keep getting worse and it feels like every time we take a step forward we take 8 steps back."

"I'm sorry, boo. I didn't know you were going through all of this. I genuinely thought you were happy."

"So did I. The more I think about it, I realize it was all just the excitement of being with him and not actually being with him."

"You wanna stay over tonight? Pat's in Savannah."

"Please? I can't go back to that house. Not tonight."

"Of course. I'm gonna run and get us some food. You in the mood for anything?"

"Tacos," she smiled with sadness.

"Just relax and try to take your mind off everything and we can watch Legally Blonde when I get back."

"You know me so well. Thank you."