The Price of Passion

Snake Charming

Onika Pov: Home

"Friend I'm going to hold your hand when I ask you this." Lo held both of my hands in hers. "Is it mommy issues?" she asked making me snatch my hands back. We had been examining the pictures that she had saved of me and Ms. Knowles.

"No, I don't have mommy issues, Lauren." I groaned loudly. "This is simply a misunderstanding, erase these."

"Which part am I not understanding?" she inquired. "You went out to eat with her, didn't you?"

"That's because she wanted to apologize for not telling me about the meeting with Robyn today?" I explained.

Lo presented a picture of her feeding me for more context.

"I had her jacket on, she was just helping me so it didn't get messed up."

"And how did you get the jacket on?" she wiggled her eyebrows.

"Oh my gosh, I was cold Lauren and she's a decent human being!" I stared at the phone displaying a picture of Ms. Knowles assisting me with her jacket, remembering her attentiveness. She had anticipated my every need and responded accordingly, no questions asked.

"Onika, she arranged for her driver to drop you off at our little apartment in the hood, and made his fine ass walk you to the door!" I ignored Ms. Knowles when she told me to give Dre my info, so she instructed him to follow me until I made it home safely. For fifteen minutes, he sat pleading with me at the bus stop, before I finally agreed to get in the car. "Not to mention, you told her about Robyn after only two days and I damn near had to pry it out of you."

By the time I wanted to tell my best friend, my heart was already in pieces; the damage was done. After finding me in my bedroom, sobbing and ruining the rest of the designs I had prepared for Robyn's class, Lo begged me to tell her what was going on. 

"I explained to her that she stole my work, and she managed to piece everything together on her own." Robyn was at fault for that. The way she looked at me like she cared, but in reality, that was the furthest thing from the truth.

"What was it like to see her?"

"In all honesty, it could've been worse; I could've had to talk to her." My mind went to the paper in my purse with the woman's number on it. "I'm pretty sure she's fucking her assistant though." I found myself rolling my eyes at her 'I love a good accent' statement.

"That's none of your business, friend." Lauren shook me as if she intended to wake me up from something.

"I know. I don't care it's just...strange." I settled but I wasn't sure if that was the word I was looking for. 'Why behave that way if she found someone else life to ruin?' I thought out loud.

"Behave like what?"

The way she raised her eyebrows in disapproval when I chose to speak only to Ms. Knowles, disregarding her presence. The way her tone shifted after Ms. Knowles comforted me with her reassuring touches as I shared my opinion. Requesting her assistant to provide me with her personal number. I recognized all of Robyn's subtle signs of jealousy, being those minor acts tricked me into actually thinking she cared for me. In reality, I was just something she could control.

"Like I still belonged to her, like I was betraying her." knowing how inflated Robyn's ego is, I knew If I didn't make the first move, she would come looking for me. Especially with the release of those images.

"Fuck her and however she may have felt!" Lo was up and now pacing the floor. "I should call the police, she shouldn't have been fucking her student no way, let alone stealing from them."

"I was practically begging her." I cleared my mind of all our after-school conversations, all the unseen touches, secret letters, and rendezvous.

"I couldn't care less if you stripped naked and spread your legs open on top of her desk; she should've been an adult and told your ass no." I felt a wave of shame and covered my face because it happened almost as she'd described. "She chose not to because she always had a plan, and thinking back on it, there wasn't that much damn designing in the world." Lauren was upset all over again.