Tarasia {Short Stories}

23: Home 🏡

Hey! It's lengthy. Sorry, not sorry. Enjoy! All mistakes are mine.

Buying a home was stressful, so of course emotions were running high. Stupid fights, hurtful words, and silence. A lot of silence. This was supposed to be a happy time, but it was anything but happy. The ladies had forgotten about the little things that made their connection so special—communication, hand-holding, and quality time. They hadn't even been married long and could already be looking at divorce. Was that really an option?

Fantasia walked into their apartment, and Taraji instantly started bitchin'—about clothes of all things. Taraji had asked her wife to stop at the cleaners, but Fantasia just didn't have the time. And after an exhausting day at work, she didn't have the bandwidth to argue with Taraji either. Especially over something so frivolous.

Fantasia let out a heavy sigh and walked down the hallway to their bedroom. Luckily for her, Taraji didn't follow. Her wife had been trying to start a fight, and she didn't have the energy for it. Lately, they fought about the most trivial bullshit, and Fantasia was sick and tired of it. She took a shower, put on her pajamas, and went to bed.

The next morning, Fantasia woke up and reached out for Taraji. But her wife's side of the bed was empty, and the space was cold. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and then set off to go find the missing woman. She walked down the hallway to the living room, and there Taraji was, on the sofa, asleep. Fantasia stood there with tears in her eyes. They hadn't slept apart since they got married. They had arguments all the time, but they didn't go to bed mad, and Fantasia always woke up in Taraji's arms. What changed?

Fantasia shook her head and went back to their bedroom. She did her morning care routine, applied some light makeup, and then got dressed. As she walked out of the bathroom, Taraji was entering the bedroom. "You couldn't wake me up?" Taraji asked with an attitude. Fantasia didn't answer. "So, you're still not talking?"

"No, Taraji, I'm not fighting. If you had bothered to come to bed last night, I would have woken you up like I always do." Fantasia was annoyed. "I'll see you later." She grabbed her briefcase and left. It was still too early to go into the office, so she stopped at a cafe to have coffee.

~~~~~

Taraji was about to leave for work when she heard a knock. "Who in the hell could that be at this time of the morning?" She mumbled to herself, walking over and opening the door without looking through the peephole. This man. "Kelvin, what are you doing here?" She let out an exasperated sigh.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" Kelvin asked. "I was about to leave for work; what's up?" She questioned. He peered into her home, hoping they wouldn't have to speak at the door. Taraji let out another heavy sigh and then stepped to the side to let him in. Fantasia would not be happy about that, but her wife wasn't there.

"I know it's been a while, but I'm struggling with a case, and I thought I could get a little help from the infamous Taraji P. Henson." The tension in Taraji drifted away. He was there about work instead of trying to get into her pants like he had attempted to do in the past. They had gone on a few dates, but Taraji had never really been interested in him romantically.

Kelvin was staring at a picture on the shelf of Fantasia. Taraji noticed him looking at it. She wondered if he knew that she was married. The rock on her finger was hard to miss. "I can get all the paperwork together and swing by your office later so we can discuss the case. You're still at the same law firm, right?" He asked. Taraji was sure the man kept tabs on her. So why was he playing dumb?