Denial & Desire [ #Wattys2017 ]

Chapter 7: Big Girls Cry

I was soaking for almost a half an hour in the bath as I habitually got lost in the soothing aroma of melon and cucumber when the sound of my cell phone rang off and disturbed my puzzling thoughts. Quickly I got out of the tub and wrapped myself with a towel and picked it up from the bed on which it laid. The caller I.D came up as Akira so I immediately answered.

"Hey Ki what's up?" I said over the phone.

" Imani." She said, her voice was hesitant

"Ki are you okay?" I replied in alarm.

"Imani, I need you. Let's meet at Bell's I've already called Emily. I really need to talk." She struggled the words out of her mouth.

"Of course, Hun I'm on my way," I said and she hung up the phone.

Akira Sasaki isn't one who's easily shaken, she's very strong and tries to hide her feelings as much as I do. Lately, I've seen some changes in her but I reasoned that they were because of the stress her family usually puts on her. Mr. Sasaki, her dad is very stringent, he has always been that way with her.

She's an only child but for a father of Asian descent, he's typically overly strict on her even at this age. I went to my closet and quickly slipped on some black skinny jeans, a t- shirt, a leather jacket and my pair of white converse. I scribbled a note and left it on the refrigerator telling Layla where I was and that she could have contacted me if she wanted. I could've messaged her directly but we had a habit of leaving notes for each other. I locked the apartment and was on my way to fetch a car to Bell's coffee shop.

The evening sky was painted gray and a dusky blue with a tinge of orange from the pending sunset. A chilly wind blew through the streets filling the atmosphere with moist air, rain was about to fall. I arrived at Bell's 5:05 p.m. and saw Emily and Akira sitting in their usual spots. They had already ordered so I got a chai tea and sat with them.

"Hey, guys" I spoke and urged the others to speak. Emily who is often spilling her erotic thoughts was so inaudible in her corner of the table she only kept her eyes on Akira. Ki's eyes were plastered to the table where she'd played with her fidgeting thumbs. At that moment, clear rain drops came tapping on the window and glided off the window pane, a chill ran through my body and I was left with a bad feeling. Ki seemed like she didn't want to speak but Emily stretched out her hands and encouraged her to.

"I think Leo is cheating on me." She stated

My jaw fell from its original location and I froze like an iceberg "What, how!" I shouted disturbing the couple on the table beside us, they glared at me but I couldn't give one shit.

"As of lately he's been so secretive he literally sleeps with his phone under him, He hasn't been paying me any mind either." She whispered trying to hold back the sadness in her voice.

Emily tried to console her "Maybe he's busy with his heavy workload."

I was angry and ready to beat the shit out of him. How dear he made her feel like that, heavy workload or not why does he have to sleep with his phone in his hands, what the fuck. Akira doesn't deserve this and I wasn't expecting to hear this about Leo.

"Yesterday I was home but Leo didn't come back yet, it was already 10 o'clock so I decided to call him to see what he was doing and he told me that he was chilling at Blake's house with the rest of the basketball club, I said ok, that I was home and was making something to eat." She stated, "I felt the urge to bake but I didn't have enough flour so I decided to take a trip to the supermarket to get some, the one that I usually go to was already closed when I arrived so I choose to go to the one 8 blocks down near Hilton's restaurant."

She paused almost terrified to continue, it was heart-wrenching to see Akira in this state but I didn't interrupt and just waited for her to proceed.

She busted into tears "He came out of the restaurant with a freakishly hot girl Imani, he said he was at Blake's. Why would he lie to me about something so petty, when he got home I tried to interrogate him about it without telling him directly that I saw him earlier but he still claimed that he was at Blake's and mentioned nothing about the restaurant." She said trying to fight back the tears that were slithering down her face. "His phone rang shortly after and he left the kitchen where I was and went to the balcony to answer the call." she sobbed.

No matter how I looked at the situation it didn't look good to me. I didn't particularly believe loyalty is a man's best virtue but I really did want to for Akira's sake, we knew that she loves him but one lie is enough to question all truths.

"Hey Imani, let's do a drive- by on that asshole," Emily spoke through her gritted teeth, it was obvious that she didn't like seeing Akira like this also. I shifted closer to Ki and tried to soothe her by giving her hug. Emily collapsed both of Ki's hand and rubbed them.

We were there for her no matter what.

Emily tried discussing her internship at Mark Eli's, a local computing firm to get her mind off Leo, and Ki seemed happy about that. Her descriptions were always over exaggerated describing her boss as a hairless monkey, half ape half turtle. It was cheering Ki up so I didn't care.

My mind drifted.

Ché is Clark Cater, son. I really want to tell Em and Ki, so why can't I already? Is it because he asked me not to? I really shouldn't care about what he asks of me. There are a lot of questions I want to ask him but how should I go about doing this? But then again, his life has nothing to do with me!

I should wait and get more information, I know if I spoke to them about it now they would be just as puzzled as I was and bombard me with questions I truly did not have the answer to.

"Paging Imani! we need you to come back from la-la land please" Emily spoke into my ear "How was your first day of work with the pretty boy?"

"Typical," I said lying to them both, there was nothing typical about today.

Emily eyed me worriedly and said, "Don't be like that Imani, you spent a whole day with the guy and nothing happened? You're infuriating!"

I couldn't tell what the hell was wrong with this girl! How am I infuriating? We were at work, what does she want to happen between us at work? I didn't want anything to happen between me and Ché... I believed.

With an exhausted look plastered over her face, Emily opened her mouth again, "Despite what you may think not all guys are a lost hope, not all guys would treat you like he did."

I felt like the girl briefly roamed the deepest corners of my mind.

I didn't want to tell her how I really felt about what she had spoken because I truly wanted Akira to believe that not all guys are like Cayden. Just the thought of his name sends me on an emotional rollercoaster of bitterness. With loops and turns, I had no way of avoiding. I was a foolish girl.

He played me like a game of chest in which he had complete control of. I stupidly thought he was my alpha and I was his Omega, that he was earth itself and I was the moon. He was the center of my everything. But time revealed that I was truly the moon and he was nothing more that a meteorite shower smashing into me creating nothing but holes.

Holes that were too big to fill.

I was a young fool in love. The very thing that had a tendency to kill you and keep you alive to feel it.

" I think what Emily is trying to say Imani is that you need to heal your wounds. You can't assume that Ché would do to you what Cayden so wrongfully did. The guy was just a pure asshole. But I have a good feeling about Ché you should give him a chance and see how things go." Akira added in a very weak voice.

I knew this was the last thing she wanted to talk about right now and here we were discussing something like this. I'm such a terrible friend.

" You guys don't know that he may be like Cayden either. But anyway let's agree to disagree on this matter." I said

Emily sucked her teeth and retaliated." Let's leave her be Ki, she's a Leo, they're naturally stubborn human beings."

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