Prove It

Chapter 25

********Tristan********

Sierra’s smiling face was a sight as she laughed at something Reggie said to her. Tristan watched her from a distance and felt his heart constrict. She laughed and joked with her friends, but there was a new sadness to her that wasn’t there before and Tristan was sure he was to blame.

He would do anything to fix this. So the question was, what did she want? He wished she would just tell him. He did handle this right from the beginning, but she was making this a bigger deal than it had to be. He wanted to give her space, but he was tired of not talking to her.

He moved away from the wall he leaned against and approached her cautiously.

~~~~~~~~Sierra~~~~~~~~

“Here he comes,” Tia whispered. Sierra turned around to see, but Tia stopped her. “No, don’t look. Be cool, like you’re too busy to notice him.”

Sierra groaned. So many rules.

Sierra was sitting next to Tia in the cafeteria with Reggie and Tony seated across from them. Her fight with Tristan happened yesterday, but it felt like it’d been an eternity. She felt bad for the way she talked to him, but she was so mad. And hurt. What else was he keeping from her and why would he think that keeping secrets was okay? He was the experienced one. He was supposed to know better.

Sierra was pretty sure Tristan knew he messed up. She wanted to forget the whole thing but Tia told her that he’d never learn if she kept making things easy. Sierra was realizing that doing things her way wasn’t working so she decided to let Tia convince her to try her way for a change. After assuring Sierra that she knew what she was doing and thanking her for recognizing her genius, Tia quickly planned this whole big scheme with phases. Sierra was currently in phase one, affectionately dubbed, “The Silent Treatment”.

Sierra was banned from having any contact with Tristan until he came groveling back and apologized and promised to do anything to make it up to her. Oddly, her plan was working. And if Tristan was who Tia had pointed out was heading her way right now, then that meant they were about to move into phase two, “Make Him Beg”.

Sierra wasn’t thrilled about the idea of manipulating her boyfriend, but she was willing to try something different, no matter how ridiculous.

Reggie raised his brow at Tia’s whispered advice. “Sierra, why are you listening to her. If you don’t want to talk to that asshole, then don’t. Just say the word and I’ll get rid of him, but don’t be on that typical girl bullshit. You’re too smart to resort to playing games.”

“Whatever, Reggie. What the hell do you know?” Tia chimed in. “When was the last time you even had a girlfriend? With your desperate ass.”

“Yo, what is your problem, T?” Reggie asked seeming annoyed. “You’ve been on my case since yesterday. You have something you wanna say to me?”

Tia leaned across the table and got in his face. “You think I don’t know what you’re up to, Reggie? Do you seriously think anybody believes you told Sierra what you saw because you’re her friend? We’re not stupid.”

“Wait, how the fuck is this my fault? That loser did this to himself.”

“And poor, innocent you had nothing to do with it, right?”

Tony jumped up and moved to sit next to Tia. “Whoa, baby, lay off him,” he said pulling Tia back into her seat. “He did the same thing you would have done.”

Tia rolled her eyes and turned away. She’d had an attitude with Reggie since Sierra told her what happened. Tia was sure Reggie told her just to sabotage her relationship. Sierra could see why she felt that way, but it didn’t make sense. Reggie waited to say something, he didn’t even want to tell her, so it didn’t fit that he did this on purpose.