Nouveau

Chapter 35: Mixed Signals

You'll need this:

Javeah: Ja-vey-ah

Saniye: Sa-Nī

Laive

Laive had been relaxing in her hotel room for a few hours after her date with Lehr. Discussing the details of her evening, she was on Facebook video chat with her two best friends, Javeah and Saniye. 

"He definitely flew out here to Atlanta just to have dinner with me. It was so sweet!"

Javeah agreed, "Awww, that was really sweet of him Lai."

"Um I don't know. Trey's ass is crazy. I think you're playing with fire honestly." Saniye was clearly not having it.

"How am I playing with fire? We're not together. I mean he's the one that kept telling me that. Ok, so we're not together then. What's wrong with me dating other people?"

"Lai...Trey loves you."

"Sure he does." Laive shook her head in disappointment. "He loves me so much he can't even tell me. Loves me so much that he can't be completely honest with me. But yeah, that man loves me Saniye. Sure does."

After talking to Tremaine, Laive felt unusually vulnerable. Her emotions had become too exposed. L didn't like the fact that Tremaine always forced her to speak on her feelings for him, but he never confessed his own about her. At this point, all she knew was that he cared about her and that he would stay around. Learning more about how Tremaine viewed love, family, and business made Laive appreciate the man that he was. But him not expressing how he felt made Laive feel like she was alone. It made her feel like he was trying to figure out ways to manipulate her, or use the way she felt about him against her.

"But that's not you. And you know it's not you! When did you ever need any of that?! You'd rather be laid up with Trey anyway. You don't even really like going out. You're running from him and trying to convince yourself otherwise." Saniye was clearly upset with her.

"Seriously?! I can't bel-"

"You've been waiting your whole life on your family. Lai, you can't wait for him for a few months?"

That was some bullshit! Comparing Tremaine and her family wasn't the same thing. She was single. What sense did it make for her to sit around and wait on Tremaine to get himself together? Would he do the same for her? Laive had even been considerate on how he felt about her dating. He didn't like it, but he damn near gave her permission to see other people.

"You know what?! Forget you!" Laive's blood pressure was rising as she angrily glared into the monitor. "That's not even the same fucking thing and you know it!"

Javeah immediately intervened, "Ok, Ok! How about we all just calm down."

"He might not tell you. But he shows you."

Trying her best to redirect the conversation, Javeah calmly spoke. "I think we can all agree that Lai needs more than that."

"Thank you! I've kinda put myself out there and he still didn't say anything."

The fact that she even cared enough to ask Tremaine his opinion every time she did something didn't make any sense. He wasn't out here doing the same thing for her. They argued about it all the time. Laive would never lie to him, she didn't believe in that. But Tremaine had coaxed her over with sex long enough to get him not to speak on what he was doing. Meanwhile, here she was being open with him on every subject about her.

"And if he did, you'd disappear on his ass."

"Saniye, I...I don't feel secure in that. I don't like how it feels for him to show me and not tell me. Why can't he do both?"