Lines

Chapter 12

I opened my eyes drowsily and looked over to see a sleeping Terrance still laying next to me. We were in pretty much the same position that we were when we feel asleep.

I traced the bed with my hands to find my phone. After I found it, I held the screen up to my face so that it'd light up and I could see the time. 6:23.

I don't know how we managed to sleep that much time away. And I still had to get down to my warehouse before it got too late. The warehouse was like an hour drive and since night was just falling, I could make good time. I always tried to avoid being there any longer than I had to be.

I slowly lifted my arm from around Terrance and crept around him to the edge of the bed so that I could put my shoes on. I tried my best not to wake him.

I made sure that I had everything before I slowly lifted myself from the bed and made my way to the door.

I heard Terrance shuffle a little in bed so I made an attempt to move even faster, but somehow quieter. I especially didn't want to go through the questions he would ask.

As my hand reached the doorknob, as if it were on cue, "Where are you headed off to?" I heard Terrance's sleepy voice ask.

I looked back and gave him the "😬" face and he knew. "I really can't tell you" I pleaded. "For your sake." I tried my best to sound convincing, but he was not letting up.

I watched as he sprung out of bed and made himself over to me with Vampire speed until he was in my face. I was only about two inches taller than him so it wasn't hard at all for him to be up in my face the way he was.

"No! I'm tired of the secrets! You've been doing this pretty much every night for the past weeks; you go out on some secret rendezvous that I know nothing about and here you are now telling me that you can't explain." He was out of breath by the time he finished.

Seeing him this riled up was kind of upsetting because it sucked knowing that I was the cause of this, but I must say that it was kind of turning me on also.

I could see that he was getting angrier and waiting for me to reply and I quickly searched for the right words in my head to try and prevent him from waiting, but also getting angrier.

I reached out for his hand, but he quickly yanked it back. "No, don't do that! How do you expect this relationship to go anywhere!"

"Can you please just let me explain. I would not keep you in the dark if it were not for a good enough reason and if I didn't have to. I want you to trust me as much as I trust you and if it were vice versa, I'd respect if you didn't want to tell me something at the moment. I'm not trying to put this all on you because I completely understand why you're upset, but can you please just try to hear me out. This is a business you do not want to get involved in." At that moment, I felt like I had said too much.

"If you walk out of this door without telling me anything, I do not want to hear from you ever again." His voice was now calm and the anger had seemed to completely cease.

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic." I tried my best to hide my voice from cracking. It seemed like everyone with some type of importance in my life always seemed to leave in one way or another. It was a feeling that I was far too familiar with, but could never get used to.

"As a matter of fact, I'm no longer giving you a choice." He brushed past me and opened the door signaling for me to exit.

I put my head down and began to walk out. I looked up to see a few boys who I suspected were listening in, but pretended to be doing something else. I looked back at Terrance who was at this moment avoiding making any eye contact with me.

"Can you please just trust me? I don't want you walking out of my life like everyone else." Another thing I had neglected to mention to him was my sister and the seat of my parents because it just wasn't something I enjoyed talking about.

I was considering risking everything that I was trying to avoid just so that I wouldn't lose his trust. "Just g-"

Work hard just to get half back
Used to, work hard just to get half back

I quickly grabbed my phone from my back pocket, answering it to see what had happened.

"Ayo, you have to get down here ASAP. We have a situation."

That doesn't sound good.

"I was actually on my way now. I'll be there as soon as I can. Try and hold off on doing anything until I get there."

I hung up the phone and placed it back into my pocket.

I looked up to see Terrance looking back at me with raised eyebrows. "And who was that?" he asked, his voice remaining calm. I didn't know if I was crazy or if I saw traces of tears in his eyes. That was the LAST thing I wanted to see.

I didn't answer. I didn't know how to without revealing the secret.

"If there's someone else, just tell me."

"There's not baby boy. I wouldn't do that to you and I don't know why you'd think that."

"Then just tel-", he stopped mid-sentence and began to laugh. "I shouldn't even be begging for an explanation, you should leave now. I don't want to see you right now" he paused. "Or ever again." His voice became quieter with each word he spoke.

"That's not fai-"

He cut me off. "It's not fair that I'm being kept in the dark. I've been through this all too many times and I won't do it again."

With all of this trying to plead my case, I had almost forgotten the phone call I had.

"Look Terrance, it's really not what you think, but I really do have to go. I hope one day you come around and one day you'll see why I kept things so hidden from you. It's only because I care about you."

He didn't even let me finish before closing the door. I was upset that he didn't believe or trust me, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

I took off down the hallway trying to make up for last time. I faintly heard a door open and slowed my pace so that I could look back, hoping to see Terrance's face, and I did.

"Wait!" he called. I stopped and watched as he made his way over to me. A smile quickly grew on my face, but left once he got to me and spoke.

"I forgot, I have to check you out before you leave." He was back to not making any form of eye contact with me.

We made our way downstairs together, silently. The lady at the desk must have sensed the tension between two people who were just happy to see each other and gave us another one of her funny looks.

We were both too upset to even care at the moment. Once we got our IDs, we both parted, not speaking a word to each other.

I looked back, hoping that he'd be staring at me, but he wasn't. I exited the dorm and ran to the parking lot to get into my car.

I ran up on my car seeing a white slip on my window shield; a fucking ticket. I pulled the ticket off and quickly made my way into the car.

That was when it hit me. Tears began to stream down my face, but I wasn't crying. I was just extremely upset. I looked up and could see Terrance looking out of his window at my, but his blinds quickly closed once I started the car engine.

I had to figure out how I'd win my baby boy back, but for now, it was business.