Miss Sacrifice

Malik

I was nervous when I walked up to Jalliyah's door, I didn't know what to expect. She looked magnificent the way her hair was pulled back, but I think I preferred it down--either way she looked wonderful. The bruise was still on her face but she hid it from me by looking away constantly when she noticed I was looking at her.

"So, first question. How did you get the bruise?" I asked her.

"Skip." Jaaliyah answered.

"This would be the third time you skipped this. C'mon ma, tell me." I pulled to a red light and took my chance to look at her.

At first she didn't say anything. Instead, she clenched her jaw and looked out of the window. "Can I tell you later?" She asked at last.

"Aight, I can work with that. Next question?"

"Sure." She said in a small voice. I didn't want to upset her, so I asked light questions.

"What is or was your dream in life?" I asked. I turned the corner and stopped.

She thought before she spoke, "I wanted to become a singer, but now I want to be a psychiatrist."

"Why?" I searched her eye.

"I don't want to be a singer anymore, because I don't think I'll make it. And I want to be a psychiatrist because I want to help those who are hurt and has been hurt." Jaaliyah answered.

She didn't take her eyes away from the window and I desperately wanted to look at them. I put my hand under her chin and brought her face around to look at me. I noticed she flinched and was scared when I touched her so she slowly pulled away from me, she wasn't crying but I could tell that she wanted to. My heart ached for her.

"You OK?" I asked.

Jaaliyah shook her head, "Next question."

"Lets take a break from questions. Do you want to listen to music?" I asked.

"Sure." I was a simple answer and she smiled softly.

I continued to drive in silence until we arrived where I was taking her. I parked my car outside of a small diner and I noticed her eyes lit up when she noticed where she was. It was my brother's favorite diner rand I wanted to bring Jaaliyah here to show her how much I wanted to show her a good time.

"Do you like this place?" I asked.

"I love this place, free pizza every friday!" She said as she scanned inside.

"Well lucky for you I'm a guy who knows a guy." I smirked.

I stepped out and opened the door for her and helped her out, I never noticed how short she was until I saw that she had to do a little hop to get down from her seat. It was fun watching her. She noticed me smiling and she suddenly blushed and looked down.

"Sorry." she said.

"For what exactly?" I asked.

"I thought I made you upset but the way you looked at me without saying anything."

I figured that this was something I would have to get used to, Jaaliyah saying 'sorry' all of the time.  "You did nothing wrong ma. Let's go in" I took her hand and she hesitated but took mine and we went into the diner.

Her hands were soft and warm, they were so warm I thought they were sweating. She walked by my side trying to keep up with my pace. She didn't speak until I spoke to her her, and she tried to hide her face from me but I it was too late. When we went inside we ordered a booth for two and got situated, looking at the menu seemed like a waste of time for her. She scanned for a few seconds and put the pamphlet down and looked around with a smile. I figured this was one step to getting closer to her, she seemed much at ease now that we were far out into town and alone.

"Ready to order?" I asked.

"Yep."