Love In Disguise

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning in the bed alone. There was a note left on the night stand with a cup of warm tea on top of it. The note read: "I really enjoyed spending my birthday with you yesterday. There is no one else I would have rather spent it with than with you. I appreciate everything you did for me because it was something that I really needed. I'm sorry about the way I was acting last night, I just really wish you could see how much I love and care for you. You are the perfect match for me and I hope sooner than later you feel that way too. I love you with all my heart and I have since the day we first met. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your day today. I have a pretty busy day so I will call you the first chance I get."

I knew Jada loved me, I very much loved her too; well at least I think I do. I just could not give her all of me and end up with the short end of the stick. It has been so hard for me to get over my trust issues. With eight years of therapy one would think I would have made some type of progress by now but I haven't. I still don't open up to people and I don't let anyone in. The only person who really knows me is my best friend Diamond and she doesn't even know the entire life story of Jasmine Giselle Bowen.

After about a year of Jada and I talking, her family started to question the reasoning behind us not being together. All Jada would say was that we were just friends and she would immediately change the subject. I saw the look on her face every time someone asked that. I saw that it hurt her a little more every time she would lie to them knowing she wanted more than friendship from me. Her family absolutely loved me, her parents adored me, and her little brother has this cute little crush on me. They made me feel like family even though I and Jada are not together.

I would be lying if I say that I haven't thought about me and her starting a life together. I have thought about us getting married, getting a place together, and having kids. The only thing that has stopped us from doing that is the fact that I will not give myself to her. I don't want to hurt her and I don't want her to hurt me. I know I should be comparing her to my mom but everybody must stand in the light next to her and that's crazy because she died eleven years ago.

I know they say everyone has a past and you should let the past be the past, but the people who said that was not brought up how I was. I never knew my real daddy, the man I called dad, died of cancer when I was 11, my mom OD'd when I was 13, and my grandmother died the next year from heart problems, and that is only scratching the surface of my life. I was placed into foster care where I was moved from home to home until I was 18. I had hell in every home I was placed in, that was why I was so glad when I turned 18. I promised myself I would not end up back in the hood so I went to college, which was paid for by the state. I used the money from my mother and grandmother's insurance policy to rent me an apartment, I found me a job while I going to school, and bought myself a little ride to get around. I made sure I was not going to be another statistic.

I finally got out of bed and took a shower and threw on a pair of Jada's sweat pants and one of my old-school shirts. I went downstairs to the laundry room and started washing my clothes. After almost an hour and a half I finished cleaning and washing clothes, I order me some Chinese take-out. I put my rain boots on, grabbed my keys, phone and jacket, and left. I went to the red box around the corner and got enough movies to keep me in the house for the rest of the day. I walked back around to the Chinese restaurant which was about two minutes from my place, got my food and made it back home. When I made it to my front door, Tori was standing against the door waiting on me.

Tori is this young stud I met earlier this year at the mall. I was out shopping for a dress for a business dinner and I went a little over board with the shopping. She was standing with a group of her friends and I was walking past her with both of my arms filled with bags. She stepped in front of me trying to run game on me and would not move until I agreed to let her carry my bags and give her my number. By this point my arms were tired from carrying all these bags so I agreed. She walked with me to a few other stores and then walked me to my car. She asked for my number and I told her no, so she took my purse and got my phone out of it and called her phone. She told me to be expecting a call and we have been talking since.