First Love

Chpt. 93

|A L Y S S A|

"So what do you think? You like it?" Dom asked as he spread gravy over his mashed potatoes.

I looked around checking out the nice decor, my eyes landing on the framed photos of black actors from the golden days hanging up on some of the walls. "I love it actually."

We were at this newly built spot in the area. An upper class soul good restaurant called La Baise, owned by Dom's aunt. We decided to come here for dinner tonight and show our support since she worked so hard at putting this place together.

"That's odd", I heard Dom say, causing me to take my attention off of the couple on stage singing karaoke and look across the table at him, "what happened to your ring?" He asked, staring at my hand.

Shit.

"Oh umm", I stalled, trying to think of a quick lie, "I lost it when I was in Greece. I, uhh, took it off to do some swimming and I wasn't able to find it ever since. I'm sorry baby but we're gonna have to get another one for me."

He sighed, annoyed, "Alyssa, that was a very expensive ring. I can't believe how irresponsible you could be some times. I mean, who loses their ring", he said, looking at me silly.

"It's no big deal Dominic...I mean, it was a mistake, mistakes happen. We'll just have to get another one, that's all."

He chuckled in disbelief, "I'm not buying another one", he took a sip from his glass of red wine, "that was a top notch ring customaed that costed me thousands upon thousands of dollars. You know what that money could have gone to?" He crumbled his napkin in his hand, "if you want another engagement ring, you buy one."

I threw my hands up in the air, "fine, I will okay? Whatever. Can we just enjoy the evening please?" I asked, getting irritated with him. I understand his anger but what was I to do? Tell him that I was actually on vacation with my ex and he flushed the ring down the toilet in a jealous rage? The situation was out of my hands and I wished he stopped talking about it. Let's either get a new ring or move on. It's not like it's going to change anything—we're still gonna end up married.

"I swear Alyssa, it's like you don't appreciate anything at all", he continued on , cutting up pieces of his steak, "it's not even the fact that you lost the ring, it's the message behind it, message being that you don't appreciate anything and that you have no problem wasting money. I hope that's something that stops once we're married."

"Fine Dominic", I said in exasperation, rolling my eyes and putting my attention back on the couple singing karaoke.

There were times when Dominic was funny and okay to be around but then there were times like these where he nagged more than anybody I knew.

"Is your mother getting any better?" He asked, his voice now softened and less irritated.

"She's a lot better now...I just wish she didn't keep things away from me. I'm going by her apartment tomorrow. I need to get a few things off my chest."

"Oh yea?" He asked, "like what?"

I looked away from the stage, giving him my full attention, "Like me not feeling law school and wanting to pursue my actual dreams."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled, "here we go with this again", he put his fork down and wiped his mouth with a napkin, "one minute you want to be a lawyer, the next you want to play makeover on somebody's house. Make up your mind Alyssa, this is ridiculous. You oughta know what you want by now."

"Humph", I shook my head, "You know what Dominic? Forget it."

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