Loyalty (Completed)

14.

Tiana
Two weeks later

But never will I ever not wish you well.

Though we're not together, God bless you still.

It's gonna get better, I know it will.

Just hope you know, I still. I'll pray for you, I'll pray for you.

I'll pray for you, I'll pray for you.

"I pray." I sang softly in the car, making my way to school. Jhene Aiko's music and my happy memories with Dominic were the only thing keeping me sane right now.

I was still without a phone but I had my peace and my sanity for now and that's all that really mattered for me. Taking time to heal and letting Dom do the same was the only thing that mattered.

Of course I wanted us back together but he needed time and I understood that. I made messed up choices so my only option right now was to give him his space. Though I did fight the urge to pop up at his house everyday these passed two weeks but nonetheless, I understood.

About ten minutes later, I was pulling up to my school and the parking lot was crowded as usual.

"Four and a half more months of this mess." I said to myself as I quickly parked, cut the engine then got out of my car.

"Hey, T." Someone called me, making me turn around as I hit the locks with my car key.

"Oh, hey." I spoke, seeing that it was one of my school friend's, Jennifer.

"Hey, you grabbing breakfast before class?" She asked as we began walking together.

"Uh, no." I shook my head, after thinking about it. I wasn't hungry much these days.

"What? No breakfast?" She asked.

"That's new."

"But alright, I guess I'll see you in class." She nudged my shoulder and I simply nodded, going about my business.

*
3pm

The end of the day came around faster than expected. Considering I was sitting in the office with my mother the entire hour I had for my last class of the day. We were going over my graduation requirements and though I wasn't my happiest, I couldn't help but to be excited about it.

Graduation was getting closer and closer and I was almost free. Free of school, free of living with my mother and simply free to do whatever I pleased with my life. I was ready to feel like the actual adult I am.

Breaking me away from my thoughts, I could hear my name faintly being called in the distance.

"Tiana!" Someone yelled out as I slowly turned around, wind blowing through my hair.

"Oh, it's you." I said as Connor made his way up to me with a patch over his forehead and stitches in his lip.

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked, quickly remembering Dominic had my phone.

"Fuck. Did he do this to you?" I asked in disbelief and he simply nodded his head.

"Granted, I actually deserved it." He shrugged his shoulders, making me knit my eyebrows.

"Come here." I grabbed his arm, pulling him toward a random bench that was placed right outside of the school.

"What happened?" I asked as we took a seat.

"Well.." He chuckled, looking down.

"Your boyfriend..?" He trailed off, questioning.

"Ex."

"Well, your ex-boyfriend texted me, pretending to be you and he said he was going to come over."

"So I figured it was you wanting to make up or something, considering the horrible dinner we had with my parents."

"Right." I nodded, listening intently.

"So I agreed, telling him to come over."

"But of course when he got there, things went left fast and they tied me up."

"They?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah, he had a woman with him."

"Oh.." I trailed off.

Deja. I thought to myself.

"So anyway, they tied me up and started questioning me about you."

"What did you say?" I asked desperately and he held his hands out.

"Well, I told them the truth, Tiana. I explained how your mother set everything up, I explained how we never did anything remotely sexual and I told them I had a girlfriend of my own that I was lying to."

"What?!" I shrieked at this new information.

"Yeah, I had one the entire time." He nodded, smiling nervously.

"Wow." I said to myself, just thinking about this crazy situation at hand.

"I just wish we could've talked about it and maybe we wouldn't be in this deep." He went on and I nodded, looking down at my hands.

"So why did you date me?" I asked and he looked straight ahead at the cars riding by.

"Well your mother promised me free school."

"Not surprised." I scoffed.

"She promised me graduation." I admitted and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"If I didn't date you, she wasn't going to pay for my last semester."

"Are you kidding me?" He asked and I shook my head.

"This is fucked." He spoke in the whitest voice ever, making me laugh.

"I think we should've just talked before hand, all of this could've been avoided. We could've been faking it all and still living our happy lives with our significant others." I expressed to him and he nodded.

"Yeah, that's true."

"But if it makes you feel any better, my girlfriend left me too."

"She found out?" I asked with wide eyes and he shook his head.

"I simply told her, Tiana."

"Yeah, that's how Dominic found out too. I just went ahead and told him." I admitted and we both looked down, realizing how messed up this was.

"So how do you plan on getting him back?" He went onto ask and I shrugged.

"I don't know. I-" I started but stopped, feeling myself getting choked up.

"I don't know, Connor." I simply said, really not sure.

I mean, Dominic knew the entire story now but that didn't mean he would just take me back. I still hadn't told him the worst part of all and that was getting head from Connor. If we were ever going to work again, he needed to know that but I could never tell him that. I couldn't hurt him anymore than I already have.

"Hopefully you guys can figure it out."

"..or not, you know? There's nothing wrong with being single."

"Oh, shut up." I pushed his shoulder.

"I'm serious." He chuckled, looking over to me.

"You know right after this conversation you're going to go and call her. Look at you." I told him as he now scrolled his phone with a smile.

"It's alright though, you're in love. Do everything you can to get her back. If she comes back then that means it's meant to be. If not, then it just wasn't for you."

"Thanks, Tiana. I needed that."

"Anytime." I smiled as he did the same.

*

Aw, look at this little friendship. Connor's actually a cool little guy.

Thoughts?