Falling For You

012

I struggled to get Zuri out of my mind throughout the day. It had nothing to do with her body or the things we had gotten up to last night, but it had everything to do with her gentleness. Her softness. Her nurturing nature.

Right after my class, I stopped at Nando's to get dinner for me and her. I really wasn't in the mood to cook anything, and Zuri was busy working on a new painting.

"Thank you so much for getting dinner," she sighed. She was dressed in her regular painting outfit, and she was visibly tired when she came into the kitchen.

"On a scale of one to ten, how hungry are you?" I asked her, smiling.

"Like, twelve," she chuckled and took a seat at the center table. "How did your class go?"

"I honestly just wanted to be asleep, but it was alright," I nodded before opening up our food, putting Zuri's plate in the microwave and placing it right in front of her.

"You're so sweet, thank you," she smiled tiredly, and I walked behind her, slowly massaging her shoulders.

"Hmm," she threw her head back, "that feels good."

"Yeah?" I smiled, "how long have you been painting for today, really?"

"Since early afternoon? When you left for your class," she answered, eyes closed as an indicator that the massage I was giving her was helping.

"You have to take it easy," I told her, a feeling of genuine concern taking over me, "you don't want to hurt yourself."

"I know," she opened her eyes and smiled, "I've got another exhibition coming up next week."

"Zuri, that's amazing," I hugged her from behind, squeezing her gently, and she chuckled.

"I'm so proud of you," I told her, planting soft kisses on her neck. "And I'll be there, I promise."

"Thank you -"

She was cut short by the doorbell, and my eyebrows furrowed. Who could be visiting at 6 pm? Especially since I wasn't expecting anyone.

"Expecting someone?" I looked at Zuri, and she shook her head, "Nah."

"It's alright, I'll go and get it," I told her before walking off to the door.

I was surprised to see Luna in front of me, and I rolled my eyes, "What are you doing here, Luna?"

"Come on, Bailey," she swallowed, "I've been wanting to see you. I've been wanting to talk to you."

"But I don't want to talk to you, don't you get it?" I said in frustration.

"Bailey, please," she begged, "please, just let me explain."

"I don't think there's much an explanation can do," I told her, "Actually, it can't do anything. You broke my trust, Luna. You made me stick around for a year and made me believe you wanted to be with me -"

"I did want to be with you, I still want to," her eyes pleaded, "what happened with that girl was just a bug mistake, and I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It couldn't have been a mistake, Luna," I hated that she was lying, "It couldn't have been. She said she couldn't wait to have you and your body to herself. She said she had been thinking about you all day. That only means you and been with her prior. I may have been stupid to stay with you for such a long time without commitment, but I'm no longer stupid."

She rubbed her temple before letting out a breath, "I'm sorry, Bailey... please."

"Your apologies are sounding like a broken record at this point -"