"Are you okay?" I heard from the other side of the stall door.
Quickly wiping my eyes I stood up and took a deep breath, bracing myself for the embarrassment. Who cries in the mall bathroom.... during work?
Opening the stall door I locked eyes with Ashanti, my old school mate. She was a really sweet girl, always looking out for others. We got along pretty well but stopped talking after we graduated.
Ashanti was very pretty, she was brown skin with thin almond eyes, a slim nose and full lips. Her eyebrows were always perfectly arched and she stood 5'7 over my 5'5 frame.
"Yes, I'm fine." I said looking down at my feet as I walked towards the sink. Embarrassed was an understatement.
"How are you, Avani?" she asked rubbing my back.
It took everything in me not to bust out crying again. Those four words will have me pouring my heat out... in tears of course.
Still to this day I keep my emotions bottled up. I don't like people feeling sorry for me. I push the memory of my mom to the back of my head, and when Kareem bought it up I felt all of the hurt again. I don't acknowledge her death date although Kareem always encouraged me to. I just don't have the energy.
"I'm fine." I said holding back sniffles.
"Are you sure, we could always talk you know."
"Ughh, I'm fine. Thanks for asking though." I said biting my lip to hold in tears.
I looked at my phone and the time was 2:30. Washing my hands I looked at Ashanti.
"Thank you." I said sincerely "I'm sorry if I came off as rude." I continued.
I never liked to come off as mean or rude. My nonchalant attitude and bluntness was sometimes confused as me being rude or hurtful.
"It's fine Avani, really. I understand not wanting to talk. I mean we haven't seen each other in months." she said with a chuckle.
"Yeah." I said chuckling also. "Well I have to get back to work, thank you again." I said starting to walk towards the door.
"Wait!" she said grabbing my arm. "We should hang out sometime, give me your number." she said.
We exchanged numbers and said our goodbyes and I went back to work.
