I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

4

It was around four in the morning when I woke up next to Prince. He was sound asleep and facing me with his arms half around me. The love we had made, the kisses and whispers we shared, the way he looked at me as he came into me was imbedded in my brain. I bit my lip before slipping out of bed and as soon as I was leaving he was reaching after me before he rolled onto his stomach. I looked around the apartment for my clothes and saw all the posters he had on the walls. And fishing nets? I looked onto the dresser seeing pictures in frames of Prince with a band, and Prince with a couple of girls in lingerie. He was a rockstar, or was trying so hard to be.

"What are you doing?" I jumped at Prince's voice and he was half sitting up. "I...sorry I didn't mean to wake you." I said to him. He rubbed his eye before sitting up completely and saw my dress in my hand. "Are you leaving?" He asked monotoned. "I..." I watched his face frown which broke my heart. "Prince, you and I aren't compatible." I came over and sat on the bed and he gave me the covers before getting out of bed to grab a white tank top and some underwear. He didn't want to ask why, it's almost as if this was a thought in the back of his mind already that this would happen. "Do you need anything before you go?" He asked me. My heart broke right then. "N-No..." "Are you sure? What about doctor appointments?" I was leaving him, and he was still asking me about my well being for the future. "No...I'll be okay." Prince slipped on some pants and left me in his bedroom for me to get dressed.

When I dressed myself and slipped on my heels I left his bedroom to see him staring at the tea kettle in the kitchen of his apartment with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. I shut the door softly, but it was almost as if he knew I was there and turned his head towards me. "Do you need a ride back?" I hadn't thought about that. "I can walk. Teresa's isn't far." His head turned towards the whistling kettle and Prince made himself a cup of tea. He took a spoon and slowly stirred the tea and walked towards the door to open it and holding it open as he stared at me stirring his tea. He wanted me out of his place without saying a word.

"Can we talk?" I asked him. He shook his head. "Enough's been said. I got the message." I couldn't argue with that. "That doesn't mean that we won't talk." "We definitely won't be dating, though." I blinked. "So...do you hate me?" "No...but there's nothing to talk about because what's said has been said and I really don't want to awkwardly stare at each other." He didn't have a hateful tone in his voice. "Well...goodbye, Prince." I said to him with my heart sinking. He was still stirring his tea and honestly the sound of the spoon clinking against the cup was annoying me. "Goodbye, Dinah." He said softly. I walked past him and out of his apartment to hear him shut the door softly as I left.

As I was walking home, I was thinking about how all of that went down. It was as if he knew I was going to leave. He watched me stare at the pictures and I didn't want him thinking I left him because of the girls in that picture. Well, maybe that was only a little bit of the reason I wanted to leave. I wondered what he was doing and how he was taking it. I didn't want him to beat himself up over this, because I was on my own path, and I didn't want to be his burden to carry. I went inside the apartment and up to Teresa's feeling nauseous as the smell of bacon from about four different apartments on our way up to ours.

When I walked in Teresa was pleasantly surprised to see me so early. "Hey! Amiyah is fed and bathed and in her day clothes. I got called into work this morning, so I'm gonna take toast with me to work." I nodded and went over to the floor to pick Amiyah up from her play pen. "Where's Prince?" She asked. I frowned. "We broke up." I said to her. Teresa's mouth fell open. "What? Did he fuck you and then dump you?" "No, I...I told him we couldn't work out." I was trying to go to my bedroom to check that test, but Teresa kept trying to find a way to keep me in the kitchen. "What did he do? Was he cheating?" "No, I just...I'll explain after you get off work, okay?" Teresa sighed and kissed my forehead before kissing Amiyah's cheek. "Okay, we'll I'll be home early since I'm going in early. Love you." "Love you too." I said as she grabbed her toast, bag, and keys before leaving the apartment. I sighed and readjusted Amiyah before walking into my room.