The Color Line

Skeletons in the Closet

Riley's POV

I wake up with a terrible pain in my neck. I must've slept in a weird position or something, which isn't out of the ordinary for me. I roll over and grab my phone, unlocking it and revealing a good morning text from Tiara, my girlfriend.

Harmony told me that my man whore ways would bite me in the ass one day. She was right. Tiara was the first girl to ever give me a feeling of love. I messed up though, plenty of times and she'd left me, crying and unable to eat or sleep. I sure learned my lesson, and now, Tiara and I are back on track and I never want to hurt her again.

After sending her a quick text back, I walk to the kitchen to get some cereal. When I get there my dad is sitting at the table reading the newspaper.

"Mama went to work already?" I asked, noticing that my mother was nowhere to be found.

"Yeah," he nods. "She left about thirty minutes ago. I'll be leaving pretty soon too."

I nod and proceed to making my cereal and then plopping myself down in front of him at the table.

"Hey son?" My dad suddenly speaks. His eyes are all dilated and clouded over. Here comes one of his heart to hearts.

"Yes dad?"

He clears his throat. "I've been watching the news a lot lately and seen all these police shootings... I can't help but worry about your safety whenever you leave the house," he looks down at where I was shot just weeks ago by the officer in Harmony's neighborhood. "Just remember what I told you son. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes sir. Always follow the rules of the road, be respectful and try not to use slang, take off my hat in the car, and keep my hands out of my pockets." I recite what my father has taught me from the moment I was old enough to go to school.

"That's my boy," he smiles. "I'm gonna get ready for work."

Once my dad is gone, I'm left alone in the house. I decide to take a shower before I leave to visit Harmony. She's been out of it lately. I know that she's stressed and living day to day wondering what might happen to her family. She won't leave though. I told her she could stay with either me, Tim, or Rosy until their lease is up but she refused. She feels like there's something that she needs to do there, that she was brought there for a reason. At that point I felt like she had gone completely insane.

After taking a shower, getting dressed, and brushing my hair, I grab my keys and get ready to depart. Just as I open the door, I see Tiara standing outside with her fist raised, about to knock on the door.

"Hey baby," I greet her by kissing her cheek. She smiles, exposing her cute dimples.

"Hey," she giggles. "You left your charger at my house. I was going to the mall with the girls and decided to drop it off."

"I knew I was missing something," I say as I grab the charger and pull her body to mine. I squeeze her sides to tickle her, making her sqirm around in my arms.

"What did I tell you about squeezing my fat?" she scolds me.

"Its not fat babe, and its mine so I can squeeze it."

She smirks and rolls her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Just going to check up on Harmony. She's been out of it lately."

"I don't blame her. From what you've told me, she's living in hell. When am I going to meet her anyway?"

I swear Tiara is the only girl I've been with that hasn't been threatened by my friendship with Harmony. Most girls just assumed that we had something going on, but honestly, I think of Harmony as a little sister. She's basically family.