TOMMIE (COMPLETED)

SIXTEEN

Shuttles and taxis whizzed past Stevie as he stood outside the Atlanta Airport impatiently waiting for Tia's plane to arrive. He flicked a lit cigarette to the ground ignoring the No Smoking signs plastered all around the terminals.

A security guard with too much time on his hands saw the offense and took it as his chance to flex his guard card.

"Sir, you can't park here," he said pointing to Stevie's Lexus.

"This is a loading zone, right?" Stevie asked not taking his eyes from his phone.

"Yeah, but..."

"Well, I'm loading something, bruh," he said interrupting the man.

"Make it quick."

The night air was saturated with the heat from the day, and Stevie watched as crowds of people hurriedly moved inside, each one with a different destination. He searched through the crowd to find Tia, but she was nowhere to be found. He tried to focus on her, but he couldn't tear his mind away Tommie.

Call me or text me, Tommie. Something, please! He had been blowing up her phone for the past couple of days. He left her voicemails and text messages but nothing. He couldn't accept that she was happy with Scrapp. To him, they were meant to be together.

Tia crept up behind Stevie and wrapped her arms around his waist snapping him back from his thoughts. "Hey, baby," she screamed, "I missed you."

"Hey, ma," Stevie said faking enthusiasm, "Damn, you had a nigga waiting for hella long."

"My bad, babe, they were talking about they thought they lost my bags. I had to go bad on the front desk bitch. It was hella shit going on. I'm ready now though, boo."

Stevie threw Tia's luggage in the trunk of his car as she made herself comfortable in the passenger seat. He stared at her through the back windshield as her light caramel skin illuminated under the bright overhead lights.

Getting lost in her image, a yellow taxi honked for him to get out of the way. The Asian cab driver had been waiting for over thirty minutes to get a spot in front. Stevie slowly walked over to the driver's side to irritate the cab driver a little more before he peeled out.

After leaving the airport, Tia sat quietly in the front seat waiting for Stevie to initiate a conversation. She had been gone for over a month so she thought he would have more to say.

"So you didn't miss me?" she asked breaking the silence.

"My bad, Tia, I just got a lot on my mind, but you know I missed you," Stevie said keeping his eyes on the road, "How's Tanya?"

"She's good. The shock of the situation is finally gone, so she's dealing with everything much better. Texas isn't as country as I thought. They got some cool spots out there. I told her we would go visit her soon."

"Oh, yeah, we can definitely do that."

"How was everything here? Is Tommie still at the house? I tried to call her before I boarded the plane, but she didn't answer."

"Naw, Scrapp said they got back together," Stevie said clinching the steering wheel.

"What? She said she was done with him. I don't know what she sees in that nigga," Tia said shaking her head.