Perfect Storm

Perfect Storm: 08

Turning around, Camilla noticed a man had entered the café. He was tall, quite built with beautiful dark skin. Though his gaze was focused on the person beside him, his dark green eyes could be seen a mile away and yet he had somehow shaken her friend up without even a look.

Before he could turn and notice her scrutinising him, she turned back to Tiana who was gathering her purse. "We need to leave," she stated with an urgency that quite frankly concerned Camilla. Had this man hurt her best friend? She'd never mentioned it, but then again, even Camilla had secrets that her best friend wasn't aware of. It didn't make any sense.

"Tiana, slow down for a second. What's wrong?"

Tiana shook her head, "I can tell you the entire story at my place okay? But we need to leave. I can't stay here so are you coming with me or not?"

Of course she was.

She nodded and reached in front of her to get her bag, she began stuffing her phone and purse into it as Tiana's inpatient steps tapped against the ground.

She was just in the process of standing up again when she heard a male voice. Tiana's sharp intake of breath could be heard a mile away and Camilla suddenly suspected the man behind the voice was the same one that had resulted in the urgency to suddenly leave. She straightened up abruptly, not that either of them appeared to notice, for their gazes were locked on each other. It was clear that Tiana knew this man, intimately from the look of defeat that crossed her features.

"It is you," he stated, in what Camilla could only decipher as shock. Until he spoke again, "Your phone isn't broken then." He was taller up close and his eyes somehow wilder.

But it made sense now. Over the course of their friendship, Tiana had her fair share of guys. Some lasted a few weeks, others a few months but a lot of them only lasted a night. Her best friend was an absolute catch, but she didn't seem to want to commit to somebody that she met. However, she had never reacted like this with a past conquest which led Camilla to believe that maybe he was much more than that.

Tiana broke her gaze with the man to stare blankly at her phone for a minute, before she looked at him again. "I'm sorry Andre," she said. That was all. She didn't clarify any further or even defend herself like she'd done in the past.

Andre's jaw clenched, but his eyes portrayed something entirely different. It was the look Camilla's father had given her mother in an argument, despite how angry he would be with her, he still felt something other than that.

Folding his arms across his chest he nodded, "You break up with me over text and that's your apology? I'm sorry, no explanation or anything of the sort? I called you countless times and you didn't bother to pick up a-"

"Andre, leave it. Let's go." His companion gripped his shoulder, halting Andre's speech. Camilla had completely forgotten that he had arrived with a companion, but the shock of how her best friend had ended it ran deep.

Tiana wasn't a coward. Not in the slightest, but hearing how she'd broken up with someone who clearly liked her was cowardly.

Andre's eyes never left Tiana's whose expression was one of utter grief. She had never mentioned this man to Camilla, but it was obvious that she was sorry for what she'd done, at least it appeared that way. "Delete my number." Was all he said, before they left the café.

For a moment, they both remained silent until Tiana pulled up her hood and muttered, "Let's go."

It was only when they neared her house that Camilla decided to break the silence, "How long were you both together for?"