Freedom To Love

Chapter 12

Much of the ride to Ayisha's house was done in silence, broken occasionally by the horns of passing vehicles. I stared out of the window and took in the scenery as my mind was racing nonstop. My thoughts were divided amongst three people as I replayed all that had taken place earlier. As much as I wanted to be selfish and dismiss Aaron's concerns I tried to see things from his perspective.

Was I overstepping the boundaries of our relationship by hanging out with Lance? I didn't think so but there was no denying that I was attracted to him in more ways than I cared to admit. I needed to get him out of my system though, for all I know I'm just too naive to see that he was indeed playing me. When it came to relationships I was a novice. Prior to dating Aaron I had had only one boyfriend, puppy love. No matter how much I was attracted to Lance, Aaron and I made more sense. We were both college students poised to become successful professionals, we've spent the past three years together and my mother loves him.

Speaking of my mother, I couldn't believe after all these years she didn't tell us that we had a brother. I wondered if my daddy even knew. While my mother insisted on being in all our business she rarely ever told us what was going on with her. We never really had any heart to hearts growing up, she spoke and we had to listen. It was either her way or no way which was the reason why out of all of us, she and Ayisha bumped heads the most.  While Amoya and I just took whatever momma said as gospel Ayisha would always challenge her, she was a true devil's advocate.

My thoughts were disrupted as Ayisha pulled into her garage, signaling that we've reached her place.

"Baby sis, are you okay? You haven't really said much since we left momma's place." She asked as we entered her apartment.

"Yea I'm cool. Just exhausted, long day you know."

I continued not really wanting to address what had happened at home." Where's my niecey poo?" I asked after realizing that she didn't have Avery with her and I knew she wasn't crazy enough to leave a two year old home alone.

"She's with her father. Don't worry she'll be back in time for your little aunty-niece outing." She said, offering me a warm smile.

She continued, "Well, you should go and get some rest. I already set up the guest bedroom for you and all the toiletries are in the bathroom."

"Thanks, I really appreciate you doing this." I said sincerely.

"That's what sisters are for, I got your back."

With that said we hugged tightly, exchanged our goodnights and I took off to my new room to get myself ready for bed. After a warm shower and my nightly routine I tucked myself in and drifted off to sleep instantly.

I must've been really knocked out because when I woke up the next morning it was almost 11:00a.m. and I had eight missed calls and a text message. As I lazily got out of bed I made my way to the bathroom to do my hygienic routine. Once I was fresh and ready to go I decided to check my phone to see who was blowing me up. Two calls were from my sister checking to making sure I was okay, two from Aaron wanting to apologize and four from Tésia.

Crap!

I totally forgot that Tésia and I were suppose to be hanging out today. I dialed her number immediately, she picked up on the third ring.

"Mia! I've been calling you all morning! If you didn't wanna hang out you shouldn't have agreed to our plans."

I sighed,"Té you know I wouldn't intentionally blow you off. I had a rough night and I overslept. I got into and argument with Aaron only to get into another one with my mother."

"Oh no, I am so sorry. I was just so hyped to see you it didn't occur to me that something might be wrong. Forgive me." She stated apologetically.

"I forgive you girl. Do you still wanna hang out, that is, if you haven't already made other plans."

"Girl, I'm sitting here watching reruns of The Game. I'ma come through to pick you up in a minute." She said.

"Alright girl but I'm at Ayisha's place. I'll text you the address."

We changed our goodbyes before hanging up. I texted her the address as promised and proceeded to get ready. It would take her about twenty minutes to get here so I fixed myself some breakfast real quick and proceeded to get dressed. Today I decided to throw on a mustard colored,  maxi sundress and some sandals hoping that my mood would mirror my outfit.

Half an hour later I heard a car pull up. After looking out the window to confirm that it was Tésia I grabbed my handbag, locked the door and made my way down to Té's car.

"You better work it girl, who you tryin to stunt on?" She asked, her voice filled with excitement as I sat down in the passenger's seat.

I laughed. That girl always knew how to lift my mood even without trying.

"Nobody, after the night I had I decided looking cute would make me feel better somehow." I said truthfully.

"I hear you girl. So what happened?"

Before I could respond my phone screen light up, reminding me that I still had an unread text message.

Lance: Good morning beautiful. You crossed my mind earlier. Hope you aight.

As simple as the text was I instantly felt warm inside. It was something about the way he kept referring to me as beautiful that made my insides flip. A huge smile spread across my face.

"Mia! Do you not hear me talking to you? And who got you cheesing so hard anyway?" Té asked while giving me a suspicious glance trying not to take her eyes off the road.

"Huh? Nobody. It's just Lance." I said still smiling."

"Hmmm. So just when am I gonna meet this Lance. I need to know what new dog has been sniffing around my homegirl."

"First of all, Lance isn't a dog." I said defensively.

"Second of all he's just my friend. It's really not that serious and I prolly need to cut him off anyways."

"Damn. First of all," she said in mocking tone, " I was just kidding and second of all why do you need to cut him off cause you obviously feeling the brotha."

"That's exactly why I need to cut him off. I'm not gon lie, I am attracted to him. That's kind of why Aaron and I had that disagreement yesterday." I said.

"Oooo girl, what happened?" She asked eagerly, waiting for me to spill the tea.

I caught my girl up on everything as far back as the restaurant situation. I told her how territorial Aaron became and how he crushed my feelings by calling me one of Lance's hoes.

"So what are you gonna do?" She asked.

"Girl, I have no idea. Part of me wants to get to know Lance more and the other part of me wants to cling to what and who's familiar, which is Aaron."

I continued," I'm actually suppose to hang out with Lance tomorrow but after what went down yesterday I'm thinking I should cancel."

Té looked at me with a raised brow," Do you really want to cancel or are you scared because of what Aaron said?"

I sighed," I don't wanna cancel. I really like hanging with Lance. He's attentive and I can just be plain ole A'mia with him."

"Well, there you go. Honestly, if I were Aaron I wouldn't want another man sniffing around my woman either but on the other hand as your friend I want you to be happy and I've never seen you light up this way talking about Aaron."

She shrugged as she continued," I can't tell you what's the right thing to do but what I can tell you is you can make your mind think whatever you want it to but you can't help what your heart feels.

Wow.

That was deep, I thought to myself.