Normani's POV
"Remind me to never agree to help you move again." Dinah complained.
I rolled my eyes because this was the umpteenth today she's complained about helping me move. She's my best friend but I wanna choke her sometimes. My new apartment was coming together nicely. I got my bedroom set up nicely and part of my living room. Some of my future for the living room hasn't arrived yet but that's fine.
Dinah and I broke down the boxes and took them down to the trash disposal. We came back upstairs and sat on the floor. "What do you want to eat, D?"
"Takeout."
I opened the Grubhub app on my phone and started looking for takeout. I ordered our favorites and got us some bottles of water out of the fridge. "Thanks for helping me move Dinah."
"You're welcome boo. I told you I was gonna look out for you when you moved up here." She said.
"Well I appreciate it more than you know." I said.
I looked around my apartment and was pleased with what we had done. Dinah pointed to the box sitting on the counter and asked, "What's that?"
"I'm not sure, I think we put all the kitchen shit up." I said. I walked over to the counter and opened the box. After I opened it and saw his hoodie in there I immediately closed the box.
"What is it sis?" Dinah asked.
"Umm just some winter clothes and stuff, ima go put this in the back of my closet real quick."
I carried the box into my closet and buried it deep within my closet. The things in bag box didn't need to be unpacked. Even though it's been years since I broke up with him, I'm still not ready to unpack all of those memories. By the time I came out of my closet the food had arrived. Dinah and I sat up everything on the floor and had a lil girls night.
Even though I was celebrating moving to a new place my mind was still on that box. That box contains a lot of happy memories but the end result wasn't so pleasant. And I'm woman enough to acknowledge that I was the one that end the relationship, not him. But it still hurts. Even now at 25 I haven't been able to find someone that loved me the way that Preston did.
After dinner I grabbed a bottle of wine out of the fridge and took it with me into my bathroom. I lit a candle, turned on some Jhené, climbed in my tub and relaxed for awhile. Afterwards I got nice and moisturized then climbed into bed. That didn't last long because I climbed out of my bed and went into my closet. I grabbed the box and brought it over to my bed.
I opened it up and pulled out Preston's basketball hoodie. It crazy because after all this time it still smells like the Polo cologne he would always wear. Underneath the photo was a bunch of things he had given me. One of his white tees, his NY snapback, a mixtape he made for me, and a photo album.
"Do you really wanna do this tonight Normani?" I asked myself.
Of course I did. I opened the photo album and started going back down memory lane. Some of these moments I had forgotten about. Seeing us as kids brought a smile to my face. Preston was a chunky kid and he got picked on when he was in elementary school, I wasn't having it. I stood up for him every chance I could. When he got to middle school he started getting shape. I was went through my unattractive phase at that time and Preston protected me from the mean boys that tried to bully me.
When we went to high school we both went through our glow ups. We were the stereotypical high school couple, he was the star basketball player, I was the cheer captain, king and queen of the school.
"You still up sis?" Dinah asked.
"Yeah, just reminiscing on some things." I said.
Dinah sat beside me and looked at the photos. "You were fine as hell in high school."
"Thank you." I said.
"And so is that fine ass boy with his arms around you." Dinah said.
"Remember that guy I told you about? The one I broke up with before I went to college?"
Dinah nodded, I wiggled my eyebrows and flipped to the next page. Dinah grabbed the photo album out of my hand and held it a few inches away from her face. "This is the infamous Preston G. Howard?"
"That would be him."
"You let all of this chocolate go?" Dinah asked.
"I did.."
Dinah closed the photo album and put it in my lap. "You're dumb, like real life dumb."
"We were kids, Dinah Jane. We were about to go to college in two different states, I didn't want to hold him back."
"But he also said that you were the one for him. Am I right? No other woman mattered when you were around."
"Again, we were kids."
"I don't know sis. Preston sounds like one of those rare breed men I see on the Gram. You know the guy that's good-looking, ambitious, slightly flawed, but knows what he wants and gets it. He may have been young but it seemed like he knew what he wanted and that was you." Dinah explained.
I shrugged and unpacked the rest of the contents from the box. At the bottom of the box was the last gift I gave him. We got each other promise rings for our 3 year anniversary. I wore mine for awhile but I got scared I was gonna lose it so I put it on a gold chain.
"A tarnished ring, on a tarnished chain.." Dinah sang softly.
"With this ring, I promise to give you the best parts of me. I promise to always put you first and our love first. I promise to always be there when you need me. Whenever you feel alone, remember that I got you. I promise you all these things til the day I leave this earth." I said.
"Y'all said that to each other?" I nodded as I wiped the tears from my cheeks and put the things back in the box. I looked up at Dinah and she was in tears. "Don't cry, D."
"Y'all was really in love with each other. And that ring is cute too." Dinah said.
"I thought I gave it back after the breakup, obviously not." I said.
"I wonder if he still has his." Dinah said.
I shrugged, deep down I wondered if he had his too.
~Preston's POV
"With this ring, I promise to give you the best parts of me. I promise to always put you first and our love first. I promise to always be there when you need me. Whenever you feel alone, remember that I got you. I promise you all these things til the day I leave this earth."
Eight years later words still echo in my head. I may have been young but I knew who I was meant to spend the rest of my life with.
"I wish you'd let go of that ring, Preston."
I took off my glasses and sat them on my desk. "Not tonight Victoria. And no I'm not getting rid of my necklace."
"Why not?"
"It's has sentimental value, somebody special gave it to me and it's my lucky charm." I said.
"Is it that girl you were heartbroken over when I first met you?" Victoria asked.
"No, now if you'll excuse me I have a lot of work to do." I said.
"Fine." I walked over to Victoria and leaned in for a kiss. She turned her head and I ended up kissing her cheek. "Goodnight Preston."
I sat back behind my desk and put my glasses back on. I went into my secret compartment of my desk and pulled out my favorite Polaroid of Normani and I.
"Why couldn't you be my wife instead of her?"
(A/N)
-electric slides into the chat-
Get ready for another wild ride with yours truly 🤪
Thoughts so far?
Also go check out my other Normani story Tragedy
