Masked

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, I woke up early and headed into the bathroom. My eyes were puffy from crying for over an hour. I never felt so betrayed in my whole life and none of it made sense. I washed my face with cool water to help with the puffiness before leaving the bathroom.

I crawled back into my bed and looked at my phone. I had put it on to Do Not Disturb in case anybody tried to contact me. I was not in the mood to hear anything from anybody last night. I also removed myself from the group chat.

Most of the notifications were from social media informing me about somebody liking my posts or this tweet going viral. The others were texts from Athalia, Yael, and Lilliana asking what happened and if I was okay.

Of course, I wasn't okay. How could anybody be okay after seeing the guy they've been spending almost all of their time with about to get...

I shook my head at the thought so I wouldn't start crying again. Then I saw the text from Phoenix. What could he possibly want to say after that situation?

Phoenix: Hey baby girl, I know you're probably angry with me and you have every right to be. But I swear to you, what you saw is not what you think it is. Please, let's talk. I'll be waiting for you outside tomorrow morning.

Outside? I looked out my window and there he was, sitting out in the quad on a bench doing something on his phone. I quickly changed into some sweats, grabbed my keys, and headed out the door.

I was prepared to have this be finished. For all the fun times, the sneaking away for kisses, the food trips when dining hall food was gross, all of it. I was prepared to end it.

I walked out of the dorm building and over to the bench he was sitting at. Phoenix looked up at me and tried to give me that grin I loved, but now was not the time for smiles and giggles.

"What do you want?" I said shortly.

"I need to explain what you saw last night," Phoenix replied. He tried to reach for my hand, but I took a step back. The last thing I wanted right now was to be touched by him.

"Explain."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head before taking a deep breath.

"I know you think Naima was about to give me head, and I won't deny it. She was going to do it, but I wasn't consenting to it. It was almost like she timed it or something. She pulled me from the party asking me about plugging her for some stuff. We couldn't hear each other so we went into Hachi's room," he began.

I looked at him suspiciously, but let him continue anyways.

"So I was trying to explain prices with her, and right when we hear the door handle turn, she dropped to her knees and grabs my belt. After you ran away, she got up and just smiled at me before she left the room too. On god, that's what happened," he explained further.

"So you guys didn't do anything?" I retorted skeptically.

"Nah I've never done anything with her in my life. I swear to you. Ask Dante or Hachi. I've never even been alone with her before," Phoenix swore.

He reached for my hand and this time I didn't move away.

"Listen. I usually just about getting my bag, but being around you and doing things with you has really opened my eyes to other things. I don't want that to end," he spoke softly.

He pulled me in and took my other hand. I felt butterflies swirling around in my stomach. I looked away from his eyes, but he stood up and moved my face back to his, before kissing my lips softly.

"Let's make this official. Let me be your man," Phoenix proposed.

I felt tears stream down my face as I nodded yes in reply to him. He kissed me again and again.

"Uhhhh I know it's early in the morning, but could y'all take your PDA to one of your dorm rooms?"

We looked over and saw one of the campus police stopped a few feet away on his bike.

"No problem officer! Let's go Mar," Phoenix chuckled.

——————-

Of course, one by one, people from the group chat figured out we were officially dating. How? We still don't know. We tried to keep it hush from everybody for a little bit, just for some privacy, but it got blasted in the chat.

WHAT IT DO BAYBEEEE

Jules: sooooo Phoenix and Marsai. When were y'all planning on telling us that things were official?

Tati: WHAT.

Me: well you see....

Jiro: aye congrats to y'all

Naima: oh that's just great

Athalia: awww Im so happy for y'all!

Yaël: it's about time! I thought I was gonna have to pull some stunts

Phoenix: alright let's calm down

Brianna: hmm very interesting

Anaya: very interesting indeed

Hachi: and here I thought Plug man would never settle for anything but the bag

Phoenix: aye, I'm still after the bag. I'm just chasing another kind lmao

I clicked out of my messages, feeling embarrassed by what Phoenix said. Things had only been official for about two weeks. It's been crazy though with midterms going on. We hadn't been able to go on a proper date yet, but an opportunity was coming up soon since a long weekend was coming. What could possibly go wrong?