Sincere
I sat out in the cabana with Effrin the next morning enjoying the calm sound of silence and the ocean waves splashing together as we ate our breakfast. A waitress came by and bought us another huge bowl of exotic fruits and I couldn't do anything but smile. I bought my legs up to my chest as we continued looking out at the beach.
"Could I ask you something?" Effrin asked as the waitress poured us both another glass of wine.
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
Effrin stayed quiet until the waitress left our cabana.
"I kind of saw something this morning when I woke up."
I instantly grew nervous, thinking of something crazy Antoine could have done to ruin Effrin and I. "Um what did you see?" I asked him.
"I haven't been saying anything the past couple of days but I've been seeing you pop those pain killers every couple of hours and then when I saw an empty bottle laying under the bed this morning I thought something was up. If there's something wrong you need to tell me."
I sighed. "There's nothing wrong Vinny, I promise."
"Then how did you go through an entire bottle of pain killers in one week? There was 100 tablets in there when you first got it," He replied.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know but I don't need you checking up on me."
"I'm your boyfriend I'm supposed to know what's going on. If you're hurting just tell me Sin before it get's worse."
"Effrin I'm fine."
"Stop lying to me all the damn time. I know you're not fine, or else you wouldn't even need those damn pain killers," He replied.
I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, dismissing the conversation. Like I said before, I didn't need my injuries getting in the way of the vacation. I didn't want him worrying about me 24/7 like he is now about something that's no big deal. I wish he'd just stay out of my business and let me figure out what's going on with my body.
"So you're just gonna ignore me Sincere? That's real mature," Effrin mumbled as Antoine and Jay walked over to us. Effrin put the fakest smile on his face when they pulled up chairs next to ours.
"Good morning," Antoine said standing over me.
I looked up and slightly smiled even though my stomach was in pain. "Morning," I mumbled.
They both sat down and we all just sat there eating in silence. I was honestly done with this vacation right now. Antoine was doing anything he could to bring our relationship to the spotlight, Effrin was doing everything he could to figure out what was wrong with me and Jay's presence just irritates me.
She doesn't talk to Effrin or I and she barely talks to Antoine. Usually she's off doing her own thing, leaving the three of us to enjoy each others company. I rolled my eyes at the thought of Jay. All of this shit going on with my body is Jay's fault. If she wasn't being such a bitch last week I wouldn't be in this situation.
*****
I swear I wanted to jump out of this jeep we were riding in now. We were on a mountain safari tour. The driver was taking us around the island, stopping at certain spots so we could actually get out and look at what the locals do. We've only stopped once before and that was at a waterfall but other than that we've been in the back of his jeep looking around the island.
He drove over one of millions of the bumps in this old trail and I swear it was making my stomach hurt even worse. I didn't know how longer I'd be able to keep this a secret, especially in this jeep. I looked over at Effrin who was watching me hold my stomach, clutching it every time we'd go over a bump. He shook his head and held his arms out for me.
I took a deep breath and laid down on his chest as he wrapped his arms around my sore body. "If you ain't feeling good you can tell me now 'cause we can turn around and go to the hospital," He whispered trying to take my hand off of my stomach but I stopped him.
"No it's just cramps baby, I'm fine."
"You don't look fine, you look sick Sincere."
"I'm not, I promise," I replied as the jeep stopped by a huge cliff.
The tour guide turned around and smiled to all of us. "Come on we're going up her!" He said pointing to the top of the cliff.
Antoine and Jay got out of the car, not ever saying a word to each other as they followed the tour guide up the cliff.
"Are you up for hiking?" Effrin asked, lifting me up.
I smiled and nodded my head, trying to stop the excruciating pain I was feeling in my stomach. "Yeah, come on."
I grabbed Effrin's hand and pulled him out of the jeep, following behind the tour guide who was talking to Jay about some of the different types of plants they had here. The entire time up the cliff I felt like collapsing but I tried holding my composure so Effrin wouldn't get suspicious.
It really took no time to get up the cliff since it wasn't big but it was beautiful up here. From where we were standing you could see our bungalows and the beautiful water. I stood near the edge, letting the wind blow against my body. I felt Effrin come up behind me and tightly wrap his arms around my waist as he leaned his chin in the crook of my neck.
I slightly smiled, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to pierce through my eyes at any moment due to my stomach being in so much pain.
"Isn't this beautiful?" He asked swaying me back and forth against his body. I nodded my head and wrapped my arms around his arms that were wrapped around my body. "Wouldn't it be nice if our wedding was here?"
A huge smile grew upon my face. "That would be perfect."
"Or if I proposed to you?" He asked.
I continued smiling and nodded my head.
"So I kind of had a feeling about how beautiful it was going to be here so that's why I bought you here."
"I thought we were just on vacation to get away from Compton for awhile?" I asked him.
"Well, yeah that was one of the reasons why we went on vacation but there's a bigger reason," He said unwrapping his arms from around my body. He stood in front of me and held my hands, tightly.
"What's the bigger reason?" I asked him.
"You know I love you with everything in me right?"
I nodded my head, not knowing where this was coming from. "Yeah of course I know."
"And you love the hell out of me right?"
I slightly laughed but nodded my head, yes. "Of course I do."
He looked down at his feet and then back to my eyes as he pulled a small black box out of his pocket. He dropped down on one knee. "Then let's spend the rest of our lives together, just me and you forever. Will you marry me Sincere Cole?"
I couldn't do anything but nod my head yes as a huge smile spread across my face. At this moment, nothing but marrying Effrin mattered. All of that crap Antoine was talking last night wasn't on my mind or the piercing pain in my stomach. Effrin smiled and slipped the ring on my finger before standing up and kissing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him, admiring how beautiful my ring looked on my finger.
"What's going on?"
Vinny and I turned around to see Antoine, Jay and the tour guide walking our way, wondering what she was doing.
"She said yes," Vinny announced.
"Yes to what, man?" Antoine asked.
Vinny sighed. "To marrying me, remember we talked about this before we left home."
Antoine nodded his head and looked me up and down. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," He mumbled, walking away from us.
Jay slightly smiled and walked up to us. "Congrats."
I smiled, a real smile that wasn't fake like hers. "Thanks."
"Congratulations!" The tour guide yelled to us as he started walking back down the trail.
As soon as they all left, Effrin pulled me closer to him and kissed me one more time. "I can't wait to marry you," He whispered against my lips.
I smiled and pecked his lips. "I can't wait to marry you too."
He leaned back in to kiss me one more time but Antoine came back yelling. "Ole dude said to get y'all love bird asses off this cliff!"
Vinny and I laughed before following Antoine back to the jeep we were previously in. The jeep took off down the trail. I ignored the bad feeling I was getting in my stomach because I was too excited about getting married to the best man in the world. The tour guide stopped about 20 minutes later at a small hut sitting alone off on the side of the road. He climbed out of the jeep and came around to all of us.
"Who wants to get their fortune read?" The tour guide asked, smiling.
We all agreed to do it but I was somewhat skeptical about this. What if something came out about Antoine and I? Then what would I do since I'm getting married to Effrin? Now I really can't tell Vinny anything about us, or should I so our marriage won't be ruined? We can't get married with lies separating us. It just can't happen.
As soon as we walked into the fortune tellers' hut she screamed loudly, which caused all of us to jump. "I'm not getting good vibes from this group Jack," She told the tour guide as she held the sides of her table, slightly shaking.
I scrunched up my face and looked over at Effrin who looked just as confused as me. "Maybe we should go back to the jeep," I whispered but the doors slammed close and the shades on the windows flipped down.
We all jumped and screamed. I had a bad feeling about this place before we even got in here. "Everyone who steps foot in my hut can't leave until they get their fortune told," the fortune teller said in a voice that wasn't like the voice she had when we first got in here. She almost sounded demented. She looked up as a sly grin appeared on her face. "Since you want to leave how about you get yours done first, pretty girl."
I pulled Effrin tighter and shook my head. "No thanks, Jay you wanna go first?" I asked her.
"No. I think it's best if you go first," She quickly replied, pushing me towards the fortune teller.
I tried moving away from her but as soon as I was close enough, she roughly grabbed my hands. She rubbed her rough hands all over mine, with her eyes closed, mumbling crazy stuff. "Oh, oh, oh I'm getting bad vibes from this one here! You and someone else are carrying the most negativity in this entire room," she said shaking her head. "Oh I see bad things, HORRIBLE THINGS happening in your future. Oh no, something bad is going to happen to you soon."
"How soon?" I asked her.
"Within the next few hours, but more bad things are soon to come for you. Watch out."
I sighed and quickly moved away from her.
"Damn I don't wanna do this anymore," I heard Ant mumble.
The fortune teller looked up. "You're next sir."
Antoine sighed and walked up to her. As soon as she got a hold of his hands she screamed and violently shook. "Oh no this is terrible! You won't live very long. I see blackness, darkness, hatred in your future. Your cheating, lies and games will soon catch up to you. You are the other person carrying extreme negativity and lies in this entire room. You will lose important people in your life because of something in your future. You will lose a friendship and a relationship with someone who was very close to you before birth."
She shook her head as Antoine shrugged his shoulders.
"Before birth? This bullshit ain't real, I don't even know why y'all believing this shit," He said walking away from her.
She grabbed a hold of Effrin's hands and smiled. "You will be hurt in the near future but don't worry something better will come along. You will fumble a few times and even resort to things your body isn't used to but you'll be good in the end. Your warm heart will soon take you to better places, much better than how you are right now. Someone very close to you is lying to you, keeping secrets from you that's going to affect your relationship with them in the future but beware of the future. Your distant future is very blurry."
"That's it?" Effrin asked as she let go of his hands.
She smiled. "That's all I've got. C'mon girl," she said motioning for Jay to come over to her. She smacked her lips as the fortune teller grabbed her hand. "You're an evil spirit but I see a bright future. Things will happen that cause you to choose between very important people in your life but it's for the best. Someone very close to you is lying to you, keeping secrets from you that's going to affect your relationship with them in the future. You'll find better and will even deceive another person in this room, just out of pure hatred."
I bit my lip and glanced over at Antoine as he looked over at me. I know I'm not stupid. Effrin and Jay had the same fortune, Antoine and I are those very important people in their lives that have been lying and keeping secrets from them for months.
We soon left her hut, all quiet. "People always leave her hut quiet," the tour guide informed us before pulling up by the ocean our bungalows were sitting above. "But don't listen to a thing she says, it's all for show," He informed us.
I nodded my head, we all thanked him and walked back to our bungalows.
Effrin grabbed a hold of my hands. "How are you feeling?" He asked as we walked down the dock in the evening sunlight.
I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting him to get worried. "I'm fine, these cramps are just killing me," I laughed it off as we walked into our bungalow. All of what I said wasn't a lie. It wasn't cramps but whatever it was sure was killing me.
We changed to basically nothing and laid in our bed together.
"Are you gonna take something for them?" He asked, referring to my cramps.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm trying to lay off the pain killers."
"Just take a couple so you can feel better."
"You sure?" I asked him sitting up on the bed.
"Yeah, I want you to feel good while we stay up all night and watch movies."
A smile spread across my face as I climbed out of bed. "Alright, just give me a second."
I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and walked into the bathroom. I grabbed the pain killers and shut the bathroom door. As soon as I got in there tears immediately poured out of my eyes. I sat down on the toilet and opened up the new bottle of pain killers. I just started popping them in my mouth until more than half were gone. I can't keep feeling bad. Whatever is going on with me is going to have to budge sooner or later.
I downed the rest of my water and stood up but my legs and knees were too weak to hold myself up. I blinked hard as black spots clouded my vision. I took a deep breath, grabbing the side of the sink to try to hold me up, even though I could barely stand up, but I was too dizzy.
I let go of the sink and reached for the door knob but I only collapsed on the bathroom floor, blacking out.
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