I was huddled up in bed just thinking over last night. It almost didn't seem real! How could such a big moment turn into one of the worst disasters to ever occur in my life? My ex-boyfriend showed up, me and my current boyfriend's relationship could be in jeopardy because of it, and I have to stay cooped up in this hell hole for the remainder of my punishment which I'm not even in the middle of! I'm only a few weeks into it. Why did my mom have to be so childish? She could've just discussed that night with me, not bring Dre into the mix!
Speaking of Dre, my mom is forcing us to go out together somewhere! Really?! It's as if she wants us to get back together even though she know how much crap he put me through when we were. I'm dressed so now I'm just waiting for him to come by. I haven't told Jacquees. His protective instincts might kick in just like they did when I was hanging around Khalil (even though he was right about that situation).
"Nicole, Dre's here!" my mother called.
I sighed in annoyance and scooped up my purse. I walked out of the house and looked around.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"Outside waiting for you in the car" she said scrolling through her phone.
"Such a gentleman" I said sarcastically. "Wait, what car?"
"The car that I rented for his stay here"
"Wow. You're really going out of your way for him" I scoffed.
My mother rolled her eyes and shooed me away. I walked out of the house and locked the door behind me and saw him in a black Mercedes similar to Khalil's car rhythmically tapping on the wheel. I assumed he was listening to music. I opened the door and got in. He just looked at me.
"What?" I asked in annoyance.
"Well, hi to you too"
"Hi" I said in a glum tone as I put on my seatbelt.
He scoffed and pulled off. As he continued to drive to wherever he was taking us, we both remained silent. I kept scrolling through my phone just praying that time would fly by already and I wouldn't have to deal with this anymore. We arrived at a stoplight and Dre sighed.
"Look, Nic, can you atleast pretend to enjoy this?" he said.
I glared at him and then shut off my phone.
"Dre, I don't know how you thought I was going to react to you being here but I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I'm not happy right now. What happened in Georgia was supposed to be stay in Georgia but all you're doing is bringing it here to L.A.!"
I could see the hurt and sadness in his eyes. I took his hand and rubbed the back of it causing him to look up at me.
"Dre, I really do care about you. You're one of my best friends. But I ended our relationship so that my life here in L.A. wouldn't be miserable and I'm not going to accomplish that if all of these sad reminders of my old life come back in my new one!"
"I understand..." he said taking his hand out of mine and putting it on the steering wheel.
I felt bad about having to say this to him but how else would he have understood? The light turned green and he started to drive. The car grew silent again and then I really started to feel bad. We pulled up to a Starbucks in the drive-thru. I love Starbucks! It was something that Dre knew all too well. It was where we went on a majority of our dates when we were together all because I asked. I hadn't had Starbucks since I was at the airport coming over here and I almost forgot my craving for it.
"Welcome to Starbucks. Go ahead with your order" the woman spoke through the speaker.
"Yeah, let me get one caramel frappuccino and one iced white chocolate mocha" he said looking at me for confirmation that the mocha was what I wanted.
I nodded surprised that he even remembered that.
"Okay, pull up to the next window please" the woman said.
As he pulled up to the next window, I decided to finally say something.
"You remembered?"
"I remember important stuff" he said.
I looked down at my lap and nodded. He gave the woman his credit card. After paying for it, she handed us our drinks and we drove away from the window.
"So where are we going now?" I asked.
"I'm taking you home" he said with his fist to his mouth.
"This is all you wanted to do?" I asked in shock.
"Well no but..."
I felt like such a jerk. He was about to take me home because I wasn't feeling this. I didn't want to give him that impression but he wasn't going to understand my feelings until I told him how I really felt.
"No"
He snapped his head in my direction with a surprised look.
"No what?"
"No, you aren't taking me home yet. Pull into the parking lot so we can drink these"
He shrugged and pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. I turned in my seat to face him. He started to drink his frappuccino not paying me any mind.
"Dre, I didn't mean-"
"Are you in love with him? That boy?" he asked.
The question had caught me off guard. I hadn't even known the answer to that yet. Because of me and Dre, I didn't want to let my guard down too fast but something about Jacquees just made me not care. He had given me oral sex for crying out loud! I think that night was when I mostly got into my feelings. But, I didn't want to lie to Dre.
"I don't know...I really like him though. That's why I was so defensive about yesterday night. It was really important to me and then for you and my mom to just team up on me like you did and embarrass me was just too much and that's why I lashed out"
"Nicole, I sware that when you're mom flew me out to L.A., I didn't even know that your boyfriend was gonna be there. But then you started having an attitude and shit and that's what pissed me off. If I had known that your boyfriend was going to be there, I wouldn't have came because that shit that your mom set up was childish as hell"
"Thank you!" I said throwing my hands up followed by a laugh from Dre.
"But in all seriousness, Nic" he said holding my hand. "I still do have feelings for you and I don't want to leave here today without having so form of closure"
"I wouldn't want that for you either" I replied.
"So what do we do then?"
We just sat there for what seemed like hours before he leaned toward me. Kissing him would make me uncomfortable but I was willing to do it so that we could end this chapter of our lives. If Jacquees and I were ever going to take our relationship further and if Dre was going to find someone new it had to happen. I leaned in as well and closed my eyes. Our lips finally met and moved in sync. A whole bunch of memories of Dre and I flooded into my head at that point and it was very overwhelming. I placed my hand on his cheek and we continued to kiss. His lips felt the same, perfectly moist and soft.
He finally pulled away after a few seconds and we just stared at each other in shock. Strangely, I didn't feel like I had betrayed Jacquees in anyway. Maybe that was a sign that what Dre and I just did was for the better of both of us.
"Thanks" we both said in unison.
We both laughed. I guess we had both found our closure so that was why we thanked each other.
"But if you decide that you actually are in love with that guy, tell him. I'm sure he'd feel the same way"
I nodded with a slight smile.
"So, you ready to go home?" he asked.
I thought for a minute.
"No" I said sipping my mocha. "Let's go to the park"
"Okay" he shrugged as he started the car back up. "Which one?"
"Hollenbeck. Everybody says that it's really nice there and that I should go so..."
"That's cool. I know where that's at"
We drove away from Starbucks. Maybe this day wouldn't be as bad as I thought.
***Jacquees' POV***
"...Sorry, Que..." Tre said as I banged my forehead against the wheel frustrated and upset.
***Flashback***
"Rememba...MUHFUCKAS NEVER LUHHED US!" Tre belted out as we listened to "Worst Behavior" by Drake on the radio.
Drake really wasn't my kind of artist. I was more of a Meek Mill and Kanye West kind of guy. Tre was a Drake and Kendrick Lamar kind of guy. I was just sitting there in the driver's seat looking at Tre as if he were a retard. It was certainly what he was acting like. I looked out of my window and saw who looked like Nicole's ex next to our car. Actually, it was him! I was surprised but I shrugged it off thinking that it might have been a coincedence. Then I looked closer and saw Nicole in the passenger's seat! She looked pissed and they both were arguing about something.
The light suddenly turned green and I saw him pulling into Starbucks. I subtly followed behind and turned the music down. Tre shot me and angry look.
"What the hell, Que! My favorite part was about to come up! And where are we going? Last time I checked, Starbucks doesn't sound like the gym!"
"Yo, shut up! I just saw Nicole in the car with her ex"
"Ohhh" Tre said in a more calm and understanding tone. "So we're stalking them or something?"
"No, we're just gonna watch from a distance and see what happens"
Tre sighed in annoyance.
"Then we'll go to the gym?"
"Yes, man! Goddamn!"
"Aight, Que. Chill"
We pulled into a parking spot close to where they were. They were in the drive-thru so we just waited. Tre was being impatient and it was really starting to bother me.
"Okay, I'm not just gonna sit in here. I'm gonna go get me something from this place. You want anything?"
"Uh...just get me whatever you're getting" I said still looking out of ny window.
He nodded and got out of the car closing the door behind him. Thank God! I watched as the car that Nicole was in turned into a spot in the parking lot about two spots away from me. I used my hand to cover my face hoping that Nicole didn't notice me and that she would think my car was just somebody else with the same one if she even looked over here. A few minutes passed and they were just talking. I had begun to thing that this entire thing was harmless. I started the car back up and cursed at myself for coming here pointlessly.
I looked back over at the car one last time and saw Nicole leaned over in his direction. My heart pounded harder and louder. I was hoping that I wasn't seeing what I thought I was. But it was confirmed when I saw her ex with his head tilted and eyes closed with Nicole's hand on his cheek. I suddenly died inside. To think that I might have actually been falling in love with this girl. The feeling wasn't even mutual otherwise she wouldn't have done this. She had to have been thinking about me! Then I saw them smiling and laughing when they finally pulled away from each other which told me that she had no remorse for what she had just done!
Tre finally got back in the car.
"Okay, I got a cinnamon frappuccino but I know you don't like cinnamon but I didn't know what you did like so I just got a blueberry muffin. If you don't like it then...hey, what's wrong?"
I looked over and saw that they were leaving now. I slammed my head onto the steering wheel with my two hands gripping it.
"They kissed" I finally said.
"...Sorry, Que..."
***End of Flashback***
"I was afraid that this shit was gonna happen but I thought I knew her better than that!" I said throwing my hands up.
"Look, don't get yourself worked up over her. You're not doing anything wrong and if she can't see that you're really trying here, forget her.
I lifted my head and grabbed my blueberry muffin out of his lap and took a bite.
"You know what? You're right. And the gym is exactly what I need to get my mind off of her"
I began to drive the car out of Starbucks and onto the road.
***Nicole's POV***
Dre just texted me that he had arrived in Georgia. I smiled to myself remembering how much fun we had at the park today. He told me when he dropped me back off at home that he would try to move on and now we were officially friends and nothing more. But I had been texting and calling Jacquees ever since I got home which was like two hours ago but he hasn't responded. He promised me that he wouldn't be distant from me anymore so what's his problem now? He knew that he could tell me if something was wrong. I wanted to take Dre's advice and tell Jacquees about my true feelings toward him. That I was falling for him. However, how was I going to do that if he wouldn't pick up his phone? I hoped he was okay...