Chapter 2
Tiana's Perspective
"A person could feel dead inside while existing amongst the living world."-Unknown
FLASHBACK: June 7th, 2014
•••••
SWARMS of people gathered in the crowded space of my mother's living room dancing to loud explicit music. Angie was nowhere to be found as second-hand smoke entered my lungs and the scent of alcohol surrounded me. I had checked all over the house and I still could not find her. I pushed through the dense area bumping into random strangers and a few familiar faces until one person, in particular, came into my view. Quincy, at just the age of sixteen I had already discovered my one true love. My brain could not process information in his presence causing me to act foolishly. Not only was he gorgeous, tall, strong, charismatic, and extremely athletic, he was also smart as hell.
Everyone knew he was going to graduate at the top of his class in a few years. When Quincy glanced up in my direction, I put on a cheesy smile trying my best to gather a naturally inviting composure. He came up to me nodding his head with a cocky smirk, a simple gesture that went straight to my head.
"What's good Tia?" he asked still holding that confident smirk.
I had no clue how to respond. How did he even know my name? I mean we had conversed often and I was fairly known around school, but definitely not like Angie. I was merely average never sticking out in a crowd, which I didn't mind. With my big brown eyes, dark brown skin, small frame lacking of curves, medium brown straightened hair, and introverted personality nothing about me stood out. However, Angie was a sight for sore eyes and she was confident about her looks as well.
My older sister was the most outgoing person I had ever met. Possessing big natural curls she had been rocking since we were toddlers, a short and curvy frame that always turned necks, caramel skin with a beautiful set of teeth to go along with her captivating smile, and a signature walk conveying authority. Angie was a walking goddess.
"Nothing just trying to make it past a sea of people," I responded back to Quincy, he looked at me as if I was crazy with a cocked eyebrow.
"Just push through." He laughed at my reply pulling me through the crowd with him.
"That's not possible considering everyone here is probably bigger and taller than me. Pushing would be useless."
I was not ashamed of my outside exterior, but if we're comparing looks Quincy was way out of my league. If I could stare at his face all day that could be accomplished with no problem.
"Aye, never underestimate small people."
"True, you have a point."
We hurried outside of the party onto the front porch welcoming the hot Oregon air. The blue jean shorts Angie had picked out clung to me tightly as I viewed the various cars parked outside the driveway. Standing in silence was starting to annoy me so I started a conversation.
"You're an amazing football player."
"Thanks, I guess that's safe to say. What about you? Any hobbies or sports you like?"
"Not really, I'm not into sports or anything that requires a person to be social either."
He chuckled at my dry humor.
"Well you should try something new, you might like it. Out of all the times I've seen or spoken to you at school your head is always in a book instead of focused on the people around you." He bumped shoulders with me.
"I'm not a talkative person, besides I'm comfortable in my comfort zone."
"Then why are you at a party?" Quincy asked sarcastically.
"Because it's my sister's party at my house, and she made me come out of my room for it smartass."
We laughed and joked around a little bit as his hand accidentally touched the palm of my ass when showing me his throwing arm.
"Shit, I'm sorry I didn't mean to touch...that."
If only he knew how much I enjoyed that small interaction.
"No, it's cool, not like there's much back there." I was only joking around, but he took that comment seriously.
"you working with something," he said smirking at me.
I could tell he was just being nice, but what if there was a possibility of him seeing me as more than just an associate? I toyed with the bottom of my crop top to make myself busy with something other than my thoughts.
"So, I heard UCLA scouts are already watching you this season."
Switching to another topic always made things easier when it came to talking.
"Yeah I see you keep up with me pretty well," he nudged me again.
"I try to, but I mean, who doesn't?"
"What about Angie?" He asked quickly gathering my attention.
"I don't know, she's mostly focused on becoming Prom Queen since it's her senior year and all." His attention was lost after I said that.
"Oh, I see."
Silence flooded over us as I watched the night sky still playing with my fingertips and shirt.
"Can you maybe bring me up around her, you know as a favor or whatever? Just to see what she says." Quincy asked placing his arms around my shoulders.
"Sure, but why?"
"Shoot I've been trying to ask Angie out since last year, but she's older than me and stuff. Maybe you could be my wing girl?"
The gesture was nice, but it was plain as day that Quincy only saw me as a potential friend and my sister as a potential girlfriend. I didn't let it affect me though, things like this always happened.
"Yeah no problem," I forced a smile but on the inside, I was hurting and my ego was shot down.
"Thanks, we should hang out more you're a cool girl and easy to talk to. You remind me so much of my sister." Quincy patted my back getting ready to leave. We exchanged numbers before he left to go back inside the party.
Quincy was my first real crush, but the feelings weren't mutual. I saw him as my soulmate and he saw me as his...sister. I sighed shaking my head heading back into the party to find Angie, she had been missing for over an hour now.
This was not like her at all she was always the life of the party making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. After minutes of searching the packed house, I saw my mother's room light on, but the door was closed. Angie had labeled the door non entry for the sake of the party and my mother being out of town until tomorrow. As some Chris Brown tune bumped throughout the house, I stepped into the bedroom looking around. The room was empty and felt out of balance.
I heard sniffing from the cracked bathroom door. Dashing over to it, there Angie was sitting on the floor tears falling from her eyes as she continuously rocked back and forth with her knees up to her chest. Her face and lips were red as a tomato and her hair was thrown all over the place with makeup covering her plump cheeks. In a hurry, I sat down beside her pushing the hair out of her face.
"Angie what's wrong?"
Unimaginable situations took over my mind. She could have been taken advantage of while I was outside wasting time with Quincy. She said nothing staring at the bathroom mirror in front of us scaring me even more.
"Angie please talk to me."
I grabbed her hand looking into her eyes.
"Mommy is dead."
Those three words did not process in my head. Those three words were not formulating in my brain. My hands started shaking faster than ever as my heart rate dropped.
"Angie, what are you talking about?" She was talking crazy, she had to be pranking me or heavily intoxicated. My mother was not dead, she was in California working, we had just talked on the phone this morning. Angie remained quiet intensifying my emotions.
"Stop joking around Angie you sound crazy we just talked to her on the phone this morning." My voice erupted throughout the entire bathroom as the waterworks came down.
"Tia I'm not I-" She couldn't quite gather her sentences as her vision became blurry, I continued cutting her off coming undone.
"You've had too much to drink Angie." I was fully aware of the seriousness laced in her tone by now. I lowered my voice, as the tears kept coming down.
"We need to go to the hospital. I don't know what to do with all of those people downstairs. I don't know what to do, I just don't know Tia." Angie was a hysterical mess by now and she knew how to cope with everything, but this incident was on another level.
"Okay alright, I'll get everyone out you just go start the car up and stuff." We were both trying our best to make it out of that bathroom without falling out or losing all sense of a normal mentality. Something about this event just seemed unreal, Angie rushed out of the bathroom before me as I stood looking at my distorted image in the mirror. Before my brain could register my actions, glass was shattered everywhere and the palm of my hands consisted of scabs and blood. I had cracked part of the bathroom mirror with a glass toothbrush holder breaking it, causing the glass to cut beneath my flesh.
Stopping a bunch of seventeen year old students from partying, while being mentally unstable was not a simple task. It took lots of yelling, profanity, and unintentional crying. Things changed drastically after that night. I entered a state of depression, disregarded my studies, distanced myself away from others even more, nothing was the same. Angie tried, she really did, but my whole world had shattered before my eyes. My mother was my everything but because of a truck collision, she was taken away from me. I didn't even get to tell her goodbye. In my eyes, life was over and nothing mattered not even myself.
02
KelisAjanee
All Rights Reserved