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The day of reckoning had finally come. Toya was going to deal with whatever this thing was between her and Jarrod, and she was going to live with the outcome. First, she called Gina and apologized for her behavior the other day.
“No need for apologies, girl. You and Jarrod need to figure out what you’re doing, so other people won’t keep getting caught in the middle.”
“You’re right, I know you are. But I felt so foolish when he left me sitting in my living room with my prom dress on and no date.”
“That’s the past, Toya. Trust me when I tell you that Jarrod has a thing for you. Always has, and probably always will.”
“But, I’m the one who asked him to prom. So, it stands to reason that he doesn’t think of me like that, and that’s the reason he didn’t want to take me to the prom, right?”
Gina sighed, wishing her friend would just get this already. “I don’t know why he didn’t show up for your date way back in high school. But I do know what he confessed to me when we were in college. So, like I said, the two of you need to talk and leave the rest of us out of it.”
Toya had done damage to her friendship with Gina. She constantly put Gina on the back burner whenever she perceived the slightest of infractions where Jarrod was concerned. But it was time to stop blaming Gina because things didn’t turn out the way she had hoped. Anyway, she had never expressed her true feelings for Jarrod to Gina or anyone else for that matter. Toya had matured enough to own her faults and missteps.
“I promise you, right here and now that I will never let anything or anyone else come between our friendship.”
“Good because I really need you in my life.”
Toya heard the crack in Gina’s voice and realized just how much pain the loss of their friendship has caused Gina. She would never hurt her friend again. “I need you too. I have truly missed you.”
~~~
Now to deal with the real problem at hand. Jarrod was supposed to meet up with her to take Princess for the weekend. But she wasn’t just going to let him waltz in and leave without finally being straight up with her.
“I'm on my way,” Jarrod told her.
“I’ll be here,” she said. When she hung up the phone, she ran to her walk-in closet and hurriedly took off her Feed-Me-Coffee pajamas, jumped in the shower then threw on a white sundress that flowed all the way to the floor and made her look like an angel.
She looked in the mirror and shook her head. “Girl, you trying too hard.” She took off the beautiful dress and threw on a pair of stonewashed jeans and a beige halter top. That way, if he played her a fool, at least she wouldn’t have dressed up like she expected to be taken out to dinner. “What do you think, Princess? Will this work?”
The dog looked up at Toya and leaned her head to the right as if she was studying her. She then barked two times and walked out of the room.
“You don’t have to be rude. You could have just let me know that you didn’t like it. You didn’t have to walk away like that.” Toya took the halter top off and put on her loose-fitting denim shirt with a drawstring at the bottom.
The buzzer announced that there was someone at the gate. Looking through the camera positioned at the gate, she could see that it was Jarrod, so she buzzed him in. Then she ran to the bathroom and dab some blush on her cheeks, eyeliner around her eyelids and a little lip gloss. By the time the doorbell rang, she was ready for Jarrod.
“I’m coming,” she yelled as Princess started barking.
She opened the door, the moment Princess saw Jarrod, she stopped barking and almost knocked him down as she pounced on him. “She’s getting big.”
“Tell me about it,” Toya agreed. “I had no idea that German Shepherds grew so fast. She is slinging me around when I walk her now.”
“Poor Toya. You need some more meat on your bones.” Jarrod gave Princess a hug and ruffled her ears. “You got her stuff ready?”
“I sure do, but how are you planning to sneak this big dog into your apartment? One bark from Princess and your landlord will probably throw you out before you get a chance to move out.”
With a sheepish, lopsided grin on his face, Jarrod admitted, “I moved to my new place this week.”
Hand on hips, eyes shooting daggers. “And just when were you going to tell me?”
“I wasn’t trying to keep it from you, Toya.”
“Oh, yes, you were. You just don’t want to take responsibility for Princess. I know you, Jarrod, you ain’t slick as you think you are.”
“I like sharing ownership with you. And Princess loves you so much. You can’t tell me that you don’t want her around anymore.”
She took her hands off her hips as Princess rubbed up against her leg. She rubbed the dogs head, “I love you too, Princess.” But then she turned back to Jarrod. “But sometimes I need a break. This dog is a lot of work.”
“I got you, I’m taking her off your hands right now. You won’t have to lift a finger or think about her all weekend long. Just give me her stuff, and we’ll get out of your way.”
She could trust Jarrod to do exactly what he said. He had always been like that. No matter what Toya needed, he would take care of it. Right now, she needed rest from her dog. But not before she received answers from this man that she had always been in the friend zone with.
“Can you sit down so I can talk to you about something before you leave and give me this weekend break that I so desperately need?”
He hesitated. “You aren't still tripping about Gina, are you?”
Toya shook her head. “I already apologized to Gina, and I want to apologize to you as well. My behavior was uncalled for.”
He sat down. “Then I have all the time you need. What’s on your mind, pretty lady?”
“Do you really think I’m pretty?” Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she sat down next to him. ‘Lord, please let him feel the same way I do.’”
“Have you looked in a mirror today, or any day for that matter. Of course, I think you’re pretty... no, I take that back, you’re not just pretty. You, Toya Milner, are downright gorgeous.”
“Thanks for saying that.”
“I’m not just trying to be nice. I really mean it, Toya. I’ve always thought that about you.”
“Then why haven’t you ever told me?”
Jarrod shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess things just got in the way.”
“What kind of things?”
His eyebrows scrunch as he gave her a questioning glance. “Why are you asking me all of this?”
She took a deep breath as she gathered her courage. “To be honest, Gina told me that during Christmas break our junior year, you came home to tell me how you felt about me. Is that true?”
“I should have known Gina would run her mouth.”
“But is it true?” Toya needed to hear him say it. She needed to know she hadn’t been in her feelings all these years alone.
“What does it matter? When I came to see you, you were all hugged up with some guy even though you knew I was coming through. You didn’t want to hear anything I had to say.”
“I’m sorry about that. I only asked Peter to come home with me after you told me you wanted to talk over Christmas break.” A look of embarrassment crossed her face. “I thought you were going to tell me that you and Gina were in love and making future plans or something. I just couldn’t bear to hear that from you.”
“So, what was really going on with you and that guy?”
“Nothing, I couldn’t stand being around him. Peter was so full of himself, even while we were in college and he hadn’t accomplished anything yet.”
Jarrod stared at Toya as if seeing her for the first time and then he burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
He kept laughing, even while saying, “I shouldn’t be laughing, because it’s not funny. It’s not funny at all.”
“Then stop laughing.” She picked up one of the pillows from the sofa and cracked him upside the head with it.
“Okay, okay. Don’t get violent.” Jarrod grabbed the pillow, so she couldn’t hit him with it again. “There, I stopped laughing.” But then he started shaking his head as memories of those days flooded in. “Do you have any idea how miserable I was after seeing you with that guy?”
“Probably about as miserable as I was when I found out you and Gina were dating.”
Wagging a finger back and forth, Jarrod told her, “You really can’t call what Gina and I did dating. Every time we were together, all I did was talk about you. It was so bad that Gina finally called me out about it.
“I couldn’t help it,” he told her. “You were so far away, and I missed you so bad, I just wanted to be close to someone who I could share all the memories I had of you with.” He shrugged again. “But it wasn’t fair to Gina.”
“Is that why you wanted to apologize to her last week?”
“It was a little more to it than that. You see, when I got back to school that year, I was destroyed. But I was also embarrassed that I had finally confessed my feelings for you to someone, and I still didn’t have anything to show for it. I didn’t want to tell Gina that you were in love with someone else, so I stopped talking to her.
“I was hanging out with other girls and completely ignoring her. That’s when she got involved with this guy that I knew was all wrong for her. But I didn’t feel like I could say anything because I was dating a bunch of women who were all wrong for me too.”
“Now that I think about it, Gina must have been lonely for a very long time with both of us turning our backs on her. That wasn’t fair.”
“And that’s why I apologized to her.”
Smiling, Toya said, “I’m glad you didn’t let my bad attitude stop you from going back into the church and doing that for Gina.” Toya playfully punched him on the shoulder. “I’m really kind of proud of you.”
“Now that we’ve got that straight,” Jarrod inched closer to her. He put a hand on her back and let his hand drift from her shoulder blade to her lower back. “Let’s talk about us.” But instead of talking, Jarrod leaned forward and kissed her.
His lips were soft and moist and sensual at the same time. Heat rose from her feet all the way to the top of her head until she thought she would explode from the pure joy of being on the sofa, locked in an embrace with Jarrod.