16. Avani
I wondered when the tears would stop. It seemed to be going on forever.
Akari broke up with me and hasn't yet returned.
I had never felt as alone as I did right now.
I had been crying every day since he left my house and me without a backward glance.
Two weeks had passed, and no matter how many times I called or texted him, he hadn't responded to me.
I hadn't expected him to walk away from me the way that he did.
It felt like forever since I saw Akari smile at me. The only way I'd see it is if I went through the pictures of him on my phone. Even that was painful to do since I missed him so badly.
I knew I needed to pull myself out of bed, but I didn't want to.
Since I was done cleaning out my childhood home, I didn't have to worry about that too much anymore.
Now, the thought of bulldozing it and starting over or just renovating it was heavy on my mind.
I said I wanted to renovate it and add to it, but I knew it was best to start completely over.
I needed to hurry and make up my mind about it.
One thing I was happy about was it being the weekend.
I wouldn't have to worry about a thing. I could stay in bed and cry all I wanted.
I knew if I were with Akari, we'd be out doing something somewhere.
He always took me places I'd never been before.
He took me to Atlanta one weekend, and we had a blast. We went to an arcade and won so many tickets that he was able to get me anything I wanted from the award shop at the arcade.
Then we went to a club, man, what a time we had.
We were so hot for each other that we ended up having sex in the back seat of his car as his driver drove.
I had never been more embarrassed than when I got out of the car that night.
More tears gathered in my eyes, but I wiped them away, not wanting to cry anymore. It was over and done with. I just had to find a way to move on from him. I knew it was for the best.
My eyes fluttered open at the sound of my cell phone ringing.
If it wasn't Akari, I didn't want to talk to anyone.
My thing was, why couldn't he see how I felt?
Those groupies were touching him and had been the ones who said they would trap him with a baby.
I was never the type of person to be violent, but I wanted to beat the hell out of those women.
They were touching and rubbing on Akari as if they had that right.
Nah, I had a feeling I was going to have to put them in their place one of these days if Akari and I got back together.
From the way things were looking now, I doubt it.
My cell phone rang again, causing me to groan. I rolled over to retrieve it from the nightstand and leered at the screen. It was Laisley.
"Hello?" I answered, wondering what she wanted.
"Hmm, I haven't heard from you in a while, and I'm calling to check up. How are you?" she asked in a concerned voice.
I hadn't told her anything about Akari and me, so why the concern?
"Umm, I'm okay. Tired. I'll be spending the day in bed." As much as I wanted to add licking my wounds, I decided not to.
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
"Well, I had been seeing some of Akari's game, and he hadn't been playing well. I wondered if you knew what was going on with him. ESPN has been talking badly about him and his performance. They even brought you up."
Laisley was fishing for information, but I didn't know if I wanted to tell her we broke up. I didn't want to talk about it to anyone, not yet. The wound was too fresh to open back up. Plus, with all the crying I was doing, it was best I left it alone.
"You might as well spit it out, or I'll come to your house and make you talk to me."
I grunted, knowing she'd do just that. So, it was best that I said something to her.
"Oh well, I don't know what he has going on. We haven't talked in a while." I sat on the bed and almost groaned out loud. My head was pounding from all that crying I was doing. It was time I stopped.
"Why haven't you talked? What's going on, Avani?" Laisley questioned.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to replay what happened between us.
"Please, Laisley, I don't want to talk about it.
Just know that what happened was my fault.
I didn't believe or trust in his love for me.
I am a failure. The one person who wanted to love me, I couldn't trust him enough to know that he'd never do anything to hurt me.
" A tear rolled down my face. "All Akari has ever done is be there and care for me.
I messed up big time, Laisley. I lost the best thing to ever happen to me. " More tears rolled down my face.
"All may not be lost. I don't want you to ever think like that. You have overcome a lot. Plus, you're not having any nightmares since he made sure you took your medication. I'm sure you're still taking it, right?"
I smiled. "I am. Akari left a reminder on my phone with an alarm. So, I have no choice."
She laughed. "Good. Well, now you need to pull yourself together and go get your man. You made the mess, and now it's time for you to clean it up. I'm sure Akari still feels some type of way about you. Hell, the way he has been playing, he needs you."
I burst out laughing. "Please. Stop. Don't pick at him. It's my fault, so I've got to make things right before he won't be going to finals."
"Yes, please go get your man. We need him to take his team to the finals."
I didn't know how I was going to get Akari back, but I had ways of doing so.
"Thank you, sis. You always come through for me. I love you so much."
"I love you, too."
After I hung up the phone with her, I laid back down for a nap. I needed this headache to go away. I'll worry about everything else later.