Sweet As Pie: Zseyah & Jakayla’s Story (Ex-Roommates #2)

Prologue.

“I’m so confused right now. Please, stop and let’s talk, okay?” I begged as I trailed behind my wife, Sasha. She ignored me as she continued to stuff the last remnants of her belongings into her bag. Tears flowed down my cheeks as my heart broke over and over again. “Sasha, baby, please.”

She sighs deeply before turning to face me. “Zee, don’t make this harder than it has to be. Just let me go.”

“Sash,” I shook my head, calling her by her nickname. “How can I let you go? How?! You’re my wife! Our daughter just turned five months old! You were so excited about us starting a family. When did it all change? I don’t understand.”

“I just can’t do this, okay,” she said, her face turning a deep shade of red.

I reached out to her, but she sidestepped me.

“I thought this was what I wanted, but the longer I stayed with you, the more I realized that I was wrong. I don’t want to be married, and I definitely don’t want to be somebody’s mama right now.

It’s all too much. It’s all too suffocating. ”

I could feel the anger building inside of me as I stood there trying to figure out how I’d missed all the signs.

Just a few days ago, she surprised me with a weekend retreat for my sister and me because she noticed how stressed I’d been.

I was elated. These last few days were so amazing, and I couldn’t wait to get home to thank Sasha.

So, my sister and I decided to come back home a few hours early so that I could surprise Sasha with a gift of my own.

What I didn’t expect was to come back to a half-empty apartment or to see the woman who claimed to love me frantically moving about our bedroom as if she were on a time crunch.

It was then that I realized that the trip was just a distraction so she could leave without a word, and I’d thrown a wrench in her plan.

It was pathetic to beg, I know, but we had put so much into this relationship.

Hell, I had gone through many rounds of IVF because we were ready to have a child, and now she’s claiming she wasn’t?

Was I living in hell?

“Zee,” she says, reaching out to me, but I back away, causing her to sigh as if I were the one making everything difficult. “Stop being childish. There’s no reason for you to be overreacting like this.”

“Overreacting?!” I exclaim, not believing my ears.

I pushed her away from me, and she stumbled back a bit.

“How the fuck else do you expect me to act after finding out that the only reason you gifted me with a trip was so you can run away from our relationship! For the last few years, have you just been stringing me along, claiming to love me? You’re the one who proposed to me because you were ready to settle down.

You cried as you confessed your love for me and promised to love me unconditionally.

You promised to always be there for Serenity and me, Sasha!

Now you’re telling me that it all meant nothing to you? ”

She doesn’t say anything as she stuffs her hands in her pockets, avoiding eye contact.

I was fed up, and I felt my blood pressure begin to rise from the amount of stress I was suddenly under.

So many emotions rushed through me at once, the most prominent being anger.

Had I spent so many years in delusion? How had I not seen the signs?

“Sasha, we’ve been together for three years,” I say, defeated. My throat was sore from the yelling, and I could barely see past my tears. “This sucks, you know? If you hated being here so bad, I wish you had just talked to me. That shit is fucked up. What am I supposed to tell our daughter?”

“Zee, look, I’m sorry, okay? I really am,” she sighs, shaking her head. I watch as she slips off the ring, placing it on the bedside table. She grabs her bag before looking back at me. “I just…I can’t do this.”

I sat down on the bed, my head spinning.

I thought back to all the times we’d talked about the future.

I thought about all the times we cuddled, and she told me how much she couldn’t wait to start a life with me.

I thought about how she was genuinely excited when Serenity was born, even crying when she laid eyes on her.

Yet now she was walking away as if all those years meant nothing to her. It hurt so damn bad.

“Just go,” I say softly. Tears were still falling, but I didn’t care. “You don’t want to be here, and I’m tired of trying to make you stay. I’m going to raise this child with so much love that she will never even wonder about the shitty woman who was supposed to be her other mother.”

“My lawyer will be in contact,” she stated. “I won’t fight you for custody just as long as you sign the papers without a fuss.”

I don’t say anything back as she walks out of the room, out of the apartment, and out of my life.

I was so distraught because I never thought that I would be dealing with something like this at twenty-four.

I thought that I’d be happily married with kids.

Granted, I had the kid part on lock, but the circumstances now were far from ideal.

The person whom I’d loved and cared for the last three years suddenly decided she didn’t want any of it – she didn’t want us.

I wanted to scream.

So, I did.

“Fuck you, universe!” I exclaimed as the tears blurred my vision once again. “Fuck you for getting my hopes up. Fuck you for not showing me the signs. Fuck you for not stopping me from putting my all into a bullshit facade of a relationship. Fuck!”

I pushed up off the bed with all the strength I could muster.

I was glad that my daughter was still at my dad’s house and wasn’t here to witness any of this.

Even though she was still an infant, I’d rather not have her around this toxicity.

I knew that I needed to keep pushing. If not for me, then for her.

I was devastated that Sasha did what she did, but I didn’t have time to sit around and cry. She would get the karma she deserved.

I wiped the last of my tears and took a deep breath.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and swiped some of my hair out of my face.

I usually wore it silk pressed, but it’d been about two weeks since my last appointment.

I’d been so sick that I didn’t have the energy to do anything.

Although the quick trip brought me some rest, coming back here to this madness awakened the stress in my body once more. I felt as if I were back to square one.

Damn…this bitch really played me.

“Either I’m the stupidest woman in the world or…”

The sound of the doorbell stopped me midsentence, and my eyebrows furrowed.

I walked over to the door and pressed the button on the panel to see who was outside.

Within seconds, the smiling face of my best friend, Jakayla, appears, and I feel comforted but also vulnerable.

I didn’t want her to see me like this, but I knew that I would have to tell her about it sooner or later.

She was literally my soulmate, although only platonic.

So, even if I didn’t say anything, she’d immediately know something wasn’t right.

“Zee open uppp!” she calls from the other side of the door. She holds up a plastic bag. “I bought your favorite ice cream.”

At the mention of ice cream, my stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast this morning, and even though it wasn’t a full meal, anything would suffice at the moment. I honestly just wanted to eat away my feelings.

“Zeeee, come on! This hallway is hot as hell,” Kay groans, and I giggle to myself. She’s so dramatic. “The ice cream is gonna melt messing around with you.”

I shake my head before finally opening the door.

She was standing there looking fine as hell as usual.

It took me back to when I had a crush on her when we first met a few years ago.

I’ve gotten over it since, but she still owns a piece of my heart.

She’s been such an amazing friend all these years, always looking out for me and making sure I’m good.

I knew that no matter how bad a day I was having, seeing her, even for a few seconds, would make my day a little brighter. That’s just the kind of effect she had.

“Hey, bestieee,” she says in a voice a few too many octaves higher than her actual voice, causing me to playfully roll my eyes. “How’s it going, big head?”

“Girl, fuck you,” I laugh, pushing her back. I finally stepped back to let her into the apartment. She shuts and locks the door behind her. “Where’s my ice cream?”

“Right here, Miss Impatient,” she teases, holding up the bag again.

The dread from thirty minutes ago is replaced by excitement.

I squealed, reaching for the bag, but she pulled it out of my reach.

I groan, but she just takes my hand in hers and leads me to the living room.

“Come sit down first, Zee. I wanna hear all about your trip an-”

Her voice trails off as she takes in the room around us.

Since Sasha and I had gone half on everything in the apartment, the living room was looking pretty sparse after she’d taken her things.

Both recliners, the TV, most of the pictures on the wall, and the end tables were gone.

All that was left was a rug, a sofa, a coffee table, and my bookcases.

Remembering that my first-ever long-term relationship was over made the tears swell up again, and before I knew it, they were slipping down my cheeks.

Kay didn’t say anything as she placed the bag on the coffee table before coming over to cup my cheeks in her hands.

She uses her thumbs to swipe the tears as they fall.

I let out a shaky breath as she kissed me softly on the forehead before pressing hers to mine.

She pulls away to look me in the eyes, hers searching for something.

“Zee, what happened?” She asks. “Talk to me so I know how to help.”

“She left me,” I say, finally breaking down. I began to sob as she wrapped her arms around me. “She sent me on vacation so that I could be out of the house while she got her things. She was packing the last of them when I arrived two hours ago.”

“The fuck?” she says, pulling back. She wore a disgusted look as she shook her head. “What do you mean she left you? You’re the mother of her child. You’re her wife. What the actual hell is going on?”

“I know!” I cry harder, my head throbbing again.

“When I a-asked her about it, she said…she said she just couldn’t d-do it.

” I looked up at her, defeated. “I was the best partner I could be to her. She promised to care for us. When I was scared to start IVF, she was there to help me through it, but now it’s too much?

” I shake my head, looking around the room once more. “Kay…what do I do now?”

“First of all, fuck her,” she says. “I’ve never liked her ass, and this only solidifies that feeling.

” She sighs, guiding me over to the couch.

She sits, pulling me down so I can rest my head in her lap.

I feel myself slowly start to relax as she rubs my back gently.

“You’re gonna be okay, Zseyah. I got you, and I got my goddaughter.

You’re not alone, and you never will be, okay? ”

“Okay,” I nod. “God, I feel so stupid for investing so much time into that relationship.”

“Don’t even prep your lips to blame yourself,” she says. “It’s not your fault that the person you gave your heart to ended up being a piece of shit.”

“But…”

“No buts, Zseyah,” she says, cutting me off.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, so you can dead that.

I know it’s hard right now, but we’re gonna get through this, and she’s gonna get whatever’s coming to her.

So, let out the tears if you have to, but know that you have me in your corner always.

You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried. ”

I crack a smile as I look up at my friend.

If I knew anything, it was that she would always be there for me.

She’d proven time and time again since knowing each other that she rode behind those she cared about.

I was honored to know that I, as well as my daughter, was included in that.

Having her as a friend and having her support meant the world to me, and it made this whole situation seem less daunting.

Yes, I was now on my own and about to be a single mom, but I wasn’t alone. I had family and friends who loved me. We were gonna come out on the other side of this better than ever, and my daughter will be raised around people who actually care about and love her. It was going to be okay.

“Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?” I say. She smirks before chuckling.

“Yep, all the time, but even if you didn’t, it's okay,” she replies, pulling her phone from her pocket.

“I know where your heart is, Zee. I can read you like a book.” Before I can ask her about it, she speaks again.

“Now, let’s get my bestie something real to eat.

This ice cream isn’t gonna cut it anymore. ”

I nod as she begins listing the options on the delivery app.

We decided on a few options from a local soul food restaurant, and she ordered them.

We spent the rest of the night chilling and watching movies after she moved the TV from my room to the living room.

By the time we went to bed, I felt better than I had earlier today.

I felt ready to start the next chapter of my life.

Fuck my ex.