Nothing But The Truth

8: Goodbye, Derrek

"Tiara!" Derrek called after me but I ignored him as I quickened my steps. I needed to get away from him as soon as possible.

I heard the sound of boots on the tiles, approaching me and I instantly knew Derrek was coming after me, so, I took wider and faster steps until I began to sprint down the stairs. Not so surprisingly, Derrek chased after me.

He had ignored me for the past week and now, he was chasing me? Why didn't he just leave me alone like he had planned to initially?

"Tiara!" Derrek grabbed my arm before I could make it down the first flight of stairs. "What are you doing? Why are you running?" He turned me around.

"Can't you tell I'm running away from you." I glared at him, annoyed.

"We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you, Derrek! Let me go!" I pulled my arm from his grip and turned back around, continuing down the stairs. "Don't even think of following me! Just ignore me like you have for the past week!"

I felt fresh tears begin to well up in my eyes, making me even further annoyed. Why was I crying now? Why was I so soft? Why couldn't I be one of those girls who just slapped the guy and cut off all ties just like that? I mean, Derrek was going to do the exact same thing, right?

"That's why I need to talk to you." Derrek followed after me but he didn't try to grab me again. "I've done a lot of thinking this past week, Tiara."

"I frankly don't care what you've been doing the past week. Just leave me be."

The sound of footsteps behind me ceased and although, I had wanted Derrek to leave me alone, I felt a pang of pain in my chest. I couldn't believe he was really just letting me go like that but then again, maybe it was for the best. Something about the tone of his voice had a finality to them. He didn't sound like he was here to make amends. He sounded like he was here to finally end things with me but I wasn't going to let him have the final say. If he wanted to end this relationship—

A sob broke through my lips and I pressed my lips together to stop another from breaking through, however, my eyes betrayed me and let out a tear drop, then, another and another until I began to cry uncontrollably.

I ran down the stairs and into my car. I needed to get out of here as fast as I could. I couldn't give Derrek the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"Get a hold of yourself!" I told myself as I turned on my car. I cleaned the tears away with the back of my palm and took in several breaths to calm myself down. Once my sobs had come under control, I switched the gear to drive and stepped on the gas.

Suddenly, I saw someone jump in front of my car and reflexively stepped on the brakes before my car could make impact with him. I stared at Derrek with wide eyes as he rushed over to my window, not at all bothered that I had almost run over him. Was he crazy? Who jumped in front of a moving car? Did he think this was an action movie or something?

Derrek made a winding motion with his closed fist and I took a moment to deliberate on whether to storm off or hear him out. I decided on the latter, considering I had almost run him over.

Taking a deep breath, I lowered the glass but I didn't bother to look at Derrek's face. I didn't think I could look at him and not break down in tears once again.

"Come with me." Derrek said and I scoffed. "Please, Tiara." He pleaded in such a soft voice that I felt a tug on my heart. However, I didn't think it a good idea to talk to him right now.

"Now's not a good time." I simply said and proceeded to wind up the glass but Derrek put his hand through, causing me to let go of the button.

He was relentless and I knew he wasn't going to let me go until we had that talk but I was stubborn as well and I didn't want to hear whatever he had to say. I wasn't going to let him breakup with me just like that.