Nothing But The Truth

9: Go Big Or Go Home

I had been so hyped up when I left Nicole but as soon as I got into my car and started to drive, all sorts of thoughts ran through my mind and then came doubt and fear. Even if I had gone through with my initial plan of running to Derrek and telling him how much I cared about him and how I wanted to fight for us no matter what, I had no idea where to find him. I didn't know where he lived or even worked at the moment and I would have had no other choice but to call him. What if he didn't want to see me?

Thoughts like that ran through my head for the next week and my fear became even stronger as the days went by. Derrek still hadn't bothered to contact me all this time. He hadn't even bothered to explain the situation. Was he still mad about Jordan and I? Was he never going to contact me again? Had our relationship already been over? Was I never going to see him again?

Some nights, I had laid awake all night expecting the worst. Other nights, I had cried myself to sleep. I had become so pathetic for love and it hurt that Derrek was out there somewhere sleeping peacefully.

Didn't he miss me at all? Didn't he care to know how I was fairing?

I took in a deep breath as I turned off my car. I had just arrived at my happy place. A place that distracted me from my crappy romance for a few hours a day.

The art academy.

There was something about walking into the studio and just being with people who had artistic minds like mine that comforted me. I found joy each time I picked up a paint brush and just brought something to life on a blank canvas. I loved the feel of clay between my fingers whenever I was throwing clay at the potter's wheel. I really loved art and the creativity that came with it. I just couldn't see myself doing anything else with my life.

Henry Edeh was waiting for me in the parking lot and for some reason, he didn't look like his usual cheery self. Why had he been waiting out here for me with an anxious look on his face?

"What's going on?" I asked as I approached him. Without as much as a hello, he turned around and headed into the building. "Henry!" I called. He was too quiet for my liking.

"I don't know how to break this to you." He said a few moments later and my heart began to pound in my chest. Something was wrong but what? Was someone hurt? Was it Derrek? How would Henry have known if Derrek was hurt when they didn't know each other?

"Just say it! I'm on edge here!" When he didn't say anything further, I pulled on his wrist to stop him and I had immediately spotted the look of guilt in his eyes even before he said a single word. There could have been only one reason why he had looked so guilty. He must have damaged something that belonged to me or had an affair with my boyfriend but the latter was highly unlikely, so, it must have been the first.

"My vase!" I screamed as soon as it hit me and ran in the direction of the classroom, all the while praying that my suspicions had been false but they were right.

There it was, lying in pieces across the floor. My beautiful vase was shattered—just like my heart.

In that moment, tears began to pool in my eyes and before I could stop myself, they began to run down my face. I ran out of the studio without a word.

"Tiara, where are you going?" I heard Henry call after me and I ran even faster, all the way into my car.

Why had I cried? Maybe it was because the moment I had seen the broken pieces of the vase on the floor, I had been reminded of my heart that Derrek had broken into a million pieces. Maybe it was because that disaster had turned out to be the greatest art piece ever made. Nothing could have better described what I had been feeling the past two weeks.