Be Without You

21: Our past is catching up with us

RECAP:

Taraji and Terrence were at the grocery store when Keisha (Daniels' girlfriend) spots Taraji and starts beating her up. Keisha used to get bullied by Taraji in high school when their friendship went sour.

Terrence

"Taraji...Stop this nonsense right now!"I shout,not believing what I've seen and heard today.

I can hear the woman who dared Taraji to fight her,breathe from where I am. By now,everyone in the store has stopped what they're doing to see what's going on. And you can imagine the paparazzi. It's gonna be all over the tabloids.

This is a disaster for both of our careers. But Taraji doesn't seem to care.

"Terrence,leave me the fuck alone!" She screams,trying to break free. "No!"I shout. She stops struggling to break free from my grip and looks at me,with a look of disbelief written all over her face.

"I watched my cousin get bullied every single day of her life during high school and never did anything for the first couple of years because I wanted to stay with the cool kids." Taraji sighs and rolls her eyes to the ceiling.

"Don't nobody wanna hear your life story,Terrence"

I squeeze her arm to bring her attention back to me. She hisses in pain and looks at me,burning holes through my skin with her eyes. "I can't even put it into words,how disappointed I am that you'd ever do something like this. I never thought you were like this and the fact that you wanna go back again and hurt this woman?! Shame on you,Taraji...Shame on you " I say,walking away.

I can't describe how shocked I am at Taraji. I leave her in the isle,sensing that she's still watching me as I go.

Why would she have done that?

"Everybody's got their past,Terrence and it aint fair that you wanna just label me like that! You don't even know what happened! You don't know me!"she yells,her voice cracking. I can hear that she's about to cry.

How dare she cry...The one who's supposed to be crying is the woman at the door right now.

I walk towards her,ignoring Taraji and apologise to her. "I'm really sorry about my...her."

I can't even bring myself to call her my girlfriend.

"I honestly didn't know about it " I admit,rubbing the top of my head. She shyly smiles and says: "you have no idea..."

I take that as my cue to leave and walk to my car. I drive with no music on and think about all my happiest moments with her.

Taraji

I'm so close to tears right now,that I can't even swallow this lump in my throat. I put my earrings back on and take a deep breathe.

When I've collected myself,I decide to walk out of the store. People continue staring at me as I walk to the exit. I put my shades on and stare right back at them with my lips pursed.

"Boy,don't look at me! Cos I look like yo crusty ass!"I say,smirking. He gasps and mutters something.

But I'm too tired to respond to him.

When I get back to my car,I purposefully bang my head on the steering wheel.

Terrence walked out on you and you let him! You could've told him the truth!

My conscience overpowers my own thoughts as I drive home,listening to some Tupac.

Tupac's "Mama" calms me down as I drive through the busy streets of New York.