Mine (an African love story)

4. Awkward

We were sitting up in the bed, the blanket pulled up to cover my chest. We've been like this for 5 minutes now and we haven't said a word. All that was running through my head was crap. My emotions were all over the place. I just lost my virginity and I'm not even married.

"Danny." I whisper, breaking the silence. He turns his head to me and I look at him.

"We shouldn't have done that." I tell him, tears welling up in my eyes. "We just got back from church and this is what we do? We're not even together. It was wrong."

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I should've asked you first to make sure you were comfortable. It was my fault" he says, looking at the blanket.

"No, it was no one's fault. It just happened. Don't blame yourself." I tell him before sighing in confusion.

I quietly cry and cover my face. Our eyes widen when we hear a door opening downstairs. I quickly push him off the bed and throw him his clothes. I quickly put  my dress on as he dressed in his pants and shirt.

* * *

Two weeks. It's been two weeks since the incident. I haven't talked to Danny since. He barely comes over, and when I see him in town, he just gives me a small wave. Everything's been awkward since what happened. Like at church last week, everyone was leaving the building and someone pushed him right into me, so his hand accidentally touched my butt. When I turned to look at him, he was avoiding eye contact and kept apologizing over and over.

Right now, Tyler and I were at the mall, just looking at things that we might not even buy. Tyler was really a great friend when he wasn't busy flirting with me.

"Oh wow, that dress over there would look so nice on you." he says, pointing to a dress through the window. It was an off-the-shoulder, rose gold dress that stuck tightly to the mannequin's body.

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't really wear clothes that show off my curves like that." I tell him, as we walk into the little store.

I look in the body mirror in the store to fix my hair puff. I see Tyler behind me, scanning my body.

"You should. You have a lot to show off." he says with a half smirk.

I giggle and playfully hit him. He laughs and we walk around the store, touching the clothes that looked nice.

"I'm going to go to the men's area, don't get lost." he says, patting my shoulder.

"I'm not a child. Go enjoy yourself." I say, waving him off. He laughs and walks away, leaving me to continue scanning the clothes. I walk around, looking at the skirts and pretty high heels. The pink dress from the window catches my eye again and I walk towards it. There's one in a hanger and I put it to my body and twirl.

When I spin again, I bump into something hard. I hear a grunt and widen my eyes when I turn to see Danny. He scans me over and quickly looks away.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. What are you doing here?" I ask him, moving back a bit.

"Uh, my mother said I should get some new church clothes." he says, still avoiding eye contact. I nod and look around, as the awkward silence falls on us. I hated the silence. This was my best friend and it definitely shouldn't have been like this. I sigh, feeling sadness wash over me.

"Danny, don't you still love me?" I ask him, tears welling in my eyes.

He finally looks up.

"Of course I do." he says, grabbing my hand.

"You don't come over anymore. You barely even talk to me. Every time I call, you don't pick up. What did I do?" I ask, sadly.

"I'm sorry. It's just, I don't want to ruin our friendship. After what happened that day, I just don't want to screw up again." he says, squeezing my hand. I give him a small smile, and I'm about to speak when a voice interrupts us.

"Anima, do you think this would look nice on me?" Tyler asks, holding up a dress shirt, but his smile falls when he sees Danny.

Danny lets go of my hand and puts his hands in his pocket. Tyler glares at Danny.

"What's he doing here?" Tyler asks.

I nervously laugh. Oh God, why?

"This is a mall, I have a right to be here. Why are you here with Anima?" Danny asks, crossing his arms.

"We were on a date." Tyler says, smirking. Danny and I both widen our eyes.

"Herrh, date? This is not a date!" I exclaim at him in anger.

"Calm down. I meant a friend date. We just decided to go shopping today since she has no one to talk to ever since you started ignoring her." Tyler said, chuckling.

Danny looks away and sighs.

"Danny..." I say before he interrupts me.

"No, uh, I have to get some stuff from ShopRite. I'll see you later." he says, not even looking at me, and he leaves.

I turn to Tyler and cross my arms.

"Aden(What)?" he asks, shrugging.

"Why did you do that?"

"I was standing up for you. He has not right to get jealous when he's been the one ignoring you this whole time. What happened between you guys?" he says.

"N...nothing. Look, thanks, but no. You don't need to stand up for me." I tell him.

He puts the dress shirt down and gets closer to me.

"I'd do anything for you." he says, putting his hand on my cheek.

I sigh and nervously smile. He leans in until I feel his lips graze mine. Before he actually connects his lips with mine, I pull away.

"Stop. W...we can't." I say, pushing him away.

He balls his hands into fists and exhales, angrily.

"You like him, don't you?" he asks, looking at the ceiling.

"Look, Tyler. This is none of your business. If this is why you brought me here today, then I'm leaving. " I say, before leaving the store.