Hi everyone!!! The conclusion to book 2 is now available!! Chapter 1 of book 3 will be up tomorrow!!
Cheryl watched the entire scene with her cousin in horror. She knew this was going to happen, that’s why she tried so hard to keep Riana focus on her relationship with Shawn.
Well at first I did.
With her own problems, she didn’t have time to think about anyone else’s, which made her feel a little guilty.
She felt her purse vibrating, realizing it was her phone. She took it out and saw it was a text from Devin to meet him outside. She looked around, hoping Chris doesn’t see her leave, but he was too occupied with Marcus to realize anything.
She went outside and saw Devin standing near the entrance. He gave her a tiny smile.
“What the hell happened inside? I saw Shawn beating the sidewalk and your cousin being carried away.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
“Does Chris know you’re out here?”
“No, so make it quick.”
“I just wanted to see how you were doing. I could tell something was wrong a few days ago after I gave you the last batch of pills.”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you really?”
“I’m fine, Devin. In fact, I feel great.”
“That’s good to hear. I just didn’t like giving you any of those pills. At first, it was fine, but after awhile, I didn’t want you to get too addicted to them.”
“Then why you kept giving them to me?”
“Because you asked me to. I really like you Cheryl and I would do anything for you. Besides, if I didn’t give them to you, you would have went somewhere else, and who knows what you could be getting.”
“Devin, I know you like me and I think you’re great, but Chris…”
“I know, you told me a thousand times that you’re in love with him. I get it.”
Chris walked outside and saw the two talking.
“I told you to stay away from Cheryl.” he said while walking over to them.
“We were just having a friendly conversation.” Devin said.
“Oh really. Why are you here anyway?”
“He was just passing through and saw me, that’s all.” Cheryl said.
Chris glanced at the two, not buying what Cheryl just said.
“That’s all.” Devin said.
“Whatever. You ready to go, Cheryl?”
“Yeah…” she stopped. She gave a terrified look while she clutched her chest. Chris and Devin both looked at her not sure what was wrong. She tried to go to Chris, but doubled over. He caught her before she fell to the ground.
“Cheryl! Cheryl!” he yelled. She was lain out in his arms, unconscious.
“Call 911!” he yelled to Devin.
He pulled out his phone as Chris tried to wake her up. Instead of waiting on him, Chris picked her up.
“I’ll take her to the hospital.”
“Can I follow you? I need to see if she’s okay.”
“No!”
“This is my fault!”
Chris stared at him as Monica and several other people came outside.
“What happened!” she exclaimed.
“Cheryl collapsed. I need to take her to the hospital.”
“I’ll follow you.” she said, going with Chris to the parking lot.
Devin glanced at Cheryl’s unconscious body and gave a frustrated sigh.
“I have to see if she’s okay.”
He ran to the parking lot to go to his car.
*** Riana was in her apartment packing up her belongings. After what happened earlier, there was no way she was going to stay there with Britney. If she did, she would be leaving in handcuffs.
“Is there anything else you would like to take with you?” her mom asked.
Riana sighed and threw a shirt into her overnight bag.
“Everything I need to take is in my room. She can have the rest.”
Mrs. Robertson watched as Riana continued to throw stuff into her bag. She carefully placed her hand on hers.
“Stop for a second, sweetie.”
Riana looked at her and sat on the bed.
“Why didn’t you tell me about everything? About you and Shawn and Marcus?”
“Mom, that’s not something I wanted to confine in you about. You still see me as a little girl wearing pig tails playing with Barbies.”
“Sweetie, I know you’re a grown woman now, but you should have told me about losing your virginity. That’s an important part of any person’s life.”
“Yeah, and look where it got me. I have two brothers fighting because of the mess I’d put them in.”
“I have to ask, what were you thinking?”
“That’s the problem, I wasn’t.”
“You were, it just wasn’t with your brain.”
Riana smirked and threw another shirt into her bag.
“How’s Dad taking it?”
“He’s not too happy with your decisions, but I told him you’re an adult now so sometimes it’s best to let it go. Besides, I think you realized the stuff you’d done was wrong.”
“Don’t I know it. I really hurt Shawn. He’s been so good to me and I repay him by sleeping with his brother.”
“Oh honey, that’s why I thought you were waiting until you got married.”
“I know, and I was, but when I was with Shawn, it just felt right. I thought we were going to be together forever.”
“You never know, it can still happen.”
Her mom brushed her hand against Riana’s cheek. She smiled and held her hand.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“I’m always here if you need me.”
“I know. I think that’s everything, so we can go.”
Mrs. Robertson nodded and Riana grabbed her bags. As they walked out of her room, Britney was in the living room.
“Well, you can move back in now because I’m leaving.” Riana said. She walked past her, ready to leave when Britney spoke.
“Can you hold on for a second?”
“Why should I? You humiliated me in front of everyone. “
“You did that to yourself Riana. You were the one who made poor choices.”
“Britney, you know I love you and Monica like you’re my own daughters, but tonight was totally out of character for you.” Mrs. Robinson said.
“You should be saying that to your daughter.”
“You don’t tell me how I should talk to my daughter.”
“What is going on now?” Mr. Robertson asked while walking in.
“Nothing Dad, we were leaving.” Riana said.
“Yeah, we are. Dwayne just called. Cheryl’s in the hospital.”
“What?!” everyone exclaimed.
“She collapsed just after we left.”
“We better go.” Mrs. Robertson said.
“I’ll go too.” Britney said. She tried to walk to the door when Riana stopped her.
“You’re not going.”
“She’s my friend too.”
“I don’t care. You’ve done enough tonight.” she said. She pushed past her and went out the door.
Britney stared at it and rolled her eyes.
“Whatever.” she said and went to the couch.
*** Monica was in the waiting room at Penbrook Memorial with Chris. She held his hand while he was rocking back and forth. She tried to calm him down, but she knew it was useless.
“She’s going to be okay, Chris.”
“I’ll believe that once the doctor comes out and talk to us. I knew she was going through a lot and I told her to slow down, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“You tried all you could, Chris, but Cheryl is a determined woman. She was doing what she could because she wanted to be independent. Don’t worry, she’ll pull through this.”
“I’m still wondering what Devin said earlier. If he done anything to her, I swear I will kill him.”
“It might not be what you think, Chris.”
Shawn walked into the waiting room, going directly to Chris.
“Thanks for coming. I didn’t think you would.”
“You’re my friend, so of course I’ll come. Has anyone come out yet.”
“No, we’re still waiting.”
Monica went over to Shawn and hugged him.
“Hey.”
“Hi Mon.”
“I’m really sorry about Ri and Marcus.”
“Let’s not talk about them right now.” he said and went to the nearest chair.
Monica looked to the door and saw Donnell walk in. She stared at him as he approached her.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Can we talk?”
Monica nodded and the two went to the exit. They went outside and saw down on the bench.
“Tonight has been pretty crazy, huh?” Donnell said.
“Definitely.”
“Did you know about Ri…?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Wow. I wish you could had given me a heads up.”
“How was I going to do that when we’re not even speaking to each other?”
Donnell looked ahead while Monica looked at her shoes.
“With everything that has happened, there was one thing that I thought about and that was you. I know we had our shares of ups and downs, but at the end of the day, we will always come back to each other; am I right?” Donnell questioned.
“You’re right, but we always do something to screw it up.”
“Half of the time, it’s you.”
“Wow, thanks.” Monica muttered.
“I’m being serious. Even though we’re toxic together, there’s something that keeps pulling us back to each other.”
“I know. What should we do about it?”
“I think we should give ourselves a try again and see where things go.”
“Didn’t we do that already?”
“Yeah, but we both moved too fast by moving in together. I shouldn’t had pressured you into doing something you weren’t ready for.”
“I shouldn’t had agreed to do it, so for that, I apologize.”
Donnell sighed and put an arm around her.
“We should take things slow and get to know each other again.” He implied.
She looked at him and smiled. “I would like that.”
He smiled and she put her head on his shoulder. They both hope this time around that things will work out for the better.
*** Chris and Shawn sat side by side in the waiting room still waiting on word about Cheryl. Chris already called her dad and he called his brother, which meant Riana was coming. Hopefully there wouldn’t be another altercation coming because he didn’t have the strength to stop it.
Devin walked into the room. He went over to Chris with a sad look.
“Have you heard anything about Cheryl?”
“I told you not to come.”
“I had to find out about her. This is my fault that she’s in here.”
“What the hell did you do?” Chris asked.
“I gave her energy pills to help her cope with her routine. She was always tired, so I tried to help her.”
Chris grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the wall. Shawn ran over to them and grabbed Chris away from Devin.
“Son of a bitch! If she dies, I swear I will kill you with my bare hands!”
“Calm down, Chris!” Shawn exclaimed.
“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down after I just saved you from killing Marcus!”
“What is going on?!” A nurse questioned, coming over to them. “This is a hospital, so you either need to calm down or please leave.”
Chris pulled away from Devin and went over to a chair. He kicked it before sitting in it.
“Chris, have you heard anything?” Riana asked while rushing to him.
He looked at Riana and shook his head.
“What happened? She was okay when I saw her at the party.”
“You actually noticed she was there?” Shawn muttered.
Riana looked at him and sighed.
A doctor walked out which had everyone in a panic.
“Family of Cheryl Thompson?”
“Yes. Is my daughter okay?” her father asked.
“Yes, she will be fine. Your daughter took an excessive amount of Vivarin, which can be a very powerful drug if mistreated. Has she been under a lot of stress lately?”
“Yeah; she’s in college full time and working and I think she was trying to find a way to balance it all.”
“We had to pump her stomach to relieve the drugs that were in her system. But she’s very lucky; she almost had an overdose if she would had continued to take them.”
Mr. Thompson shook his head while Chris stared at Devin.
“Can we see her?”
“She’s asleep right now, but we probably can let her have visitors once she wakes up.”
“Thank you.”
The doctor nodded and went to the nurse’s station. Chris went over to Devin¸ but Shawn pulled him back.
“Stop. Cheryl is going to be okay, so there’s no point. Just walk away.”
“Maybe you should had took your own advice with Marcus.” Chris said. He shrugged himself away from Shawn and went back to sit down.
Riana stared at Shawn. She hate what she did to him. He glanced over at her and shook his head before sitting down.
She sighed and went to sit down, knowing that what she had with him is over.
*** Cheryl slowly opened her eyes and stared at the white walls. She moved her head, realizing how much pain she was in.
“Where the hell am I?” she asked.
She tried to sit up, but her body wouldn’t allow it. Instead, she stared at the ceiling, closing her eyes again so the light from the room wasn’t in her face.
She opened her eyes again and saw the call button beside her bed. She reached for it to call for a nurse to come in her room. Within minutes, someone walked in, saying they will get someone to check on her.
What she wanted more than anything was to see Chris. She knew she scared him when she collapsed. She was scared herself, so she knew he was terrified.
A doctor walked in along with Chris. She gave a tiny smile, glad that he was there.
“Hello Miss Thompson. You gave everyone quite a scare.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“We know. Let’s just check your vitals and see if everything is okay.”
While the nurse was checking on her, she looked over at Chris and mouthed “I’m sorry.” He nodded and put his hand in hers.
“Well, everything looks good, but we still going to have to keep you here overnight to monitor you. Do you have an idea what happened?”
“All I remembered is that I collapsed.”
“Yes, from taking an excessive amount of energy pills. Were they given to you by someone or…”
“No, they were prescribed.” she quickly said.
Chris shook his head at her.
“Usually with these type of pills, they have to be taking accordingly. From what I know, you have been busy with school and work and…”
“I understand, but I needed something to help me get through it all; I didn’t think I would become addicted to them.”
“That’s what happens when people become dependent on specific drugs. Half of the time, they do it to ease discomfort or to help them get through something, but doesn’t realize how much it can affect you in the long run.”
Cheryl sighed, realizing what she has done. Just this experience along made her realized that she needed to slow down with everything.
“I’ll let you have visitors, but only for a couple of minutes. You still need to get more rest and fluids since you’re dehydrated.”
“Okay. Thanks doctor.”
He nodded before leaving the room.
Chris went to the bed and sat beside her.
“You really did give me quite a scare.”
“I know and I’m really sorry.”
“Just don’t ever do that again okay?”
“I promise.”
“So, Devin was your supplier?”
“Chris…”
“It’s okay. He was so consumed with guilt, he won’t be bothering you again.”
“I really didn’t want to get him in trouble.”
“I know, that’s why you didn’t rat him out. You should had though.”
“No. This was all my fault. I persuaded him to give me those pills even when he didn’t want to, so I shouldn’t punish him for my mistakes.”
“There is someone else who wants to see you.”
“Who, Ri?”
Mr. Thompson walked in, which made Cheryl a little nervous.
“Hi.”
“I’ll leave you two alone.” Chris said. He kissed her forehead before going out to the hall.
“How are you feeling?”
“Besides feeling like a moving train went through my body, I’m fantastic.”
“Why did you do it? I know you were trying to be independent, but were you trying to kill yourself in the process?”
“No, I just wanted to be able to do all the things I needed to do and I thought taking pills would help me do that.”
“Cheryl, you almost had an overdose. That’s not the way to handle everything.”
“I know that, Dad. I just didn’t want to depend on anyone.”
“Baby, how many times do I need to tell you that it’s okay to lean on someone? You don’t need to rush everything right now.”
“I know that now.”
“That’s why I think it’s best if you moved in with me; that way you don’t have to worry about rent. Also, I will take care of all of your expenses.”
“Dad, I don’t want you to do that.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. I want you to be able to live your life and not having to worry about things.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Cheryl, just say yes. Not only that, but you should also quit your job at Patrick’s. If you want to keep working, you can, but only part time.”
Cheryl closed her eyes and sighed.
“Okay.”
“And I think you need to talk to a therapist. I know a lot of this is because of what your mom and I put you through, so I want you to be able to handle your emotions in the right way, and that’s by talking to someone.”
Cheryl looked to the window. She really didn’t want to talk to a stranger about her feelings, but maybe it was a good idea to hash out the issues she have within herself.
“I’ll do a session, but that’s all.”
Her dad nodded. “That’s a start. So Chris and I can help you move your things out of the apartment, if you like?”
“Sure. I was renting month-by-month anyway, so it shouldn’t be hard to move out.”
“Okay. I think you’re doing the right thing.”
“I think so too. Especially since I just experienced this.”
Her dad leaned to her and gave her a hug.
“I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
She knew then that maybe it was okay to accept help every now and then, but she still would like to do things on her own, when she is able to.
*** Riana sat outside on the bench, taking in the beautiful night. She stared at the stars, wishing her birthday would had ended a little better.
“Some birthday.” she said.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
She turned around and saw Shawn walking over to her.
She looked ahead and took a deep breath. She started to get up when he pulled her back down.
“We should talk.”
She glanced at him as he sat beside her.
“I know what happened tonight was a little shocking and uncalled for and I regret it.” Riana said.
“I know, but the damage has been done. Even though we were trying to patch things up, there was still a part of you that still wanted to be with Marcus.”
“That’s not true. It was because of what Britney said.”
“Don’t use that as an excuse. I saw the look you had when you were with him. You wanted to be with him.”
A tear fell down Riana’s cheek as Shawn stared at her.
“Ri, you know how much I love you. Even with all of the mess that went down, I still love you.”
She closed her eyes as the tears continued to fall.
Shawn wiped her tears and smiled.
“I still remember the time we first met. How much fire you had in you when I spilled that drink on you. I knew then that you were the one for me.”
She smiled and he looked ahead.
“That was the Riana that I fell in love with; the girl who was sweet and innocent, but didn’t take no shit from anyone. Now, you’ve changed into someone I don’t even recognize. You became selfish and cruel. The old Riana would never had done the things I’ve seen you do.”
“I’m really sorry, Shawn. If I could change things, I would.”
“I know, but you can’t. That’s why I think we really should just let things be and move on.”
Riana sobbed and looked back at the stars, wishing she could just disappear. She knew Shawn was right. They grew apart from each other, which she only had herself to blame.
“Don’t think I don’t regret the time we have spent together. You have made me so happy.”
“Shawn…”
“We just grew apart. That happen sometimes in relationships.”
“I’m so sorry, Shawn.” Riana said in tears.
Shawn pulled her to him and stared into her eyes. He put his hand on her cheek and gave her a long, sweet kiss. She parted her lips and he sucked them. That’s one thing he loved to do and that was kiss her. That will be one thing he’ll definitely miss.
He pulled apart from her and closed his eyes. He tried not to cry himself as he got up. He walked away from her, which made Riana break down. In the past four months, she didn’t know her life would had turned upside down. Not only did she lose her boyfriend, but her best friend as well. All because she couldn’t control the feelings she had for someone else. That was something she would never get over.
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