Chapter one : Rainy Night

Tessa's POV

The sky had already turned very cloudy, and Dad still wasn't picking up. The violent wind carried a lot of rubbish and blew it everywhere, and that even made me more irritated.

"Let me try calling for the last time," I murmured under my breath and dialed his line again. This time he picked up.

"Tessa darling, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it. Daven, my friend, is coming to pick you up."

"Daven? Your new friend? Anyways, let him hurry. It's about to start raining, and I'm standing out over here," I shouted into the phone.

He ended the call, and I kept my eyes on the way, checking if any familiar car was coming up, but I saw none.

After a few seconds, it started drizzling, so I had to dial my boyfriend's line too. Maybe he would be faster, as his house isn't very far from where I stood.

"Hi Blake, could you come and pick me up? Dad is delaying, and it's raining over here. Please."

"Who the fuck are you, young lady? And why are you disturbing his phone?" A lady's voice came up from the other end aggressively.

"Where did you pick my boyfriend's phone from, you thief? Give it back to him right now."

"Hi babe, it's me, Blake. I'm sorry I can't help you. I'm very occupied as I speak." Blake's voice drifted from the other end.

"Blake? Who answered your phone earlier?" I asked him in shock.

This wasn't the first or third time Blake was cheating on me. He keeps telling me he would change and do better. Ooh, Tessa, how stupid of you to believe him again.

I immediately remembered Jake, the tall, broad guy who has been making eye contact with me in class, and I kept rolling my eyes at him, telling him I have a boyfriend who loves me so much. What a joke that turned out to be.

I ended the call with hot tears coming down all over my face.

At this point, the rain became a bit too much, so I had to look for a shield somewhere close and continued sobbing gently.

"I'm ending things with Blake. He's a beast." I said it out loud like saying it would make it true, like it would stop the ache spreading through my chest.

Just then, a black Toyota RAV4 pulled up in front of me. I could see through the window that it was Daven. So I quickly walked to the car and sat in the front seat, wiping my face with the back of my hand before he could get a good look at me.

"Hi, Mr. Daven. Thanks for coming," I said politely, trying to hide my sad, cracky voice.

"Hi, Tessa. Hope you didn't wait for so long. Anyways, I will be taking you straight to my house. Your dad won't be home tonight," Daven said gently while he looked back at the road.

My mind was still racing on the last call I had with Blake and the type of breakup message I should send to let him know how deeply he has hurt me, so I didn't care to reply to whatever Daven was saying in the car.

"Tessa, what's wrong with you?" He asked in a loud voice, looking at my pale face.

"I'm okay, sir. Just missing my classmates. It's been months since we graduated, and I haven't seen any of them since then," I lied confidently, tears filled my eyes the second time.

"Are you sure? Wow, you must have really loved your classmates."

I kept quiet, and the ride continued. Blake is definitely somewhere having fun with his side chick, and here I am crying for him. *Silly me.* I took a handkerchief from the side door and cleaned the tears off my face, but they kept coming back no matter how many times I wiped them away.

Daven must have noticed, because he turned the radio on low, some old love song humming quietly through the speakers, and didn't ask me anything else for a while. I was grateful for that. I stared out the window at the rain streaking sideways across the glass and let my mind replay every single lie Blake had ever told me. The promises. The excuses. The way he always managed to sound so sincere, even when he was caught.

A few minutes before we got to Daven's house, a message popped up on my screen. I looked at it, and it was from Blake.

REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW, AND REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE. I PROMISE TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED EARLIER WHEN YOU COME. SEE YA (with love and kiss emojis)

My stomach twisted immediately after I read that message. Not butterflies, more like the feeling of standing at the edge of something and knowing exactly how it ends but stepping forward anyway. 

*Did Blake use charm on me? Because I still can't get over him, and this message he sent just made it worse.*

The last time Blake tried touching me, I told him I was still a virgin, and I would use my virginity for his next birthday gift if he stopped cheating. Now I sat there wondering what kind of fool makes a promise like that to a man who can't even be trusted with a phone call.

"What promise, Tessa?" Daven asked with a smirk. I never knew he had been looking at my message.

"What? You are invading my privacy, sir. I'm twenty, for God's sake," I yelled out, looking at him with a disgusted face.

"Could you just answer that?"

"No, please just drive. I want to rest my head." I turned my face toward the window so he wouldn't see it crumble again.

When we got to Daven's house, I was expecting to see his family, but none came to welcome him. We got inside, and everywhere was dead silent. I tried to shake off the heaviness sitting on my chest, but it clung to me the way wet clothes cling to skin.

"Mr. Daven, where's your wife?"

"Funny little Miss Tessa, I don't have a wife. I only have a daughter, and she's out tonight. Were you expecting to see my wife?"

"Of course, yes," I said, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes.

"How I wish my dad also allows me to stay out at night too," 

"I usually don't, too. But this time it's her aunt, so I just had to let her go"

"Ooh, I see, birds of the same feathers". 

We laughed over it, a small, tired laugh on my part, and I complimented him on how good-looking his home looked, if only to keep my mind away from my phone and the message still glowing on the screen.

He talked and asked little things about my day, and though I answered, part of me was still standing outside in the rain, still hearing that woman's voice on the other end of Blake's phone.

Some hurts don't leave just because you walk into a warm house and eat a good meal. They just go quiet for a while, waiting.

That night, Daven offered me a plate of fried plantain, which I ate slowly, my appetite half there, before I lay down on the bed he already prepared.

"Goodnight, Miss Tessa," he said and strolled out of the door.

"Goodnight, sir Daven," I said back, staring at the ceiling long after the door clicked shut, Blake's face and that woman's voice looping over and over until my eyes finally grew heavy.

After a while, sleep has already taken a better part of me when I felt soft hands around my waist. I jerked up and saw his face.

"Daven?" I said loudly.