28 - agreements & hesitations

Amina

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Knock knock.

Knock knock.

I groaned out loud as the knocking continued. "I'm not the only person who lives here!" I exclaim into my pillow.

The knocking continues and I groan before getting up from my bed and walking into the living room. Unfortunately, it looked like I was the only one home.

I opened the front door angrily to see Dominic's smiling face at me. "You're so cute in pajamas." He comments with a smirk, surveying my appearance. I wore an oversized Tupac Shakur t-shirt with dolphin shorts.

I look up at him with a glare. "Today is one of my few days off to sleep in. What do you want?"

He chuckles, "I just wanted to know if you wanted to get breakfast, friend."

I frown at him, "Dominic, I don't want breakfast I want sleep."

"Then I'll make breakfast and you can nap on the couch." He suggests.

I sigh, not responding but leaving the door open for him as I make my way back to my bedroom. I shut the door behind me before crashing onto my bed.

I woke up to a sweet aroma coming from the kitchen. I get up tiredly, before making my way to the sweet scent that was filling my nostrils.

Dominic was in the kitchen washing dishes when I arrived. He smiled when he saw me, making me want to return the same. "Looks like now you've woken up on the right side of the bed this time?"

I chuckle, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I can be bitchy when my sleep is disrupted." I look at the clock, "How long was I out?"

"Not that long. An hour maybe?" He dried his hands before picking up a plate from the counter and placing it on the dining table. "Right on time though."

It was a plate of French toast, eggs, and bacon. "You were serious about making breakfast?" I asked in surprise as I made my way over to the sink to wash my hands.

"Yep." He says as he hands me a fork. "It's the only thing I know how to make."

I chuckle, "You can't cook real food?"

"French toast is real food. And I'm good at it, try it." He urges.

I looked at it questionably as I sat down at the table, before cutting a piece and taking a bite. My eyes widen in surprise. "Wow."

He nods proudly, "Yeah, exactly."

I chuckle as I cut another piece. "So why include me in your breakfast plans this morning? It's quite unusual for you."

He shrugs, not looking up from his plate. "I just wanted to see you."

"You saw me last night." I state, my brow quirked.

"Is it a crime to wanna have breakfast with a friend? We are friends now right?" He asks defensively.

Something felt off, like he was hiding something.

"Dominic." I said, placing my fork down as he continued to avoid eye contact.

He sighs, "Okay, fine. My dad cut the power to my place. It'll only be temporary but I was hungry and didn't wanna go out alone so I asked you to join me."

"Why would he do that?" I ask in confusion.

He chuckles sarcastically, "Because he's mad at me. I ticked him off when I saw him the other day. This is one of the ways he retaliates when I don't do what he wants."

"I'm sorry."

He shakes his head, "No need to be sorry. It's just how he is." He says with a shrug.

"I didn't know things with your dad were this drastic." I respond as I take another bite of my food.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I nod, allowing him to continue his meal in peace. The atmosphere was quiet besides the sounds of our utensils scraping against the plates as we ate. "So what's your plan for Monday?" He asks, changing the subject. My brow raises in confusion before he continues, "With your internship. Since Aaron's around now what're you going to do?"

I shrug, "There's not really anything I can do."

"I can take you to work? Maybe that'll scare him off a bit?"

I chuckle, smiling at Dominic. "You're sweet. But no, I'll be okay." I sigh, "I just need to suck it up for the time being. Control my emotions and hope for the best."

"You shouldn't have to. Maybe I could get my dad to fire him or something? I don't know how he got the job in the first place."

I shake my head, "I looked into it, he's qualified. Very qualified. And I don't want to force you into dealing with your dad." I place my hand on his that sat on the table. "Don't worry about me."

He chuckles, "You know that's not possible." I smile at him before looking away shyly. He chuckles again, "You have some whipped cream right here." He says pointing to his mouth.

My eyes widen as I pick up the napkin in front of me and attempt to clean it. He shakes his head, "No over here." He says again pointing to a spot on his face. He shakes his head as I attempt again, before reaching over and wiping it off with his finger. "Got it."

Our proximity was much closer than before and our gaze locked together. His gaze kept traveling from my eyes to my lips. "Thanks." I mutter quietly, quickly looking away to face my front.

Suddenly the front door opens and I quickly try to act natural as Kendra walks into the living room with Bianca behind her. Her eyes widen as she sees us seated at the table.

"Well, good morning Ami, Dominic." Kendra greets as she enters the kitchen.

"Good morning." I reply to both of them.

"I should be heading out." Dominic says as he stands up from the table.

I stand up as well, "I'll see you later."

He smiles, "Yeah, I'll see you later." He turns to the girls in the kitchen, "There are some leftovers, help yourselves. Nice seeing you again."

"Nice seeing you too!" Kendra says as they both wave him goodbye. He shoots me a quick smirk before making his way out of the door.

"What happened to 'it's a phase, I hate him?' Seems very friendly to me." Kendra says with a smirk. She turns to Bianca, "You owe me twenty bucks."

Bianca rolls her eyes before pulling a twenty-dollar bill out of her pocket and giving it to Kendra. "I really believed you were through with him this time!" Bianca groans.

"Bets? Really guys? We're just friends!"

"Yeah right." Kendra says with a laugh. "We're speaking about this later. But for now, I came home to nap between classes." She grabs her bag off the counter. "Later!" She says heading to her room.

I stand up and begin packing up Dominic and Is dirty plates. I could feel Bianca's gaze on me as I cleared the table.

"I'm guessing you have more to say about it?" I ask not looking back up at her.

"You cried on Caleb for hours on Thanksgiving."

I furrow my brows, "How do you even know that?"

"He told me Ami. Being friends with Dominic is not a good idea, you know you want more."

I sigh, "I don't know what I want at this point. And since when are you and Caleb all buddy-buddy?"

"That's beside the point, I don't want to see you hurt again."

"I wasn't that hurt." I scoff defensively.

"You've been hurting since that situation with Aaron. You just never want to show it. You've been hurt too many times in such a short amount of time. It's okay to talk about it."

"Look Bianca, I love you, but please mind your business." I tell her before storming off into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

-

Later in the day Dominic and I decided to meet at the library to get things done for our project. We both agreed that meeting in public would guarantee us getting more work done rather than in private.

I gave myself some time before meeting up with him to cool down after my conversation with Bianca. I hated how they both had such strong opinions on me and my relationships. I get that they cared but they needed to let me live.

I opened up my laptop as we found a comfortable space to work in the library. "So you said no to the phone idea and I said no to the shoes. These are some other ideas." I enlarge the document for him to get a better view, "Sports drink, headphones/speakers, or mattresses."

He chuckles, "Mattresses?"

"Hey! I don't see you coming up with ideas." I counter defensively.

"Fine, I like the sound of sports drinks."

I frown, "I like the headphones/speakers idea."

He sighs, leaning into his seat in the booth. "How are we going to agree on something?"

"Rock, paper scissors?"

He chuckles holding out his hand for the game. "If I win we do a sports drink, if you win we do headphones."

"Deal." I put out my hands, positioning them for the game.

We counted in unison, "One, two, three!" Then we each revealed our hand - Dominic had chosen paper, while I had thrown rock.

He smirks, "I win. Sports drink it is."

"Can it at least be a special sports drink?"

"Whatever you like, as long as it's a sports drink."

I smile, "Okay then. What about a sports drink that can double as an energy drink? It has electrolytes and caffeine."

"I like that." He says with a smile. "What are we calling it?"

I place my hand under my chin in thought. "Go Juice?" He chuckles shaking his head and making me frown. "What do you think then?"

"Electro Boost."

I scrunch my face in disgust, shaking my head no. We sat at the table for fifteen minutes, allowing our food to come out just as we made a decision.

"So Hydro Rush it is." I say as I pick up a chip from the bag of potato chips we were sharing.

"My head hurts from too much thinking." Dominic groans as he leans into his seat.

I chuckle, "That was the easy part. It only gets harder from here."

"So how do we plan to do this? Meet every week?"

I nod, "I think that makes sense. We could get together and work on the project each week so that it's finished by the due date. And that we can keep track of each other's progress."

"Okay. It's a date." He says with a smirk.

I throw a chip at him, "Oh shut up." I smile, making him chuckle. "I did want to talk to you about something though."

"What's up?" He asks eating the chip I threw at him.

"I think we should set some boundaries."

"Boundaries?" He asks in surprise.

I nod my head, opening up an empty Word document. "You were going to kiss me this morning and we can't keep doing stuff like that."

He scoffs, "No I wasn't." I give him a knowing glance and he shrugs. "I was just thinking about it. I didn't do it."

"Hence why I just want to establish some boundaries, to keep things clear between us."

"Okay fine."

"First. No kissing."

He frowns, "Fine."

I type it into the computer. "Secondly, no sex."

He nods, "Agreed."

I type that into the computer as well before starting the third bullet. "No cuddling."

He frowns again, "Why not? Cuddling is innocent."

I shake my head at him, "Not with you. Plus it just feels too relationship-y."

He sighs, "Okay, that's understandable." He looks at the document. "Must you really write it out?"

"Yes. I need everything in writing."

"Okay then, add this. No dating other people."

"What?" I ask in surprise.

"Is that a problem?" He asks looking at me suspiciously.

"No, of course not. But why do you want it added?"

He shrugs, "I like you. You like me. But we both claim to not be ready, so why would we date anyone else?"

"Okay fair."

"Plus you're always trying to make me jealous, so add in no dancing with anyone else either."

"What? I'm not always trying to make you jealous! I'm not writing that in."

He scoffs, "Anytime I piss you off, you decide to find the nearest guy and rub him in my face. You did it at the back-to-school party, you tried it with Andre, and on New Year's Eve, the list is endless!"

I gasped, "I do not! Okay, I admit it about Andre but-" I pause in realization before smirking at him, "Did you say the back-to-school party? I didn't even really know you yet. Why would I try to make you jealous?"

He shrugs, "I don't know, you tell me."

I smile, "You already had a thing for me at the back-to-school party didn't you?"

He scoffs, "No I didn't. We kissed, and then you went and danced with someone else."

"Aw, you wanted me to dance with you." I tease.

He rolls his eyes as I laugh, "Can we get back to the subject at hand? No weaponizing dancing."

I chuckle, "Okay, no weaponized dancing." I type it into the computer, "So whether or not I intended to make you jealous, it seems it worked?" I ask with a proud smirk.

"You're toxic."

"Me? You're the one who's always acting so nice and sweet one day then giving me the cold shoulder the next." I begin typing that in, "Keep emotional behaviors consistent!"

"Fine, maybe we're both a little toxic. But we'll work on it."

"Right, that's what this list is for." I looked over our list that had quickly turned from boundaries to dos and don'ts of our relationship. "Anything else you want to add?" I ask him.

"No breaking each other's hearts." He says quietly.

"Agreed." I say before typing it in. I pass the laptop to him. "It's a touch screen, sign the bottom of the page with your finger. We both agree to follow these rules and not cross any boundaries."

He nods, sighing across the dotted line with his finger. I did the same, signing the bottom before saving the document to my computer.

"You know I was thinking about what you said before." He says suddenly.

"What did I say before?"

"About the gala." I look up at him in surprise, unsure but cautious over what he may say.

"What about it?"

"You said it could be life-changing for you. Why?"

"Oh." I shake my head dismissing the thought. "Um, it was just me being silly."

He shakes his head, "Nah, tell me."

I sigh. I felt bad about the idea of the gala now. Knowing how much he disliked his father and making him go for my selfish desires felt wrong.

I shake my head, "It wouldn't be life-changing. I was just being a fan girl."

He raises a brow, "A fan girl? Over who? Who's going?"

I furrow my brow in confusion. "Who's not going is the question. Do you know anything about it?"

He shakes his head, "Nope. Enlighten me."

"The big CEOs and important people from all the biggest tech companies in America are invited. Cyrus Vanguard, Noemi Sabre, and Declan Mills are all set to attend this year! It would be such an amazing opportunity to meet them-" I stop talking the second I realize I'm raving. Dominic is smiling at me and I clear my throat. "I mean it's just a tech conference basically. Nothing major, happens every year so it's not that special."

He chuckles, "You really want to go." He states in amusement.

I scoff, "No I don't. I don't care if I go or not."

"It sounds like a great networking opportunity." I shrug nonchalantly, picking up some more chips and stuffing them in my mouth. "Amina stop trying to play it cool. I know you want to go." He says with an amused smile.

"And maybe I am going? Haven't decided yet." I say with another shrug, placing more chips in my mouth.

"Stop it with the potato chips." He says with a chuckle as he pulls the bag away from me. "We both know you won't show your face if you're not able to fulfill my father's request." I avoid his eyes, looking down at the table. "I'll come with you."

I look up at him in surprise, quickly shaking my head. "No, you shouldn't go. Especially not after the shit he pulled today."

He shrugs, "He can have one win."

"No! It's okay Dominic you don't need to do this."

"What if I'm doing it for me? What if I want to meet Declan Vanguard." He asks.

"Declan Mills." I correct before sighing. "You're just trying to do this for me. Don't do it, you don't want to." He raises an eyebrow at me. "The last time I mentioned it to you went ballistic. Now you're willing to go?"

He laughs, "Okay maybe I am just doing it for you. I just want you to get this opportunity. Besides how bad can it be? My dad might make me take a couple of pictures and introduce me to some people. For you, I can handle that."

I bite my lip trying to hide my smile. "If you still feel this way by the end of the week. I'll go with you to the gala."

He nods, "Okay. But I'm not changing my mind. Besides who knows, maybe one of those other guys will be so amazed by you and offer you an internship at their companies. That way we can get you away from Aaron and my father."

I chuckle, "Like they'd offer me an internship on the spot. That's that crazy talk."

He chuckles, shrugging his shoulders, "Hey, you never know."

-

Class was uneventful and we successfully submitted our ad proposals to Professor Crutchfield. When class finished I drove back to the apartment with Dominic and we went our separate ways.

"Finally home after being out with your man all day?" Kendra asks from the kitchen as I walk in.

"Why is it that you're always in the kitchen?" I ask ignoring her comment.

She chuckles, "A girls got to eat. Repeatedly."

She says as she chops carrots on the cutting board. "How was your date?"

"Ken we are not dating! It was a study session before class for our project. Then he gave me a ride home after class."

She squints her eyes at me, "I just know there's something you're not telling me."

I sigh, no longer wanting to keep the news to myself. "He's going with me to the gala. As friends though, we've established that."

She squeals, placing the knife down as she joins me in the living room. "A big fancy gala with a hot man on your arm? I told you your drama could never compare to mine." I chuckle at her as she takes a seat on the couch beside me. "He admitted he has feelings for you didn't he?" I narrow my eyes at her in surprise and she shrieks. "I knew it!"

"How did you even know that?"

"I pick up on hints. Nothing gets past me." I sigh as she bounces up and down excitedly. "So what's next? Big gala launch for the new couple? Ooh, your pics are going to be fire!"

"Kendra slow down!" I tell her, placing my hands on her to stop the bouncing. "We have still decided to just be friends."

She furrows her brows in confusion, "What? Why? I thought all this time you've been upset because you want to be with him?"

I sigh, "I do want to be with him." I admit. "But I also don't think I can right now. I'm just not ready, or in the right place to do so. And he feels the same way."

She shakes her head, "So you both know you like one another, and you're just pretending you don't?"

"We're just trying to figure out our friendship. Then when the time comes maybe."

"And when is the time?"

I shrug, "I don't know but it's certainly not now. With everything that's happened with Aaron, I just can't do that right now. I know I felt differently before but I hadn't really thought about it until I let Dominic hurt me." She gives me a sympathetic look and I shake my head. "Don't do that."

"I understand your reasonings. But I'm afraid this will only hurt you more if you're not careful."

"Then I'll be careful."

"Ami I-"

"Can we drop it?" I ask getting up from my place on the couch. She nods, visibly taking back whatever comment she was about to make. "I'm going to take a shower. Get ready for bed."

She nods, "Goodnight Ami."

"Goodnight Ken."

———

The girls have strong opinions in this chapter. Bianca doesn't seem to be very team Dominic and Kendra has her reservations. What do you guys think? Do you agree with their concerns?

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and comment.

- AuggiePooh_