Friend-Zoned (Friend-Zoned 1)

No. That can’t be right.

I bark, “Explain. ”

Uncle Jerm replies quietly, “Just did. ” Then hangs up.

Anxiety eats at me.

My experiences with money hungry women have been ridiculously high. Always a women looking for a sugar daddy. Not once had Tina asked for anything from me. I never gave her a choice when giving her gifts or doing things for her. Not her fault. I wanted to do that as her boyfriend and protector. I never got that gold digger vibe from Tina. I should have listened to my gut.

I’ve made a terrible mistake. I need to find Tina. I knew in my heart something wasn’t right.

You told her you didn’t love her.

I put my hand on the desk to hold myself up and feel something wet. I look down and there is small pool of blood on the corner of my desk mixed with a small amount of hair. Tina’s hair. The blood blends in with the mahogany, you can barely notice it.

FUCK!

Oh, God. She has hemophilia. Her blood doesn’t clot well. She could be losing too much blood. Maybe she doesn’t even know she’s bleeding. I feel sick to the stomach.

What have I done?

I snatch my phone up off my desk and call Tina. Her phone goes straight to voicemail. I don’t leave a message. Instead, I run out of the office and straight to Safira.

Nat is at the counter and greets me with a smile. She obviously doesn’t know about the misunderstanding with Tina otherwise she’d already have ripped my balls clean off.

She says, “Hey Nik, you just missed her. She knocked her head on the car door and has a cut on her noggin so I sent her home. ” She looks left then right, comes closer and whispers, “How awesome was she with Omarr?! I didn’t think she had it in her. And please! She’s having hard times with money! Ha! Tina’s a freaking millionaire!”

I blanch and whisper loudly, “What?”

Nat’s face straightens and she asks, “She didn’t tell you yet?” She sighs, “Her mom’s life insurance policy was huge. Mia had a policy, too, but it all went to opening Safira. Tina put all her mom’s life insurance money into an interest account. Over five years, she has well over three million now. It’s a little hard to access but with my signature as well as her dad’s, she can take it all out today if she wanted to. ”

Great. Just great.

I accuse my girlfriend of being a gold digger and she has more money than I do!

Remembering my reason for being here, I ask, “You said she was hurt. How bad is it?”

She waves her hands, rolls her eyes, and says, “Don’t get all protective on me! It was just a cut. But Tina’s a bleeder so it always looks worse than it is. I cleaned it. It’s fine and no longer bleeding. ”

Thank god. Now to go over to the apartment and beg on my knees for forgiveness.

I ask Nat, “Is there any candy Tina likes?”

Nat looks at me like Well, Duh. And I understand it. This is Tina. She loves candy.

I roll my eyes and ask, “What’s Tina’s favorite candy?”

She writes down four different names and I head down the street to the candy store.

I hope this works.

***

I drag my sorry ass out of my car with a bag full of candy.

As I approach Tina’s apartment I think about my entrance. Should I knock? Or use my key?

I think using my key is the better option. If I know she can pretend not to be home. But I see her car isn’t here.