Friend-Zoned (Friend-Zoned 1)

Do what you gotta do, baby.

He breaks off the kiss and she plasters on a big fake smile. Omarr looks so happy. I almost feel sorry for him.

Almost.

Tina walks up to me, gets in my face and fake brags, “Bet you want me now, huh? But guess what, Niki? You’ll never have me. Never again. ”

I lean a little closer and whisper, “When we get out of this, I’m going to ask you to marry me. ” Her stunned face stills, I go on, “And you’re going to say yes. ”

Omarr walks into the next room and Tina rushes forward. She whispers, “I’m sorry, honey! I didn’t know what else to do!”

I whisper back, “You’re doing a great job, baby. Keep him busy. I love you so much. The guys are out back, this’ll be over soon. I promise. ”

Tina rushes back to her place just as Omarr opens the door. He comes forward with bags of food for her. She opens them, scrunches her face and says, “I smell olives, sweetie. I don’t eat olives. Like, ever. ”

That’s about the only truthful thing she’s told him all night.

Every lunch time we swap my tomatoes for her olives. I love that we do that. That’s our thing.

Omarr opens the bag and sighs, “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll have them get something else. No olives. ”

She smiles at him and says, “Thank you, sweetie. I’m really hungry. ”

As soon as he heads out the door she takes a pair of scissors from the desk, runs forward and cuts underneath my wrists so it still looks like I’m strapped to the chair. She puts the scissors into the back of my pants and runs back to the desk.

God, I love this woman.

Omarr comes back into the room and hands Tina another fast food bag. He vows, “Not an olive

in sight, boo. ”

She plasters on a smile, kisses his cheek, and says, “Thank you, baby. ”

Omarr walks up to my chair, takes the gun out of his pants and aims it at my chest. Tina shrieks, “Omarr, no!”

Omarr frowns and looks towards her. She immediately straightens and tells him ,“Baby, I won’t be able to eat if you do that now. C—Can you wait til I’m done, please?” She sounds a little too shaky and I know Omarr senses it. But he nods and moves to sit with her.

She picks at the food I know she doesn’t want to eat but does a pretty good job at making it look like she’s enjoying it. She even offers bits of food to Omarr who eats out of her hand like a pet. She strokes his head like a little child.

This dude is one serious case of fucked up.

After Tina finishes eating half of the meal, she pushes it aside. It’s just about go-time.

Omarr holds his hand out to her and she takes it. He leads her towards me but stops halfway and tells her, “Baby, stay back here. You don’t want to get his blood on you. ”

Then he walks forward and aims the gun at my chest. He puts his finger to the trigger and hisses, “This is for Marcus. ” Just as he’s about to do it, two small arms come around Omarr’s neck and two legs wrap around his waist. Tina chokes Omarr with everything she has.

Goddamn it, Tina!

Omarr tries to fight her but she has her head behind his so he can’t even hit her with the butt of the gun. He turns ashy as he tries to shake her off. I see his eyes widen and he falls hard onto his back. crushing my girl.

Tina gasps. She’s winded and can’t pull in a full breath.

Enough is enough.

I can’t wait for the guys. I have to act now.

I’m up and out of the chair. I take the scissors and plunge them into Omarr’s retreating back. He turns, howls in pain, lifts the gun, and shoots Tina.