Santiago

"Man who that girl you be hanging around campus?",Juan asked me.

"Khia. She's a dental major. Why? What about her?"

"Nothing she badd."

"I know. Why you think I'm tryna get at her."

"Y'all dating already?"

"Nah not yet. She a real tough one to get."

"What you mean?"

"She got a lot goin on and dating ain't on her list of priorities right now."

"Move on to the next man. There's a lot of fish in the sea."

"It's a lil crazy but I want her."

"You that into her huh",he asked.

"Somethin like that",I said laughing.

"corazón, ven y limpia esta mesa para que podamos ir a casa",my mom said. Today I didn't have any classes to attend so I decided to help my family out with the restaurant. It was close to closing time and I was glad because I wanted to go to khia's crib to see how she's doing considering we didn't talk as much during the weekend. Hopefully she wasn't avoiding me. Every time I pour my feelings out to her, I don't hear from her for a couple days.

"Si mamá",i said taking a rag and helping her. Juan had a phone call and left. After I wiped the tables down I asked."mamá, ¿hay algo más que quieras que haga antes de irme?"

"sin hijos. volver a casa antes de las diez en punto."

"Si mamá",i said kissing her on the cheek before I leave. I hopped in my car and turned on the heater cause it was freezing cold outside. It took me about 20 mins to reach khia's house. Once I was in her driveway, I called her.

"Hey",her soft voice answered.

"Hey are you busy?"

"No I'm not."

"Ight cool cause I'm outside your house."

"Really?",I could hear the excitement in her voice which made me smile.

"I'm coming down",she said and hung up. Moments later she opened the door and hugged me soon as she saw me. I'm guessing that saying that goes 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' is true.

She wore a pair of what looked like yoga pants and a sports bra with a jacket over it. "Did I interrupt your workout or something?",i asked.

"No I normally just chill in these clothes",she said smiling.

"Oh okay cool. You wanna do for a ride?",I asked her.

"Yeah let me get my keys",she said

While she went and got her keys, I sat in my car and listened to some old school music. Musiq soulchild's so beautiful was in my car playing. Once Khia came back, I took the liberty of driving her out to a city park. Wasn't too far away from her house so she wouldn't feel like I was kid napping her. We both got out the car after I parked and began walking around. "So how you been?",I broke the ice and said.

"I've been good just a little stressed out about this test coming up",she told me.u

"See it's a good thing I came over."

"Yeah I needed this fresh air and get away from studying. How are you?"

"I'm good. Just tryna figure out why I haven't heard from you."

"Oh",she said laughing nervously

"I mean if your not into me, you can just tell me and I don't need to waste my time."

"I am into you. Just taking baby steps with this."

"What's this?",I asked.

"Whatever it is we're doing."

"So if I call this a relationship, you'd go along with it?",I said raising an eyebrow.

"No not necessarily",she smiled and laughed. We walked and talked some more and opened up to me about her family's background and where she's from. I never would've picked her to be the type a girl who has a father that's in the drug business because she's so well put together. She smart, she has a good head on her shoulders, she knows what she wants. I guess I can thank her mom for that since she raised her at a young age on her own. The more I talked to Khia, the more I'm noticing that she isn't that much of damaged goods as she thought she was. She's a decent girl who made a couple bad decisions but who hasn't? No ones perfect. Maybe it's that asshole of her ex that made her think she's worthless. She also has low self esteem but that's nothing I can't fix. She's not a bad girl and I'd love to show her that she's a diamond in the rough. "Can we talk about what happened at your event?",she asked.

"Yea what about it?"

"I'm talking about the kiss."

"Ohh ok what about that? You liked it?",I said with a smirk.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

"I was tryna prove the point that I want us to be more than friends."

"I can't just go jumping from one guy to the next Santiago."

"Your not jumping from one to the next because technically you was never with ol dude to begin with."

"True",she said silently. We stopped and sat by the lake. It was real dark out and the only light we had was the moonlight that shined through the clear water.

"Will your parents have a issue with me?",she asked me.

"Nah why? You saw how my grandma was in love with you at the restaurant",I said.

"I mean it's pretty obvious. I'm Haitian and your Dominican won't they want you to be with another Dominican girl? Someone in the same race?"

"My parents don't care about that. They just care about my happiness. I know you haven't met them yet but I'm sure they already know a lot about you from my grandma",I said smiling. She giggled and looked at me. I was happy I could make her laugh and take her away for a bit.

"Thank you for coming here with me",she said.

"Your welcome",I said. I looked at her and she leaned forward and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Does this mean we're together?",I said caressing her smooth face.

"You talk too much",she said kissing me again.