FULL CIRCLE

O4.

🎶 Now playing: Pressure by Track Starr.

Of course Antonio made his way to the jogging trail the next morning. Today he was lucky to catch her in her session. "I promise you my cousin isn't with me this time around..." he joked as a small smile appeared on her face. She kept her pace nice and consistent, allowing the small talk.

"So what did you bring?" She asked as he gladly jogged alongside her. "I would've brought you an ice pack but I happened to see you by chance today. I didn't get your name though?"

She slowed down and eventually stopped, "Reign."

Antonio looked at her, "She who Reigns supreme," he commented as she laughed hard at the corny pun. "That's a beautiful name." He replied as she thanked him quickly. He felt very accomplished for making her laugh. "I'm Antonio. I work at the music store across the street."

Reign nodded awkwardly as if she were waiting for him to say something else, "Well... are you gonna get to the point?" She blurted bluntly. He scrunched his face in confusion. "The point? What do you mean?"

"You know... ask for a number, an IG handle? Try to use what happened yesterday as an excuse to make it up to me?"

Antonio laughed lightly at the fact that he came across as cliché to her. "To be honest with you, and this might sound weird but I was drawn to you from the minute I saw you jogging the other day. There's just an energy I'm getting from you that I can't shake off," he expressed as she playfully pushed his shoulder. "Stalker much?" They shared a laugh. "Well I don't know all about that energy you're getting but you're more than welcome to join me in the mornings, I have have to go right now so..." she prepared to leave.

"So... that number or IG handle?" He teased her, making her shake her head. "You have my name right?" She teased back, walking backwards before carrying on with her jog.

~

"Okay but what do you think about these boots? They match with my Prada bag right?" Justine squealed excitedly as she matched pieces together in the mirror. "Baby?" She looked at him in the mirror, seeing him deep in his thoughts. "Ant?" She finally looked back.

"J, let me ask you a question real quick?" He sat up to rest his back on the headboard. "So you're just going to ignore me? What's this about, is it the music thing again?"

"The music thing?" Antonio pulled a face that had annoyance written all over it. "Yes, the music thing. Get your head out of the clouds, Antonio. Look where we are, how is that going to work in this small town?"

"You sound like my dad..." he chuckled dryly to himself. "So are you going to let me ask the question or not?"

"You know what the problem is? You want your problems to seem bigger than everyone else's!" Justine yelled, finally feeling like she was releasing everything that was eating her. "What?" Antonio stood up. "I'm sorry if I'm not as available as you need me to be, but I don't have the time to 'dream big' or chase my dreams. My grandmother is all I have and everything she needs is my responsibility, okay? So I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding you or not hearing you out, I just can't do that right now."

Even though she was being open and vulnerable, Antonio felt as if it ricocheted out of nowhere. He felt both attacked and manipulated. "I'm sorry you feel that way, but you didn't have to pop off on me like that... I've never once said I have the world's biggest problems."