Free You Can't Help Who You Love by Tierra Hopkins Page A

you,” I said, turning on the tv and basically ending the conversation. I sat back and watch Love and Hip Hop. “I really can’t believe they are this dumb,” I scoffed, referring to Amina and Tara.
    “Hey, you can’t judge because everyone has been a fool for someone,” Dallas told me, keeping it real. He leaned over and kissed me. Lord knows I wanted to kiss back, but I wasn’t going to keep fucking him, making him feel like this was only what it was.
    “Nah, we good. We aren’t fucking around until we rockin’ and right now, we aren’t. So, step off,” I said, playfully punching him. I knew if I was going to be around him that I would have to put something else on my mind because being around this man made me weak in the knees.
    *****
    Days turned into weeks and those weeks turned into a full blown month. Dallas and I were becoming extremely close. We still haven’t made it official, but we often fucked around and I was tired of feeling like I was only a wet ass to him. I knew about every female he dealt with, who he fucked, who liked him, and vice versa. Spending all this time with him showed me he really wasn’t the asshole that y’all would think he was.
    “Dallas?”
    “Hm?” he mumbled back at me. I would like to think he was sleepy after the round I just gave his ass.
    “Though we are like best friends and I love you, what would you say if I said I want more than that?” I asked him. “I’m tired of feeling like I’m only good enough to fuck,” I ranted.
    “M, you know damn well you’re more than enough. I don’t mind us making this thing official. Ride with me and ride with you,” he told me. The look on his face told me that it was way more on his mind than what he let off.
    “Dally, don’t hide nothing from me; we’re better than that. I’m not here to judge you,” I told him, sitting up and straddling his lap.
    “I love you, no doubt about it. My whole life, I never met someone as solid and never wanting to give up on me like you. When I pushed you away, you came back swinging and that shows me a lot about you. I have a bad attitude, but you deal with it and for that I’ll always love you because I know that if I’m ever in need, then you’ll come through for a nigga and that’s what I need. But my biggest thing is being let down, how I was with Danielle. She was out here fucking the whole hood; niggas used to call her the hood booga and I didn’t know why. When I was near, she was all loyal and shit. By night, when I’m on the block, she hoeing like a prostitute or either finding someone else to fuck with her hood booga friends. If we make this step, don’t let me down,” he told me, staring in my eyes.
    I get his pain because I know how it feels to be let down. “I’d never thug you like that,” I sincerely told him.
    “Aight then bet, we rocking,” he told me, pulling me down on top of him for a kiss.
    “It’s one in the afternoon; let’s go do something. We’ve been cooped up in this house for two days and I need some sunlight or I’m going to go crazy,” I told him. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I knew I had to get out of this house. We got in the shower and bathed one another. Afterwards, we climbed out and got dressed. I stepped into a black tank top strapped dress and a pair of J’s with the matching socks. My curls that I had Halee put in was still in there but was kind of matted due to the night we had here, so I grabbed my white girl brush and brushed the curls out and placed it in a messy but nice looking high riding ponytail. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was no doubt cute. I grabbed my MAC bag and fleeked my eyes brows and placed some Bubble Gum lip gloss on my hand. I walked back into the room to sit and wait on Dallas; sometimes, he could take more time than I did.
    He stepped out of his walk-in closet dressed similar to me. Meaning shoes and all. We were cute and I wanted to take pictures. “Ooo, isn’t he fiiiine?” I