Three years later:

Play stupid games,

Blind yourself for so long;

Win stupid prizes,

And walk down the path they told you was wrong.

Throwing away sweet memories and dreams,

What we could've been,

Gone, erased, possibly faded;

How can you not be my friend?

A heart that still beats but grows cold,

Slightest touches turn others to ice,

Must be nice;

Baked you a humble pie,

Grab yourself a slice.

How sweet it must be to break a heart,

Listening to your past calling;

On the other end, the controlling end,

Persuading me that you were falling.

For me, for you,

To everybody that knew;

You felt no remorse so...

Goodbye to the love I once knew.

****

"Baby, tell me what suit you want to wear. Blue or brown Then again, you're not that great when it comes to matching clothes so I'll decide. Since you look too sexy in brown, we'll go with blue."

'Baby'; a cute nickname normally used to call for your partner, somebody you love.

Am I seriously in love right now? Was I in reality right now or is this a nightmare?

It's been a minute since we've seen each other last so everything should be cool. We catch up with each other and fall all over again, as if we never left each other. Well, that was until a year or so in.

We click but that click is pretty soft. You can barely hear it. Maybe our love isn't in the cards anymore. Maybe it's died out.

"What do you think of this blue dress, love? No, wait! This nice black will do. Shit, no it won't because you're wearing blue. I have the perfect blue gown for tonight!"

I should be trying right now. After all, we are engaged and there has to be something still there. We didn't stay apart just for things to end this way. I just had to try.

"Baby, I'm trying hard to find something for the both of us but you look so damn sexy in everything. I don't want other women taking what's mine."

Her long fingers press up against my chest and slowly crawl up to my face just to hold it. She moves my head to face her and smiles gently.

There's still something there, Tripp. You just have to believe in it. It's better said and done but, with time, our love will grow stronger.

Our foreheads touch and our lips slowly lean in for the perfect kiss until her manager calls for us to get dressed. We only had twenty minutes to get dressed, get makeup done, hair done, and look presentable before she goes out on stage.

I'm told to put on the blue suit by my lovely fiancée. Sitting in this chair as these people paint my face and cut my hair, I look at myself in the mirror.

There's supposed to be more to this life than what was given to us. Did I make the wrong decision? Maybe I shouldn't have done this. Maybe this life isn't meant for me. Something's missing and I'm not happy.

My faith is gone, that flame that burns in my heart is starting to die down, and I feel weak. Every day, there's people rushing around me while I'm just standing there, trying to keep up the pace.

Somehow, I still want this to work.

I grow a little nervous as I come out of my own thoughts.

Where the hell is Safari? I have to get her before something happens to her. Fuck this makeup shit.

I'm going to get her but the manager stops me from leaving and says "Ugh, you look a mess. This will have to do though. You need to be at your table, Tripp. Let's move it! Go, go, go!"

"Where's my child, Lina? I can't just go out there while she's running around in circles, going off with some random asshole. She's only two years old!"

Lina tucks her blonde hair behind her ear and folds her arms in a defensive posture. Her frustrated stature let me know all I needed. She doesn't care about where my child was. She just wants to keep up with her image.

"Tripp, Safari is fine. Right now, you need to be at your table. You have five minutes to get there and you're already sweating. Your makeup is ruined. Fuck it. Just go."

I'm pushed out of the dressing room suite and make my way to the assigned table for the event.

All this fancy shit is still unfamiliar to me. Coming from a not-so elegant city, I wasn't comfortable with all the flashy shit. The expensive champagnes, decorations, lavish lifestyle. This isn't how I want to live nor how I want to raise my kid.

Safari's spoiled as it is and everyone's worried about money, clothes, cars, shoes, bags, and other shit that she doesn't need. I want my child to be a child while she's still young.

Speaking of my little girl, she sneaks up on me and scares me from behind. My attempt to catch her fails as she climbs into her godfather's lap and hugs him. At least, she still looks like a kid with those little barrettes and clack-a-balls in her head.

"Tripp, I love Safari but get ya kid. She's climbing all over me like a jungle gym. Those days are over." Ryker complains as he pries Safari off of him.

He and his wife were invited to the extravagant event, surprisingly. I didn't think that she would forgive him for all he's done. It was surprising to me.

"Well, she has a way with that. She's just like her godfather; pushy and relentless."

"Bro, she is not like me. She probably like her other godfathers, man. Probably her godmother 'cause Darian is just like her."

Nodding in agreement, I remember how these two got together after two weeks of being at each other's throats. Lucky them.

"That's true though. I bet she would've loved Cam. I wonder when he's coming back down here to visit," I change the subject while sipping on a glass of champagne. If only it was a can of beer by the ocean.

"Probably never 'cause he still drunk in love like Bey. I'm wondering when the fuck he's gonna set up a date for that wedding. He acting just like Isaiah, plotting when he ain't got no idea what he's doing. Speaking of which, Safari would've loved Isaiah too. Well...maybe."

Ryker holds up his glass and pours some of his drink out on the floor, in honor of Isaiah. His death is a long, personal story so I don't want to get into that.

"Nah, he would have run away from her because he's scared of the kids. Remember when one of his exs planted her son on him? He went along with it."

We reminisce on our moments with him to pass the time. So much for five minutes. This felt more like a five-hour long wait at a poppin' fast food place.

Watching Safari hold onto Ryker tightly fills my heart with joy as I realize that our family isn't perfect. We had, and still have, our flaws but nothing can stand in the way of our love for each other. Family ain't always blood anyway, right?

After the host's entrance and some performances, a famous actress introduces the nominees for best actress and my heart sinks.

When you really love someone, you show them. You figure out what's going wrong in your relationship and fix it somehow...

But what if it's not fixable? What if it's not meant to be fixed but you still love that person?

Plus, where was the time to fix it? Even if I am able to secure the relationship, there was no time to sit down and talk. With Safari in preschool, her mother bouncing around the world for tv shows, movies, and interviews, and me working on automobile projects, we have no time to just mend our relationship.

We barely stay in the house. Most of the time, it's just Safari and me at the dinner table. The so-called 'love in my life' will share the same bed with me, sometimes, but those are the days she's catching up on sleep. That means she doesn't want to be touched or anything.

No matter how bad I feel, I'm still trying because I still want to be with her.

They announce the winner of the category and my fiancée shows up, ready to accept her award. When she prepares herself to make an acceptance speech, Safari pulls on my suit, begging for me to hold her. I pick her up and hold her close as we watch her mother speak.

"Well, I want to thank God, first. Thank you to all my cast mates, the director, the writers and editors..."

Watching her smile and shed a tear reminds me of our days in the sand. Her and me in the sand during the summer. The sand that hits her eye, the tears falling down her cheeks when we first met, and that beautiful smile never left my mind.

I get pissed all over again.

"Lastly, I'd like to thank the woman that helped me become a mother and fiancée today. Journee, thanks for bringing my husband back where he belongs. You're the best."

****

Heeeeeyyyyyyy everybody!

We're in our week of World We Created! Which means everyday this week, I'm dropping a chapter since we're coming to the end of the book.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Tripp and Journee. I had an alright time writing them.

Yall we only got three more chapters left! Omg!

Bam! A ride off into the sunset, it was NOT! Lol y'all don't know how much I wanted to post this chapter.

Anyway, for those that don't quite understand, Tripp and Kyra are engaged and Safari is their child. That's all I'm saying.

You gotta read tomorrow's chapter for Journee's POV!

Thanks for your support, love, and all that jazz. I appreciate you all! Until tomorrow!

Love ya!