It's been two days since Keenan handed me the letter that Anthony wrote me, its been sitting on my desk since I got back to my room that night. I've just been staring at it because I haven't really prepared myself to read his words, but I know i have too. So, I built up the courage to finally open the letter.

Lani wasn't in the room so thank goodness I don't have to read it out loud.

Dear Tiara Gold,
    when I first laid eyes on you, I knew that I had to get you. The first night we met and we danced together, that was a position I wanted to be in forever, but as soon as you heard that Keenan was upset, I knew that is who your heart belonged too. That didn't stop me though, the days we were able to hang out and get to know each other meant a lot to me. I never encountered someone like you and I feel like that is why I was so intrigued by you, I wanted to know you and I wanted for you to become mine, but again I know your heart doesn't yearn to be with me right now at this moment. I do hope that we meet again in the future Tiara, I will not be returning to Howard anytime soon. I'm back in Atlanta because of the passing of my mother. She was sick for a very very long time and she wanted all of us siblings to be home for a final goodbye. I hope we can stay in contact and continue to let our friendship grow into something strong. Even though you are feeling what you're feeling for Keenan right now. I feel like if we had more time, we could have became something great. But there is such thing as right person, just wrong timing. I wish you and the others nothing but the best. I see you guys messages. I just need time to cope with the fact that my best friend is really gone.. I also give you permission to tell them what has happened. Goodbye .. for now.
Love, Anthony.

I didn't even know I teared up while reading that letter. I'm very speechless, Anthony of course meant something to me but he was right, my heart is with Keenan.

When I was getting to know Anthony it was very different .. he was a different person, his aura was so comforting and I always enjoyed being in his presence. I know for a fact if I had chose him, I wouldn't have went through all of this with Keenan.

But, that is what makes Keenan so different. He's the love of my life. He's the only man who can put me through the shit he has put me through and get away with it. Korey doesn't really count anymore. He doesn't exist to me.

Keenan is mine and I am his. I did grow a bond with Anthony and if we were in a book or movie, I know for a fact the audience probably would have been team Anthony just because they would have seen how much he didn't put me through.

We've been through so much together that I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else. Keenan has my heart always and forever.

I texted the group chat.

Tiara: I opened his letter.
Kendall: what happened?
Tiara: come to my room
Lani: on my way
Cassie: us too

I noticed that Keenan didn't respond. I heard a knock at my door, I walked over and opened it, Cassie and Kendall were standing there.

I moved aside to let them in "don't shut it!!" I heard Lani say. I looked into the hallway and she was running towards me and then ran into the room out of breath.

"Damn where you coming from out of breath like that?" I asked.
"Well I received your message when I was on the other side of the building about to receive some bomb head but I came here and told him to just wait" she explained.
"Couldn't be me, y'all would've had to just tell me later" Cassie spoke
"Nah for real" Kendall agreed.
I nodded my head laughing "yeah Lani baby you crazy".

"I care more about Anthony than anything so I don't care" she said. We all shook our heads understanding. She is right though.

"yeah you're right" Kendall said "I know" she smiled.

I handed them the letter. They all sat back on the bed to read it, Kendall was in the middle holding the letter while Lani was on her right and Cassie was on her left. I just stood there while they read it and watched their reactions.

"Oh my wow" Cassie spoke first. I saw all of them get teary eyed. After they really took the letter in all of them looked up at me with tears running down their eyes.

"He lost his mom" Lani said , "y'all we have to go down there" Lani spoke. "How? We literally just got back to campus. We don't even know what part of Atlanta he stays in or if they had the funeral already" Kendall said.

Lani got off the bed and grabbed her phone. "Look" she put her phone in our faces.

The last time Anthony posted was two days ago, it was his mother's obituary. "The funeral is Wednesday, we don't start classes until Thursday" she said. "So you guys wanna go down Atlanta?" Cassie asked "Anthony was like my best friend here, we told each other a lot and opened up to one another, I have to be there for him... we all do, we're his friends" Lani said, her eyes landed on mine, waiting for an answer.

"Well, look up flights for tonight and tomorrow. I'm gonna call Keenan, my aunt lives in Atlanta, I'm gonna call her also to tell her what's going on" I spoke.

"We're really going?" Kendall asked "yes" Lani said "I'm gonna go pack a quick bag, who are we trying to fly with?" Cassie asked "do you guys wanna do spirit since its a quick one day trip and we're only bringing one bag?" Lani asked.

"Yeah, if we tried southwest that's an easy $300 gone"  Kendall said "agreed" Cassie said, I nodded my head in agreement.

"I found a $50 round trip, so that's just $100 to fly out tonight at 10:00pm, get there around midnight or 1:00am, and the flight back, they have a 8:00pm flight Wednesday night, we get back 10:30pm" Lani explained.

"Lets book it, me and Cassie are gonna go pack, we'll send you the $200" Kendall said while her and Cassie were walking towards the door.

"I'm gonna head to Keenan's room and call my aunt, I'll also send you $200" I told her "are you sure Keenan's gonna want to come?" She asked, "yes. They were also close, despite Anthony having those feelings for me".

"Are you going to show him the letter?" Lani asked. "I don't know" I answered truthfully "But what I do know is that it's 3:30 and we have to get everything situated" I told her while leaving out the room to head to Keenan's.

On my way there I called my aunt and she picked up right away.

"Tiara!! My favorite niece , don't tell Tay'Vian" she answered "hey Aunt Yasmine, how are you?" I asked her "I'm great you know just living it up down south with my man, what's up is everything okay?" She asked.

"Yes I just have a kinda sorta huge favor to ask?"

"What's up?"

"Is it okay if my friends and I can stay with you tonight? and tomorrow night?we'll be gone by Wednesday night?"

"Of course it's okay you know I love your company, is that handsome best friend of yours coming?"

I laughed "well he's my boyfriend now, but yes he's coming"

"Ahhhhhhh!! Finally, I did not believe your mom when she first told me, I had to hear it from you myself. It's about damn time Ti, but may I ask why do you guys all of a sudden are in a hurry to Atlanta that you're flying out here tonight?"

"A close friend of ours that went to school here has dropped out for the semester, we didn't find out until we moved back in a few days ago. He left me a letter and I opened it today and come to find out his mom passed away, we all know how super close they were and he's from Atlanta, we just want to be there for him" I explained to her.

"I understand completely, what time will you guys be arriving?" She asked "our flight leaves at 10" I told her "okay so around midnight, I'm gonna get my nap in now, I'm gonna tell Shawn that you guys are coming. He more than likely will pick you guys up. We've missed you niecey Pooh!"

"I've missed you guys more, thank you so much I know this is last minute"

"Girl, you know you do not have to thank me. Text me before you guys get on your flight and when you land. I gotta get back to All American on Netflix. I love you"

I laughed at her "I love you too" I said and then hung up.

I made it to Keenan's room, I knocked on his door and he greeted me with a big smile and shirtless body. "Hey" he said letting me in "hey" I said with my back facing him. "You good?" He asked.

I finally turned around and looked up at him, he raised his eyebrow in worry, "so I opened Anthony's letter today" I started "okay, what did it say?" He asked.

I was mentally debating if I should tell him everything that was said, but I didn't want to make it too obvious that I wasn't telling the full truth because Keenan knows me too well to know when I'm hiding something from him.

"Umm, in the letter he told me that .. he lost his mom" I told him. The worried look went away, "awh man, they were really close. They would FaceTime every night when he came back in here" he told me. "Yeah, so Lani suggested that we all go down Atlanta .. to be there for him" I told him. "I think that's a great idea, your aunt lives down there, see if we could stay with her" he said.

I smiled "everything is already situated, our flight leaves tonight at 10:00" I told him "how much was it?" He asked "$100" I told him. "Alright, I'll send you the money back, because I already know you paid for me" he said.

"Just make sure you're ready by like 7, I'll let you know when we all gonna meet up" I told him while walking out the door.

He stopped me before I could go anywhere "Ti..." he started,

I turned around and looked up at him "was that all he said in the letter?" He asked me.

"That was the only thing in the letter that mattered to me" he removed his grasp from around my wrist. "Okay" he said. I just nodded and headed down the hallway back to my room to pack for our last minute trip to Atlanta.

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Hiiiii my loves !! There will be another update soonnnn!! I just want to thank you guys soooo much for reading my story. After I updated my previous chapter I had just hit 10k reads. 5 days later my story had 12K reads, I can't thank you guys enough. I appreciate everyone of you for sticking around even though my updates have slowed down.

Buttttt since Corona decided to come and ruin all our lives and the whole world is pretty much quarantined I have more than enough time on my hands. So expect a few updates coming your wayyy

I love you all!
Let me know what you think

XxJordyn