"Tiff, stop!" His voice was so commanding I found myself heeding it and it seemed like an eternity before I heard Tiff's voice.
"Have I missed something? Surely you know I'm interested in you."
There was another excruciatingly long silence before he responded. "I know, and this whole situation is my fault. I should have tried harder to talk to you at ASU." He loudly sighed. "Tiff, I like you. You're fun to be around, you're nice, but. . .I can't get involved in a relationship. My main focus right now has to be my recovery and career." I felt horrible for Tiff, but also relief that he hadn’t lied during the summer.
"What if I'm not looking for a relationship?" I felt the blood rush out of my face.
"Tiff. . ." I heard movement followed by a brief pause. "Whenever I do decide to enter the relationship waters again, it won't be for a fling. I don't want that anymore. I want the kind of relationship that my brothers and sister have; that my parents had and your parents have. . ."
"And you don't think that you can have that with me." She said and there was another pause.
"Do you honestly think that we could have that kind of relationship?" The tenderness in his voice took my breath away and I turned to leave but not before I heard Tiff's reply. "No."
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