On the Other Side

2

8 months later

"Wake up before I throw this water on you."

The moment he felt the cool liquid on his face, Hakeem sprang into action. He was ready to fight.

"What the fuck, man?"

Robert stepped back a few feet, allowing his friend and housemate to relax.

That didn't look as if it was about to happen anytime soon.

"Was there a need for that shit?"

Raising his hands in surrender, the shorter guy shrugged. "Look, I promised your sisters that I would have you up and ready by 9am." He answered in his defence as Hakeem looked ready to rip his face off. "You're up."

"And ready to beat the shit out of you." As he moved to chase him down, Robert flinched and ran away screaming.

There were times when he questioned why he ever chose to live with him. Robert was loud, annoying and everything that Hakeem was not.

But they worked well together. When it came down to it, Robert had had his back more times than Hakeem could count and that made it all worth it.

Checking the time on his alarm clock, he groaned when he realised he had to go and meet his sisters for lunch. He had promised and there was no way he could say 'no' to all of them when they pleaded with him.

His three sisters knew just the way to get him to dance like he was their very own puppet.

Hakeem jumped into the shower, taking his time in the hopes that he would kill some hours before he had to go and meet them.

Whistling a tune, he threw on a navy t-shirt, a pair of black jeans and his black bomber jacket before leaving.

"Hello, Linda." He spoke, a smile easing over his flawless face.

He smoothed his hand over her dark surface, the feeling of her underneath his fingers never getting old.

As he eased inside of her, he sighed in content.

Linda was his prized possession. She had been his since the tender age of seventeen. Hakeem still remembered the day his father had tossed him the keys to the 1982 Chrysler New Yorker. Not only had he jumped up and down screaming but he had even shed a lone tear in his happiness.

Since that day, there was nowhere that he went where Linda didn't go. 13 years with her and things were still going perfect.

Stroking the steering wheel as he did before every drive, he pulled out of the complex car park and headed for the diner he usually met his sisters at.

The moment he walked in, he knew exactly where they were. He heard them before he saw them and he let the sound of their voices guide him to their booth.

"Look who has finally decided to show up!" Screeched his 24 year old sister Porsha. She was only a few inches shorter than him making her way taller than the average woman. Her height worked perfectly with her willowy body. Her hair was always kept in very neat locs that she tied up in a knot on top of her head.

Sat beside Porsha was Eva, the middle sister. At 22, Eva had just come out of college and was still trying to find herself. She was a wild child. All throughout her younger years she had given her mother and Hakeem absolute hell. Her closed up facial piercings were all evidence of just how much of a rebel she was.

Twirling her burgundy hair in her fingers, she snickered. "I thought we would have to drive out and pick him up ourselves."

Hakeem rolled his eyes as he slid into the booth opposite the youngest and quietest sister, Nina.