the art of falling for you (bxb)

fifteen - being true to yourself

But then he started playing.

And all I could think was: Holy shit.

He only played a few notes but I could tell the boys didn't expect it. I recognized the song immediately and so did the others if their expressions were anything to judge by. Sacha looked as if he'd fallen in love for the first time, and Bodhi surely resembled a new-born baby with a gobsmacked expression.

Kareem placed the guitar down and, if I didn't know him so well, I wouldn't have recognized the small upwards tug of his lips.

"You can play Zepp." Bodhi's jaw dropped. "Shit, what sort of fifth grader learns how to play Led Zeppelin?"

"You should play with us! Shit, Bodhi you're done. Retired. Removed. We don't need you anymore."

"Hey!"

"Can you sing too? I'm not bad myself but if you can sing, you might as well replace Bodhi and join us full time. Actua-"

The boys all began to argue, throwing light insults as they bickered. Bodhi slapped Sacha's ear, making my brother cry out as Isaiah started throwing drumsticks at them to stop them complaining.

It didn't work.

Kareem tuned them out and gave me all of his attention.

My mouth curved into a smile, "You're really good."

He beamed, the corner of his lips tugging into a lopsided smile as he put an arm around my waist, leaning in to kiss my cheek. "Thank you, Angel."

"Shit, Kaz, I didn't expect that." I told him honestly. When he first told me that he knew how to play, I assumed that he'd meant it as a childhood hobby at most, given that fact he'd never expressed an interest in the instrument much before, aside from the discussion we had after his nightmare.

"I used to play for the squad." He said lowly, so the others couldn't hear us. "Zepp used to love it, always giving me song suggestions and Lennon would sing for us."

My heart warmed, "That sounds lovely."

"It was," He leaned into me, resting his head on my shoulder. Sacha was now falling into his dramatics as Bodhi rolled his eyes. "Proper family bonding time."

"Do you miss it?"

"I miss times like that, yeah." He hummed, "I miss both of them so much. I still need to meet Zepp's kid, and I want him to meet you and Kezz."

My eyebrows shot up, "Me?"

He chuckled at my exasperation, "Of course. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Searching his eyes, I settled on a soft smile before folding back into his side. "Of course." 

The band decided that they were going to print more posters out to promote their next show, leaving Kareem and I the apartment to ourselves.

Needing to finish the accounts for the Bakery, I busied myself with my laptop while Kareem was flicking through my University books that I had still yet to throw out.

We worked in silence for about an hour before Kareem finally spoke up.

"I want to learn more about myself."

I lifted my head up from where I'd been focused on the laptop screen, meeting Kareem's gaze quizzingly. He was sitting across the room, curled up in the armchair that Sacha usually claims, with his head in one of my old books.

Before choosing a major, I'd spent months researching every topic I was interested in. That book that Kareem was currently holding was a psychology book focused on exploring family relationships and histories.