PARADOX

PDX31

"Yeah—as long as it's not alcoholic." Amina replied. She already had it made in her mind that she wasn't gonna drink. "This your house?" Amina questioned, eagerly wanting to know.

"Fuck no—I'd never have this many niggas in my shit. It's an Airbnb." Ro answered. Amina watched as he filled a red solo cup with fruit punch that appeared to be homemade, right next to it was another drink dispenser with fruit punch labeled "rum punch".

"But don't be shy, everybody cool." Ro spoke as he handed Amina the plastic cup. Instead of replying, Amina nodded her head. "Ro—the owner of the house just pulled up, he say he needa talk to you." A man announced as he peeked his head into the kitchen.

"Shit." Ro fussed, "Hold on for me right quick, I'll be back." He added, Amina nodded her head as she watched him flee the kitchen. After awkwardly standing in the kitchen for a few seconds, she decided to go sit in the living room that they passed on the way to the kitchen. It was just Amina's luck that there was an empty seat on the couch, right next to a girl who was sitting down slowly sipping her drink. Amina sat down and continued to look around while taking sips of the punch. She furrowed her eyebrows and doubled back to where her eyes left, assuming she was hallucinating.

Amina damn near started choking was she realized her eyes weren't deceiving her, there Rashad was in the flesh, staring back at her. Amina quickly fixed her eyes elsewhere as her body started to run hot. He don't even like parties, Amina thought to herself as she scoffed. And on top of that, he didn't have many friends, so who invited him? To ease her anxiety, Amina decided to put her attention on her phone. She'd occasionally covertly look up to see what Rashad was doing. From what she could see, he was engaging in conversation with a small group of people, while casually sipping his drink.

"My fault Mina—you good?" Ro questioned as he approached her, causing her to look up from her phone's screen. " I should be asking you." Amina lightly chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I'm good. The owner showed up on some mad shit, but ain't nothing a lil pocket change can't solve." Ro explained. Once the girl beside her got up, Ro filled the seat and the two began to talk. Although the two had been acquainted for a small amount of time, Amina deemed him as cool. He had a chill homeboy vibe and she could tell he didn't look at her romantically.

"You sure you don't wanna walk around and meet new people?" Ro questioned, "I will...just let me finish my drink first." Amina replied, Ro nodded his head.

"Alright—imma come back and check on you in a lil bit, don't dry ass baby sit that drink." He joked, causing Amina to chuckle. Once he got up, she grabbed her phone and fixed her focus to her phone. Seeing an iMessage notification from Rashad sent a spark through her body, following by her heartbeat increasing. Amina quickly unlocked her phone so she could see the message.

Rashad
You leaving with me.

No

Rashad
I'm not asking.

Amina locked her phone and pursed her lips together, attempting to hide the smile that was sneaking upon her face. She downed the tiny amount of punch before sitting the cup on the coffee table and getting up. Amina carefully squeezed through the crowd, whilst making her way to the door. She pushed through the door and headed for her car. The footsteps behind her sent chills through her body and painted a smile on her face, just to be sure that it was who she thought it was, she turned around to face him.

"You don't even like parties." Amina broke the silence, "You don't either." Rashad replied. The smell of alcohol on his breath traveled right on over to Amina's nose, causing her make her face up.