drummer boy

Ur

"20 something, all alone still
not a phone in my name"

Growing up in Chicago had its perks.

The restaurants, almost everything was in walking distance, and never being more than a block from a bus stop or train station.

It came in handy whenever you had to eat and be somewhere quickly, with very little time to spare.

You could grab what you needed and make your way to the L. It was chaotic, but much faster than the E-way.

Growing up in Chicago also had disadvantages; like being careful of whose neighborhood you were in, constant violence, the looks you got when you told people where you were from and the fact that traffic was absolute shit.

Amireal currently had an issue with the lesser of the four.

Instead of taking the 171 CTA bus to her university, that normally took her 45 minutes (38 if she was fast), she decided to catch a ride with her cousin, Mill, who happened to be heading towards Hyde Park, the University of Chicago's main campus.

He'd sworn it'd be faster and more convenient, as she had already been coming from the first floor of his building when he'd seen her.

"Hey, Mill," shed said and cursing in her head, as she'd been in the midst of the 'walk of shame' she didn't believe in when she'd seen her older cousin.

He turned around with a scowl on his face, but immediately smiled when he saw her.

"Amireal, whatchu doing here?" He'd leaned in to give her s big hug and then pulled away, narrowing his eyes. "Don't you have school?"

Amireal, always quick on her feet, came up with a quick lie. "Had to get something from a friend of mine." Wasn't exactly a lie. She did get something from Marcus. Dick.

"Really?" Mill had asked, tilting his head. "What floor. Maybe I know them."

"Nah, you wouldn't. They moved in not too long ago." A year wasn't that long ago.

"Really? 'Cause -"

"So what's up with you?" She blurted.

She had no shame in her sexual experiences, especially considering how Marcus had blown her back out last night (and again just before she left) to a Boyz II Men album. That didn't mean she wanted her older cousin knowing she'd been two floors above him, getting her shit clapped. Especially one that visited their grandmother almost every day. She'd completely forgotten he lived in that building in the first place.

'How drunk was I?' She asked herself. But dismissed it when she remembered she was sober enough to remember what Marcus had done to make it difficult for her to walk. Must've been in the moment.

She was so ready to get the awkward moment over with, that when he explained he was heading in the direction of her school, she'd excepted his offer to drop her off; anything to get him to stop questioning her. Besides, she was gonna be late if she didn't hurry.

Amireal realized it was a mistake after they'd been sitting in traffic for 10minutes, as there'd been an accident two cars in front of them. She had exactly 7 minutes to get to her first class. And while she was around the corner from campus and the building her first class was located, she'd been hoping to make it back to her dorm to change out of the tank top and jeans she'd worn to the party she'd run into Marcus at, as they smelled of stale beer and bad decisions (not on her part).

It didn't look like that was gonna happen, if the two people who'd probably been in the accident, screamed at each other in the middle of the street.

Sighing, Amireal unbuckled her seat belt and turned to Mill, will her hand on the door handle.

"Thanks for the ride, Mill." She said, giving him a small smile before stepping out of the car, making sure to grab her bag. "See you at Sunday dinner."

Barely hearing his "Bye", she ran as fast as her short ass legs could carry her, towards her Intro To Philosophy class.

'I'm fucked', she thought, as she stopped right in front of her class, with 5 minutes to spare and realized the smell of beer had somehow become stronger since she'd started running.

'Oh well'. Amireal shrugged to herself. It was either this, or skip and that wasn't an option.

Professor Hugley had an uncanny ability to give important assignments and information on the few days is class she missed. And how was she supposed to convince her parents that she could keep up with her music and school at the same time if her grades started slipping because she'd started missing huge assignments?

Deciding she had no choice, she pulled out the mini bottle of perfume she kept in her bag, she sprayed it on her wrist, before rubbing it on the other and spreading it to much needed areas.

Popping a piece of gum in her mouth and running a hand through her old curls, she opened the door to her class.

Her phone vibrated in her bag as she made her way to her seat in the very back.

Partridge Family <Varey ✊🏾🤴🏾> Practice @3, not 6. I got news, my niggas.
Delivered

Just my fucking luck.

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Just a small chapter to let you meet Amireal, the main character. I aspire to be as comfortable with myself as she is one day. 

The picture is of Hanna Lashay. She's who I see as Amireal.

Dedicated to simplyfantastic for making fun of me on FaceTime and being the realest housewife of section 8.

-Offei ✨🤙🏾