SAFE :: ZAYN

[48]

—

Salma stood up today.

She stood to her feet and actually kept standing for a decent amount of time before falling in her mother's arms. After this, she couldn't stop giggling and trying again, the coffee table helping her out more than anything.

Salma had this thing where she liked being carried...a lot. It wasn't a spoiled thing, because Zayn was great at that, but she seldom wanted to get down to crawl. She was a fast one, too, always ending up somewhere she didn't need to be.

Last week Yemi found her digging in one of her plants in the living room, she almost ate a bug.

Anyway, she was a cute little thing, and Yemi was very very proud.

"You wanna see baba wth me?" Yemi asked her, watching Salma watch the Tv, mesmerized. "I'll just leave." Yemi moved to get up and heard Salma babble after her. "Come on, baby. Oh, shush I wasn't going to leave you," Yemi picked her up and walked upstairs.

Zayn was not feeling his best today. Overcoming drug addiction was sort of a breeze for him, but sometimes it got difficult. He was in a mood today, a depressive one, and as much as Yemi wanted to comfort him, it was best to leave him alone sometimes to battle with his demons. That was just how he liked it.

But he was going to learn how to be more willing to accept support when it was right in front of him.

Yemi knocked on the door, hearing a grunt in return and opening it enough to see him lying on the bed, reading a notebook.

"Hi, Spencer," Yemi greeted the man in the corner.

"Hey, Yemi. Ooh, Salma!" he got up and smiled at her, "looks like both you knuckleheads."

"Shut your mouth," she giggled softly, handing her to him. Spencer had been out of rehab for a few months, he stayed back just to help others out, and now he felt ready to conquer the world. Zayn visited him all the time, and they actually had a friendship, so as soon as he got out they linked up.

Spencer had been helping Zayn out these past few days, Yemi was envious a little but she realized only they knew exactly how it felt to be in that situation, so she let it go.

"Hi," Yemi sat on the edge of the bed, next to Zayn's head. She ran her fingers through his wavy hair, "how are you?"

"Better," he replied hoarsely, then proceeded to clear his throat, "much better."

"That's good," she replied lowly, "I'm glad. You scared the crap out of me yesterday."

"I'm sorry, Yem--"

"You're supposed to call me babe. That's what we agreed on," she pouted, causing him to smile. Finally.

"I'm sorry, babe. I don't know what happened to make me snap at you like that. I just felt...like shit yesterday and then you said something about a crack in the ceiling and crack was the last thing on my mind, what the fuck?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong."

"What are you writing?"

"Nothing, just look at old journal entries back when I was in rehab," he flipped through another page, "I said some dark shit."