Desire

Part I: The Beginning

{Chapter I}
Zahra's POV:

I awaken to the blundering sound of my alarm blaring from my phone that conveniently- but unfortunately is resting on my pillow above my head.
I jolt up at the sudden eruption of sound filling my ears and suddenly I feel something drop onto my face like a rock.

What an amazing way to wake up Zahra.

I think to myself, as I begrudgingly snatch my phone from my face and forcefully press snooze on my 6:45 alarm. I groan loudly and roll back over, fully intent on getting more sleep before my long day of work.

To set the scene a little, I'm Zahra. Zahra Hazel Cadwell. I'm 19 years old, and I'm currently employed as a full-time employee at my fathers restaurant. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Atleast I'm employed and it's my family's business. Well, what I've always really been passionate about is art. I love art and I use it to express myself in ways that words cannot explain or describe, art is so much more to me than a couple of brush strokes and some color; to me, art is the most beautiful, pure, form of expression the world has ever seen, but to my parents, art is nothing more than a hobby, never a full-time job and so, that's how I ended up working in a black-owned Italian food restaurant saving up to pay for my dream to go to art school and make money doing what I love.

Just as I'm finally able to close my eyes and begin to drift off; my phone once again blares in my ear, only this time it's my best friend Samaj's ringtone.

Angrily I lift my head and snatch up my phone disconnecting the charger from the wall in the process and debate whether it's worth it to decline the call and resume my original 5 more minutes of sleep plan; ultimately, I decide to answer the call.

Groggily I'm able to groan out, "What?"

To which Samaj replies, "Well jeez, good morning to you too Sunshine."

I can hear the smile in his voice through the phone.

I don't even bother with a reply before Samaj-annoyingly cheerfully proclaims,

"I'm swinging by to pick you up for coffee before work and I'll be there in 30 so get dressed... oh, and make sure to leave your attitude in bed before you do."

Before I have time to protest, Samaj chirps again,

"Okay, see you in 30. Love you, bye!"
And the phone disconnects.

I inhale with my eyes closed before exhaling a deep, aggravated, breath as I trail to my bathroom rubbing sleep from my eyes with a groan.

After an intense 15 minute shower I feel slightly refreshed and my skin is thanking me for taking the extra few minutes to exfoliate. I'm standing in the mirror, both hair and body wrapped in a towel, brushing my teeth with a face mask on when I hear a knock at my door. I trail out of my bedroom to the front door to be greeted by none other than Samaj 10 minutes earlier than he said he'd be here evoking no surprise reaction from me.
I step aside to let him in before swiftly walking back into the bathroom to spit with Samaj following closely behind.

"Wow, not even a Hello? You really are crabby in the morning aren't you?" Samaj teasingly ask.

I shoot him a death glare and he throws up his hands in defeat. Quickly I finish washing my face and brushing my teeth and flick the light off in my bathroom, walking into my room and flinging open my closet as well as my undergarment and sock drawers.
I decide to go for something casual not forgetting to pull out my uniform for work to bring into the car for my 8:30 shift. Within seconds I'm pulling out a graphic tee and ripped jeans, and throwing them on the bed.
Samaj looks up from his phone long enough to ask me,

"Hey, is your dad hiring at the restaurant?" Before looking down at his phone again.

"I don't know, probably. Why?" I ask in return.

My back is turned to him and I drop my towel throwing it towards the edge of my bed and missing terribly allowing it to hit the floor. Samaj leans over and picks it up without even looking away from his phone screen.

Samaj and I have been bestfriends since 8th grade, when he first moved here from Florida. I remember everyone thought he was strange for wearing a winter coat in the fall but I was courageous enough to ask him about it and he explained how uncommon it was for the weather to be below 50 degrees in Florida so to him, our fall temperatures on the East Coast were freezing. I teased him about it for a week and a half straight and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Over the years he and I have been through a lot together and that includes seeing each other naked so at this point, it's not uncommon for one of us to undress in the same room as the other.

Samaj then replies, "I've just been really not feeling my job recently, my boss is always on my ass and I never really wanted to work there in the first place but it was either pick up a job at Walmart, or enlist in the military and even though I'm a pretty fit guy-"

He most definitely is for the record. 6'3, brown skin, curly but well kept-short cut hair, light brown eyes, and perfectly straight teeth from having braces in 10th grade. A real pretty boy; some girls are into that, I can't blame them; but not really my type.

"I don't think I'm quite cut out for the military. Basically, I just want to try something new but my parents won't be pleased to hear anything about unemployment so I'm trying to keep my options open, you know?" He exclaims looking up at me struggling to fit my hair tie around all of my thick, curly hair.

"I understand what you mean, and I'll ask my dad when I get to work, I'm sure he won't mind because we're always in need of bussers at our restaurant and you know how much both he and my mom adore you." I respond playfully rolling my eyes at him in the mirror to which he sticks his tongue out back at me.

"Thanks, love. I'd really appreciate it." he says to me with a smile.

"Now hurry up before you're late for work!" He affirms before squeezing my side evoking a less than attractive chuckle and wince from me as he walks out to his car swinging his keys around his slightly unusually large finger and whistling to himself.

I quickly pull out my phone and check the time noticing it's now 7:59 and that he's right. I rush to the door where my sneakers are waiting, throw them on carefully, but speedily making sure not to crease them and rush out the door behind him.

—
8:25 AM

Samaj and I arrive just in time for me to start my shift at the restaurant and I thank him blowing him a playful kiss on my way out of the car which he catches and puts in his pocket in response,

"Saving that for later." He jokingly retorts to me throwing in a wink at the end before swiftly pulling off from the restaurant.

I less than happily carry myself to the doors making sure to discard of the remnants of my breakfast muffin and coffee.

I walk to the bathroom to put on my uniform after greeting my father who tells me his predictions for the day as usual and nearly talks my head off about plans for my future; as always.

Something inside of me is screaming out that this is going to be a long day.