deceived.// A$AP Rocky

fourteen.

I was woken up by someone closing the door, footsteps coming closer. The person left, I heard showering. The unknown entered again, put my blanket away, and lifted me up. I immediately recognized his unmistakable smell.

"Where are we going?", I mumbled, and his movements froze. I attempted to open my eyes, just to see a rather shocked Rocky glancing at me. "Thank god you're awake, I thought we were gonna lose you", he exclaimed. "How long-", my voice broke. "How long have I been out for?", I tried it again. "Three long ass days", he replied. "Three days? Damn...anything I missed out on?", I asked quietly as talking was pretty exhausting and my stomach hurt. 

Rakim shrugged while entering his room and carefully putting me down on his bed.

"Everyone thought you weren't gonna make it, Ferg blamed himself, I haven't heard a word from Dom since it happened and the vibe in the house is shit." It was silent for a few seconds. "Can you tell them I'm good?", I asked. Rakim nodded absently and got up. "Yeah, imma tell them."

After a minute, I made out hasty steps on the stairs, a few seconds later Ferg busted in the room. When he saw me, a big smile spread on his face, and he pulled me into a hug. "Damn, Zara, I'm so glad you made it. So fucking glad", he repeated, and I hugged him back softly. I opened my mouth, but the door was opened rapidly again. 

It was Dom and Joey, the second just greeted me and flashed me a big smile, while Dom ran up to me and pulled me into another hug. "I can't believe you're actually here, how do you feel?", he asked, talking so fast I was surprised he didn't mess up the words. "Everything still hurts and I feel weak, but at least I can talk", I replied and added a little smile.

It turned out later that Joey and Rakim had been dragged away by some dudes that hadn't shown their faces the day of the party, and that they were still trying to find out who that was because they didn't recognize their voices either.

The evening had come, and Rakim had suggested I was gonna sleep in his bed, in case I had trouble breathing or health issues in general. I accepted it without questioning his decision since I didn't want to sleep alone. I fell into a deep slumber after a few minutes, feeling his presence like a warm jacket wrapped around me.

The weeks passed, and nothing much happened at the Mob house. When I had fully recovered, we used to hang out at Black Ink Gallery a lot, a tattoo shop in Harlem. The afternoons were hot- so hot I can't remember the last time I saw the guys with their shirts on, the evenings were full of laughter and partying. This summer was one of the greatest of my life. I grew closer with a lot of the guys, especially Rakim, Ferg, and Dom. My brother and I called a lot and met up a few times too, but I didn't tell him about the incident at Derek's house.

Day after day, I started to adapt more to my surroundings, and there were nights when I just cried, realizing the day I had to leave this all behind and I would probably never see them again would come.

But still, all those weeks, there was no sign of Daniel, until one day.

"Don't you understand! I don't want you to do every single thing at the house for us. Don't you think we're old enough to clean our own rooms? We're not some little kids outta middle school, Zara!", Rakim yelled frustratedly. This was the first time he had ever yelled at me, apart from the incident at Derek's party, but I only remember blurry pictures so that didn't really count. His yelling was honestly a little intimidating, his voice was just so...different, full of hate and anger.

 "Apparently you are, cause I haven't seen you clean up your stuff for once, and I don't wanna live like this! You're not even thankful for anything I do, while I am just trying to pay you back for letting me stay, cause in contrast to you, I don't sell drugs and I am fucking poor!", I fired back, feeling my eyes getting wet. "You're so fucking dumb and blind, Rakim. Can't you pay attention to my emotions for once and stop being so egoistic?", I screamed. I couldn't stand his glance for a second longer, so I snatched a jacket and ran out the door.

I knew Rakim didn't want me to be out alone this time of the night, which made me want to be alone even more. What the fuck even was that? I was just trying to be nice, and he yelled at me for it? I was running once again, just wanting to get away from him, everyone, the whole fucking house.

I ran until I arrived at a little bench. I sat down there and just took in all the noises of New York. It was getting cold and uncomfortable, it felt like someone was watching me.

I stared across the street, and although nobody was there, I knew something deep inside of me wished for Rakim to appear on the other side. But I wasn't going to admit that.

I wasn't going back there anytime soon.

I walked and walked for what felt like hours, the figures passing by me. Suddenly, I saw a train station. The perfect opportunity to rest for a little, maybe then trying to find a way back would be smart. I had never really been to this part of the city, so I didn't really know where I was. I stared at the other side again, the trains arrived and left in a never-ending cycle.

And then, all of a sudden, I saw him.

A train left, and there he was, with his light eyes right on me. Dan. I froze, trying to stand his strong gaze. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but wasn't able to. Was I tripping and he was just a hallucination? No, the whole scenario seemed too real, it was impossible that I was hallucinating.

After a few minutes of staring at each other, the next train arrived and blocked my vision. But when the train had left, there was no sign of him ever being there.

The spot was empty and he was gone like he was blown away by the wind.

I jumped on my feet horrifiedly, just running away from there, as panic took over my body.

I didn't know where I was, but somehow Dan knew exactly.

That couldn't be right.

The way I had chosen ended by a little river. After glancing at it for a few minutes, I suddenly realized it was the river where I had talked to Rakim, where he had invited me to the coffee shop before. To my right, I saw the river going down in a big pipe and it didn't seem like it was reappearing anywhere on the other side, so I just had to go to the left all the time, until I would come to the spot me and him had sat down, and from there, I knew the way back.

For once, my plan succeeded, and when I arrived at the place near the coffee shop, I took a minute to enjoy the air of the night that was just being cleared by a few raindrops falling. Despite everything, the night was beautiful, full of life, yet calm.

Suddenly, I heard someone call my name. I turned around immediately, just to see a person running up to me. I recognized the way he ran, it was Rakim. I tried to read his facial expressions, but by the time I could see his face clearly, he had arrived and pulled me into a long hug. "I have looked everywhere! I was so worried for you, Zara, don't you ever do shit like that again, you had me scared for a second", he said, talking fast.

Something about this was different. He didn't seem so...controlled, as if everything he did was planned, he seemed human and the relief on his face made something inside my stomach flip.

 "I had no idea where you were, then I remembered this place, and that you'd probably come here, and I...I'm just so glad nothing happened to you. I'm sorry for yelling at you. It just pissed me off that you always seemed to treat us like we were children and couldn't do anything, but I just didn't see it from your point of view I guess", he said as he became a little calmer. It was back again, the controlled talking. But I did appreciate him reflecting on the problem, and that's exactly what I told him.

He smiled and extended a hand. "Come on home, Zara."

Home.

I took his hand.

//

look how perfect the song and the gif fits😭😭

I realized that it's already the 14th of December whhhaaat? crazy shiiiit, the story is starting to get real serious :o

also thank you so much everyone for 500 reads :'))

see y'all tomorrow :)