"Dammit!" Lourdes screeched, throwing her hands up when the 'Wasted' scene came up on the gigantic TV screen. "Why the fuck did you do that?" She yelled at Rashir who was laughing, "We could have finished the mission!" She smacked the back of his head.
"Aye! Chill out ma," Rashir rubbed the back of his head, "Almost bashed my damn head in," He muttered and she scoffed, giving him a light shove, "I'm playing girl, c'mon let's play again." He picked up his controller and she shook her head.
It was Monday evening and Lourdes had finished working on her project with Mateo for the night, so Rashir offered to play GTA with her. They had a system, she would drive and he would do most of the shooting while both of them participated in missions. This time, Rashir got distracted and their character died, and Lourdes was not happy. They spent at least 20 minutes playing the damn game and all their hard work had gone down the drain.
"It's getting late, and I have work tomorrow." She yawned and began packing up her things. Rashir handed her her laptop and she smiled telling him thanks,
"Why you always working?" He sucked his teeth while handing her one of her textbooks.
"How else Imma make money stupid? Now stop talking and hand me my purse," She pointed to her bag that was on the coffee table. "Walk me out," She said over her shoulder, making her way to the front door. She slipped on her ugg slippers since it was starting to actually get colder out and put on her jean jacket. He leaned in the doorway, watching her and she stopped what she was doing when she caught him staring, "What?" She asked, "Is there something on me?" She looked down and he just chuckled,
"Nah, I was just gonna ask if you free this Saturday," He asked while scratching his beard. She froze, thinking he was asking her on a date, and waited for him to continue, "Mateo, Nico, and I going to Top Golf and I was wondering if you wanna come. You can bring yo lil' friends if you want," He smirked and she relaxed. She didn't have work on weekends anymore so she was technically free, but she did have a test in Chemistry that she had to study for, but she could just push that to Sunday.
"I'll come, I'm sure the girls want to go too," She agreed and he gave her a grin and he nodded.
"Aight cool, y'all can meet us there at 8," He told her and she became excited. She never really spent time with Mateo outside of their project and she was glad their friend groups could come together and do something fun.
"Be ready for me to drag you at golf." She playfully poked his chest and he rolled his eyes.
"Get out my house Lourdes," He opened the door for her and she cackled.
"Bye Rashir," She smirked as she walked out.
Lourdes, Nala, and Aaliyah we're downtown at the farmer's market, shopping for groceries which they liked to do once a month. The farmer's market was only there on Fridays and Saturdays, so the girls woke up early on Friday morning to drive to downtown Silver Spring, which was pretty close to their apartment.
"Do we need bread? I want some. You guys like bread right?" Nala pointed at the bread stand that was a couple of feet away from them.
"Just go get the bread Nals, I'm gonna wait here." Lourdes huffed and sat down on the bench they were standing next to.
"Can we go soon? It's cold." Aaliyah complained from next to her. Since it was October, it was officially Fall and chilly in the DMV. Lourdes had brought out her winter clothes the day before and put all of her crop tops/summer clothes into storage.
"For real though, just get the bread and we can go home." She agreed with Aaliyah, wrapping her arms around herself to conserve body heat.
"Fine, I'll be back in a sec," Nala turned on her heel and ventured towards the bread stand.
Lourdes turned to Aaliyah who was on her phone and poked her shoulder. "What?" Aaliyah briefly glanced at her from the side of her eye and went back to occupying herself with her phone.
"Are you busy tomorrow night?" She asked her, waggling her eyebrows with a playful grin on her face.
"No, why?" Aaliyah replied, curious.
"Rashir asked me if I wanted to go to Top Golf with him, and before you say anything, Nico and Mateo are going to be there too," She held up her finger to shush Aaliyah from starting to pester her about how Rashir liked her. "He said I could bring you guys too, so do you wanna go?" She looked at her with pleading eyes and brought her hands together to beg. She knew that Nala was probably already going since Nico was going to be there, but she didn't want to be left alone with Mateo and Rashir.
"Fine," Aaliyah sighed, "But you owe me." Lourdes nodded and gave her a grateful smile.
Nala returned from the bread stand with a baguette in her hand and motioned for them to get up, "Let's go."
They make their way through the crowds of people towards the parking structure where Nala's Jeep was parked. As they entered the elevator, Aaliyah and Nala began talking about something on Instagram as Lourdes tried to keep up. When the elevator stopped at their level the girls quickly began walking towards the Jeep. "Shotgun!" Lourdes declared and Aaliyah let out a huff.
They piled into the car, shivering until Nala started the engine and immediately reached to turn on the heat. When the car finally warmed off, Nala adjusted her seat and pulled off, exiting the garage and getting onto the main road. It began to rain as they drove, which Lourdes was happy about. She loved when it rained, it brought her peace, and the sounds of the rain hitting the window calmed her. She leaned her head against the car window and closed her eyes, still sleepy since they had woken up so early.
"Lo, are you going to Top Golf tomorrow?" Nala asked her from the driver's seat.
"Yeah, are you going?"
"Mhm, Aaliyah are you coming too?" Nala glanced at her in the rearview mirror and Aaliyah nodded.
"Lourdes forced me to."
"Did not!" Lourdes exclaimed, turning her head to look back at her, "I asked nicely."
"You begged."
"But I didn't force!" Lourdes insisted and turned back around to look forward. "Rashir said to meet them there at 8, are you driving with us or Nico?"
"Y'all, I don't want to make him drive all the way here to pick me up then drive to Top Golf."
"He'd do it though," Aaliyah pointed out.
"She's not wrong, that boy loves the fuck outta you," Lourdes agreed.
"Shut up," Nala blushed, she hated talking about her relationship with Nico with other people, even them. "Enough about me-"
"Here we go,"
"Rashir invited you to spend time with them and he doesn't do that with anyone. They don't let anyone into that friend group at all, I don't even think they hang out with other people." Nala explained.
"That's not true, you hang out with them all the time,"
"No, I hang out with Nico, I've only spoken to Rashir a couple of times and I don't think I've ever even said more than 2 words to Mateo, that guy is quiet as hell."
"But-"
"Just face it babe, you're special," Nala winked and gave her a smug look.
Lourdes opened her mouth to rebuttal, but closed it, realizing she didn't have anything else to say.
They drove the rest of the way back home discussing what they should wear, music playing softly in the background. When they pulled into their parking garage, they got out of the car, lugging the groceries to the elevator. Aaliyah went to check if they had gotten any mail while Nala and Lourdes put the groceries away.
"Hey, does bread go in the fridge?" She asked Nala, staring at the bread that was currently resting on the counter.
"Ew, why would you leave it out?" Nala looked at her with disgust.
"Why would you put it in the fridge?" Lourdes shot back.
"So it won't mold, stupid." Nala gave her a 'Duh' look.
They began arguing back and forth when Aaliyah entered the apartment with a couple of envelopes in her hand. Upon hearing angry voices coming from the kitchen, she set the mail down on the coffee table and made her way to the kitchen, confused about what all the fuss was about.
"Hey- Hey! What is going on?" She yelled at them and they stopped arguing, looking back at her like two deer caught in headlights.
"Good, you can be the tie-breaker-" Nala began, "Does bread go in the fridge, or does it stay out on the counter?" She asked Aaliyah.
"Really?" She looked at them in disbelief and crossed her arms over her chest, "This is what you're arguing about?"
"Just answer the question!" Lourdes snapped.
Aaliyah was silent for a moment before she answered, "It stays on the counter."
"Ha! I told you!" Lourdes turned to Nala to stick her tongue out.
"Grow up," Nala grumbled, turning around to enter her bedroom and slam the door.
"Now look what you did," Aaliyah shook her head and went to get a water bottle from the refrigerator.
"Oh, she'll get over it." Lourdes waved her off.
Later that night, the girls were sitting in their living room, having a movie night. They were rewatching the Marvel movies and were on the first Captain America movie. Lourdes and Aaliyah were laying down on the sofa while Nala was sitting on a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor in front of them. They had invited Gianna to join them, but she was visiting D.C for the night. She had promised she was going to be back in time to go to TopGolf with them though and told her she would meet them there the following night.
"Chris Evans is so fine dawg," Nala said as she stared at the T.V, practically drooling at a scene where Captain America was shirtless, "Top tier white man."
"He's old enough to be your father." Aaliyah gave her a blank look.
"So? I'd call him daddy anytime-"
"Please, stop talking." Aaliyah cringed.
Lourdes shushed them and they continued watching the movie, until Aaliyah's phone rang, loudly, making them both glare at her.
"Sorryyy, I have to take this. Just pause it, I'll be back in a sec." She gave them a guilty smile and walked into the other room.
Lourdes and Nala sat in silence for a couple of moments before Nala spoke up.
"There's another party at one of the frat houses next weekend y'know, are you going?"
"Nah, I'm trying to lay off of parties." Lourdes shook her head.
"You never told us what happened at the other one." Nala looked up at her and Lourdes let out a sigh. Nala had eventually stopped asking why she had a panic attack at one of the parties, which Lourdes was grateful for but she still didn't feel like talking about it, weeks later.
"I told you, it was no big deal, I was just overreacting." She muttered and shifted in her seat.
"You didn't see yourself, Lo, you were a mess and you were scaring us. You know you can tell us anything right?" Nala assured her and Lourdes sighed. She thought they were done talking about this and she wasn't in the mood to discuss it at the moment. Aaron hadn't shown up anywhere else and there was no sign of Myles anywhere. She just wanted to put this entire thing past her.
"Yes Nala, I know. Can you just drop it? Damn." She barked.
"Well, I'm sorry for fucking caring about your mental health? What's your fucking problem?" Nala swore, standing up.
"I told you to just drop it bruh, so stop asking me about it. Why is that so hard for you?" Lourdes yelled, standing up.
"Woah, Woah! What is wrong with Y'all? Why am I breaking up a fight for the second time today?" Aaliyah appeared back in the living room with a confused look on her face.
"Tell Nala to get out my damn business!" Lourdes gestured to Nala who was looking at her with disbelief.
"Are you being serious? Excuse me for being concerned about my fucking friend." Nala scoffed and stormed off to her bedroom for the second time that day.
Lourdes collapsed on the couch and took a deep breath. "I'm going to bed, goodnight." She gave Aaliyah a small smile and walked to her own bedroom.
Lourdes didn't like opening up to people about her problems. She liked to deal with things on her own and often downplayed her own feelings to herself. She constantly convinced herself that her feelings weren't valid and she was just being dramatic, even though that wasn't the case.
Nala and Aaliyah knew about the abuse she endured during her childhood, but they didn't know the details, which Lourdes kept to herself. She hated people pitying her and she didn't want them to look at her any differently because of what she had gone through. She knew one day she would have to tell them some things about her life, but she wasn't ready now.
She knew Nala would cool down and they would talk it out eventually, but both of them were angry with each other and they needed time to think. Nala and Lourdes were the most stubborn out of their small friend group, so they often butt heads about things, but they were never this big. Poor Aaliyah was always breaking up their arguments, she was starting to feel bad for the girl.
Lourdes turned on her oil diffuser, putting in her tea tree oil, and laid down in her bed, getting comfortable under the covers. It was only 11 and she wasn't tired yet, so she unlocked her phone to go on TikTok. She was watching a wig install video when her phone vibrated, indicating she had gotten a text. She smiled when she saw it was from Rashir but quickly caught herself.
Aye you awake?
She read the text and replied.
yea, what's up stink?
Stop calling me that shit bruh
Lourdes laughed, she had recently started calling him stink as a joke, but the more he got annoyed, the funnier it was. The name stuck, even though he hated it.
lmaooo no (:
why'd u text me tho
Nuthin jus bored
Send me an imessage game
Lourdes rolled her eyes.
boy it's late
You jus scared ima beat ya cocky ass at 8ball
wrong.
Send the game then scary
bet.
They went back and forth for a couple of minutes until Lourdes had one more ball left. She shot it into the top right corner and it went straight in.
You cheatin fr
😐 no tf i didn't
sore loser
Rematch
no it's bedtime
gn stink 😚
Goodnight Lourdes
Lourdes put her phone on her nightstand and turned off her lamp, turning around in her bed to go to sleep.
***
hello everyone! what did we think? this is just a lil filler kind of. i wanted to let you guys see more of the girls friendship. they're definitely a bit dysfunctional lol. don't forget to vote and comment!