⚠️ this chapter contains mentions of domestic abuse.
After they had agreed to regroup at 5, Lourdes had practically skipped to her bedroom, eager to take a nap. She had completely knocked out and woken up at 4:30 to jump in a shower, she didn't know what they were going to do but she was praying it would involve food because she was starving.
Now she was running around in her room in her bra and a thong, doing her makeup and trying to pick out an outfit. She wasn't sure what to wear, she had packed many outfits for going out but she didn't want to be overdressed.
"Fuck it," She muttered and decided on a white, one-shoulder cutout dress. It was over 80 degrees out, and humid, so she knew she'd be hot and she didn't feel like wearing pants. She threw the dress down on the bed and went back to the bathroom to finish doing her makeup. She only had to do her lips and she'd be finished.
She lined her lips with dark brown liner and smudged it a little so it gave her a 90's look. She finished it off with some clear lip gloss and looked in the mirror, satisfied. After she was done, she put her makeup in her makeup bag and exited the ensuite bathroom, rushing to put her dress on.
As she bent over to pick something up on the ground, she heard the bedroom door open and figured it was one of the girls coming to rush her. She straightened up and gasped when she realized it was Rashir at the door and he was staring at her with wide eyes and his mouth hung open. She quickly grabbed a pillow and tried to cover her exposed body but it was too late, he'd seen everything he needed to see.
"My god! Don't you know how to knock?" She yelled, embarrassed that he had practically seen her naked. The thong didn't do much to cover the back, or the front. She waited for a response from him, probably an apology but it seemed like Rashir was stuck in place, not able to move. "Why are you just standing there? Get out!" She marched up to him and shoved him out of the room, slamming the door in his face and trying to cover her flaming cheeks.
She covered her face with her hands, mortified, and threw the pillow back on the bed. She quickly grabbed the dress and slipped it on, grabbing some random sandals and her purse with her phone in it. It was 5:15 and she knew her friends were probably waiting on her.
Rushing out of her room and down the stairs, she made her way to the living room and was met with the faces of her annoyed friends. She avoided Rashir's horny stare and gave the rest of them a sheepish smile.
"What the hell have you been doing for almost 20 minutes? Even Gianna was ready before you," Nala snapped.
"We had to send Rashir up to get you," Aaliyah cosigned. Lourdes winced at the mention of him, but waved their badgering off.
"Well I'm here now so where are we going?" She asked, taking in the group's attire. They were all dressed to go out like she was, she let out a sigh of relief, grateful she wasn't overdressed.
"We're going to this restaurant for dinner," Mateo told her, standing up from his position on the couch. Lourdes silently thanked God, her prayers for food had been answered. The rest of the group followed Mateo's lead and stood up as well, stretching. "We have some cars in the garage, I'm taking the Range Rover, y'all can take the BMW." He gestured between the girls and reached for a pair of keys holding them up, "Which one of you is driving?" He asked.
"I can drive," Gianna volunteered.
"No!" Lourdes, Nala, and Aaliyah all yelled at the same time, making her jump.
"I'll drive," Nala snatched the keys from Mateo's hands, "You're not going anywhere near a car while we're here," She pointed to Gianna, making her roll her eyes.
"You guys are so dramatic, I'm a good driver!"
"Sure you are," Aaliyah said, obviously being sarcastic.
"What's the address of the place?" Nala asked Mateo, pulling her phone out of her purse to put the address into the Maps app. Mateo recited the address and told them to drive safely. He seemed a little on edge about anyone driving one of his cars but Nala assured them she was a great driver.
They walked to the garage and Mateo opened the door, revealing the luxury cars they owned. He showed Nala how to operate the BMW and once he was finished, the boys got into the Range Rover that he was driving and drove out of the garage. The girls piled into the BMW, which was a convertible, and Lourdes immediately grabbed the aux and shuffled a random playlist.
"Levitating," by Dua Lipa blared through the speakers of the car, making the girls cheer. Nala put the top down, speeding out of the property as they yelled the lyrics.
The girls arrived at the restaurant and Nala parallel parked in front of the building, putting the car in park and turning off the music. Mateo told them they had already got a table inside so they all piled out of the car and locked it, heading inside of the restaurant. They noticed the boys sitting at a big table, waiting for them and they told the hostess their party had already checked in. The boys looked up when they say the girls approach them, putting down their phones.
"What took y'all so long?" Nico asked as Nala took a seat next to him.
She shrugged, pulling out the menu and scanning it, "We didn't even take that long, chill," Lourdes took a seat next to Rashir, and Gianna sat on the other side of her. She avoided his stare and copied Nala, picking up her menu and looking for something to drink.
"I ain't know you had a spine tattoo," He leaned into her ear and whispered, making her blush and swat his arm.
"We don't speak of what you saw," She rushed out, refusing to look over at him but she could tell he was chuckling. She huffed, still embarrassed he had walked in on her and basically seen her naked but she tried to shrug it off. Their waiter came up to them and took the girl's drink orders since the boys had already ordered drinks while they were waiting for them to arrive. Gianna and Nala both ordered margarita's while Aaliyah and Lourdes sprang for non-alcoholic lemonades. Lourdes made Rashir share some of his Pina Colada though.
The group conversed about the flight and the island, Lourdes couldn't get over how beautiful it was. Throughout the drive, she couldn't help but stare at the different buildings they passed and the ocean you could see from the road.
"So what we doing tomorrow?" Nico asked Mateo.
"Ion know, I didn't plan anything," He shrugged, "What you wanna do Lourdes? It's yo' birthday trip anyways,"
She thought about it for a moment, she had a list of different things she wanted to do but she couldn't decide on one at the moment and she wanted at least one day for everyone to do what they wanted on their own.
"We can just do our own things if y'all want," She offered.
"Ooh yay! I'm going shopping then," Gianna squealed.
"Count me out," Nala took a sip of her margarita, "I'm going swimming with sharks," She declared.
"I wanna go to an aquarium," Aaliyah said excitedly, turning to Mateo who was sitting next to her, "Can we go?" She pouted.
"Of course we can baby," He agreed, making the group gag at their cuteness.
"We should go snorkeling," Lourdes smiled manically at Rashir. She had made him promise that he would go with her, as long as she went jetskiing with him. He was reluctant to go with her, he claimed being that close to "Fishes and shit," creeped him out.
Rashir gave her a look and she brought her hands together to beg, "Please?"
"Fine," He grumbled.
They spent the rest of the evening, talking and laughing, sharing excitement for the rest of the trip. When the bill arrived, Mateo told them it was on him even though Lourdes insisted on pitching in, until Nala told her to "Shut up and enjoy the free food,"
The group exited the restaurant and walked onto the sidewalk, parting ways and telling each other they'd see each other back at the house.
"Okay, let's go besties," Nala walked towards the car, slightly swaying.
"Woah, Woah, Woah, you're not driving," Lourdes grabbed her arm to stop her, "You had like 2 margarita's, gimme the keys," She held her hands out for the keys and Nala pouted. Lourdes had been in a car with someone who was driving drunk before, it was a scary experience that she didn't wish on anyone.
Flashback to Sophomore Year:
"Myles!" Lourdes called out to her boyfriend that was dragging her away from the house party. "Myles, stop!" She pleaded, holding back the tears that were beginning to form. "Myles you're hurting me," She tried to yank her arm away from his grip but he was too strong. She knew she would have a nasty bruise the next day that she didn't feel like explaining. Myles continued to drag her out into the street and sloppily threw her into his car, getting in her face.
"You deserve to be fucking hurt!" Myles yelled back in her face, making her cower away from him, "I bring you to a party and see you flirting with other guys? How much of a hoe can you be?" He seethed.
"I told you, I kept telling him to leave me alone but he wouldn't," Lourdes repeated for the 10th time. When Myles had disappeared for a couple of minutes at the party, she had hung out at the makeshift bar one of the frats had made in the kitchen. A guy approached her that she recognized from one of her classes and they made small talk until he began to hit on her and she quickly told him she wasn't interested. Myles came back right as the boy grabbed her and went absolutely ballistic, punching the guy and dragging her out of the house like some sort of ragdoll.
"Stop fucking lying," He screamed, his face was red and he was breathing heavy, "I can't take your stupid ass anywhere without you embarrassing me," He walked to the other side of the car and got into the driver seat and began to put the keys in the ignition but she put her hand over his to stop him.
"Myles, you've been drinking, you can't drive," She told him as calmly as she could. She knew he hated when she told him what to do, it only made him angrier. He turned to her slowly, not saying a word and she became afraid, he was only silent when he was about to hit her. She quickly turned in her seat and tried opening the door but it was too late, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back in the car, making her cry out in pain. She struggled against him, still trying to get out of the car but he yanked her closer and she couldn't do anything but hope he would stop.
"Don't tell me what to do," He jabbed a finger in her face and when she was silent, he brought his hand back and backhanded her. She yelled, grabbing her face that was throbbing, too distracted to try and get him to stop driving. He started the engine and peeled out of the parking space, speeding off and swerving in the road.
"Myles stop! You're going to get us killed," She yelled at him as he ran a stop sign and continued speeding. When he didn't respond she tried to grab the steering wheel but he pushed her hands away and shoved her head into the window. She held her head in pain, groaning when the back of her head began to throb as well.
"Stop talking, just shut up!" He yelled, turning to look at her, taking his eyes off of the road. "You're a worthless little bitch, you know that? I give someone like you a chance and you turn around and cheat on me? That's the thank you I get?" He scoffed, "You're nothing without me,"
She stayed silent, discreetly wiping at the tears streaming down her face as he continued to drive them to God knows where. When he swerved into the other lane and a car honked at him, she screamed, convinced they were going to crash.
"Stop the car Myles," She told him. He didn't respond, so she raised her voice, "Stop the car, now!" He ignored her, turning into a neighborhood she didn't recognize. When he narrowly missed a mailbox she became fed up, "I said stop the car!" She yelled.
He didn't say anything back, glancing at her for a moment, and pulled over onto the side of the road, making her sigh in relief. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door, walking over to the driver's side and opening the door, "Just let me drive us home, please." She pleaded.
He grunted and got out of the car, bumping her shoulder as he passed and got into the passenger's seat. With shaky hands, she started the car and pulled off of the side of the road, getting back on the main road, and began driving in the direction of his apartment. She would drop him off and spend the night, she didn't feel like calling an Uber home and it was late.
It was silent as she drove, neither one of them wanted to say anything and quite frankly, she was too scared to speak. She pulled into the parking lot of his complex and parked, killing the engine and taking the keys out of the ignition. She didn't make a move to get out of the car and he didn't either.
"I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean any of it right?" He turned to her, pushing her hair out of her face and she flinched.
"Mhm,"
"Good, you just make me mad sometimes," He said nothing else and exited the car, not checking to see if she was behind him.
"I didn't even have that much to- Lo? What's wrong?" Nala asked, concerned.
Lourdes was frozen in place, breathing heavily at the memories that were flooding back. She placed her hand on her heart and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down as the 3 of them stared at her. When she felt better, she opened her eyes and reached out for the keys once again.
"Nala please, just let me drive," She begged. Nala didn't protest this time, instead of dropping the keys in her hand and walked to the passenger seat, getting in without a word. Gianna and Aaliyah climbed into the backseat, while Lourdes stayed in place on the sidewalk, trying to get a hold of herself.
"Lo? I can drive if you want," Aaliyah called out. Lourdes just shook her head, snapping out of it and making her way to the car.
***
hey y'all! i am so sorry for not updating, i got my nails done and i cannot type on my computer lmaooo. also sorry for this short ass chapter but i had to give y'all something. don't forget to vote and comment!