"Have a blessed day" Temi smiled to the customer as she handed them their bag. The store was very busy today and she had planed to stay opening to closing, she had just come back from Essex this morning so she was yet to go home. Get along better by Drake blared around the store as Temi weaved between the customers as one signalled for her.
"Yo babes you got these in a size 10" the tall lightskin man asked giving her the trainer whilst looking Temi up and down.
"Umm yeah, you want to try it on?" She replied with a fake smile plastered on her face.
"Nah, it's calm I've already got a pair just needed a re up" he smiled " and lemme get these in the same size" he said handing her another shoe.
"That's fine they will both be at the till for you whenever your ready" she said dully turning away.
"Why you running away darling, you got a name?" He laughed as grabbed Temi's wrist.
"Umm I don't know you so I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch me please" she said snatching her wrist away " and I've got a business to run so" she said about to walk way again before she cussed him out.
"My bad" he said holding his hands up apologetically." This is you?" He asked looking round the store.
"Yup" Temi said through a tight lipped smile, the only thing stopping her from walking away was that she was trying to be better with customers as she got a complaint a few days ago, Temi could come of as rude and stand off ish due to her quiet demeanour but she just didn't like people in general .
"That's hard" he smiled giving her a once over again. "You got an number I can have?" He said licking his lips
" yeah follow@fiendldn on ig it's in out bio" she recited, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.
"Nah babes I want your number" he emphasised aggressively .
"Err Londons not that big a place if you want it that bad you'll find me, if you don't guess it wasn't meant to be, have a great day" she said quickly scurrying off before he could answer but the shock on his face was evident , one thing Temi would never fully admit to herself was that she had a fear of men, besides her family and friends she just couldn't shake the fear that any man could hurt her the way those men hurt Omari. The guy was most likely harmless, but Temi wasn't willing to take her chances .
She shut the door to her office startled to see Aza in her usual spot."You good hun?" She smiled at her friend.
"Yeah" Temi frowned as she walked sat in her chair.
"You sure, you look upset" Aza worried.
"Nah customers are just pissing me off" She sighed spinning in the chair " If your not here to buy, I can accept peaceful browsers, but if your going to make me uncomfortable please I promise you I can live without your money" she ranted earning a confused look from Aza, at least once a week Temi would storm into her office and complain about a customer annoying her, half the time it wasn't her fault but the other half was up for discussion, Temi knew she was easily irritable but for the most part she was very calm.
"I will never get how your not a people person but your still friendly" she Laughed " but on a real note, this is your business what you say goes, if someone isn't respecting that or you in general no one is going to judge you if you protect yourself" she assured.
"Yeah I guess, but It's not that deep anyways,he was polite but I don't need you touching me like you know me and stop with the babes and the Darlings your not my man"she frowned again.
"Don't undermine how you feel. We can't keep letting entailed nigga's think they run things, now show me this person so I can tell them about themselves" Aza got up dusting off her joggers.
"Aza it's ok, I'm ok, he didn't hurt me he just irritated me and I doubt he will be back anytime soon" she said remembering the look on his face.
"Mmm as long as your good" she said sitting back down "Anyways how did the rest of the appointment go with Zayvier? You guys were still in there when everyone left" She wondered as they hadn't seen each other since that night
"Ohh it went pretty well defo started off a bit rocky but he was very happy with the turn out, as was I" Temi smiled, " Anyways how was your weekend?" She asked trying to change the topic, she knew if Aza asked her about Zayvier she would spill it all and she was trying to keep their new found friendship to herself .
"I went to Thorpe park with Azriel and Tay" she said referring to her siblings " Az goes back to uni soon and Tay starts secondary so he took us out before he goes back" Aza and Azriel were what one would call"ghetto twins" Azriel was 2 months older, they had the same dad but different mums but all three of the siblings grew up in the same house, Azriel moved in with them at 5 when his mum left him at his fathers and never came back and 8 years later Taylor was born." You?"
"You lot are to cute" Temi smiled, Temi liked having Aza as her friend, she enjoyed hearing about her family and things about her but she also appreciated that Aza cared about her life just as much as Temi did her."Well i went back to Essex for a few days and just did some work and I did some stuff with a friend" she shrugged.
"Since when did you have friends back home?" Aza asked shocked, when they first got close Temi told her how she had no friends only Neveah and she only spent time with her family back home.
" I don't, we'll I didn't I only started chilling with him when I got there" she said nonchalantly.
" Him?" She said extremely confused "who is this him Temi" she squinted Her eyes at her.
"Zayvier" she smiled " he's from back home, we actually went to the same secondary".
"Hmm ok girl" Aza smirked wiggling her brows.
"That is my friend, we literally just chilled" she confirmed as her notification went off. " speaking of the devil" she said reading the notification .
" not you smiling at your phone I hope you smile at my messages like that"Aza scrunched up her face at Temi.
"You know I do bae" she smiled replying to Zayvier, Temi left her car in Essex so she could get it modified and her Dad was going to bring it back later in the day so Zayvier drove them back and dropped her at work so he was now telling her he was going to pick her up despite her protest.
The two shortly went back to work and finished their shifts, the store was still fairly busy and lucky for Temi the last few hours of her shift she went in her office to do admin work.
She and Aza laughed as they Temi locked the back door of the store, summer was coming to an end so it was starting to get darker earlier. The pair walked towards the almost empty London streets before Temi spotted Zayvier, she was hesitant at first but could tell it was him from the red fitted cap concealing his locs.
"Ok it's time for me to go, my lift home is waiting" she said smirking at Aza who noticed Zayvier walking towards them.
"Ohh wow you got you a nigga who is willing to pay congestion charge for you, that's what you call real love" she said sarcastically as she stopped.
"That is my friend miss girl and I'll see you Wednesday in not in the next few days so don't have to much fun without me, text me when you get home ok" Temi said walking towards Zayvier giving Aza a wave goodbye.
"Ok babe I'll see you later and be safe" she joked walking to the station.
Temi smiled as she neared Zayvier who had changed from when she last saw him.
"Hello sir you didn't need to come all the way here but how was the rest of your day?" she asked as they walked towards his car.
"Uneventful I went and got my hair cut and went to the gym and now I'm here" he shrugged " how was work?" He said opening her door.
"It was ok, very busy and very slow and sick men who come in moving weird don't help" she then went onto tell Zayvier all about the encounter she had earlier.
"Times like that you've just got to say piss off and walk away, just leave the nigga standing there looking dumb"he shrugged.
"I can't say that that's so mean" she laughed at Zayvier's seriousness.
"Yes you can, people need to grown up rejection is a part of life and if you feel uncomfortable, remove yourself from the situation some people just aren't deserving of your respect nor time especially no one who is grabbing up girls in their workplace" he said intensely through furrowed brows. Temi nodded silently taking in what he had said in a weird way she appreciated how he didn't pussyfoot around her feelings he was blunt but honest which not many people were.
They drove in comfortable silence and occasional conversation as Zayvier's music hummed in the background , the London roads weren't as busy on the Sunday evening but they definitely weren't empty.
"Thank you for picking me up even though you didn't have to" she smiled sincerely as they sat in her driveway." Hate to admit it but your nice sometimes" she joked out the side of her mouth.
"If your going to verbally assault me in my own vehicle you can exit swiftly" he side eyed her.
"Whatever Zayvier" she rolled her eyes "have a good evening and enjoy your trip ok" she said shutting the door. She unlocked the door but stopped, confusing zavier, before she jogged back over to his car.
"You wanna come in?" she asked trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.
"Why you sound like your gonna cry?" He laughed.
"I can turn round and go back inside don't play with me, are you coming or not? She said aggressively.
"Of course" he smirked turning off his engine.
"Your house is incredible" Zayvier said im awe looking around the foyer as Temi locked the door behind him.
"Thank you, my dad did it" she said proudly.
"This is your dad?" he asked shocked.
"Yep he built it for my mum when they got married" she smiled getting earning appreciative nod from Zayvier.
"Do you want to eat because I'm really in the mood for Chinese" she smiled again." It's that Chinese I was telling you about" she said wiggling her eye brows.
"Relax" he said side eying her." But yeah"
The pair spent the rest of their evening talking and watching each other's favourite movies, Temi was open to acknowledge she had attachment issues and that's why she had very few friends, she believed most people that come into your life are temporary so there's no point of creating a strong bond if they eventually leave but with Zayvier she couldn't help herself he was an attracting force, she just felt good around him.
"I don't know why you love this movie so much"Zayvier said looking over at Temi who was engrossed in 13 going on 30.
"Zayvier if you watch the movie you will understand" she sassed letting out a yawn.
"After this is done imma head out, my flight is at 7 and the drivers coming at 5 so I've got to be up early" he yawned in return.
"Your really going to leave me" she frowned taking her attention off the tv.
"Yes" he replied plainly " are you going to fly me to Mexico?" He asked sarcastically
"Whatever" she huffed "but if you cancel your driver I'll drive you to the airport" she flashed her best smile at him.
"Fine but I've either got to go home and get my stuff or you gonna drive me?"
"Aww you just love being my passy princess don't you" she joked.
"Temi keep pushing my buttons and I swear to you I'm going to leave your big headed ass here on your ones" he side eyed her again.
"Fine sorry, we both drive to your house so you can drop off your car and I'll take you to the airport. So stop crying and watch the movie" she laughed unpausing the tv.
By the time the movie ended Temi had fallen asleep on Zayvier's shoulder and it was almost time for them to go ."Temi wake up so you can get ready we need to go soon" he said gently tapping her shoulder, luckily for him she was a light sleeper but she wasn't normally a morning person, she walked to her room without uttering a word to him and was out with in the next 30 minutes dressed in a grey Alexander wang tracksuit and yeezy foam runners.
Temi sat in her car in Zayvier's driveway on the phone to David as she waited for Zayvier to finish up in his house.
"I'll probably come round later today, if Ki's home" she yawned.
"I haven't seen you in 2 good weeks and your talking bout seeing Ki wow Tee" he joked.
"Don't cry are you not going to be there to?" she egged him on.
"Temi get off my phone" he said agitatedly.
"Ight I'm ready" Zayvier said opening the car door before Temi could reply to her brother.
"Dee I got to go bye love you"she said quickly before Zayvier started talk again.
"My bad" Zayvier shrugged as he got into the passenger seat. Temi laughed at Zayvier's heartless apology, she knew David would have questions but at this point she was grown.
Temi was more chirpy once Zayvier brought her Starbucks, it took them about 30 minutes until they pulled up to the tarmac of the airport, Temi completely forgot that Zayvier was a footballer until he told her to go round the back of the airport because that was where the private entrance was. " your gonna let me come with you right?" She smiled at Zayvier.
"You swear your grown but I spend 5 consecutive days with you and now you want to be Zay junior " he said sarcastically.
"Your to sassy for me I think it's time for you to go now"she said leaning over him and opening his door not expecting him to get out and grab his things, which he did.
"Wait wait, I'm just joking" she laughed running to the boot where he was getting out his suitcase " I know you don't do hugs so we gonna high five or fist bump or what" Temi joked.
"You play to much" he smirked nudging her "but high five" he said putting his hand by his head knowing Temi wouldn't be able to reach.
"Piss off" she rolled her eyes "message me when you land and have fun" she said walking back to the front of her car leaving Zayvier by himself. For the awfully moody person he was she could admit he was fun to be around, he was funny, he was genuinely smart and Temi didn't know why but she felt safe with Zayvier, he had a bad temper and almost as loose a mouth as her but she knew he was genuinely a good person.
Zayvier sat sprawled out in his seat messaging his family telling them he was about to take off, after them pressuring him they were glad he took a break, usually on his time off he would still train hours on end, everyone knew Zayvier was like a robot he did everything with such precision and to the best of his ability and if he couldn't do it he wouldn't stop until he learned, it was one of his best traits but also one of his worst.
He had never spent a birthday away from his family but they knew that if he spent more than a week in England he would find away to get back to work. It was Jaden's idea to take him on holiday even he was suprised when Zayvier agreed.
"Zay" Jaden called but got no response "Zayvier" he repeated.
"What" Zayvier mugged him looking up from his phone. It was only the two on the jet, Zayvier's one condition to going was that it wasn't a big group of people, other people were going to be there but he knew jaden wouldn't invite anyone Zayvier didn't know.
"Be happy bruv, we going Mexico" he cheesed at his best friend. "But firstly who was the girl in the lambo" he said cutting his eyes at him, Zayvier didnt know that Jaden had arrived before his and way already on the jet, seeing he was the punctual one.
Zayvier shrugged in response, not because he was trying to hide the fact that it was Temi, the pair have know each other far to long to hide things from one another,but because he didn't feel like talking, he knew that if told Jaden it was Temi it would be followed up by a million other questions he didn't have the energy to answer.
"Wow Zay your really not going to tell me" he joked siting up in his seat.
"If I'm awake in the next two hours ask me then and if I'm not ask me at the Airbnb and if I still don't answer then oh well" he shrugged again putting his phone down on the table.
"Zay don't piss me off" he side eyed him getting a snicker out of Zayvier.
"It was Temi." he said getting up and walking to the bedroom.
Jaden sat in his seat in shock, he was firstly shocked his bestfriend was with a girl and even more so that it was Temi. Many girls wanted Zayvier he was basically the who package besides the fact he didn't want them, everyone close to Zayvier knew he didn't do relationships, he didn't even have female friends, he himself just didn't like how he would be accountable for someone's feelings other than his own, he knew it sounded selfish but with his friends and family they knew what it was when it came to Zayvier and they had all learnt to navigate him the same way he did them from a very young age, he just didn't like the idea of having to always explain himself or constantly having to dial himself down and mask the same way he did around strangers.
"When did that happen" jaden asked trying to open the the door but Zayvier already locked it.
"Bout a week ago" Zayvier sighed on the other side of the door.
"Im actually baffed" Jaden said still in shock "Did you shout her after Dee and Rk's event then?"
"Nope" Zayvier was very uninterested with the conversation he didn't really want to talk about her or anything to be honest, he just wanted to sleep, but he knew Jaden was relentless."Jay I'm begging you bake off"he pleaded opening the door.
"If you leave me alone I'll answer anything when we land".
"I don't see my best friend for almost two weeks and this is how you treat me,wow" he said dramatically walking back to his seat.
"It's cute you think we're best friends but night" Zayvier said sarcastically through gritted teeth.
"No one else will put up with you, without me you'd be bored as hell antisocial ass nigga" he shouted loud enough for Zayvier to hear. The two argued like siblings they probably argued more than Zayvier and Soraya did, that was because they were as rude as each other, Zayvier definitely had the worse attitude out of the two but Jaden wasn't far behind, he was just a lot more friendly compared to Zayvier.
Zayvier woke up 8 hours later, he hadn't slept last night, even though Temi fell asleep he still finished all the movies she wanted him to watch, once he left the room he was surprised to see jaden sat awake in his chair.
"If your still cranky don't talk to me, I promise you I'll punch you in your shit" jaden said as Zay sat down.
"Relax those 8 hours did me good I literally got no sleep last night, for such a small girl Temi snores bares" he rembered.
"Chai this is not the Zayvier Andrews I know, how can you pattern then get her to drop you to the airport, only you would get away with something like that." Jaden sighed shaking his head.
"Relax" he dragged out "I didn't do anything with her and I don't intended on it either" he shrugged.
"So why was you with her last night?" He questioned confused.
"We just chilled like we have been doing all week" he shrugged.
"All week!" jaden shouted dramatically, although it was their dream to play for the same team it wasn't that easy, jaden and Zayvier both got signed to different teams at 18 despite this their timetables were mostly similar but jaden still had training that whole week."bruv your confusing me"
"When aren't you confused" Zayvier said out the side of his mouth.
"Don't make me fight you on this plane" he bucked at him.
"I'd like to see you try but umm" Zayvier explained each day he spent with Temi from the day she styled him to the week they spent in Essex.
"I'm still shocked how you spent a whole week with a girl and didn't think to tell me" Jaden said sarcastically.
"The question is why you in my business?" He rebutted."And to be fair it's not even like that like Temi's actually chill"
"So your telling me, not to be disrespectful or anything, if the opertunity presented itself you wouldn't pattern." He smirked at him.
"Stop thinking with your piece" he looked at him disgustedly, jaden was what Zayvier liked to call a selective whore, he was very stush when it came to girls he dealt with but he had a good sum of bodies to his name but he knew they weren't just regular girls, he claimed he didn't do it on purpose but Jaden only slept with and talked to ig models, he wasn't one to commit he never had been and he didn't intend to. " But I can't lie and say she isn't beautiful and she's genuinely funny that's why she could never just be a pattern that's bro now" he confessed. Zayvier respected Temi, she was one of the very few girls not just her age but in general who he thought carried themselves well, she had something going for herself and she wasn't worried bout no one else.
"So your telling me you think she's 10/10 but that's your bro"he asked confused, just like Soraya Jaden knew Zayvier didn't make friends let alone female friends so he just assumed it was the other option.
"That's what I said right" he squinted at him." You know I'm cool off that relationship stuff" he said blandly.
"I'm not saying Temi's the one but if you think she's 10/10 she's got to be at least something not everyone is like Nia" he said skeptically. Barely anyone knew about Zayvier and Zenia, they met at the start of sixth form Zenia wasn't popular but she was known, she was quiet which Zayvier liked she didn't get to involved with drama like her friends did and she was gorgeous another thing Zayvier liked. Zayvier, Jaden and kay were bait in college everyone knew them so when Zenia saw the opportunity she made her move ,a lot of girls feared approaching Zayvier, he was extremely attractive but he was equally as rude but to everyone's surprise he gave in, he believed she had no red flags. They spent all there time together Zayvier even missed training sometimes to be with her, it was all good at the start but one day she just switched, she was controlling, she always wanted to be with Zayvier or know where he was, she would force him to do things he didn't want to and when he finally opened up to her about his autism and his family she would constantly belittle him until the summer before he got signed he decided to end it, they got into it and she said a lot of hurtful things " I didn't love you Zay and to be honest I don't see how anyone could, you are sick in the head your not even a functioning member of society and you expect me to love you, your just so draining, you suck the life out of everyone around you, can't you see they're miserable ? Even your dad didn't stay, he probably killed himself because he could put up with his retarded son. The only thing your
good for is football and only football I just want you to know that now get out my face you dumb prick and delete my number yeah". That was his last straw, jaden had to stop him from punching her and to top it of after he found out she was also sleeping with Kay though out their whole relationship, Zayvier didn't really care on her behalf but for kay to do something like that to him after all he had done for him just tipped him off the edge, kay ended up in hospital after Zayvier found him but kay knew better than to tell anyone. Even though Zayvier never really cared for female attention it just proved to him more that not just girls but people in general aren't worth his time and affection, he generally tried with Zenia and for her to just turn around and spit it in his face hurt him.
"I could really care less about that bitch I just don't need nor want a girl" he shrugged. Everyone knew Zayvier didn't swear unless he was angry and he definitely didn't call people out their names especially females, his parents taught him better, but that was the only suitable word he could use to describe her.
"That's why we locked in" he said going to dapp him up.
"Don't compare me to you Mr commitment issues" Zay replied airing it.
"Nigga your no better than me Mr trust issues, I'm just exploring the scene why have one when you can have five you know" he shrugged
"Don't get to comfortable there's no cure for HIV" he joked giving him a warning look. Zayvier and jaden where practically brothers, they had been with each other through everything, Jaden was there when Zayvier's dad died the same way Zayvier was there when Jaden's mum left. They were each other's family, that's why Zayvier didn't care to make other friends because he knew he would never find one as good as Jaden.
Temi sat cuddled up with kiyari on the couch of kiyari and Dee's apartment whilst Dee cooked in the kitchen.
"When do you and Veah get your keys ?" Kiyari asked getting up to bother her boyfriend.
"Umm I believe next week and Veah wants to start moving the week after" she yawned focussing on the TV. Temi wasn't in a rush she loved living alone even if the house was a bit to big for her but she knew that Neveah was ready for some independency and they both needed this change in different ways.
"You decorating or you just adding as you go?" kiyari asked dishing up.
"I talked to dad and you know me and my Pinterest boreds" she shrugged "so I made one for Veah and I and he put some consepts together, but I don't want us to get the house and it's just fully done I want to go through the whole process of buying and looking for things to bring the house together so next week I've got some shopping days planned and I already have some things ordered" she rambled, Temi was excited to be a homeowner, even though she was young and independent she often felt like she was over reliant on her family and that made her life easy, she wanted to experience the real world first hand instead of living vicariously through them.
"Lovebug's grown grown doing big girl shit like she should" kiyari joked signaling for her to come into the kitchen.
"Speaking of being grown who was that in your car earlier Tee?" David asked handing his sister her bowl.
"Umm I don't recall, this is really good tho what's in it" she said stuffing her mouth, David wasn't one of those overly protective brothers when it came to boys because he never had to be,Temi never had time for boys she was either to busy trying to keep herself alive or to busy trying to make money, but when it came to Temi in general he was willing to do anything.
"Cream,cheese,seasoning,chicken and prawns now recall because what type of nigga is in your car at the crack of dawn" he said genuinely confused.
"Ooo Tee you had a boy in your car?" Kiyari laughed "Bout time, I was starting to think you was for the girls" she joked out the side of her mouth.
"Ki shut up" she laughed"but umm that was my friend" she said filling her mouth with food, she wasn't scared per say she just wasn't sure how David would react if he knew it was Zayvier and more specifically, that he slept over.
"who's your friend because that defo weren't Veah I heared, and it wasn't your new friend err Aza" he said side eying her.
"What your failing to acknowledge is that I'm making new friends like you always tell me, the point is I made one not who they are" she shrugged but she knew he could tell she was trying to divert the question.
"Well done. Who is it?" he said giving her a blank stare.
"Well since you want to be in my business so bad his name is Zayvier" she said quietly getting up to wash her bowl. She knew they knew each other, she didn't know how but there are only so many Zayvier's in London that Dee knows.
"Zay Andrews?" He questioned turning to face his sister.
"That's the one"
"I don't even care about how that came to play I'm just confused as to why bro was in your car at almost 5am" he said focusing on his food. He hadn't heard much bad about Zayvier, and he knew his sister well enough to know she would never be some baller groupie so he was just genuinely confused.
"I was taking him to the airport"
"Zay's grown and rich enough to get a driver" he continued.
"He had a driver but I offered to drive him so he would stay the night" she stopped clocking what she said , seeing both Kiyari and David's eyes go wide "Relax he is genuinely my friend, I styled a few fits for him a few weeks ago and then we both went back to Essex at the same time and we just chilled" she shrugged trying to hide her panic.
"I told you she would have a rebel faze soon look at her getting drunk, getting tattoos, moving out, having sleepovers with boys" Kiyari joked.
"Ain't no one got time to rebel, under the eyes of the law im an adult and therefore I will partake in adult activities" Temi rebutted.
"Period" kiyari said adding fuel to the flames and David silently watched his sister and his girlfriend with a disgusted look on his face.
"You know what, your right, do what makes you happy, just be safe init" he shrugged defeated.
Temi and kiyari looked back between each other and David who got up to take his and kiyaris bowls to the sink, both knew David was very protective of the woman in his life so to see him so calm was somewhat shocking.
Temi and David have always been close, despite their age difference, once Omari died and Temi went back to school she could never make real friends, she spent all her time trailing around with her older brother and his friends, David found it annoying but Temi was his best friend, and lots of things have happened to her in her short space of living, that's why he was so protective over her.
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- I'm backkkkkk!!! I'm sorry, I have a bad habit of writing on and off and when I finish a chapter I never get around to editing it on time so there could be a few errors in this one but anywaysssss
This was kind of a filler, T and Zay are getting closer ;) I like very much. I'm trying not to show to much of Zayvier's personality in these beginning chapters but you'll see why later so.
And I wanted to reintroduce Jaden, and show a bit more of my babes Aza. But predictions???
I'll be back soon so DONT forget to vote and comment😘
-TKLUVWRITES💕