"Run this by me again—no, no, T, we gotta play it back!" Lauren cried, pausing the video playing on Khadijah's laptop. Khadijah hid her face in her mom's shirt, half amused by her aunt and half mortified as she watched her mom's face contort and twist as the music video continued to play. Some of the clips Kaiyah had included are some Khadijah had never even seen before—like the one of her and Arion shotgunning. "Are you wearing his chain?" Lauren asked Khadijah incredulously. She'd rewound the video all the way to the beginning, and sure enough, one of the very first clips was of Khadijah cheesing into the camera, holding up Arion's large Cuban link that was clasped around her neck as the camera zoomed in on her.
"You sure you want to do this?" Khadijah asked Arion as he gently laid the chain around her neck.
"You the only girl I would let wear my chain, Jah."
Khadijah couldn't help herself—smiling at the memory as the video continued to play. The three women sat squished together on the couch in the Karim's apartment. Unconsciously, she whispered the lyrics to Arion's verse under her breath, watching alongside her mother and aunt as Kaiyah mashed together different clips to create the music video but somehow still made them flow and work cohesively as visuals to the song. Filming the video wasn't as hard as she anticipated—everyone tried their best to keep her distracted so it just felt like she was at a regular party rather than shooting a music video.
"Timera, look away," Lauren joked as another clip of Khadijah and Arion appeared on the screen. Arion had his arms around her neck, throwing up gang signs as Khadijah smiled brightly, hand resting on his bicep. Khadijah was just happy to be there.
The music video progressed steadily and despite her mother's apprehensive deposition, Khadijah could secretly tell that she enjoyed the song even if she didn't want to.
"W-what are you doing?" Timera asked, voice laced with confusion. Khadijah and Arion were in frame as Kevin's verse played in the background. Arion had his arm strewn over Khadijah's shoulder, and they bounced back and forth together, dancing in tandem—the crowd shouting wordlessly behind them.
"Arion wanted me to get sturdy," Khadijah stated, rolling her eyes, despite the small smile on her face.
"No, no, I can't dance, D," Khadijah said, shaking her head furiously as Arion tugged her forward by her forearm. She was faded as hell, having taken a few more hits of the blunt Blu had rolled. She'd loosened up considerably, but no amount of weed or Hennessy could make her forget the fact that she couldn't fucking dance to save her life.
All these boys wanted to do was dance.
"You trust me?" Arion asked her, eyes baring into her own. She stammered slightly, helplessly opening and closing her mouth. "Answer me, Khadijah."
"Y-yeah, I do," she stuttered, a bit caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in Arion's eyes.
"Aight, so c'mon," he grinned widely, tucking her under his arm. "Watch what I do, move 'yo legs like this to the beat." Khadijah nodded—determined to do the dance right. Her tongue poked out a little as she concentrated, watching Arion's feet move. She tried to mimick him as best as she could, following the flow of the song as she held Arion's hand that dangled over her shoulder.
"Okay, okay!" Setty cheered them on from behind. Camera flashes went off as the crowd hyped them up continuously, but the only person Khadijah could see was Arion.
"It's just a dance, hooyo," Khadijah blushed, averting her eyes, "not a big deal."
"You was fucking it up," Lauren hummed in approval, leaning forward to get a better look at the small computer screen, "looking cute as hell too. I see why Arion can't get enough of 'yo ass. Still, I didn't see this coming, and that irritates the shit outta me." Lauren huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Didn't see what coming?" Khadijah asked curiously as the music video finished playing in the background.
"You and Arion." Lauren clarified. "I don't know, I couldn't wrap my head around it at first. You were so deep into your books, I never thought you'd ever look his way."
"I was academically driven, auntie." Khadijah sighed.
"Yes, so driven in fact, that you didn't have any friends until Kevin and Arion forced themselves into 'ya life," Lauren spoke, rolling her eyes, "I'm just saying, Arion has waited a long ass time for this moment. I guess shit really does come full circle."
"Huh?" Khadijah jerked her head up. "What do you mean?"
"Laur, no," her mother, Timera, chimed in suddenly, shaking her head slowly, "let them figure it out for themselves."
"T, what are you talking about? Clearly, they—" Lauren stopped speaking, locking eyes with Timera who made a facial expression Khadijah couldn't quite decipher.
"What? What is it?" Khadijah asked frantically, eyes darting between her mother and her aunt, who held a silent conversation Khadijah wasn't included in.
"Nothing, jacaylkayga (my love)," her mother sighed at last with a strained smile, "your aunt is going senile and maybe potentially dealing with early menopause."
"Bitch—" Lauren gasped so loudly, sitting up straighter on the couch just as the front door to the apartment opened. Jackie popped in with a bright smile, carrying two bottles of wine in-hand. Khadijah perked up, suddenly distracted, as Arion walked through the doorway after her wearing a simple grey tracksuit and white air forces.
She bit her lip nervously, reaching over to hastily close her laptop screen as they walked in.
"Hola chicas (hello girls)! How we feeling tonight?" Jackie exclaimed happily, shucking off her coat and setting it behind one of the kitchen chairs. They slipped off their shoes before fully entering the living room. Jackie squeezed onto the couch next to them with the wine bottles, while Arion leaned up against the archway.
"Feeling good, feeling good, Jack," Lauren said, narrowing her eyes at Timera before she turned her gaze to Jackie, "we just watched the music video, by the way. It's amazing. You guys did the damn thing. I'm proud of you, Arion."
"Thanks, auntie," Arion smiled slightly, looking down at the floor shyly, "I 'preciate it."
"Both my babies did good, that's why we have wine tonight!" Jackie cheered, pumping the bottle of white wine in the air. "Kevin was supposed to come with us, but he said, 'fuck I'ma do there? Sit and watch Doug and Jah fuck? Hell nah.'" Jackie said, mocking her youngest son's voice, dropping her voice slightly lower.
"See?" Lauren cried out, slapping Jackie's arm impulsively, causing her to yelp, "I knew it!"
"What?! Don't fucking hit me, hoe! That hurts!"
Timera held her cheeks in her hands, and Khadijah swore she could hear her praying lowly amongst the chaos in the room that erupted as Jackie and Lauren began talking animatedly back and forth. The pair could fill a dull room with their infectious energy, and Timera resigned herself to listening to them chat as they jumped from topic to topic in the span of a few minutes.
"Arion, grab me three wine glasses from the cabinet," Timera sighed, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as Jackie and Lauren began to argue over who had the best verse on Brotherly Love. "Get me a big one. Please."
"My baby Kevin did his thing! Don't downplay his shit!"
"I'm not! I'm just saying like B-Lovee deserves some recognition too—are you even listening to me?!"
"Alright, what we not finna do is sit here and play like Arion did not murder that beat," Timera frowned, staring at her best friends in disbelief, "don't play with him like that. Also, what the hell is a... B-Lovee?"
"Stay out of it, Timera!" Jackie and Lauren shouted in unison, shooting their friend a glare before they resumed talking as Arion slowly backed away from the doorway, disappearing into the kitchen. He looked a little nervous. Khadijah didn't blame him. The three of these women together in one room could make anyone's head spin.
"Uh, which cabinet, Miss Timera?" Arion's voice called out from the kitchen, barely audible over the sounds of Jackie and Lauren's argument.
Timera looked at her daughter wordlessly, and Khadijah stood up, carefully manoeuvring around the couch as Jackie and Lauren's conversation amped up in volume. She padded into the kitchen, adjusting the grey bralette she was wearing. In the small kitchen, Arion looked around utterly confused, having opened the upper cabinet where they'd kept her mother's glass vases for flowers her father would buy. Looking at the cabinet of empty glass vases made her heart churn because her father wasn't there anymore to spontaneously buy her mother flowers, the vases had remained completely untouched—a ghost of a memory. Khadijah pushed past Arion, reaching up and closing the cabinet, letting out a soft sigh once they were out of sight.
"The wine glasses are here," Khadijah pointed out, opening the cabinet adjacent to the flower vases. She reached up, bracing herself against the counter, to grab a glass. She struggled somewhat despite her tall stature since her mother had decided to store the wine glasses on the highest shelf that even she couldn't reach, making her swear under her breath. Her body stiffened as Arion pressed up against her, his chest planted firmly against her back—ass rubbing against his stomach, feeling the hard outline of his knock. His arms framed her body, easily grabbing two glasses, setting them on the counter in front of her. He grabbed one more—a bigger one for her mother—before he eased off her, allowing Khadijah to finally breathe.
"You stuck or sumn?" Arion smirked at her, picking up two of the wine glasses, as Khadijah's heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. She had frozen in place, leaning against the corner. Khadijah glared at him defiantly, picking up the last wine glass as she spun around.
He'd done it on purpose.
She kissed her teeth, walking past him towards the living room, completely unaware of the way his eyes focused solely on her ass and thick thighs that jiggled in her camo shorts with each step she took.
"You guys good, now?" Khadijah asked her mom as she set down the wine glass on the coffee table. Arion followed suit, setting the other two wine glasses in front of Jackie and Lauren, who'd calmed down reasonably. The women were occupied with picking a movie to watch while they drowned themselves in wine to celebrate Arion and Kevin's newfound success. Timera shook her head at their antics with a soft smile, popping open the wine and pouring a hefty glass for herself.
"We're good, hurry before they notice you guys standing here—you know they love to talk for hours," Timera whispered to her daughter, subtly nodding towards the direction of Khadijah's room, "be responsible." She warned her sternly.
"Okay, hooyo, I got it," Khadijah giggled quietly, slipping past Arion to head into her room. As she passed the coffee table, she grabbed her laptop off the surface. She knew Arion was following her and she smiled, turning off her overhead light and struggling to turn on her standing lamp she had stationed in the corner. She bent down, fiddling with the plug before she managed to flick the switch, allowing light to illuminate the room. When she looked behind her, rising up slowly, Arion was by her dresser. He slipped off his hoodie, emptying his pockets onto the dresser, resting his knock beside her gold jewellry stand.
"I'm not gon' lie, you might have to change 'cause there's no way I can be respectful when you look like that," Arion chuckled dryly as he placed his things down. When he looked back up at her—his eyes had sharpened dangerously in a way Khadijah had never seen before. She subconsciously shifted on her feet, rubbing her thighs together.
"Boy, please," Khadijah scoffed, trying to act nonchalant as she waved him off, "you been with how many girls? You can handle one night of celibacy." She retorted. Khadijah turned on her projector, hooking her laptop up to the HDMI cord.
"I haven't been wit' no girls," Arion said, eyebrows furrowed together, taking a seat on the edge of her bed, "what are you talking about?"
"What?"
"I haven't... been wit' a girl," Arion ennunciated slowly, looking a little pained at having to admit he was a virgin, "like, I've gotten head before but I ain't never... " He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Oh... okay."
Khadijah tried busying herself with setting up her projector as she processed the information Arion had told her. She was sure that he wasn't a virgin—after all, who was these days? She'd known girls who had been fucking back in grade eight and Arion never seemed like the type who'd want to wait so why—
Khadijah flinched as her projector started blasting Brotherly Love, the music video still playing on her laptop. She hurried to pause the video with a loud groan. Somehow, this was more embarassing than talking about their virginity.
"You really running up them views, huh?" Arion smiled at her cheekily as she exited out of the tab.
"Shut up," Khadijah mumbled, face flushing red as she put on a random Marvel movie since she knew it was Arion's favorite. The introduction to Spider-Man: No Way Home started playing in the background and Khadijah moved towards her bed to get comfortable. She gestured for Arion to move, pulling back the covers as she climbed in readily. She sat up, picking up her large claw clip to wrap her hair up in. She barely spared Arion a glance as he settled in next to her.
"I was serious about what I said earlier though." Arion said quietly. They sat up against her headboard, shoulder-to-shoulder, eyes focused forward on the movie playing from Khadijah's projector.
"Okay," Khadijah repeated, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye cautiously, "why do you keep saying it?"
"Because the girl I wanna touch on is you," Arion clarified, leaning his head back against the headboard, he turned his head to the side slightly, staring at Khadijah's side profile—completely mesmerized by her beauty. As his words sunk into her brain, Khadijah's head slowly turned to look up at him. Their eyes locked and Khadijah struggled to even breathe under the heavy weight of Arion's stare.
His eye contact was deadly.
"What?" Her voice cracked with uncertainty.
"I said—" Arion spoke, sitting up straighter against the headboard. He looped his arm around Khadijah's back, forcing her forward on her knees as she fell against his chest. He pressed his forehead against hers, still holding her gaze with ease. "The only girl I wanna touch on is you." Arion said lowly, punctuating his words with a slight squeeze of her waist. Khadijah's breath hitched in her throat. She swallowed deeply as she tried to figure out what to say.
"So, what you're saying is... " Khadijah trailed off, glancing off to the side nervously. Her nerves felt like they were on fire—her heart racing as she awaited his response.
"I'm saying—" Arion dragged out, holding her tighter, "I like you and I want you." He whispered to her, mouth against her cheek, mimicking the meme. That broke the spell and Khadijah pushed his face away from her with a smile as she cracked up nervously. "Aye, I'm serious though." Arion frowned when Khadijah kept laughing. She just couldn't take him seriously.
"Y-you are?" Khadijah asked him once she began to calm down. "You deadass right now?"
"Yes, man," Arion sighed, hands moving to rest on her thighs, "I'm serious. I like you, Khadijah. I just didn't wanna say anything before 'cause—" He bit his lip, cutting himself off from speaking.
"No, say what you were gonna say," Khadijah frowned because she hated when people did that shit. It made her nervous.
"We kissed, right?" Arion said slowly. "That shit fucked me up bad. You were dealing with a lot—it just felt wrong. I felt like I was taking advantage of you—you were vulnerable and I ain't like that." He shook his head. "After that night, I couldn't bring myself to come back here. I went out to a party—took a couple percs to get my mind off it and before I knew it, I'd relapsed and I was out of it for days. It was only supposed to be one or two. Shit was embarassing."
"Its not embarassing," Khadijah reassured him quietly, she moved his left hand off her thigh, interlocking their fingers, "we were both dealing with stuff."
"Do you like me?" He asked her bluntly after a few minutes of silence.
That was the million dollar question.
For a moment, Khadijah hesitated to answer, but Arion didn't give her time to mull over her thoughts long enough. He tugged her forward again insistently, unravelling her hair from her claw clip, letting it fall onto the bed sheet. He threaded his fingers through her hair gently as it splayed against her back before gripping it roughly in his fist. Khadijah couldn't even make a sound as Arion jerked her head back, stretching out the column of her neck. They were eye-to-eye now and Khadijah's hands rested on Arion's chest—feeling each breath he took, slow and controlled.
"Tell me you don't want me touching you like this," he whispered to her, lips brushing against her own, "I'll stop right now if you tell me to, ma."
Fuck.
Khadijah felt like the words were stuck—lodged deep within her throat. All she could do was swallow harshly once more. The tension between them was so thick that she threatened to fold under the pressure. The way Arion was staring at her—speaking to her—this man hadn't fucked someone before?
Was he sure?
"Khadijah, tell me if you want to stop," he warned her before before he pushed her head forward using the grip he had on her hair. Their mouths pressed together, moving languidly against one another. Khadijah was eager—she didn't waste time, parting her mouth to give Arion access. She gasped against his lips as his tongue slid into her mouth with ease. His other hand moved to her waist, sliding her against his pelvis. He didn't even need to prompt her—she stirred her hips forward on her own, feeling his hardon through the fabric of his sweatpants. Now, it was his turn to groan as she grinded against him, loosening the grip he had on her hair, sliding his hand down to cuff her neck. Khadijah snaked her hands beneath his black t-shirt, slowly inching it upwards—helping Arion take it off.
She bit her lip anxiously as Arion gently laid her back against the bed, her head by the foot as he loomed over her, hands on either side of her head. A simplistic silver twenty-inch chain dangled in her face and she gently pulled on the chain carefully, tugging him down towards her and connecting their mouths once more.
"Tell me if you want to stop," Arion repeated his earlier words, breathing into her mouth heavily. One of his hands had drifted downwards, toying with the hem of her grey bralette, inching towards her breasts and Khadijah's core pulsed in excitement.
Her underwear was soaked.
"I don't," she whispered to him, pulling him in to kiss her again.