"Samaria! Hold your cousin's hand or you comin' back by me," Mari called to her niece who was adamantly refusing to hold TJ's hand—for whatever reason.
"You so mean, Tete Moo," Xavion smirked as they went off into the kiddie pool. "Let that girl be free,"
"Aht aht! No, you see how Skylar is listening? And holding TJ's hand? Samaria better act like she got sense," Mari chuckled. "She think she a teenager like Munchie,"
"She's a big girl now," he continued and Mari just shook her head, sliding her shades down over her face.
With the permission of their big sisters, Xavion and Emari had brought their nieces, nephew and little sisters to the waterpark for the day. They both took the day off work, and since it was Friday, they'd have a long weekend. Even longer because they took off Monday too.
The next day, Mari was going to her first out of state match with Xavion and she couldn't contain her excitement in the least. They were driving to St. Louis tomorrow morning at 6 in the morning, which she wasn't as excited about. But, she didn't have to drive so she didn't mind.
"Moo! I learned a sign," Mycah called as she and Dymond walked back over to them, both of their curly hair swinging in their faces, fresh off a water slide.
"Ooh! Dymond you gotta teach me too, your brother is slacking," she shook her head disapprovingly. "Lemme see, Munch," she sat up, as did Xavi, to see Mycah sign.
"Okay, look," she looked at Dymond as she signed. "My name is Mycah," she signed and spoke slowly, and Dymond grinned, nodding. "See!"
"Good job!" Xavi nodded as well. "Also, don't listen to your sister, I teach her all the time, she don't like to practice," spoke smartly and Emari smacked his arm, jaw dropped. "You don't! Tell me you hungry," he straight faced her.
"Xavi! I forgot that one," she pouted. "Stop making fun of me,"
"I'm not, but you not finna lie on me," he laughed. "Big ass baby,"
At that, she flicked her middle finger up at him and he grabbed it. "Ow! Okay!" she whined, swatting his hand away. "I'm getting in with the kids, bye," she curled her lip up and stood up, pulling her bikini bottoms up before walking into the water.
Xavion watched her, slightly biting down on his bottom lip while she walked, shaking his head to himself.
"You're drooling," Dymond smirked, and Mycah snickered.
"Dymond, go away," he chuckled.
They were glad all the kids—big and small were getting along. They'd been having fun all morning, wanting to ride all the rides, slide down all the slides and everything in between.
"Hi, Tete," TJ grinned. He was very excited, he felt like a big boy, having to hold the girls hands and watch them, he thought he was doing it alone, when Xavion and Emari were literally right behind them, but she didn't tell him that.
"Hi Boogie. You're doing a good job! Thank you for helping, baby,"
"You're welcome," he cheesed. "Can you take me on the big slide?"
"Ask Tete Munch, I think she's about to go," she pointed and he let the girls go, making their heads whip towards him. "It's okay! I'm gonna stay with y'all," she smiled at the girls. "What are we doing?"
"We just goin' under the water, Tete," Samaria informed her. "You wanna go?"
"Sure mama, but I'm a little too tall for this side," she giggled. "We can go in the deeper side since I can swim. You wanna go with me?" she asked and Sam eagerly nodded. Sky was a little more shy, she noticed. "It's okay, Skylar, I won't let anything happen sweetheart," she smiled warmly.
Rather than cry, like Mari thought she was about to with her pouted out lip, she simply reached for Mari and her heart nearly melted. She lifted Sky from the pool and held Mari's free hand, walking over to the adult pool.
"Your husband not coming, Tete?" Sam asked as they walked past him, and her eyes widened.
"My...my who?"
"Your husband, Tete," she said as if it was obvious. "You kiss him a lot so you're married," she informed her.
"No baby, that's my boyfriend ," she giggled, hoisting Samaria onto her hip as she walked into the pool and they waded to the 5 foot end.
"My Uncle Zay say you real pretty. He say that-that y'all be goin' on dates and stuff. Can I come with y'all?" Sky tilted her head, her beads clacking as her braids fell to her other shoulder.
"Me too!" Sam exclaimed.
"We'll ask, baby," she giggled.
"Sooo, Xavi," Mari grinned, as their sisters stood in line with the kids for funnel cakes.
"What you do?" he raised his eyebrows and she sucked her teeth. "No I'm joking, baby. Wassup?" he turned her face back towards him, kissing her to get rid of her stank face.
"Well, I have a proposition for you. Say yes before I ask," she grinned.
"Emari—no. What is it," he chuckled.
"Well you know, me and my best friend usually go on a trip in August to celebrate our friendaversary," she began and he nodded, remembering when she told him. "Last year she invited Rashaad and he had so much fun, so this year she invited him again and that's perfectly okay with me, but since I have a boyfriend now, we were wondering—well I was wondering if you wanted to come with?"
"Well, where are y'all going?" he wondered. As much as he'd love to go, he still had bills to pay and a fridge to fill.
"Maui," she said quickly and his eyes widened.
"Maui?! Like Hawai'i?" he asked and she nodded. "Baby, this real sudden, Hawai'i is expensive as hell," he explained. "I'on know if I can afford it by August," he said honestly.
"Well...that's why I bought your ticket," she spoke at an unrecognizable speed and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Run that by me again," he spoke and she just smiled nervously. "I didn't understand you, Emari," he chuckled.
"I bought you a ticket," she spoke quietly.
"H-huh? You bought me a ticket?! To Hawai'i?!"
"Yes! I just thought it'd be a nice first gift, you know? Plus! It'll be our first vacation, together," she tried to defend herself and he still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she spent so much money on him at once.
"I-I...what? My first gift to you was a bear and some m&m's, Mari. You-you—that's a lot of money Emari. A lot,"
"I can afford it, I promise. I wouldn't have done it if it would have hurt me financially, so please don't be mad at me," she cheesed. "Please," she grabbed his hand.
"I'm not mad baby, I just...Hawai'i?"
"It's no big deal, Dooda," she pouted.
"It's a very big deal, Emari we—"
"We're back!" Mycah announced. "TJ begged for strawberries on his and I know you like strawberries Moo, so can y'all share? I'll share with Sky,"
"Yeah, come sit by me, Boogie," she patted the bench, between she and Xavion. He shot her a look that told her they definitely weren't finished talking about it.
The next morning, Xavion woke up at 4:45, yawning, already annoyed from this drive. He had to wake up much earlier than Mari to make sure he everything and shower before waking Mari up.
He stayed at his own apartment that night, so going down the street to wake her, knowing she'd probably be irritated all morning was a sacrifice he'd just have to make, because he was looking forward to having her with him. He also intended to irritate her more because he meant what he said when they weren't done talking about the vacation.
He didn't know where she got the idea to but him an entire roundtrip plane ticket to Maui, but he needed to know. He needed to know how much it costed—plus tax and flight insurance. He wanted to know how much the hotel was and everything in between.
Xavi didn't care if she didn't want it, he was going to give it back to her whether he went on the trip or not.
After making sure his bags were packed, he went to Dunkin Donuts, ordering her favorite iced coffee, and a sandwich for her, so she wouldn't be as cranky.
She had given him her key the night before when he left, simply because she knew she wasn't getting up at 5:30.
He quietly entered her apartment, taking her bags from the front door where she left them last night when he left her, including her large purse that she packed the night before. He came back in, creeping into her room, shivering even though it was the beginning of July. She had her thermostat at 65 and her fan on high.
The first step was cutting the fan off and taking her covers off, making her body slightly coil into itself, trying to get warm.
He started rubbing her back, and she groaned. "I know, I'm sorry Tink," he chuckled. "Get up, baby we gotta go soon,"
"Stop," she whined.
"Emari," he laughed. "Come on," he pulled her arm so she was sitting straight up, and her eyes still weren't open as he led her to the bathroom, putting her toothbrush in her hand, watching as her body just moved off instinct. He tried not to laugh as she started, because her eyes were literally closed until the toothbrush went into her mouth.
After she finished in the bathroom, she silently changed into her clothes, which was just some biker shorts, a sports bra and a t-shirt. She slid her feet in some slides and grabbed her car blanket, joining him in the living room.
"Good morning, sleepy head," he chuckled.
"Morning," she muttered back, yawning shortly after. "We leaving now?"
"Yeah, come on," he held his hand out to her after standing up and she took it, blanket wrapped around her shoulders with her water cup in hand, bonnet still on. He thought she looked very adorable.
After drinking her entire cup of iced coffee in five minutes, Mari was fully awake, but she still wished she wasn't. It was now 8:30, they had two more hours left on their drive, maybe an hour and a half if Xavion kept driving a hundred like it was nothing.
"Emari," Xavi called, and she turned to him. "We gon talk about this vacation now?"
"You're going?!" she sat up excitedly.
"I gotta see about my PTO. But that's not what I meant, baby,"
"Xavi I promise it's fine! You said you weren't mad," she sighed.
"I'm not mad, Mari. I just I just wanna know how much it was—"
"No, Xavion, it's a gift, you don't tell people how much gifts cost because you don't expect to get refunded your money for said gift," she explained, as if he didn't know that.
"I know that, but we talkin' about hundreds of dollars. Hundreds, that you could've used on...I'on know, groceries, gas, food, bills, allat. That's a lot of money baby,"
"But I didn't," she said. "I spent it on you because I wanted to and I wanted to do something with you. My bills are paid. Thanks to you, my fridge is full and my car has gas in it. You do nice things for me, let me do a nice thing for you. You paying me back makes it seem like a favor, and it's not that," she spoke, and he sighed that time.
It's not like Xavion was poor, but he certainly wasn't rich, and just imagining the amount of money that Emari spent on a singular ticket for him was the reason he didn't want to let it go, but he could tell she was getting frustrated with him, and he didn't want an argument.
Emari on the other hand didn't know if it was a pride thing for him, or if he was genuinely concerned about her financial situation but she wanted him to be excited about the trip itself, not concerning himself about the money.
For a little while, they rode around in a comfortable silence, until Mari's eyes widened and her head turned to him, as he focused on the road in front of them, fingers drumming on the wheel.
"Xavi," she called and he raised his eyebrows. "I gotta pee,"
"Mari," he groaned, leaning his head back on the rest behind him. She was instantly reminded of her father, he hated stopping when he was on the highway, especially when only one kid had to go. He made them all try if one stopped.
"You bought me a large iced coffee!" she retorted.
"You drank half a gallon of water after I gave you the coffee, this is not my fault," he chuckled. "We got five miles to the next rest stop, can you hold it?" he wondered and the look on her face told him she absolutely could not.
He got over as soon as he could to get off at the next exit, telling her to look for a bathroom on her phone, and luckily there was a diner only two minutes away that he took her to, so she could relieve herself. He took the time to stretch his legs out, he was very tempted to switch places with her, but she drove twice as fast as he did, and he wasn't sure he was prepared for that.
When she came back, they got resettled in the car and before they pulled off, Xavion looked over at her, and she glanced back at him with a short smile before he smashed his lips against hers, taking her by surprise.
"W-what was that for?" she asked, when he finally pulled back.
"I can't just kiss you?" he wondered, beginning to back out from the space.
"I mean, y-you can but that was really...you can," she blushed and he smirked to himself.
"I appreciate you, Emari. I'on want you to think I don't okay? I'm just—I'm not used to a girlfriend doing shit for me out the kindness of her heart you feel me? Not something like this. So my bad if I'm questioning you a lot, I'm not tryna be annoying," he explained and she only smiled a short, yet sad, smile.
It was unfair that he was so used to giving and giving to someone who didn't give back, so much so that when someone finally did give back , he didn't know how to just receive.
"I know you're not," she spoke softly, reaching over to his side of the car and taking his ear between her fingers. "If it's not something that you're used to, I'm gonna make sure you get used to it," she said simply, and he glanced over at her, seeing her already looking at him, and she sent a smile his way, causing him to unintentionally do the same.
"It's nice! It even got a lil balcony," Mari said as she toured their small hotel room.
"Look at you, tryna be positive," he chuckled. It was now 11 in the morning and the couple was getting settled in St. Louis. Their first road trip was a success, they were enjoying each other's company and knew they'd have good weekend together.
Xavion laid back on the bed, resting against the headboard. He blew out a heavy breath and closed his eyes, ready to get some relaxation in before Ant was blowing his phone up to come train. Before he could get settled, he felt a hand on his face, and he opened his eyes to see Mari just staring down at him adoringly.
"Hi," she grinned.
"Hey," he chuckled. "Wassup, baby?"
"Nothing, I just..." she paused, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing. Sometimes she had to physically stop herself from being clingy. She saw him just laying there peacefully and her first thought was to go lay on him, when he probably just wanted to relax from the drive. "Nothing, Ima go get some ice in my cup I'll be back," she said, quickly turning around and going to grab it, leaving him slightly confused.
After she left the room she sighed to herself. "Let the man breathe bitch, damn," she chuckled, shaking her head. "You simply can not be in his skin all day," she tried to rationalize while the voice in her head said she could, as she walked to the ice machine a few feet away.
"Emari are you talking to yourself? Yes you are, weirdo," she giggled, filling her cup and popping a piece of ice in her mouth, going back down the hall to their room.
When she came back in, he was sitting in the same position, eyes still closed, making Mari pout at how cute he looked.
"Mari, come here," he called to her, eyes cracked open now. She pointed at herself and he sucked his teeth. "Yes you," he chuckled.
She happy walked to the bed, and he motioned for her to get in it with him. "You not sleepy?" she wondered as she set her cup on the night stand. He didn't answer, he just tugged on her arm until she finally caved and climbed on top of him, hugging herself close to him.
"Gimme kiss, Mari," he mumbled near her ear, making her stomach flutter as she sat up, doing just that. His hands rested at the small of her back, gripping at her sides, while hers rested on his chest.
It didn't take long for the kiss to become deeper, both of them breathing heavily as Xavion's hands roamed her body, landing on her ass while he sucked and nipped at her bottom lip.
All their kisses before this one had been innocent, borderline nasty but this was something completely different. Emari didn't know what switch flipped in the back of his brain but she was very down for it.
She'd never admit it out loud but just the thought of him sexually made her mind wander to a very different place. She hadn't done anything remotely sexual since the last time she did it with her ex about three months prior to her even meeting Xavion. She wasn't feening, but she surely wanted to test him out.
As his right hand crept past the waistband of her shorts, his phone rang. Loudly. It shocked her and she shot up, tucking her lips in. He stared at her with lust evident in his eyes, listening to his phone ring off the hook.
"Xa-Xavi your phone," she pointed and his eyes didn't waver as he grabbed it, tongue swiping over his bottom lip. It sent a shiver down her spine and he hadn't said a word to her.
"Hello...now?! It can't be in like twenty minutes G—Aight! Okay, I'm coming," he mumbled hanging up the phone. "I gotta go to the gym, baby," he regretfully informed her and she pouted. "I know my bad," he groaned.
"It's not your fault, it's what you're here for," she smiled. "Can I come?" she wondered.
"Yeah of course you can. But hurry up so his ass don't blow my phone up," he chuckled and she quickly hopped up to put on some real pants. He watched her with his lip tucked between his teeth, shaking his head at the thoughts that replayed over and over in his mind.
"This kid is gonna search for every opening you got, so you don't give him one, you understand?" Ant said to Xavi as they trained. Mari was always astonished to see him do what he did, there was a finesse he that was unmistakable.
One of Ant's mitts hit Xavi's chest hard, making Mari wince, flinching away as if she'd been hit herself. "Watch that left Xavion," he spoke and Xavion nodded, getting right back into his stance. After that, Mari could see the pattern of mitts being thrown, like Ant was making sure Xavion wasn't leaving himself open at any point in time, even if it was right after a jab, his hands went right back up.
They had already been at the gym for two hours, and Xavion just broke a sweat about 30 minutes ago.
"Lemme go easy on you today, I'on wanna embarrass you in front of your girl," Ant smirked and Mari laughed from the sidelines. "Get some water, kid," he said and Xavi nodded , climbing out of the ring taking a seat next to Emari who quickly pecked his lips, and handed him a water.
"You looked good up there," she nodded. Truthfully, she still didn't know much about boxing, but she knew he was good at it.
"Yeah?" he looked over and she nodded with a smile. "You're fuckin adorable, you know that?"
"Thank you," she blushed. "Babe, I wanna learn more about this, I'm just very clueless, I wanna be involved. Be a good boxing girlfriend," she told him, making him crack another grin.
"If you for real, I'll teach you," he nodded. "We gon be watching a lot of film," he laughed.
"Okay!" she nodded as well, just excited to participate. She had no clue what technicalities there could possibly be in boxing but she was intrigued. "Can I put your gloves on?" she asked and he laughed.
"Yeah. Matter fact, we got extras, come on we gon fight,"
"Fight?!" she exclaimed.
"Yup, Ima teach you how to fight for real,"
She eyed him for a second, before breaking into a smile and standing up after him. He helped her into the ring, digging through his gym bag, finding the standard red gloves there, opposed to his black ones and helped her into them.
"Aight, so, hit me as hard as you can, in my stomach," he told her and her eyes widened. "It's aight, I been knocked around a lil bit before," he chuckled.
"Um, okay," she nodded, still kind of unsure. He motioned for her to go ahead and she swung her right arm into his stomach, which barely garnered a reaction from him at all.
"Aight, okay you got a lil power behind them hits, baby," he chuckled and her eyes widened because he didn't flinch even a little. "But look, you gotta throw it with your arm straight out, and don't throw a punch standing like that," he said, motioning to her standing with her hands at her sides.
"Whenever you gon' throw a hook like that, arms up, by your chin, just a little below it—good, just like that. Now I know when you hit you usually got your fist all tight the whole time right?" he asked and she nodded. "Don't do that. Keep it a lil loose till right before you hit me aight? Keep yo' shoulders straight. Go head," he nodded again.
She tried to remember everything he just said and put her hands up, jabbing him in his stomach again. Her eyebrows raised waiting for his response, because it honestly felt the exact same as what she did before.
"That was much better," he nodded. "That shit hurt," he chuckled.
"Oh my gosh! Xavion! I'm sorry," she pouted, stepping towards him. "Why you make me do that?"
"It's aight," he laughed. "It's fine baby, I promise. I done got knocked out and had a concussion for two and a half weeks, Ima be straight," he waved her off, and her jaw dropped. "It only happened once! Well except—no that doesn't count, stop worrying!" he assured her as she started to look more and more horrified.
"C'mon, c'mon calm down," he chuckled. "Put them gloves up, don't leave yourself open," he playfully tapped her stomach with his glove and her hands flew up. "See! Look at you! My baby been watching me, huh?"
"Maybe a lil bit," she giggled. "If you promise not to hit me hard we can fight, but if you do Ima call your sisters so they can curse you out, and Ima tell Ant to beat you up," she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Aight, man," he laughed loudly. "Tryna get my ass jumped. Come on, so I can dust you off right quick,"
"Wowwww, Dooda, not you talking shit! See now I have to win,"
"You can try," he smirked and she nodded, getting into the same stance he was in, making him laugh, and drop his, and she immediately threw a punch to his stomach again, dropping his jaw. "You play real dirty, Ima whoop yo ass now," he nodded and it was her turn to laugh.
"You did so good, Dooda, I'm so proud of you," she smiled widely as they say in the bathroom, and he peeled his bandages off. He had gotten a bad gash on his forehead near his right eyebrow, and cut right underneath his left eye, and they're weren't looking too good. They didn't do much at the gym but spray alcohol on it. His lip was swelling a little bit and his forehead hadn't stopped bleeding.
But, he won his match, as bloody as he was.
"Thank you, baby. I heard you screaming—ow, fuck," he hissed, once the bandage was off. Blood dripped onto his eyelid and lashes, and Mari's eyes widened.
"No see, they clearly didn't do anything for it, sit down, so I can fix it" she shook her head. As a medical assistant she'd seen enough cuts, scrapes and bruises to know when something wasn't properly cared for, and she didn't want anything happening to Xavion's face.
"Yes ma'am," he chuckled, used to doing this himself, which probably wasn't as detailed as what she was going do for him. She left the bathroom and brought back what looked like a first aid kit. "You just carry that around?" he asked as she stood between his open legs.
"Of course I do," she giggled. "You never know what's gonna happen, Dooda. Your favorite medical assistant is always prepared,"
He grabbed a hold of her thighs, squeezing tightly when she applied more alcohol to his cuts. "I'm sorry stinka," she pouted. He just nodded, leaning his head on her bare stomach. She just wore a sports bra and pajama shorts, leaving him access to her skin.
She took a q-tip from her bag and swiped in some aloe vera before applying a small gauze and tape to hold it up. She did the same for his under eye cut, making him jump when the alcohol hit.
"All done baby," she cooed, holding his head up and kissing him. He chuckled and leaned forward, pressing kisses to her stomach. The butterflies kicked up again as he continued standing up and leaning into the crook of her neck and leaving light kisses there too.
He pulled back briefly to look over her expression nd she blushed, trying to hide her face from him and he grabbed her chin, making her stare directly into his eyes, sending chill down her spine at the intense gaze he was giving her.
"You're beautiful, you know that?" he mumbled, running his hand up and down her side, savoring the contact he was making with her smooth brown skin. "So beautiful,"
"Thank you, Xavi," she smiled small and leaned into his hand, closing her eyes as his free one caressed her face. He made her feel so unbelievably safe and protected when he was around, a sense of security like the one she found in him was one she hadn't experienced yet.
She opened her eyes back up, seeing him staring back with a glint in his eye that made her knees weak. He licked his lips and leaned in for a kiss, holding her face with both hands, wasting no time exploring her mouth with his, making her breath even deeper, as he squeezed her closer to him wanting nothing more than to feel her near him.
"X-xavi I—" she began to speak as he pulled back, kissing all over her face and down her neck, and she opened her mouth to speak again when his phone vibrated harshly against the ceramic sink in the bathroom.
"G who the—" he snatched his phone up and saw a familiar name flashing across his screen. "It's my mama," he sighed, leaning his forehead on hers, and she chuckled breathlessly.
"Answer it babe, it's fine," she nodded.
"I'm sorry," he huffed. She shook her head, standing on her tip toes to kiss him twice.
"It's okay, I promise," she smiled reassuringly, before walking out of the bathroom to give him some time to talk to her.
Although she was quite sexually frustrated, and she was sure he was too at this point, she believed whatever they were about to do would happen when it was supposed to, whether that be after this phone call or in two weeks.
She also felt like however long she had to wait for him, with the way he was kissing her like he was starved and just getting fed, it would be well worth it.
hi friends :) i hope y'all had a good day!
i also hope yall enjoyed this updaaaate! lets get into it.
first, mari buys xavi a ticket to hawaii?! how do y'all feel that conversation went?
can y'all understand xavi's feelings about everything? how bout mari's?
they went on their first lil road trip together 🥺 we hitting milestones y'all!
also 👀 things are getting a little hot and heavy between these two but life just seems to keep getting in their way.
y'all know what they say about pressure 🥴.
leave me y'all favorite parts of this chapter! i really hope y'all enjoyed it of course.
till next time 🥰