strike

Zayn drove back to the house, his eyes red and glossy. His hand reached over the console and gripped mine before returning it to the wheel.

The sensation made me shiver, and I felt a wave of heat pass through my body. Groaning, I put my head in my hands and rubbed it over my face, which probably ruined my makeup.

"What's wrong?" He asked, taking his eyes off the road to look at me.

"I'm fucking horny, that's what's wrong," I finally said after a few minutes of stalling.

He coughed, and glanced in the rear view mirror, probably to see if Adonis was still awake. It's been quiet back there for past fifteen minutes.

"If y'all are wondering if I heard what you just said, I did," Adonis' voice spoke up, although it was raspy. "And I did not need to hear my baby sis say that ever in my life."

"For the last time, I am two minutes older than you," I groaned, running my hand over my face for the hundredth time. I was really gonna get pimples if I didn't stop doing that. "Stop saying you're older to look better."

"Shit, I might as well be older with your childish ass," he said, sucking his teeth.

"Keep sucking your teeth and you aren't gonna have any left," I spat back, elbowing him the the forehead when he leaned towards me from the backseat.

"Cashmere Selassie mufuckin' Rawlings—"

"Your middle name is Selassie?" Zayn asked, his eyebrow raised as he glanced at me.

"Yeah, it's Amharic—"

"For trinity, I know," he finished, which made me widen my eyes. He must've seen the look of confusion on my face because he then said, "Took an intro to Amharic freshman year. Plus one of my exes..."

His voice trailed off when he saw the unnerving glare penetrating the side of his head. "Uh, never mind."

We finally pulled up in front of our building, which had all of my cousins sitting on the steps. I could hear their laughing and conversation from the car, but my smile faded as soon as I saw Justice sitting on the top step, no longer laughing as he stared at my car.

"Adonis, what the fuck is Justice doing at our house?" I asked calmly, turning around to look at him. He was supposed to be on back on my campus, since we go to the same school. Why was he in my house, trying to ruin my life again?

He shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window with me. "Beats me. I haven't spoken to that nigga ever since graduation when we split."

I could feel my skin starting to get hot as I glared at him, even though he couldn't see me. "Get him off the damn steps."

But it's not until I see him reach over and grab Dreya by the waist and press a kiss to the side of her neck, did I open the car door.

Before I could yell, Adonis was out the car so fast, I think his own body must've forgotten he was still high.

"Nigga if you don't back up off my baby sister, Imma have to smoke yo ass right here!" He yelled, yanking Justice up from his spot by the lapels of his leather jacket.

"Is that Justice Greer?" Zayn took the opportunity to ask me, when I say back inside the car. "From the basketball team?"

"Yeah," I said with a sigh. "He used to be my brother's best friend."

His eyebrow raised, as Justice let out a loud chuckle and brushed Adonis off, before turning to Dreya and winking. "Hit me up so we can chill when I get back, aight?"

This boy done lost his damn mind! He's intentionally trying to rile up my brother, who would literally pop him in the mouth at any given time...

...which was exactly what he did.

"Fuck!" I cursed before running out the car. "Adonis, stop!"

My cousins, Timmy and Ivan immediately jumped in the mix to pry my brother off Justice, who took several harsh (but well deserved) blows to his face. His nose began bleeding in streams and he still had the file to laugh.

"Aye, chill fam," he coughed out, before smiling even though his teeth were coated in crimson. "Just wanted to see if your younger sis is as freaky as your other one."

I felt my jaw drop and Dreya gasped in shock, and Timmy let go of Adonis and put his hands up in surrender. "Only God can help you now with this one, my guy."

Ivan followed suit and Adonis wasted no time in continuing his beatdown on him.

All of a sudden, icy water rained down on everyone on the porch and we all screamed before looking up to see what caused that.

My mother, Kelly Rawlings was leaned out the second floor window, holding out a bucket. "If you fools don't stop fighting on my goddamn porch and get inside this muhfuckin' house, boiling water is next!"

Adonis shoved Justice off the steps and glared at him. "Let me catch you on my fuckin' block and I'm gonna drop you."

Justice laughed before spitting over the railing of the steps. "You can say whatever you want, Donny boy. But at the end of the day, you still play for a trash D3 school."

"Not for long," Adonis responded before throwing his arm over my shoulder to lead me into the house.

When we all got into the foyer, my mother was standing with her hands on her hips. "No child of mine will be fighting in my damn porch before those cops drive up and start shooting like this is Compton during the 90s!"

I opened my mouth to explain, but she cut me off. "Cashmere, you've been home all but five minutes and look at this—"

Here we go. My mother's favorite thing to do was blame me for everything that goes wrong as soon as I come home, even before the incident happened. It seemed like me coming home just strengthened her case even more.

"Don't even start with all that, Ma," Adonis interjected, grabbing a dishrag from the kitchen door to dry his head. "It wasn't her fault. You know I'll fight even if Cash wasn't here."

Mom shook her head and snatched the dishrag away, before slapping his arm with it. "Boy, get out my face with all that mess."

She finally turned towards me and sighed, before smiling brightly and kissing both of my cheeks. "Baby, welcome home. Everything's been a—"

"'Mess lately'?" I finished for her, before crossing my arms. "That 'I wanted you home for summer break, but new tenants moved in'? I've heard all this before, but it's okay, we'll only be here for the weekend."

"Who is we?" At the mention of more than one entity but myself, all the words I just voiced flew right over her head. "Cashmere, you brought people into my house without asking me first?"

"You don't even answer her phone calls, Ma, so how would she even be able to ask you?" Dreya defended, walking into kitchen and reaching her hand into the cookie jar.

I sighed. This was getting too frustrating to even bother myself. If no one wanted me home, then I won't be home. Simple as that. I didn't need to be here.

"You know what?" I said, moving back towards the door and grabbing my duffle off the carpet of the hallway. "I'm tired, so if you want me gone, I'll stay at a hotel and leave tomorrow."

"No!" My mom yelled, which made me jump a little at the volume of her voice. "We have empty guest rooms, and your old room is still how you left it."

I sent her a small smile before looking through the open front door. "Zayn, Isra, come inside."

"Mom, this is Isra, my roommate. She's Habesha, too." Isra smiled shyly and her eyes widened as my mom pulled her in for a hug. I chuckled a bit, knowing she didn't really like being touched for more than a second by people she didn't know.

I knew my mom would get excited, because although she was born in Ethiopia, she moved here as a kid after her parents died and conformed to American culture so much that she almost forgot her roots.

"And this is Zayn," I introduced, slightly cringing at the words about to follow, "...my boyfriend."

My mom's bright smile dimmed, and I knew that those two words had set the mood for the entire weekend.

-

"This is where you used to sleep in high school?" Zayn asked questionably when I switched on the light to my old room. "When did you graduate, 2003?"

I shoved his shoulder and rolled my eyes. "Sue me, I was in love with the 90s and all the shit that was in that generation."

He smiled before looking over to my bed. "You lost your virginity on that?"

"No, I lost it to you the first night we fucked on the bed at that frat house," I said casually, placing my duffle on the center of the floor and starting to unpack.

He was silent for a moment before he asked, "are you serious?"

"Dumbass, of course not!" I laughed, unfolding my clothes and putting it on top of my dresser. "It was way worse than that. It was in the backseat of a car when I went camping upstate with a group of friends. Unromantic, to say the least because of all those fucking bugs. What about you?"

He shrugged, before shaking his head. "Junior prom night. My girlfriend and I at the time were planning on losing it to each other, and we did. Next morning, found out from the team that she was loving the crew."

I winced sarcastically before chuckling a bit. "Ouch, what a bruise to your ego so early in your adolescence. Was it the head cheerleader, Tiffany? Or the dance captain, Mandy?"

Sighing, he bit his lip. "It was actually the student body president, Jasmine."

I choked on my own spit when I heard that, and Zayn actually had to sit me up and pat me softly on the back to stop me from throwing my trachea up.

"Are you okay?" He asked, rubbing me on the back as I caught my breath.

"She took your virginity?" I asked for confirmation, my chest still heaving for air. When he nodded, I stood up and he pulled me back down onto his lap.

"Babe, relax," he said, pressing his lips to mine in an effort to get me to continue to breathe, before leaving pecks down my neck. "I've been with plenty of girls in between her and you, and no one has ever made me feel the way you have."

I wrinkled my nose before hitting him upside the head. "Stop with all that, you'll make me blush. And I don't blush!"

He chuckled, and brushed his hand against my cheek. "Well, what do you call what you're doing right now?"

I stayed silent while he laughed quietly.

"I used to eat boys like you for breakfast. What the hell happened to me?"

"Cash, you don't even eat breakfast."

"I know, but I just wanted to sound badass for just a little bit."

-----
a/n: what false updating promises should I make today?

lol I have college apps to do son so this story is gonna have to be put on the back burner for like two months until early decision is over and I can finesse these essays.

but I've been sitting on this chapter for a minute so I finally updated! btw, it's unedited as usual so excuse the many typos!

-Rachel 🍸(I didn't know they had a martini emoji until yesterday wow the more you know)