☆

"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE some asshole broke our door," Debbie was saying as Amara came down the stairs. She caught sight of Liam smirking into his cup, but Lip didn't look up as she approached. "Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, real asshole move," Amara replied, going to pour herself a cup of coffee, before a hand on her wrist stopped her from moving. "What?"

"Don't," Lip said.

She raised a brow. "Don't what? Drink coffee? You're doing it right now."

"Yeah, well," he scratched his head. "It stunts your growth, and you're short enough already."

"Ha-ha," she flipped him off and resumed, not noticing his jaw clench. "Can you walk me to work today? I want to show you the complex I've been telling you about."

"Oh, you're moving out?" Debbie asked. "Well, you still need to pay while you're-"

"Yeah, Miss Trunchbull, I got it," Amara interrupted, rolling her eyes and looking to Lip again. "You down?"

"Promise not to drink the coffee and I am."

Amara's brows drew together. "Literally since when are you a coffee anti?"

"Since last night," he slid the mug away from her and stood up. "I'll go get changed and meet you outside, alright?"

She eyed him skeptically but nodded regardless. "Yeah, sure. I'll be on the porch."

"I don't understand the point of this," Lip admitted as he came down the front steps. "You're practically already living here. Why do you need to find your own apartment? I mean, can you afford that?"

"I can't on my own," she shrugged, watching his reaction, but there was none. She inwardly sighed. "Don't tell me you actually want to stay here for the rest of your life. We're adults now, we have to branch off by ourselves eventually."

"We're barely managing as it is, Mar," he shook his head and continued walking. "How will we pull this off?"

"Editors make good money," she attempted again, Lip didn't catch on. Amara huffed. "Think about it, we can literally bang anytime we want with no interruptions."

"We could just go to your place now and do that."

Amara sighed. "Can you at least give me something? You haven't even seen the place yet."

"Yeah, I have actually. Tami is spamming Brad with a ton of pics of her apartment and he's shown me. It's not that special."

She deflated. "Yeah. Guess you're right."

Lip paused and gently grabbed her forearm to pull her to a stop. "That doesn't mean I don't want to, okay? Things are just tight right now. Maybe we should wait. Until we both know for sure that's what we want."

His words felt like a punch in the gut for some reason, he hadn't even been rude about it, but still her throat lodged up and it took everything in her not to start crying. All she could do was nod.

☆

"And then, he like, completely skipped over the hints I was dropping," Amara complained, bringing her knee up to her chest as Tami parallel parked next to the curb. "Vanessa has been on my ass the past couple of days. And get this, I did some research and apparently the company I work for is in need of editors. It makes sense to why she's watching my every move. She wants to make sure I'm good enough for the job."

"What an asshole," Tami scoffed, grabbing another nugget. "You know, this totally goes against my entire diet."

"Yeah, but at least we have five heads of broccoli we'll never eat now," Amara smirked at her. Tami gave her a look.

"It's not my fault you people don't know real food. I was talking to Lip, he told me he's never once had asparagus. I'm gonna swoop in and become your vegetable super hero."

"Well, what do you think?" Amara cocked her head, reaching into the back to grab some of the bags.

"I think that if you want your own apartment, you should do it. I mean, men only hold you back. I learned that the hard way. They're always too afraid to make a full commitment, especially the kind you're dating."

"What do you mean?"

"He's like... traumatized isn't he? The traumatized ones are always afraid you'll leave, so they make sure they always have a way out so they can leave first."

"I still wouldn't be able to afford it," Amara told her as they climbed out of the car. "Besides, we're a couple. That's like a really big step, I feel like I shouldn't just make the decision without him."

"Eh, fuck him. Wear the pants. He doesn't have the balls, he'll come around and realize you're right about branching out and help pitch in with the apartment."

Amara was still laughing at the other few random insults Tami threw in Lip's way, before she stopped short upon stepping into the kitchen. Lip turned his head at the sound of footsteps, but Amara was tackled into a hug by none other than Xan.

"Oh my God," Amara embraced her back tightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Her mom ditched her again," Lip explained when Xan didn't answer, she just clutched Amara's shirt tighter. "Said she's been staying at some truck stop."

Amara tensed and pulled back to look at her. "Did anything happen? Did anyone-"

"Hey, let's get the girl a blanket and something to eat first before you two start bombarding her with questions," Tami cut off. Xan sniffled and dropped her arms. "Pick your poison. We've got turkey or ham."

"I'll talk to her," Amara muttered to a fuming Lip, watching Tami make Xan a sandwich. "But you need to calm down on the guard dog act. You're kinda freaking me out."

"Yeah, says the one who broke the door and kicked her way into the house last night."

Shit.

Amara smiled nervously. "Oops?"

☆

The whole neighborhood was gathered together in a crowd as they marched up to the bitch's house who was racist to Liam and his friends earlier that day, yelling and shouting obnoxiously once they stood on the street in front of the building. The door swung open, and out walked a frantic looking girl. Amara smirked but didn't drop Xan's hand when she raised her cup into the air.

"Welcome to the South Side, bitch!" Fiona hollered, more cheering sounded from around them.

They continued to loiter outside of her house, somebody had brought a speaker and was blaring hip hop music, it was the first time Xan smiled all day.

Even Logan showed up after Tami called her. "Does the color of my skin scare you?" Logan questioned her, the unnamed racist girl was filming them. "I bet this will add to your terror." And she kissed Tami full on the lips, the entire crowd whooped.

"I have called the police," the woman said, her phone shaking in her hand. Amara went for a swig of her drink, but Lip put his hand on her wrist. She didn't get to question what the hell his problem was as the woman continued her little rant. "They are on their way. You are disturbing the peace."

"Hey, lady," Fiona's words were slurred as she stepped up to the gate. "That was my brother with the lemonade stand."

"What?"

"That's right," Fiona nodded, most of the chatter dialed down as everyone began to focus on the conversation happening. "I got a black brother. What? That's why you didn't want him near your house, right? 'Cause he's black?"

"Okay, you need to go home. Some of us have jobs."

"News flash bitch, so do we," Amara remarked.

"You know, I lived in this neighborhood my whole life," Fiona told her. "Kids have always sold lemonade right here. Black kids, white kids, Russian kids, Mexican kids."

"Would you get away from my fence?" She demanded. Fiona chuckled humorously and tossed the cup in her hand onto the ground.

"Nobody ever had a problem with lemonade stands until all you bougie, yoga-loving, latte-sipping, ankle tattoo-wearing racist assholes moved into our neighborhood. So your fence? Fuck your fence." Amara watched as she jumped over it, and punched her right in the face. At the same time, the police pulled up.

"Oh, fuck," Amara groaned. "Fi, run!"

But she didn't escape, the cops guided her back to the street as everyone booed and ordered that she be let go. Fiona was still smirking at the bloody nose she gave the racist. Amara couldn't blame her, it had definitely been worth it.

☆