"Imani. You're not flying by yourself."

"I won't be by myself, remember? I'll have my brother and my sisters, Jus. Chillax."

"First of all, chillax? You're pregnant. I can't chillax, baby. And secondly," Justin scowls as he watches his baby's mom ride shotgun in his Audi, and Zayn watches this whole exchange amusedly from the backseat. "I know your siblings'll be there, but--"

"I can't just not see my grandma, Justin," she huffs.

"Yeah, but you're pregnant, remember?"

"Pregnant women fly."

"Not this far along!"

"Yes, they do," she shakes her head, "You're trippin' babe."

"I'm not trippin'--"

"Sure, boo. Your son doesn't agree."

"Yeah? Well this concerns him, too, Mani. I want you both safe. If anything happened, I'd..."

And Zayn can see his jaw clench, his hand running frustratedly across his face.

"...I'd probably never forgive myself."

"Justin," and Imani takes his hand in hers, resting it between them in the car, "Nothing's gonna happen, I promise. If anything," she adds reassuringly, "I'll be even safer 'cause I won't be able to do anything down there with my whole family around."

"I know, but--"

"And you can ask the doctor today about what's safe for me while flying."

"Okay, yeah, but--"

"And if you're anxious about me going anywhere alone, just come."

He snorts, "I don't wanna be an afterthought. Like, crashing your family reunion or some shit."

"Boy, you know I wouldn't invite you if you were gonna crash a family reunion."

And Zayn muffles his laugh behind his fist as Imani stares up at Justin with a playful smile and he tries not to seem amused.

He's not amused.

He's pissed. He's sick of playing this what-if game with Imani. He's sick of this up in the air status they're living...that she's seemingly content with.

"You should come," Imani states.

"But, I--"

"You won't be intruding on anything; you won't be crashing anything either," she sighs. "My momma's been dying to meet you, anyway. "

"I'm sure she is," And Justin pulls into the driveway, right behind Imani's parked car. "She's probably dying to meet the white boy who knocked up her daughter."

"Wow."

Zayn can't help but feel the sting of those words.

He grabs for the car handle.

Shit.

Still locked.

"Or," Imani retorts, her nostrils flaring angrily and Zayn is thinking, fuck, now Justin's brought out the Zhuri in Imani, "she could just be wanting to meet my boyfriend who has been doing such a great job of taking care of me."

"Boyfriend? So I'm your boyfriend, now? That's news to me."

"You practically live with me, Justin. And we're having a baby. And you cook for me. And you put little bath salts in my water. And you haven't missed a doctors appointment. And you worry about every little thing when I leave the house...You trying to tell me you do that for everyone, or am I missing something?"

"Yes," he replies, "I'm missing the conversation we had about this, Imani! You know why? 'Cause we never had one. This was never established."

"If you don't wanna be my--"

"No, stop. No. Don't with that. That's not what I'm saying."

"What are you saying, Justin?"

"Babe," he turns in the seat, "I've been stressed out thinking you didn't want anything out of this, okay? And all of a sudden I just find out that we're together? We're a couple? How'm I supposed to feel, Mani? I can't read your fucking mind!"

"Look," he sighs, "I don't know what we're doing, Mani, but we've got to figure it out. Like...Like, I've got to figure all this out."

___

"Are you coming?"

"Coming?" Zayn asks, as he eventually helps Imani back into Justin's Audi--doctor's appointment. "Coming, where? The hospital?"

"No, silly," she laughs with a head shake. "Home. With us. To Louisiana, babe."

And the way Mani says the state makes the word come out more like Loozana, but the more time Zayn spends with her and her sister and her brother, the more he's starting to pick up on that accent. 

"I mean," he shakes his head; he hadn't exactly spoken to Zhuri about these travel arrangements, and he hadn't taken off work, and if Justin left too, then he didn't know if he'd also get vacation time...

"Honestly, Mani," he shrugs, "I haven't even brought it up with Zhu."

She nods, "If she don't first, you should. She wants you there. She wants you to come."

Zayn lifts a brow. He hadn't heard any of this from Zhuri so of course, he was highly skeptical, "You sure about that? You sure we're talking about the right Zhuri?"

Imani laughs. "Promise. You know she loves you, boy."

"Yeah," he rubs at the back of his neck, "Still waiting to hear that shit from her."

"I'm surprised you're still waiting."

"Are you, though?"

And Imani only shakes her head, laughing. "Look, I can't say shit. Apparently, I'm difficult, too."

"So's Taj," Zayn chuckles, "so apples don't fall too far."

"You oughtta see what it's like once we're all together. I feel like you're not gonna understand shit down there, Zayn."

"You keep calling it 'down there,' like it's a whole new world, or something."

"Honestly," she grins, her hands on her belly, "babe, 'cause it is."

__

"Got everything?"

"No," Zhuri sighs, frustrated as she throws clothes across her bed. "And it's like I don't even have the right clothes anymore...it's gonna be so fucking hot."

"Uh, just take..." And Zayn stares at the clothes littering her bed and covering her phone and her laptop and the notes she'd had out for work, before picking up a short pair of cut-offs. "Shorts?"

"You're cute," Zhuri laughs. "But, that's not gonna be enough, unfortunately..." She shakes her head, "What am I talking about? You'll see for yourself."

And Zayn pauses and shakes his head and says, "I'll see what, exactly?"

"The weather."

"Why?"

She stops tossing clothes across the room. "Because...?" And then she frowns, "Wait, so you're not coming, anymore?"

"Anymore?" He laughs. "When'd you ask me to come in the first place?"

"We  definitely talked about this..."

"I swear, you and Mani are a trip..." he sucks his teeth. "We didn't, Zhu. We did not."

"I...I'm sorry," she laughs tiredly. "I'm actually so sorry. I've been all over the place lately, can you tell?"

"Yes."

She snorts. "I set myself up for that one, didn't I?"

And Zayn snakes his arms around her waist.

He kisses her neck.

"Yes."

She giggles.

"I'll ask. About the trip?" He says. "I'll ask, y'know--See if I can take off."

"Sorry for not bringing this up sooner."

"S'fine. I know you're scatterbrained."

"I walked right into that one too, huh?"

"I love it, though?"

She laughs. "You asking or telling me?"

"Both?"

And before they both know it, they're chuckling together, and Zhuri has her hands over her face and Zayn places his around her waist and drags her backwards, falling with her onto the piles of clothes crowding her bed.

"Please come?" She whispers, tracing one of the tattoos visible on his shoulder. "I don't think I can do this without you--"

"Okay."

Her eyebrows go up. "Okay?"

Zayn chuckles. "Okay," and he rolls on top of her, capturing her lips in his.

And in this moment, Zhuri is wondering how in the hell she got so lucky.

How fucking blessed is she to have Zayn?

And she laughs to herself. She wants to tell him. Is now the time? To tell him she loves him? Yeah. She might as well make now the time.

She gasps, pulling apart from his lips as Zayn reaches beneath him, digging beneath clothes for his vibrating phone.

And she speaks at the same time as him.

"Zayn?"

"Zhu."

She turns, watching as he holds up her cell. Not his.

He's no longer smiling.

"Zayn...?"

"What the fuck is this."
__

Been about time to bring the fuckboy back hehe