#Syeda x Erik

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik Story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

@chaneajoyyy @fonville-designs @theunsweetenedtruth

Warnings: 

Chapter XI: Checks and Balances

“Mar-- Mar.. Cell..” Syd’s breathing suddenly becomes erratic as the models and her team disburse throughout the room to network. Her eyes snap left and right until she finds Yasin speaking to Yani. Syd grasps her chest as she begins wheezing. Her eyes pace over to Erik’s, which are staring right back at her. As he knows the look on her face. He races past Gina through the crowd of attendees, over to a panicking Syeda. “Syd are you okay?” “Nnno.. He’s.. He’s..” “Who?” “Mar-- Mar..” “Who is that Sy?” “Mm..” She heaves, “Ex.” Erik remembers, she hates confrontation. To the point where it initiates panic. He rushes to the stage, interlocks his arm in hers and walks her backstage with the models following behind. Gina shuffles closely behind the pair, “E, Are you serious right now?” His face goes from concerned to blank. He turns around to face a jealous Gina, “Shut up Gina. This is serious.” 

--

Erik kicks the back door open, escorting Syd outside for some fresh air. He backs her into the brick wall, “Syeda. I need you to focus on me. Look at me. Breathe! 1-2-3. Breathe. 4-5-6..” she counts with him and wheeze out a couple of breaths before getting to ten. Her eyes were still wondering around. Erik steps all into Syd’s personal space, “SY-E-DA. LOOK AT ME.” Every way that her eyes went, his head sways until she follows his direction. “Let’s count again. 1-2-3. Breathe..” “4-5-6.” Syd’s breathing starts becoming normal again. “7-8-9-10. I-- I’m good.” Erik finally steps back and leans on the adjacent wall. “What’s going on, beauty? What got you panicking at the end of your show when all your hard work came together so well?”

“My ex is here. Marcellus is here.” Erik rolls his right hand around, “Annnnd?” Syeda rolls her eyes before explaining, “Marcellus and I didn’t end on the best of terms. He cheated on me multiple times. When I broke it off, he blamed everything on me. Because I shut down on him. Last year was rough, I was just figuring out that I wanted to do styling. I was receiving more nos than yeses when it came to everything and it put me down. Not to mention my mom’s birthday. That day, I went over his place to talk about my frustrations and try to fix things, he was fucking another woman in his bed. He blamed the whole thing on me and my depression.” Erik crosses his arms as his jaw clinches, “So what is he doing here?” Syeda struggles out a chuckle, “I have no idea.” 

The door opens and Yasin’s worry resides, “There you are. What’s going on babe? You look like you saw a ghost up there.” Syeda’s attention turns to her concerned boyfriend, temporarily forgetting who he was, “Oh, uhm... I saw my ex and I panicked.” Yasin holds her hands searching for her reassurance, “Are you okay Syd?” She nods, “Yeah, I’ll be okay. I’ll be in there in a sec.” Yasin nods and presses a kiss on her forehead. “Alright luv, I’ll see you in a sec.” He turns back at Erik, Erik gives Yasin a slight nod. He ignores it and goes back into the venue. “He’s worried about the wrong person right now. He needs to be worried about your ex showing up outta Adam’s ass.”

All of the guests, production, and models awaited around the runway for the creator as her and Erik appear from backstage. A round of applause and cheers ensues. Erik looks to Syd as her breathing hitches, she mumbles, “He’s still here.”

The 6′2″ dark stallion appears to have come in peace with a bouquet of flowers, clapping with the other guests. Erik trails her eye contact to Marcellus, he nods, “I got it.” He steps off of the platform, Gina makes her second attempt at gaining his attention, “E! Wait up!” Erik holds a finger up, “I’ll be back.” Gina sucks her teeth, remaining in the same spot like a puppy awaiting it’s owner. Erik approaches Marcellus, in an effort to not come off hostile, he lowers his raspy voice. “Marcellus?”  He looks down at his caller, “Yeah. And you are?” “I’ll let you know that, outside. I need to speak witchu?” Marcellus opens his mouth to respond, but then he tucks his mouth in and heads toward the exit.

“So wassup, yo?” “Syd don’t wantchu here.” “And how do you know that..” Marcellus tilts his head, awaiting Erik’s introduction. “I’m Erik. Her neighbor’s c--” “Okay, Erik. Whoever you are. If Syeda doesn’t want me here, she could tell me.” Yasin peaks his head out of the door, “Syeda told him and her new man, me, that she doesn’t want to see you. You can go now, Marcellus. Unless you want a problem?” Erik looks over his shoulder in an at ease position, hands resting in front of him, “Do you? Want a problem, that is?”

Syd’s ex takes steps backward away from the venue, “Cool. Cool. I see how it is. Tell Syd I said congratulations.” Marcellus falls away from visual distance as Yasin fully steps outside, standing next to Erik. “Hey, E. Thanks for calming her down and checkin’ ol dude..but now that Syd and I are together, it’s my job to protect her best interests. Ya know?”

Erik huffs out a smile, “Yeah, I feel you. I ain’t tryna step on ya toes, brodie.” he reenters the building while lowly chuckling.

--

“We killed that shit Syd!” Nina daps up her newfound friend, “Yeah, I think we did!” Syd scrunches her face with her bright smile gleaming in the dim lighting. “So I know we’re gonna celebrate the product of all our hard ass work?!” Syd is totally blindsided by Yani’s question, “Uhm.. I guess..so..” Nina exclaims, “Oh! Oh! We can go back to the cribbo! Me and Rashad can pick up some quick food, some liq, some smoke.” Yani instantly agrees, “YES! I knew I was gon like her Syeda! We need awlladat!” Nina giggles, “Alright just give us a couple hours, text me when y’all done here.”

--

Next chapter I’m gettin’ to the shits! This took me hella longer than I expected, my apologies for that.

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik Story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

@chaneajoyyy

Warnings: Implied smut! Language, Angst.

X: Show & Prove

The morning of the show

Syd woke up from what she felt was a dream. It had been the most sleep she’s gotten all week, a solid six hours. She checked her phone, 7:10 AM. She remembered tapping out and closing her eyes around 1:30 AM. What seemed to slip her mind was Sin being next to her. She jolted up at his beautiful naked frame. He was still sleeping, his hair fell every which way. She smiled to herself remembering his kisses sporadically falling across her collarbone and chest as their bodies moved in unison. She glazed her fingertips where his lips once were and smiled even harder. Her phone going off snapped her out of the daydream.

“Hello?” “Syeda! What time are you gonna head out for the show? The venue is gonna be available for us at seven.” “I’ll be there then, Ayana.” Yasin must’ve been a light sleeper because her loud whisper woke him up. He rose with a deep loud groan while he yawned, in which Yani heard loud and clear. “Gi--Girl! You got sum?! You and plumber bae got it in last night!?” “Shut up Yani! Shhhh!” “Nuh uh! Syeda Mariposa! I heard his fine ass! I know we been stressed out and shit too! And I know you bitch! You gave it up!” Yani gave Syd a round of applause, “I was beginning to wonder wtf was wrong with you. It’s almost been a year since you got them walls beat!” Syd brushed past Yasin with a smile and closed the bathroom door behind her, “It’s only been nine months. If you must know, nosey. Yes, I did. and He’s not just plumber bae anymore. He’s my bae.”

“Yaaaassss Syd! I’m proud of you! Making strides in fashion and in love! I’m inspired, I may stop playing and give your mystery neighbor a call.” “Girl, he’s in Berlin. He said he’ll be back next week though, if you forreal.” Yani sighed, “Yeah, I’m forreal, mami. It’s about time I finally settle down too, and he’s nice.. I guess. I can try him out, see what he’s about. Plus, him not always being around is a plus because you know how I likes my space!” Syd giggled at her friend, “Yeah, don’t I!” “Yeah, yeah! Bitch, you don’t gotta be so inclined to agree.” “Bitch you not gon act like we didn’t try living together before I moved in here and you didn’t throw me out!” Yani’s tone changed to a matter of fact-like as she replies, “I didn’t throw you out! I simply gave you options for new places to live.” Syd sucked her teeth, “Bitch, you threw me out.” “Whatever! Let’s agree to disagree on the matter! Besides, you may wanna get some good morning dick because we got a long day ahead of us! Get some for me too while you at it! A bitch is in the office and I haven’t had none since before the holidays.” Syd cringed, “Ew. Girl Bye!”

--

Erik woke up to a warm feeling below him, as his eyes blinked open a few times he realized what was going on. “Oh shit! Good morning.” Gina decided to wake up her interest with some morning head. Her head was slowly bobbing up and against this pelvis until his member got hard and long enough that it activated her gag reflex. “Relax that throat baby.” She moans at his request and eased her way back down to his pelvis again, collecting more spit down his shaft. She placed one hand on him, maneuvering it up and down as she slurped him up like a melting cone on a July sunset as his head flew back on the arm of Zig’s couch. He gripped her by her hair and pulled her face up to his, their lips played against one another as she sank onto him.

“Good morning.” She finally replied to his previous greeting before kissing him again.

--

The evening soon approached as Syd hopped in the Uber XL with all of her clothing, accessories, and materials in tow. Yani was already at 583 Park Avenue, waiting for her to arrive. She’d been recieving texts and calls from all of the models, some invited guests, Myles, and Yasin even though he’d just left her sights hours before she departed from her house.

“Hey baby. I know your nerves are on ten! Just breathe! You got this. I’ll see you once it’s done.

-Sin”

Syd clutched at her heart in joy at her new boyfriend’s support. The uber driver stopped as close to the service entrance as he could, “Alright, we are here Miss Syd. You need any help?” “Uhhh...yes please? Thank you!” Allen, the driver, unloaded Syd’s belongings and escorted them into the venue. Yani came outside to help him as Syd’s attention fell immediately on set design. The contractors put down the black glitter floors already and Iyo was setting up his laptop to the projector. She slipped backstage to find her MUAs hooking everyone up as she saw the last model finally arriving to set.

Gina waltzed in the show as if she was the hottest thing since Takis, strutting like she’s on the runway backstage, and she was twenty minutes late. Not only that, but she showed up needing a visit to a hair stylist and makeup. “Syd, hey girl. Listen, I’m sorry I had a long day. Me and E..” “I’m sorry but, this has to do with the show..how, exactly?” Gina giggled, saying in a boastful tone, “Me and E lost track of time, that’s why I’m late.” Syd gave her a glance over and stopped as she looked back up at her, “Hm, so that’s why you let him tag you up on the night of my fashion show too?” The right side of Gina’s neck was riddled with dark hickeys. Syd was really disgusted at the display that stood in front of her.

Gina just smiled, “I’m sorry, I’m sure GiGi can cover it up.” Syd muttered, tight lipped, “She wouldn’t have to cover shit if you could’ve remembered you had a job to do tonight and it’s all about image.” Gina rolled her eyes, “So do you want me to see if she can do it or not? Ya know, you’ve been giving me shit since you met me.. You got a thing with Erik I don’t know about? That your man that showed up last night don’t know about?” Syd had it, she stepped up on Gina really slow, looked her square in her eye as she stated, “What you do with your personal time with Erik or anyone else is of no concern to me. However, when you come into the most important night of my life, and possibly yours if you pull this off, looking freshly fucked less than two hours before showtime..that is my concern. So what I need you to do is firstly, get up with Nina and Xierra, see if they can work a miracle with what’s on your head. I’LL have a talk with GiGi and see if she can cover your shit up. And trust me, after this show, you’ll be out of my hair.”

Gina scowled, “Okay. If you say so..boss.” and with that, she disappeared. Syd hasn’t been so mad in so long. Professionally speaking, she was mad at Gina. Personally speaking, she was conflicted. Her and Erik hadn’t spoken in weeks, so she knew she really technically couldn’t be mad at him for getting with Gina. Hell, she got with Yasin. Yes, it was unexpected, but damn. She just wasn’t expecting for Erik to get back like that. Syd shook off those personal feelings and thoughts, she immediately began to dress her models that were finished with makeup. Syd dressed her models one by one as they came out.

Von, Sam, Johan, Levi, Jade, Deanna, Phoe(nix), Sevin, Nina, Essence, Xierra, Leon, Warren, Cass, Omir, Cayson, Nadia, Zaniya, Jorge, King, Tammi, Quanna, Lyric, and Gina. 

Well, as Gina finally got up from Gigi performing makeup surgery to cover up her night before, Syd actually needed to cool herself down so Myles ended up dressing her. Gina was sizing him up as he was cascading the clothes on her, “Girl, I’d be barking up the wrong damn tree. This is strictly professional! Get the damn clothes on!”

Syd stepped out front where she caught a glance of Erik on the phone. She just leaned against the wall of the building, knowing it was facing East, she bowed her head and started her second prayer of the day. Her and Yasin did the first of the day together when they finally got out of bed. She hoped for a perfect, smooth show; for sound and production to go off without a hitch, and for her show to receive rave reviews. Her head rose and met Erik’s. “Wassup princess, you good?” The second thing Syd instantly took notice of was Erik’s matching hickeys on the left side of his neck. She hung her head back down, “Yeah. I’m good. Nervous that’s all.”

“You got this Syeda. Just breathe, relax. I think someone wants to congratulate you though..” She lifted her head and saw Ziggy with a huge bouquet of Sunflowers, Syeda’s favorite flower, and the hugest grin, “I heard my fly ass neighbor was gon kill her fashion show tonight!” Syd’s face lit up as she held on to Zig for dear life, “Greg! Ahhhhhhh! Thank you for coming! But how? I thought you were working?” He sighed, “Well, Tony wrapped early so I hopped on the first flight out. I couldn’t miss your big day if I didn’t have to!” Syd accepted her flowers, “My favorite!” “Only for you Miss Syd!” “Thank you so much Zig, I feel so much better! You can go ahead and grab a seat.

“Well, well! Looks like Someone beat me to the punch!” Syeda’s ears perked up at her man’s voice, she turned her attention to Yasin. He had on a black velvet two piece suit with a white button down, his hair in a high bun. Looking like he belonged on her runway tonight. Syd’s smile became impossibly wider, “Hey, you.” Yasin wrapped his arms around her and gave her multiple pecks on her lips. She momentarily forgot about the two men behind her. Erik loudly cleared his throat, stoically stalking them with a look of dislike, “Oh, my bad. I don’t think you two ever met, Yasin, this is Zigg, my neighbor. Zigg, this is my man Yasin.” “Ya man?” Erik questioned Syd in joking tone, Yasin replied, “Yeah, Erik, was it?” Erik stood opposite of Yasin, sizing him up, “Yup. That’s me.”

Yani was right on time, “Syd, I--” She quickly pieced together the scene she walked out to, “I need you inside. You need to get dressed and into makeup.” Syd grabbed Yasin’s hand as she instructed everyone to just grab a seat and the show would be starting in thirty minutes.

--

Syeda decided on her look for the night, her blazer dress was accompanied with her black turtle neck underneath and her boots. GiGi gave her a fire gold glitter eye shadow, snatched her face with a mean contour and golden highlighter, and set the look with the bold ombre burgundy to red lip. Syd decided to wear her hear in a slick curly ponytail with her signature two sideburn pieces, and of course, keeping true to where she came from, she bought a new set of heart shaped gold bamboo earrings with her entire name spelled out, matched with her necklace her father gave her. She stepped out of the green room to all of her models, Yani, and Myles. Everybody wooped for Syeda’s look for the night.

“Daaaaammmn Mami! You looking hot tonight! Muy Muy caliente!” “Gracias, Jorge!” She bowed to her homie and continued, “Ok everyone, this is it! It’s crunch time. Just to give you a little run down for the confirmed guest list; reps from Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Pink Pyramid, Hermes, plenty of my partners from undergrad have their own fashion lines, photographers looking for models, Ford Models, L.A. Models, and even more. Ya’ll dreams are right past that curtain. I need ya’ll personalities and confidence. Shine like the stars you are, Alright?” Everyone yelled, “Alright!” she continued, “Alright! To UPTXWN!”

--

The show was every single thing Syd prayed for. The models ATE. The crowd looked satisfied with the show. Byron snapped pictures of everyone walking up and down the runway, Syeda was a nervous wreck the entire show. Biting down on her nails holding on to her best friend’s hands for dear life when she wasn’t changing out her models with her. They finished all of the models final looks she stood behind Gina, as she was the last model to walk out before her. Gina sized her up and rolled her eyes, Syeda gave her a smug look as Yani caught it, she stated, “That bitch is dead to you after this, and if anyone in here asks about her to me, her ass is grass.” Syd just nodded. Every model walked onto the platform and a mic was handed to Yani as she announced her best friend, “And now, the creative behind the UPTXWN styling brand, Syeda Diaz!” 

The entire crowd rose in applause as each side of the platform was filled with all twenty-four models, twenty-three of which were following suit in applause. Gina just painted on a fake smile for the spectators. Syeda did her walkthrough and waved each way down the runway. She caught glimpses of all of the faces she’s seen while making a name for herself in the high fashion world as well as the faces of old classmates and her boyfriend. Her face went blank when she saw a face she’d never thought she’d see ever again, her ex boyfriend. Marcellus.

🌹

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik Story

Based on Teyana Taylor's VII & KTSE

Warnings: TRIGGER WARNING! 9-11 ATTACKS, TALKS OF DEATH, MOURNING, Syd and Erik coming to their senses--for the moment!

Chapter VIII: To The Things We've Lost

January 25, 2014

Syd woken up in tears. She had the same dream she always had around this time of year for the past thirteen years now. This day never gotten any better for her. This would have been her father's forty-seventh birthday. For the first twelve years of her life, they had an old tradition of going to Sylvia's for brunch, then later on enjoying the sunset on Ellis Island. That all came to an end on September 11, 2001. Syd rushed to the restroom to chuck up her dinner. She had came to the realization all over again, her parents were gone. She never gotten therapy or sought any refuge for her loss. So coping with it alone was always the hardest on days like this. Finally finished, she flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth out before laying back down. 

--

The next thing she remembered, she woke up again--to her phone dinging. This time, she had woken up in a cold sweat. She checked her phone to see three missed calls from Yani and a voicemail. She pressed play as she plopped back into bed.

"Hey Syeda. It's me. I know today is a hard one for you. I'm here if you need me. I love you. Call me tomorrow, let me know you're okay. Bye."

She sighed as her eyes fluttered shut again. Her body woke her up for a third time, as she screamed to the top of her lungs. The painful screech was followed with an even more painful loud series of hitched breathing and crying. She held on to her last gift that her father gave her, her gold name plated necklace and cried out for her baba. She heard three faint knocks on the door, she wiped her tears as best she could and hobbled over to the door, trying her best to keep her balance. She opened the door to find Erik there, leaning on the door frame. "Hey, beauty. What's wrong? I heard you all the way from across the hall." She shook her head and attempted to say that nothing was wrong with her, but she couldn't form a word and the more she struggled, the more tears started to run down her face. Erik immediately grabbed her into an embrace. "Shhhhhhh.. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. Shhhhhhh.." As her knees became weak he cradled her into her apartment and shut the door. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Erik sat her down on the couch. Syd began wiping her tears away, looking straight ahead, not responding. Erik went into her bathroom to make a warm rag to clean her face. He went back into the living room area to find that Syd wasn't there. He heard sniffling behind him and found her in her bed balled up in fetal position crying again. He made his way to the opposite side of the queen sized bed, laid face to face with her as he wiped her raw nose and cheeks. She looked into his eyes and saw his sympathy for her. She didn't even tell him what was wrong, and she saw that he felt her pain. She placed her palm on the left side of his cheek and moved her face closer to his. They shared a tender almost innocent kiss. His lips cascaded over hers. A tear moved from Syd's right eye down the side of her nose and to his face. As if he was the remedy to her pain, he wiped that tear as their lips continued to collide. His hands moved and found their way into her curly tresses. She placed her arms around his neck as they continued their embrace. 

She finally broken the kiss and mouthed the words, "Thank You." He nodded his head and replied, "I gotchu." He held on to her like his most prized possession as she began sniffling again. "Still don't wanna talk about it beauty?" She nodded her head as he looked down at her. "M--Mmm-My dad. It's his birthday today. A--An..And he uhm, he passed away." Erik kissed her forehead and rubbed her back as she laid on his chest. "Take your time. It's okay..I'm right here." She sniffled, "My baba was my best friend. We did everything together. Then..Then.. I lost him on 9-11. I was only twelve! Today has never been the same since!" She waled out, losing her voice completely. Erik rocked back and forth with Syd on his chest, letting her cry. "Shhhh.. I'm sorry for your loss Syeda. I completely understand what it's like. I lost my baba when I was eleven, Someone took him away from me just the same. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'd never want anyone to feel that pain." She looked up at him and held on to him just as tight as he held on to her. She placed her thumb under his cheek, he hadn't realized that he was crying too, reminiscing about finding his father on their apartment floor brings him to tears every time he thought about it. He didn't know why he thought comforting Syd would make a difference. "I'm sorry for your loss Erik. No child should have to bury their parent so early." She mustered that out in a hoarse tone. He lifted his head up, "This is about you, beauty. I'm here as long as you need me to be, okay?" She nodded her head as she fell asleep for the forth time.

--

The soft thunder of a storm woke her up. She jumped as she felt Erik's arms around her, almost forgetting that's how she fell asleep. She looked up to see him in a deep slumber. She wiggled her way out of his hold and went toward the kitchen to get some water. Taking a few sips, she then walked over to her window to crack it open. She always liked to hear the rain falling. It was tranquil. Something that she needed on a day like this. She felt Erik's rough hands gently wrap around her waist, "Hey. How you doing?" She sighed, "I'm a little better, you hungry?" He swiped her hair to the opposite side of where his head rested. "Mhm. You?" She nodded as she turned around to look at his face. He grabbed hers as they share another kiss, this one not as innocent as the last. She grabbed a hold of Erik's shirt before she completely lost her balance as he simultaneously grabbed her from her thighs to place her on her windowsill, never breaking the kiss. She moaned into his mouth as their lips fight for domination. They knocked over one of her plants that sat next to her, that's what finally broke their bond. She looked on the floor at the broken glass, "Uhm.." Erik stared at her, twisting his budding dreads trying to break the awkward silence, "You wanna order some take out?" She looked back at him and shook her head, "No." She stripped out of her shirt, looked at him for a spell, then hopped off of the windowsill. He bit his lip at the sight of Syd in her PINK bra as he gazed at her every move. She maneuvered to her closet and pulled out her I heart NYC hoodie and yellow rain boots. She grabbed an umbrella and her bag and finally looked back in his direction, "I know where I wanna go. C'mon."

--

The duo walked down 126th Street hand in hand, Erik still had no idea where they were going. "Girl, you tryna take me somewhere and kill me?" She laughed and slapped his chest, "No! We're going to go get food." "Where, woman?!" They finally stopped once they approached Malcom X Blvd. "Here, man!" She rebutted as the glowing sign became familiar to him again. They were back at Sylvia's. The restaurant she suggested to him weeks ago. The lights shined much brighter due to the overcast. They walked in and found a booth next to the window so they could have some type of scenery to look at. It was about 1:30 PM so brunch was still available since it was a Saturday. Syd scanned through the menu while playing through her curls. Erik pretended to look at the menu, but he studied Syd's mannerisms. He grinned at the way she stretched her curls and let them bounce back into place. The waitress returned to their table with two Sylvia's Uptowns (half sweet tea, half lemonade). "You know what you want?" She awaited for their answers. They both looked at each other, scanning down to one another's lips. Syd then looked down and smiled a little, "Yes, can I get the country style slab bacon and eggs with home fries please? And a order of fried chicken to go once we get done." The waiter wrote the order on her pad, "Okay ma'am. And you, sir?" "Lemme get the southern fried chicken and grits with eggs." "Okay. I'll have that out in a sec. Let me know if you need anything."

Syd and Erik spent some time just looking at each other. Not really sure what to say. He broke their silence, again. "So, uh..about earlier I--" "No.. No.. it was me. I let my thoughts run my actions and before I knew it, things got a little hot and heavy." "So..what does that mean?" he crossed his arms awaiting her response. "I mean, it's obvious that I like you too Erik. I've been fighting it. Fighting it off with work.." "Fighting it off with that niggaaa.." He adds. She reached across the table and shoved him, he dramatically fell back and slid down the booth. "No but really, I just.. I don't want things to go at a pace I'm not ready for. Especially today." She looked out of the window as a tear fell down her face. He reached out to wipe her tear and turn her face back to his, "Talk to me beauty. I'm right here." She smiled at the new nickname he's given her for the day. "I just want us to build a genuine bond. I've been hella vulnerable with you today. More than I've been with anyone in a long time. Please don't make me regret it." He shook his head as he took a sip of his drink, "Never that."

"Okay here you are!" The waiter brought out all of their food as they practically drooled over the deliciousness that sat among them. She refilled their mason jars and added, "If you guys need anything else, just let me know." They both smiled in her direction as they unwrapped their silverware. They spent their time eating talking about their short times they spent with their parents. All of the fun times that they both shared with them and how each of them met their demise. Syd told Erik that both of her parents worked at the World Trade Center Plaza. Her father worked in the South Tower on the eightieth floor, her mother worked in the Marriott World Trade Center. She started to struggle through the story, he held her hand to comfort her, "It's okay, just breathe through it. You have to talk about it to get through it." She inhaled and nodded her head, "From what my mom told me, the plane hit the North tower first, she saw it and automatically ran out of her job to the South tower. She called my dad and... He picked up, told her that he was taking the stairs, he was on the way down. He knew..... He knew another one was gonna hit his tower..and then.." She breathed again as she looked up, trying to stop the tears, "The other plane hit his tower. The line went dead. My mom tried to get in the building, I don't know-- I guess to try to save my dad. But it was a lot of stairwells and she didn't know which one he was on and it was so many people trying to get out. She wanted to save her husband. She realized that it was too late once the NYFD got to the scene and they got her out of the building, all she could do was....watch the buildings burn. Then...the tower that he was in collapsed." Syd exhaled and sniffled a bit, continuing, "My mom passed six years later. From a lung condition--inhaling burned materials from the buildings. So I lost them both from 9-11." Erik sat beside her and held her to his chest again, "You never told anyone about this, have you?" she looked up at him, "No. I didn't want to, for a long time. But grieving them never got any better. Most days, I try to push it off. But on their birthdays and September 11, every year...I can't ignore it." She snuggled back into his chest. He kissed the top her head. "Thank you for sharing this with me. I understand..shhhhh..I'm so sorry Syd. I'm sorry this happened to you." She finally gained her composure, they silently came to that understanding. He moved back to his seat as they continued eating. 

"My baba, he was my hero. Everything I wanted to be. My mom passed away giving birth to me. So from then until I was eleven, it was me, my baba, and my Uncle James. We lived in Oakland my whole life, but my baba would tell me about Wakanda, his home; all the time. One night, I was playing basketball with my friends across the street from our building. Next thing I knew, I saw this big ass glow over an overcast. It was kind of purple..so I knew something was off. I ran up the steps and..M--My baba. He was laid out. Alone. There was blood everywhere. All I could do was scream and hold his lifeless body in my hands." Syd held his hands and cried with him. "When we cleared out the apartment, I found a secret compartment with this--" he dug his chains out of his shirt and singled out the linked chain with the ring on it. "--and a book, all written in our native tongue, Xhosa. I'm still trying to decipher through it all but..One thing I do know is that my baba was murdered. Murdered by the one person that was supposed to have his back the most." Erik shook his head as he clinched his jaw. Syd wiped his tears, "It's okay N'Jadaka. Breathe, remember?" He nodded and inhaled, "My Uncle from back home..Wakanda.. he took the only thing I had left in the world away from me." Syd scaled back, "Your uncle? James?" Erik sniffled and shook his head. "Nah. Different uncle." "So..you do have other family, but he killed your dad?" "Yup. And left me alone. I was left to bounce from group home to group home until I aged out. Then I joined the Navy. At first, it was so I could have a place to live. Then I gained a family with my crew." He mustered a smile at his Navy days. "I joined the seals my second year in, I left after my fourth to go to school." 

By then, they both finished their plates as the waiter came by to collect them. "Should I go ahead and get those to-go orders?" They reached across the table, wiping each other's tears. "Yeah. Please?" Syd mustered up a slight giggle to lighten the mood.--They walked back outside into the storm, Erik walked to the right, assuming they were going back home. Syeda stood at the door. "Beauty, what you doing? Let's go." She looked back at him blinking, "Nah. We going this way." She walks in the opposite direction. He scurries back over to her, "Where we going?" "You'll see." They walk down the historic Malcom X Blvd as she told him the backstory about how Malcolm used to live on the block before he converted and how much he helped the community of Harlem afterward. They stopped in front of the subway entrance. "Now you tryna get me eaten up by a huge alligator or somethin'! I'm not going in there Syeda!" She pulled his arm, "Nigga it's the subway not a sewer! It may smell fucked up sometimes but it's not that serious. C'mon!" They went from the 125th Street Station to 33rd Street Station, they ran up the stairs to see the booming area that is Korea town. Erik's head swayed back and forth trying to keep up with the thousands of people walking by him, he finally moved his eyes back to Syd's, "I figured Zig hasn't shown you around, so...This is New York." They walked down Broadway as the lights from the screens became brighter and brighter the more they walked. Erik marveled at all of the different faces he saw. Syd pulled him through the busy sidewalks and cross walks until she stopped in between Broadway and West 43rd Street. "This..is Times Square." 

Erik stopped in his tracks when he heard her, and spun around to see the huge digital screens where the huge New Years ball sits on that special count down that he sees every year on TV. He looked over to his right to see more screens and looked up where the old TRL studio was. "This is amazing." Syd smiled at his astonishment. She's taken a few friends she made in college from out of state to the same spot and she gets the same reaction, every time. She lets him look in amazement as she typed in her phone, "C'mon we got one more place to go." 

--

By the time the Uber found them, it was 5:45PM. The rain stopped and she wanted to go the place she hasn't been to since she was a kid. The driver didn't announce their destination, at her request via text. He just drove. "Where we going now babe?" She linked her arm into his, "You'll see, N'jadaka. You always ask this many questions when you go out?" "Only when I don't know where I'm going! Shit!" She laughed at him and placed her head on his shoulder. He pulled her in closer and they sat in silence the rest of their twenty minute ride. The car stopped, "Alright, here you are!" Syd thanked the driver and Erik stepped out of the car, waiting for her before he closed the door behind him. He looked around, lost. "Uhhh..Where are we?" She rolled her eyes, "Well.. I was gonna take you to Ellis Island, but it's raining and I'm sure the faeries are closed. So..I took you to the next best place. She held his hand as they walked for what was only a couple of minutes, They stopped at the 9/11 memorial. Syd did something that no one has ever done to Erik. Shocked him twice in one day. "I haven't been here since the buildings stood. I couldn't. But I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather be here with.." She held his hand tighter. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "I'm honored." They walked around the South tower memorial in silence as her fingers traced over all of the names of the fallen men and women until she found his name, "Saleem Pedro Diaz" her other hand moved to her mouth as her finger traveled to the name next to it, "Valerie Nadeen Diaz" Erik moved closer to see what she was gasping at. "My mommy..baba." She moved her finger over to their respective names. "I didn't know they put both of their names on here.." She looked up to the sky, "Alhamd-lilah!" She dug a picture out of her bag of her and her parents on Ellis Island. She kissed it and left it by their names. She whispered, "I love you baba, mama." and she made her way back to Erik. He was taking in the scene of the entire memorial as she had her moment with her parents...then he thought to himself. By the time she was back by his side he told her, "I'll be back. Gimmie a second." He walked over to where her parents names were. She took a picture of him kneeling by the area and saved it as her screensaver. She then saw him nodding as he walked back to her. "Alright beauty, let's get you home."

����

Translation: Alhamd-lilah - Thank You God!

PSA: All characters are fictional, this was in no way made to disrespect the thousands of lives lost on that day, nor the lives affected by it.

Also, Rest in Heaven Stan Lee. Thank you for bringing all of our Marvel characters that we love so much to life. 🙏🏾

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik Story

Based on Teyana Taylor's VII & KTSE.

Warnings: Sneaky Bitch in the cut! Drug use. Drunkenness. Jealous Erik! Jealous Syd! A whole bunch of jealousy! Which leads me to the title of

CHAPTER 4: ENVY.

Erik's face began to heat up with anger at the sight of Syeda and the maintenance man. He continued smoking as his eyes searched for Grant. He found him in the back of the kitchen beside the back door talking to some woman. He barged his way through the thick crowd of party goers and as he walked past the kitchen he gave Syd and her plus one a look of disdain. "Aye, Grant. Lemme get a eighth." He requested, handing Grant two twenties. He needed to calm down and the Henny was not a culprit for that mission. Grant dug around in his pocket for the weed and pulled out a pre-weighed pack and gave it to Erik. "Here man. Just give me a dub. You look like you need it right now. Wassup witchu?"He let out a full sigh before he answered, "Nothin. I'm good. Thanks. You got some more backwoods?" The mystery woman spoke up, "I do." Erik's face changed as soon as he looked up at her. She was no Syeda, but she was bad all the same. 

Brown skin that would give Coca a run for its money. She was about 5'7" with a curly top knot bun. "I'm Gina, just call me G." "Erik." They exchanged pleasantries and shook hands. Syeda is witnessing their exchange and she scoffed as she took the last sip of her straight liquor as if it was a shot. Yasin followed suit, thinking she was trying to out drink him. "Damn babe. You took that shot and didn't even blink." He laughed as he pulled her from behind, hugging her by her waist. She smiled in their direction with purpose. "Yeah. I guess I needed this." she then moved her head up to look at Yasin. He took that opportunity to kiss her forehead. Erik accepted G's pack of backwoods and clinched his jaw again after seeing Syd and Mr. Plumber's exchange. "Wanna go outside?" He motioned his head towards the back yard. "Yes, Erik. We can do that." She flashed a smile at him. She had a gap that Erik immediately took to. 'It's actually cute on her' he thought.

Syd sucked her teeth as the DJ switched the record up to "Bandz A Make Her Dance" she asked Yasin, "Hey boo, you wanna dance?" She didn't wait for his reply. She pulled his arm as he followed her into the living room.

--

Erik began choking on the blunt, "Wait, you did what?" G patted his back and chuckled at him. "I thought I could go to the top of the Empire state building and smoke a couple ls. so I did. Until security was called after I got done with the first one." He hadn't laughed so hard since his Navy days, back before he went off to college. "I had to run down 102 flights of steps with Security on my ass! I don't regret it though." She admitted, grabbing the blunt that Erik was offering. He liked the fact that she was daring. While they were rolling to match, she talked about how she took a leap of faith to pursue her modeling career moving from Houston to New York after her parents passed away in a drunk driving accident. Erik exchanged the similar experience of losing his father and mother when he was younger. They seemed to form a slight bond over their bold interests and their painful losses. They were both only children, they even complimented each other's rolling styles. "Yeah, this is hittin. You good at this. How long you been smoking?" G leaned back in awe of the query, "Shiiiiiiiiit I'm twenty-six, It is my birthday by the way." He interrupted, "Oh, well happy birthday beautiful." Her smile spread from ear to ear. "Oh, Thank you. Anyway- I'm twenty-six. I've been smoking since I was fifteen. So about eleven years." She took another drag as he lit the blunt he rolled. "So what about you?" He exhaled the smoke and did some calculating with his free hand. He'd only taken up smoking when he went back to MIT for his doctorate in Engineering. Even though a eighteen year old Navy enlisted Stevens would laugh if he saw his twenty-seven year old self toking like Wiz Khalifa, he used the flower to decompress. Especially before his dissertation. He smirked and rebutted, "Only four years." G gasped, "Really? I'm surprised. I mean, you being from Cali and all." He kept the same smirk at the way she pronounced Cali with that southern accent. He really liked that. "I wasn't a fan of weed in my younger days. I enlisted in the Navy as soon as I graduated High School. When I got out and went to college, my view became more lenient; and by the time I went to school to get my doctorate, I dove head first in the weed. That shit was stressful." Gina marveled at the small background story he gave her. "Wow. Doctorate. So you're a doctor?" he passed his blunt to her, and rejected what was left of hers. "I am. Kind of. Engineering Doctor." She busted out laughing. Her laughter instigated his as they were enjoying each other's company.

--

"Front then he coming your way, let the semi dump-dump then he coming your way. Dump when the bad man come, my yute don't ramp wit me/Coupe full of bad hoes, they all wanna come with me./You got a coupe with a sad ho cause she wanna come with me. Shabba!"

Syd wined her body to the bass line of the beat as Yasin joined her movements behind her. The party was singing along with A$AP Ferg, you could've sworn he was in attendance. They'd been dancing for four songs now, and Syd started getting tired. She stopped and rose up from her bent position. "Wooo. I'm drained." Sin nodded. "I feel you. It is hot out here. You wanna go outside?" He pointed at the same back door she saw Erik and whatshername go out of. She agreed, out of curiosity. They make strides to the back of the party. As Sin opened the door for Syd to walk out, Erik and whatsherface were walking in. Laughing as if Eddie Murphy was outside doing a comedy show and smelling louder than Coachella. Syd rolled her eyes and tried to avoid making eye contact. Erik quickly shut that down. "Syd." He always said her name so effortlessly and it immediately stopped her in her tracks as she turned around. "Erik? Hey. What's up?" He took a quick glance at Yasin and looked back at her, "Chillin. Zig finally showing me a good time and shit." He glanced back over at Yasin, who was giving him a smug look. "You?" Syd flipped her hair so she could rub the back of her neck, "I needed to get out of the house. Work is getting hectic."

Ironically, Yasin and G both cleared their throats at the same time at their counterpart's rudeness. Syd looked over at Sin apologetically, "I'm sorry. Sin, this is Erik. My neighbor's cousin. Erik, this is Yasin." Neither one of them felt the need to shake hands they just gave each other a domineering stare. Erik broke it and looked at Gina and her impatient body language, "This is Gina. We just met but she's cool." Gina reached her hand out to Syd. Syd leaned back far enough for Erik and Sin to notice, but Gina didn't. She reluctantly took her hand and shook it, "Syeda." She quickly let her hand go and walked to the end of the deck. Erik's mouth hung open at the crude behavior that Syd was displaying. 'She acting like she didn't bring fix-a-toilet to the party.' he scoffed aloud at the inner thought.

Yasin shook her hand, trying to deescalate the awkward situation, "Hey, I'm Yasin. It was getting hot in there and she needs some fresh air." Erik side eyed Syd, "Yeah. I'm sure. Well you enjoy your night Syd." Syd shooed him off. "Yeah. You too." The door closed and Yasin let out a long breath as the tension levels decreased. "Wow. Uh. You okay? You seem upset." Syd still looking ahead toward the back yard, she shook her head. "I'm not upset. I'm good." She managed a fake smile and took his hand. "Are you okay?" Yasin scratched his forehead in confusion. "I was okay until all of that happened. That was awkward as hell, ma. You two hook up or somethin'?" Syd rolled her eyes at the suggestion, "Hell no. I practically don't know him. I'm just hot and irritated that's all." "Okay babygirl. lets get you cooled down." He found a lawn chair and scooted it up to her so she could sit down. 

--

30 Minutes later

Yasin and Syd were becoming more acquainted. They exchanged stories about Ramadan failures. Syd loves food too much to not eat during the day. "Islam is about patience. Even in our shortcomings. I got up to thirteen days this year. I'll aim for thirty next year and see how far Allah takes me." "Wow. I never thought of it that way." She always beat herself up about not following her religion as diligently as her parents did, her life was too hectic to not eat during Ramadan, she was almost always working on Fridays so she couldn't go to the Mosque. She prayed about two to three times a day on average instead of five. Syd looked at the sky, hoping in that moment that she was making her parents somewhat proud. Yasin felt her mood change. The door opened, they both looked back to see Nina. She leaned against the deck and lit a blunt. "This party is gettin' a lil too lit." She said, exhaling smoke. Syd cosigned, "I feel you girl." Nina took another drag and motion the blunt to her left, at Syd. She accepted it. "I knew you smoked!" Yasin laughed at their dialogue. "I thought I smelled weed when I walked in your place." Syd took a long drag. "First of all, fuck both of you! Secondly, Yes. I smoke. Sue me!" They all laughed as Syd motioned the blunt to Sin. He reluctantly accepted. Nina calmed down, "Nah, but for real though, Syd. I got a friend that would be perfect for your shoots. She just moved here from Houston and she's looking for some modeling gigs." Syd hummed loudly, "YES! I need one more girl. That'll be perfect. Just bring her through to the shoot. Myles sent you the info right?" Syd knew the answer but she was confirming. "Yeah he did. That guy is on it. Sent it the day after the meeting." "Girl, Myles is a Godsend. I'd lose my mind if I didn't have him by my side." Yasin cleared his throat, unfamiliar with the male name being mention. "Babe, that's my assistant." he palmed his face, "My bad. I'm sorry. Damn I'm not tryna come off as the jealous type." She gave him a peck and reclined back in her chair. "It's okay."

🌹

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose in Harlem (PREVIEW)

Oc x Erik story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

Warnings: Cursing, physical contact, jealous Erik! Sneaky bitch in the cut!

                                                                                                            Winter, 2013

                                                                                                         The Next Day.

                                                                                                              Erik’s POV:

“Nah, you good. You owe me though.” “Nigga I owe you what?” The shower turns on as he’s yelling over the stream. “Hook me up with Syd.” I barely yell out. “WHAT NIGGA!?” I blurt out, “HOOK ME UP WITH SYD!” He warns me, “Syd don’t do that shit!” “She don’t like men?” Could’ve fooled me, I mumble to myself. “YEAH SHE LIKE MEN, DUMBASS. MAN, HOLD UP.”

Zig was never one to multitask. Even showering and having a conversation is close to impossible. I plop on Zig’s sad excuse for a couch logging into my Macbook. It pulls up everything that I was searching for before I closed the screen last, researching my bitch ass Uncle T’Chaka and his family. He has two kids, T’Challa and Shuri.T’Challa looks my age, maybe a year or two older or younger. Shuri looks way younger than me. Maybe eleven or twelve. I grip the edge of my laptop in anger. Thinking that I would’ve known my cousins if this bastard didn’t kill my father and leave me in Oakland to fend for myself.

I snap out of my angry transfixion when I hear the bathroom door reopen. “Now, as I was saying. Syd don’t do that one night stand-y, friends with benifits-y, bullshitt-y..bullshit that is your status quo when it comes to getting with other people.” I jump back at his accusation. “I do nothing of the sorts, Greg. I do not know what you’re talking about!” “Nigga if you don’t stop with the lies. I’ve only known you for a year and there’s been..Tyesha, Unice, Pheobe, Cynthia, Grace..” “Yeah! OKAY OKAY OKAY! I get your point. Damn. I’m a ladies man.” “Nah cuzzo, you a hoe. Syd don’t do hoes. In the 3  years she’s lived here--and I’ve been home. I’ve seen Syd go on maybe 4 or 5 first dates. None of them came back for second or recurring dates. The one boyfriend she had treated her like shit.. I’m not even gonna get into that right now. The point is, the girl is a keeper. If you don’t wanna keep her, I’m not hooking you up.” “Damn cuh, that’s on the homies?” “On everything N’jadaka.” Zig only calls me by my first name when he was dead serious. So I give him a stern stare, “Aight. I’ll keep that in mind. If I ask you again, I mean that shit.” I close my laptop as he joins me on the couch. “Okay. Well now that we got your feelings all out the way, I’m dressed. You ready to pregame?”

🌹

[brattywriters-anonymous]

Choices for what I should post tonight:

ARIH VIII OR INFIDELITY II?

[brattywriters-anonymous]

UPDATE(11.3.18)

I’m currently working on Chapter 3, this one is going to be formatted differently. But it’s going to be GOOD.

[brattywriters-anonymous]

11/9

Hey ARIH readers,

I got good news, and I got bad news.

Which one you wanna hear first?

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

WARNINGS: Cursing, slow burn, Hate at first sight.

Winter, 2013.

A brisk December day approaches Syeda (Syd for short) in her small Uptown studio apartment that she’s dishing out way too much money for. She rubs her eyes in disdain that the sun is up again, she only just gotten to bed three hours ago, working on her lookbook for her fashion line the entire night prior. Syeda worked hard, and played hard. She not only lived the montra, she loved it. She rose out of her bed and stumbled to her bathroom, conveniently tripping over a pile of the clothes that she wore the day before.

She flipped the switch, the fluorescent light flickered its usual three times before turning on completely as her slender framed mug came into full view.  Her view spanned over her caramel skin complexion. Her face lightly covered with faint freckles over her cheeks, her full lips, and the scar under her right cheekbone that her dog gave her when she was nine. She huffed at the faint mark, the loc of frizzy and curly hair that covered her face moved up and down as she did so. She grabbed her red bandana designed iPhone  from the dresser that was adjacent from the other side of the bathroom door and clicked through her Apple Music until she stopped at her Harlem4L playlist, she decided to start her day by blasting Cam’ron x Lil Wayne “Suck it or Not” She dance/strutted back into the bathroom, grabbed her large tooth comb from the counter and began to lip sync, “Ma, I been huggin’ the block/ That’s right. Hustlin’ rocks./ I know I been puffin’ a lot/ But a nigga wanna know baby girl you gon suck it or not?” Her free arm moving along to every other syllable of every bar as if she was Cam himself, rapping at the Apollo Theatre. She chuckled at herself and moved along to the shower, throwing on her shower cap. She was turning on the hot water..or so she thought. The hot water was out again and Mr. Van Den Berg, Syd’s elderly landlord and the tenant in the loft downstairs, said that the plumber came last month and fixed the issue. She groaned and practically threw on her camel colored Uggs before she stomped out the door.

She swung the door open and immediately walked to her left toward the stairway without looking and bumped into someone. She didn’t even take a second to look back, she just said, “My bad.” and made a beeline for Mr. V’s door. He opened the door before Syd’s petite hand could form a fist to knock on it. “Miss mooie bloem, good morning. Heard your dainty footsteps, I knew you were coming down here, how may I help?” She heard the sarcasm in his tone when he mentioned her footsteps. She rolled her eyes, “Mr. V, the hot water is out again, I can’t shower in cold water, It’s December, you gon’ have me out here with the flu or somethin’!”  He shook his head no and grabbed his cordless phone in the same instant to contact the building’s pumber. Syd pressed the power button on her phone to check the time, 9:47am, “Yo Mr. V, I need him here in the next hour. I have a meeting to go to and I can’t be late!” Mr. Van Den Berg nodded his head and stated that Yasin would be there by 10:15. Syd stomped up the stairs she heard a male’s baritone say, “Yeah, your lil ass neighbor bumped into me, didn’t even look back to see if I was okay or anything, cuh!” That accent, he definitely wasn’t from New York, let alone from the east coast. She twisted her doorknob and mumbled, “Well maybe you need to look where you going, CUH.”

--

Syeda had been pacing back and forth in her cramped kitchen for what seemed like hours, She tapped the home button on her phone. 11:01am Fuck. She thought in her mind. She heard two taps on her front door, she swung it open, and went off, “Do you not think that anyone has a fuckin’ life. You’re over thirty fuckin’ minutes late and I was supposed to be gone by now! ARE YOU DUMB?” This brutha stood at least about 6’2”, about 280..maybe 290 lbs. Syeda couldn’t give a fuck less that she was maybe a quarter of his size. She stepped up to him, thinking her 5’1”, 133 lbs. would match up to him by being closer. She was so busy flying off the handle that she didn’t notice her neighbor across the hall, Ziggy (short for his last name, “Zigler”) and the mystery out of towner she ran into earlier were going downstairs, headed out. By the time she got done yelling, they were at the bottom of the staircase and she heard that voice again, “Aye cuh, Couldn’t be me. I would’ve taught her lil wild ass some manners.” Mystery man was faced toward the door and as soon as he finished his rude comment, he was gone. Syd decided to let that ride, since she figured she wouldn’t see him again, and turned her attention back to Yasin. He raised his eyebrow, and took one step past her into the apartment, still staring at her. “Traffic.” he simply stated then he walked straight back to the bathroom.

--

Syeda’s phone began to vibrate and go off, “BESTIE BIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHH” with too many twin and heart emojis to count ran across the screen. She sneered over at Yasin, he was still seated on her toilet seat reaching over the tub, fixing whatever. She looked above the call and saw 11:52. She sighed and accepted the facetime call. Yani, or Ayana when Syd is mad at her, looked directly into the front facing camera, “BITCH. Wher--I KNOW YOUR ASS STILL NOT AT HOME WITH A GOTDAMN SHOWER CAP ON! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE IN LIKE, 10 MINUTES. WHAT THE FUCK!” Syd palmed her face slowly and sighed. “Yani, I knowwwwww. My damn hot water went out again!” She pointed her phone to show Yasin in the bathroom. “Oooooh, damn girl, I know it’s some other pipes that he can fix in that lonely ass apartment of yours.” Yani pointed at Syd’s lower extremities. Syd scoffed and rushed her off the phone, “I’LL BE AN HOUR LATE, BYE BITCH.” beep beep beep. 

The line went dead. For sure, Yasin heard what her obnoxious best friend said about her box, she threw her phone on the bed and tiptoed into the bathroom. Once she reached the doorway, Yasin turned around and slightly jumped. “Oh, I just finished up here, ma. I apologize, my Uncle was supposed to fully replace this pipe when he came here last month. He came in the week before he retired, I guess he got lazy and patched it up.” Syd crossed her arms as he stood up and flashed his million dollar smile, “It should be good now.” Syd is all about details. Being a fashion merch graduate, it’s in her nature. She scanned over his dark chocolate frame, the vain in his lower arm bulging out, the tattoos covering the areas above it. She skimmed up to his face. Well, his full lips. The bottom slightly larger than the top. Now formed into a slight grin. Her lip twisted to the right in reaction to it. She blinked her way out of her trance. “Okay.” She finally replied. Yasin smirked as he made strides to the front door, making his exit. He stopped at her doorway after opening the door. Syd trailed behind him and stopped in the foyer when he turned. “Hey, uhh..” He held his hand out to Syd. She searched over his extended arm to see the Arabic saying on his arm and read it aloud, “Silence is the interpreter of happiness.” She blinked, looking up at him. “Oh, I’m sorry?” He huffed, “Your name, Miss?” She grabbed his hand and shook, “Syd.” Yasin squinted at the young woman that was quite smaller than him with an attitude of a giant. “You know Arabic?” She nodded, “Moms was from Philly, she was raised Islamic. You?” he stroked his thick goatee and rebutted, “My family is Muslim, My mom was raised baptist but she transitioned when she met my pops, My uncles, brothers, cousins, grands.. They’re all Muslim.” “Alhamdulillah!” Syd chanted as she threw her hands up and chuckled. Yasin couldn’t help but laugh with her, her humor and contagious laugh was simply irresistible. “Well, Syd, I gotta go to my next client..but if you free for a late lunch later..maybe we can chop it up over a nice meal?” Syd stepped closer looking him in the eye, “I can let you know.” She handed him her phone to put his number in it. He started typing away when her phone vibrated twice, signaling that she gotten a message. Yasin paused, then finished typing, smiling the entire time. “Alright Miss Syd. Later.” He began his descent to the hallway door. Syd closed her front door, and ran to the shower.

--

Syeda ran down 125th Street to cross over St. Nicholas Ave to get to St. Nick Park. Stumbling past bystanders and bikers on the pavement with a thousand things in her hand with her hair blowing wherever the wind takes it, Syd finally makes it to the meeting spot that her and Yani agreed to host the meeting. She placed her things with her personal assistant, Myles, who is a big ball of fabulousness; Always dependable and has an incredible fashion sense. Yani looked at Syd as if she was a bat flying out of hell and quickly flattened Syd’s curly tresses back to frame her face. She was beginning to look like cousin It. Syd thanked her girl for the assist, “Do I look okay?” Yani assessed. Syd was in a rush, but she picked a black long sleeved crop turtleneck, high waisted light denim mom jeans, and leather knee high boots. She accompanied the outfit with her childhood gold personalized “Syd” necklace and “Syeda” one finger ring, along with her new Off-White yellow label belt. Yani nodded as she looked up to her face. Syd had no time to put on makeup, but she threw on a red ombre lip, lashes, and liner; black at the top, white at the bottom to accentuate her almond eyes. Yani smiled in agreeance. “Yes bitch. You look good!” Syd breathed a sigh of relief as Yani took a seat on the bottom step of “Sentra”, the exhibit from Harlem Studio Museum that she dubbed the perfect meeting spot for the occasion. 

The crowd of people that had been calmly chatting amongst themselves had gotten quiet and all eyes were on Syd. She cleared her throat, “Hello Everyone, My name is Syeda Mari. I am owner and the creative behind UPTXWN Clothing. As you all know by the flyer..” As she grabbed one from the ever dependable Myles. “..I have a lookbook that I am preparing to drop on Spring Fashion Week in February. As I know, Two months is such a short time to plot a production as big as I am asking for but just based on the turnout I have here, I know it can be done.” “You got this Syd!” Yani’s supportive mom voice sang out. Applause rang out. “But we gotta band together.. Network. Get this premiere party to be the talk of the town. I need my models on point, I need you all to show up to the shoots, leave that ego bullshit at the door. If I put you in it, I don’t care if it’s a water buffalo coat with silk drawls. Make it look like couture.” The hustler in Syd began to come out. She’s all about having fun and turning up, but when it’s time to work, Syd don’t play. Everyone knew it too, from old college professors at Columbia to ex boyfriends who relish at her success that she’s had since graduating. Syd is a go getter. She took a look at her audience from left to right and saw all familiar faces of former colleagues she worked with in her fashion showrunner days, and a couple more from around the way. She smiled at the great turnout and calmed her tone. “I need for the production crew to be on time as well, I book locations by the time. Not by the day. So please. Be on time.” She pointed to her photographer, Iyo. Iyo threw up his prayer hands and bowed. Signaling that he heard her and he don’t want no smoke. “I also need my MUAs to plan the looks. I plan the outfits, Gigi, please plan the faces to go with these bomb ass looks.” Gigi stood up, as colourful as she could be in her loud colored fur coat, “Of course Syd, We gotchu.” As her team nodded in agreeance. “Videography, Semaj..Andy..Lon, We need to set up a meeting after this to talk visuals.” Andy tilted his head upward to let Syd know that he heard her. 

“And last but not least, my PR agent. My amazingly amazing best friend. Ayana. Girl. I need you to get the best of the best people at this show. I need you to pull this final product all together to help my baby UPTXWN come alive!” Yani wiped a fake tear from her face and ran to hug Syd. “Of course, you know it’s done.” Everyone roared in applause. Syd yelled over it, “Okay everyone thank you for coming out! Leave your email and phone information with Myles and I’ll see you all at the next shoot!” 

The audience began to separate into their own groups. Syd and Yani floated around to each one until they got to the last cluster. Yani had to get back to the office so she dismissed herself, “Girl, Martinez is on my ass about my time! I’ll meet them at the next shoot! BYE BITCH!” Syd sucked her teeth. Yani knew she hated extracurricular socializing. 

She made her way over to the group to see Ziggy, a renowned photographer. Even though he works for CNN, he liked fashion photography and was looking to expand his portfolio with the lookbook. Two men and a woman accompanied him. “Zig! Thank you for coming out! Or who I gotta thank at CNN?” She queried, completely joking. Ziggy sarcastically responded, “You can thank Anthony Bourdain for giving me the week off, but I’ll be in Berlin next Thursday.” “Oh, you know your landlord is going next week too? Maybe you two could finally get to know each other, trade war stories.” Syd made small talk with him for a while, discussing a couple of his many travels and he explained that his job is why he’s in the studio across the hall, because he’s rarely home anyway. 

Syd nodded in agreeance as she looked around to observe everyone else he was with. “I’m sorry everyone. Nice to meet you. I’m Syeda. Zig is my neighbor. And you all are?” The woman introduced herself first. She had a pecan tan tone and  a short tapered curly cut. She was 5’9”, thick stature yet barely had a midsection so she was athletic. “Nina.” They shook hands. “I heard you needed models, I’ve modeled for Stussy, American Apparel, Yeezy..Zig told me about your line. I love how you repping Harlem. I gotta be a part of this.” “Glad to have you join us Nina, thank you.” The guy next to her spoke, “Uh..Hello. Im Byron, friends call me B. I work in IT, I do editing on the side. If your videography team needs an editor, I’m available.” Syd nodded, “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what they need. I’m meeting with them next week, I’ll text you the details.” B smiled and thanked her. Ziggy introduced the last person, “Oh Sy, (Zig was the ONLY person besides her parents to call her that) this is Erik. My cousin. Syd blinked and looked up to his 6’0” frame. She blinked and looked at his face length dreads. She blinked and noticed his mustache, goatee and his thick plump lips. She licked her lips and slightly opened her mouth and before she could speak and introduce herself, that annoying baritone that she heard hours ago rang back up. “Ohhhh.. You the biddy that ran into me. You know, I could’ve been hurt.” he said, putting his hand above his heart. He was completely being dramatic. Syd rolled her eyes in disgust. “You’re a big boy. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Erik stepped up to her, she noticed a slight gleam in his eyes, “Yeah, I am a big boy.” he grinned and sized her up. “Zig, get your cousin, before I really hurt him.” She squinted her eyes at her last three words. Erik didn’t move one inch away from her. He took her hand, kissed it, and returned with,  “Hurt me, baby.” She scoffed and her hand dashed across his face. “OUCH! MY NAIL!” Syd drew her hand back and noticed that the tip of her red coffin shaped nail was on the ground. Which would’ve been okay if her nails were painted red. They were black. Her finger was bleeding.

--

🌹

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[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik story

Based on Teyana Taylor's VII & KTSE

Warnings: Cursing. Slight panic attack! More slow burn. That's it.

Chapter VII: Expectations Vs. Reality

January, 2014

Syd's POV

Should I ignore it? I'm looking at the phone then looking at Erik, Erik is wondering if I'm going to answer it too. Shit! Perfect Timing,Yasin!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"Dios mío!" I spit out in utter frustration! Erik and I were so close to kissing and my body is still coming down from that temporary high and now everything in the universe is coming to interrupt it. Erik walks up behind me with that same look he had in his eyes before our moment was ruined, "You don't have to answer either, you know that right?" His hands found their way around my waist as he took my scent in, once again; I couldn't move. He moved some of my hair out of the way and the lips I've yet to feel on mine, were on my collarbone making a trail up my neck. I started indulging in the moment and then

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Damn it! I groaned and slipped away from his embrace. "I have to." I walked to the door facing him with a look of regret. I looked through the peep hole, it was Yasin. "Oh shit!" I feel myself starting to panic, I walked back to my living room and Erik sees me struggling to breathe. "Syd...Syeda! Calm down. Breathe. C'mon, breathe with me." I kept looking up and looking around, trying to count backwards from ten in my head, I can't believe I'm having a panic attack from having one crush in my house and the other one outside knocking on the door! Erik stands in front of me and put his hands on each of my arms, "Breathe with me. In--" I inhale sharply, "--Out" I slowly exhale, focusing on his words. "In! That's it..Out. There you go. One more time, In...C'mon Syd...Out." I let out the last breath with a tear coming out of my right eye. "Thank you. I'm sorry. I--" "You have anxiety. That's nothing to be sorry about baby." "I just don't do well with confrontation." I hate admitting that shit, but it's true. Just the thought of opening the door and Yasin seeing Erik in here had me thinking of the worst case scenario. Plus, the argument between Erik, Yani, and I was enough conflict for one day. Erik walks over to my kitchen and makes me a cup of water so I can cool down, "Here. Your face is red and you feel really hot. Who was at the door?" "Yasin." I say, gulping a few sips of water. Erik stands up and walks to the door, "That was him calling too?" I followed close behind him, "Yes. Look I don't want you two to--" Erik stops walking and I bump into him, which interrupted my call for peace. "I'm going back to Zig's. You let me know when you ready to stop straddling the fence." He walks out of my apartment, making sure he slams the door on his way out. I need a drink!

--

Erik's POV

I was this close! THIS CLOSE! Damn! Homeboy really keeps getting in between Syeda and I. "Zihlala ziphazamisekile!" "Nigga, what you just call me?" Zig comes out of his room with a confused look on his face. "Nigga. I ain't call you nothin'. That nigga that Syd's around showed up and we were about to kiss." Zig put his hand over his mouth in shock, "Yooooooo! You for real? Damn bruh. That must have been a hell of an apology." "Nah. Not really. I told her." Zig zips up his last suitcase, "You told her, and what she say?"  I shake my head, "Nothin' but I know she feels the same. She wouldn't have let me get that close to kissing her if she didn't." My cousin places his bags by the door as he was typing away on his phone, probably for an Uber to JFK. "So why you here?" "Because, I don't want her to chose between me and another nigga. That's why. Am I wrong for that?" Zig looks me in my eye and says, "Nah, but it's wrong for you to assume that she's not gonna have any options if you're not gonna assert yourself." "I never said I didn't expect her to have options. She's beautiful. I just really thought that telling her would--" "Would what, cuzzo? Make her drop her options right then and there? She was too busy listening to what you had to say and in your face to do it!" I sigh, "You can do that all you want but expecting that is selfish. Especially since you still got Gina on a string. What happened with that today anyway?I almost forgot about Gina, "I mean, we had lunch. Talked a bit more about goals, past travels, a lil bit of fashion. After, I walked her back to the shoot and left. I didn't want to stay around after that fight with Syd." "And Yani. That girl is a beast." Zig cracks up at my despair "Nigga, understatement." We laugh together at Yani's intense attitude. "She called yo ass a ghost, my nigga." Zig leaned back in awe, "Damn! That girl cold. She know why I'm never home." "You should see what that's hittin' for cuh!" Zig vigorously shook his head. "Nigga nooooooo. Nope. She cussed me out for saying 'Good Morning, Beautiful'

February, 2013

Yani was rushing to Syd's apartment; Almost running into her neighbor preparing for his morning run. This was there first and only run in with each other. "Oh, I'm sorry mama." Yani rolled her eyes, "I'm sure you are, and that's not my name." "My apologies, again." She continued upstairs as he marveled at her figure, "Well you have a good morning, beautiful." Yani groaned and went off, "Nigga! My name ain't ma, mami, beautiful, sexy, none of that shit that you call those basic hoes off of the street! If you wanna know my name, ask. Other than that, FUCK OFF." Syd opened the door, she heard the commotion, "What's going on Yani?"

I'm cracking the fuck up, that sounds like her best friend's stuck up ass. "Yeah. Nah bro. I'm not about to end up on first forty-eight behind that broad." "I feel you. I feel you. You know I could just take you to the airport if you let me borrow the whip while you gone." I peer at my cousin, I'm tired of walking and Ubering everywhere. "Shit. As long as you gas her up and when I get back she has the same gas she did when I left, you good." Yes! "Bet." We're having a weird stare off until he breaks it, "Uh. I'm ready to go!" "Oh. You could've said somethin' dummy!" He heads out the door first, tossing me the keys before he closes the door behind him. I put on my shoes and coat and brace myself for the brick that is outside. I lock the door and I look over to Syd's door it has a yellow sticky note on it. I shake my head and say to myself, "Enye kwakhona?"

--

The next day

Syd's POV

I don't remember what time I ended up falling asleep, but I do remember waking up with a crook in my neck that hurt like hell. I didn't get my editing done, and I didn't expect to. I have my third out of four shoots today so I have to hurry up and rush through my morning routine so I can meet Myles at Garvey Park. I check my phone, I got a voicemail from Sin, from last night when I didn't answer the phone. "Hey Syeda, It's Sin. I was stopping by to drop you off some flowers as congratulations on your shoot. I was hoping we could talk since we haven't gotten to since Shad's party. Hit me up when you can, okay? Bye." I can't even focus on the voicemail because Erik's words keep ringing in my head "You let me know when you ready to stop straddling the fence." Damn. I look at the time 8:59AM I rush and grab my laptop to put it in the bag, my chargers, planner, phone, and purse. I swing my door open and immediately see a yellow post-it sticker on it. I grab it and make the five block hike to Garvey park. By the time I cross over the second block, Fredrick Douglass Blvd, I decided to open the post-it note I have crumbled in my hand.

510-770-2344; E's number.

I stop in my tracks, put the number down in my phone and throw the paper away in the can next to me.

--

Erik's POV

I wake up way later than usual this morning. I read the time on my phone.

9:10 AM

Message

G-Baby 2 min

E, shoot is at Marcus Garvey Park. We start at 10 if you can make it

Message

718-993-2309 5 min

Erik, It's Syeda. Hit me when you get up.

How did she...ZIGGY. I text Gina back to tell her I'll meet up with her for lunch again today and I decide to give Syd a call. Hopefully she came to her senses and decided what side of the fence to stay on. "Hello?" "Uh, hey. Syd? It's Erik." I clear my throat, I just realized I still have my deep morning tone. "Yeah, Hey. I was just hitting you to let you know that I finally booked a venue for my show." "Oh yeah?" "Mhm. Booked it a hour ago. 583 Park Avenue." "Damn ma, that's fancy as fuck. How you pull that?" I sit up rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Ayana. Her PR colleague pulled some strings and helped me book it. I gotta eat ramen until my birthday, but I got it." I chuckle as I think to myself, "When is your birthday?" "Uh, it's next month. On the sixteenth." I lean back on the uncomfortable couch laughing again, "Ah. That's why we been bumpin' heads. My birthday is next month too, on the ninth." she laughs with me on the other end, "You're an Aquarius man? Oh God, you're crazy!" I scoff at her accusation, "You're an Aquarius too, so don't that make you crazy?" "No. No. The men give us the bad crazy stereotype!" "Let's agree to disagree Syd." she giggles and agrees, that shit sounds so sexy on the phone, I have to readjust my morning wood. "So...You thought about what I said last ni--" "SYD! I NEED YOUR HELP!" I hear her annoying ass best friend yell out for her and I roll my eyes. "E, I don't have a choice to make right now. I got a fashion show and visuals to put together in a month. That's my boyfriend right now. I'd appreciate it if you show up for me, as my friend." I huff at that word, friend. "Bet. I gotchu." silence fell between us, "I gotta go, it's almost call time. I'll hit you later?" "Yeah. That's cool, friend." She sucks her teeth at my sarcasm, "Bye, E."

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Translation - “Dios mío!” - Oh My God!

“ zihlala ziphazamisekile!” -   Always interrupted!

“Enye kwakhona?” - Another one(guy)?

🌹

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose in Harlem

Chapter two.

Oc x Erik story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

Warnings: Cursing, physical contact, feels!

Winter, 2013.

Syd cursed out as she felt the stinging pain of her broken and bloodied nail. Erik tried to grab her right arm, not even phased by the dark red bruise forming on his left cheek. Syd pulled her arm back and yelled, “Get off of me!” Erik pressed backward, throwing his hands up. Myles saw the disaster on Syd’s right index finger. “Oh, baby, That nail gotta come off!” He grabbed a fresh bottle of Dasani, poured the water on top of her finger. Diluted blood streamed down the concrete. “It hurts so bad! MM MM.” Syd shook her head over and over.

Erik approached her again, with napkins and a first aid kit. Before she could protest his presence, he grabbed her right hand, placing her index finger into the napkin. “Hey, Syeda. I am so sorry.” At first glance, she paid attention to his chest and the necklaces that were on display. He had a linked chain with a silver ring attached to it, and another smaller chain with the letter “N” on it. Then a sudden stinging sensation hit her injured finger. He put peroxide on it, to sterilize it. “That’s what you wanted to apologize for?” She yelped out in pain. She looked back up at his lips as they formed a wide smile. “Well, for that too. And for being too forward. I’m from Oakland baby, we state what we want. Closed mouths don’t get fed.” He wrapped her finger in the Band Aid, and kissed the uncovered part as he winked at her. She couldn’t deny what her body was doing in reaction to the care that he took for her in those few moments. In the December brisky yet-sunny weather, Syeda was feeling rather--hot. She briefly exhaled as he surrendered her hand.

--

After a successful meeting went completely south at the end, Syd retreated to her favorite local Coffee Shop. Harlem Coffee Co. She gotten Chai tea and a croissant. She needed to calm her nerves so after her 30 second encounter with “Erik” or whoever he is, “N!” She scoffed aloud before opening her macbook. She began to shuffle through photos that she took on her own, with a few models that were current students at her Alma mater, Columbia University, out to Highbridge for the official first shoot for UPTXWN. She wanted to represent not only Harlem, but all of uptown. Where it’s been, where it is, and where it’s going.So she did the first shoot on the High Bridge. She grabbed her Canon Rebel T5i that she bought herself for her birthday, and took some sunrise shots at 6 am on an early July morning. She really took the photos, and uploaded them to her laptop. She was too preoccupied with her showrunning position for fall fashion week that she didn’t even take the time out to edit them. They sat in her Macbook for over 5 months and it was about time that she started editing. Simultaneously, she was texting Myles informing him that the next shoots would be in Sugar Hill and Marcus Garvey Park and to blast the text and email out of a 10:00 am call time for the Following Wednesday and Thursday.

--

MYles🧡💁🏾‍♂️✨

Are you okay? I know you broke that nail pretty bad.

Yeah. 😩It hurts, but I’m good.

Alright. I’m sending the texts out now, emails will be out by tonight, l8r.✌🏾

Syd took a sip of her tea she saw a name pop up on her laptop, coming from a contact, “Sin”

--

Sin

Syd, it’s Yasin. The plumber. I know you said you’ll let me know if you’re free for a late lunch. You free now?

Syd read over each word then she saw three dots pop up at the bottom of the screen.

Sin

…

Turn around👀

Syd’s face turned into one of confusion. She made a 180 to see Yasin sitting on a table in the corner of the shop. She smiled as he motioned her over to him. She retrieved her belongings and walked over to the booth. “I was just about to ask you to meet me at my favorite coffee shop, and here you are. Girl, you must be an angel or somethin’.” Yasin drew across the table to her direction, he motioned out to her right hand and saw the Band Aid. “What happened Syd? You okay?” She brushed it off. “Yeah it’s fine, this guy was being a complete asshole so I socked his ass.” Yasin’s eyes fanned completely opened when she told him what happened. “Oh, so you fight guys out here?” He sat back in his chair. She reached out for his hand and honestly stated, “Only if I have to.” and smiled. Yasin side eyed Syeda, trying to get a read on her. She came off so mysterious. As old vinyl records of 90s and early 2000s music sprawled out on the living room area floor of her apartment ran across his mind, he grabbed her hand and asked, “So what you about, Syd?”

--

Yasin and Syd spent the next 3 hours discussing education, Islam, politics, and polyamory. Sin let Syd know that just because his mother allowed it and his father participated, doesn’t means that it was what he wanted out of life. “I’m 27 years old, it’s time that I find the right woman to build a family with. To live the life that Allah gifted to us.” Syd was about to be 25 her next birthday in two months. She let Sin know that even though she understood the overall benefit of having a 3 or more person income household, she wanted something that was exclusively hers. “I share my creativity with the world. I share my image to the world. I don’t want to share my love to the world too. I want something sacred.” Yasin nodded as he paused and took a look at his watch. “Oh shit. Ma, you lucky I got finished with all of my clients before I got here, I would’ve been late to all of em by now. It’s 6 pm.” Syd scanned over to the top right corner of her Macbook 6:30 pm. She’d only gotten half of the pictures done, so it looked like she was going to be pulling another all nighter. “Oh, I’m Sorry.” She started packing up her things and getting up. “I have to finish this anyway. So I’m gonna go back home.” Yasin stood with her and assisted her out of the booth. They walked out to a beautiful orange sunset, almost complete. Syd’s hair blew along with the wind again. As she swept the hair out of her face, Yasin reached his arms out and pulled her in slowly. “I had fun today Syd. To think, we met earlier this morning to you cussing me out.” Syd playfully nudge his shoulder. “Yeah, you were late. Which in turn, made me late for my business meeting.” “Let me make it up to you.” She tried to back away but his grip trumped her attempts. “How?” She raised an eyebrow. “Let me take you out tomorrow night. My homie is having a block party up Washington Heights. You wanna slide through?” Sin looked her in her eyes, she couldn’t evade his staring. Syd responded by slightly pecking him on the lips. “Sure.”

--

Syeda wrestled with her keys, finding the door key to let her into the building of 63 Morningside Avenue. She finally unlocked the hallway door, she sat at the bottom of the stairs to take off her extended high heels. She overheard Ziggy talking to Erik, “Yo I don’t know what you were thinking earlier, man. Syd don’t play.” She smiled when Zig made the infamous statement. She scurried up the steps and tried to silently unlock her door. CLINK! Her keys fell to the ground and all chatting stopped across the hall. The door opened. “Syd.” Her name sounded like honey coming from Erik’s lips. She slightly closed her eyes to it. She turned to face Apartment 2B. “N.” “N?” Erik was puzzled. She pointed at her own neck. “Your necklace.” He looked down and jumped. “Oh. Yeah. My father’s side of the family is from Africa. My African name is N’Jadaka. Zig is my cousin on my mom’s side.” he pointed over to 2B.

Syd looked stunned, shocked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just figured you were lying about--” “About what? My name?” he chuckled. “Nah lil mama. Besides, I don’t think I could lie to you even if I wanted to.” She exhaled. It was light but still heavy enough for Erik to hear. She took a step backward into her apartment but as soon as she hit the closed door, she yelped. “OUCH!” She held her right hand with her left, dropping her heels. Erik immediately stepped in and grabbed her shoes. “Here, let me help you out.” He turned the key and opened the door. Syd turned the light on in the foyer area. “Thank you, N’Jadaka.” She repeated his name in a smooth manner that was pleasing to his ears. “You’re welcome, mooie bloem.” Syd perked up when she heard the familiar dutch nickname that Mr. V gave her. “Yeah, when you bumped into me, I stood by the stairwell..in shock I guess.” He laughed and continued, “I heard him call you beautiful flower in his language. I’m intrigued. Why?” Syd closed the door behind her and locked it, figuring that he was staying for a while, because he walked further into the studio, by her couch.

She placed her keys on the hanger beside the door, shimmied her bubble coat off, placing it on a misplaced dining room chair. “My middle name. It’s Mariposa. The cuban national flower. My mom was Cuban and African American. Afro latina. She was born in Cuba. Her and her family moved to Philadelphia when she was 8. Her father converted to Islam, her and the rest of the family soon followed. She met my dad, He’s also Afro Latino. They had me, Syeda Mariposa Diaz.”

Erik marveled at her story, appreciated that she knew her ancestry. “You have a beautiful name. So your mom honored her Cuban background and gave you an Islamic name?” He finally took a seat, awaiting her response. She nodded and sat next to him, “Yup. That was the idea.” He reached for her right hand, “May I?” She hesitated, then gave in, “Don’t break any of my other nails! They charge for fixing broken nails!” Syd looked Erik in his eyes, smiling. He grasped her hand and kissed it with the same tenderness as he did earlier and finally spoke, “Never.” She blinked a couple times to get herself out of the trance she found herself in after his lips left her hand, she actually had to look away from him as he removed the Band Aid from her finger.

“I heard your right hand man, he said you have to remove the nail. You haven’t done that yet.” He held her finger closer to her overhead lamp so he could further investigate. “Hell no! It hurts. I was going to go to the nail shop to get it removed.” “For what? So they can charge you for something you could’ve done? Nah. I gotchu.” He quickly stepped out of her studio. She shot up and began to panic a bit.

Oh my gosh! Syd, what are you doing?! You just letting this man take care of you like some damsel… Even though he is the reason why you’re hurt.---He Looks so damn GOOD though. Damn. He can’t be in here for too long!

Syd attempted to press the power button on her phone but it didn’t turn on. Signaling that it died. “Shit.” She mumbled. She shuffled around the back end of the studio where her bed and nightstand were. She reached over the opposite side of her bed, closest to her window, for her charger. She heard a laugh and turned over in fear. “Damn. My apologies Syd. It’s just me. I needed my first aid kit. You got tweezers right?” She pulled herself off of her queen sized mattress and retrieved her manicure kit from her bathroom. “In here.”

--

“AHHHH!” Syd exclaimed as Erik used the tweezers to pull the remaining acrylic off of Syd’s bleeding finger. “There. The bleeding should definitely stop after this.” He sprayed the alcohol on a cotton swab and patted on her nail bed. She squealed in shock as he wrapped a new Band Aid on her patched up digit. She took her hand back, relieved that the pain is subsiding. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.” “You’re welcome. No sweat. I was in the Navy. I helped out injured people all the time. I’m used to it.” Erik spat out as he returned the manicure kit back in the bathroom, washing his hands. Once he dried them he clapped them together, and cut the light off. “Okay beautiful. Don’t go slapping other niggas upside the head. I gotta bounce.” Syd followed his trail to her front door, “Bye Erik. Thank you again.”

🌹

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

I created this chapter under the premise of “Everyone get’s the same amount of time in a day.” How does Syeda and Erik spend theirs?

Oc x Erik story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

                        Warnings: Cursing, physical contact, jealous Erik!

                                                                                                       Winter, 2013

                                                                                                      The Next Day.

                                                                                                    Erik’s POV:

I wake up at about 6 AM. Military habit, I guess. It’s still pitch black outside, but I wanna get my daily run in. Zig’s couch is so uncomfortable. I appreciate cuz for letting me crash until my place was move-in ready but my neck is gonna be paying for it until I move. I got up and threw on my Under Armour pants and compression tee, turn on my “Get Up, Get Out” playlist, and crept out the front door. I pause Outkast’s “BOB” to see if there was any sign of Syeda being awake. I hear some music coming from her apartment but not her high pitched voice. So I figure she likes to sleep with music on.

6:28 AM

I’m running down 124th Street, then I crossed over to St. Nick Avenue to run along the trail at the park. I start getting tired by mi. 3 due to not running for the first couple days after my arrival. Jet Lag is a bitch! Especially because I took that red eye. I immediately regretted it arriving at JFK. Ironically, I’m deciding to take a breather at this same spot Zig dragged me to yesterday to meet Syeda. I crack the slightest smile, remembering how soft her skin was when I held her hand. My train of thought–and my stretching gets derailed by my phone ringing.

INCOMING CALL

Z CUH

“Hello?” “Yo, when were you gonna tell me you left? You had me thinking somebody came in here and kidnapped yo ugly ass!”

I huff. “Nigga! You know I run in the morning. Stop acting like you not my blood, cuh.” “Yeah, Yeah. Whatever. Look, I’m about to head out to the office to get this preproduction done for Berlin next week, I’ll leave the key above the door frame. Don’t be fucking no slides at my house cuzzo. Deadass.”

“Oh my goodness, Gregory! What kind of guy do you think I am?” I said in my falsetto.

“A hoe. Bye nigga.” BEEP BEEP BEEP. I laugh, getting myself off the ground. I decide to sprint back to Zig’s house to gain another mile and some change on my run. I got to the building I start to reaching around the doorframe for Zig’s key. I found it, letting myself in the front door. I dash up the stairs and head straight to 2B. I need to shower. In the shower, my mind is drifting to Syeda again. I mean, the girl is gorgeous. Those faint ass freckles, her big hair, her slanted eyes, down to that feisty ass attitude that I got a whiff of. I felt like I was being drawn in by her and I don’t even know her. Not yet. I’m pretty sure if she ever gets to truly know me, she’d run. My life has been built on nothing but pain and rising against the odds. I haven’t let anyone in until I met Zig for the first time last year. My mom has one living sister, and she has one living Son. That’s the last real family I got left. I’m not the most charismatic person in the world; I damn sure ain’t the softest. I’m not even rough around the edges. I’m rough on the surface. Somehow, she’s broken ground on that concrete surface. I’m not even mad at it.

8:05 AM

Googing it, the reviews were good. I gotta see this shit for myself. Cuz claiming it’s shittin’ on Roscoe’s. The blasphemy!

9:43 AM

I really don’t wanna go to this block party. I don’t do functions on a daily. But when I think of the last function I’ve been to..I can’t remember. I’ve been so busy working I had no time to play. I guess it’s time to play now since I don’t have anything else better to do. My new work assignment doesn’t start for another three months.

2:58 PM

It’s lunchtime and Zig really never touched his kitchen. He has expired milk and ketchup in his fridge. His cabinets are barren as fuck. Even though Ruth’s was hittin’, and it did shit on Roscoe’s..I’m never telling Zig that, I’m hungry again! I’m a foodie and I hate going to places in an area I don’t know about. If the food is trash I won’t hold my tongue, especially talking to the chefs. I completely avoid that by asking other people. Zig’s ugly ass suggested breakfast; maybe Syd can suggest lunch.

–

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

All of a sudden my heart rate heightens. As I try to take a deep breath to slow it down. Then I heard the door open. Syd, somehow impossibly, looks even more beautiful than she did yesterday. Her long tresses are pulled back into a low ponytail. She even has two long curly pieces hanging out on each side of her head. Panning down to her shoes. She was rocking some Timbs. She’s a New York Girl down to the buttas! My eyes slightly travel up to her outfit of choice. She has on an Emerald green knitted sweater with large double Cs plastered across the bottom and light wash 721 Levis. She likes labels. Nothing wrong with that. I make my way back up to her face that was freshly washed. No makeup. I can see those faint freckles that froze my concentration.

SNAP! SNAP! “Hello. Erik! What do you want?” Syd was standing in her doorway, leaning against it.  I guess she’s waiting on my response. “Oh yeah! Sorry Syd. I was just thinking about something.” I lie. “Can you give me a suggestion for lunch? I’m hungry as hell and Zig is either starving himself or eating out every day.” “Whatcu got a taste for?” My mind automatically goes to envisioning Syd’s thighs wrapped around my ears moaning my first name, as smooth as she said it last night. I began to close my eyes and bite my bottom lip just at the thought. She starts snapping at me again. “Yo! What’s wrong witchu? You drifting off in your own world or somethin’?” I’m shaking my head profusely. “Nah. I’m sorry. Again. I gotta taste for some soul food. Since it’s Sunday and all.”

She was looking up toward the ceiling. I guess she has to think about it. I’m just noticing that she has bags in her hands. “Were you leaving? I wasn’t trying to interrupt-” “Oh. No. I mean- yeah but- I don’t mind. Try Sylvia’s. Her fried chicken is to die for!” I shake my head. “I already had fried chicken and waffles this morning at some place called Ann’s.” “Oh. Amy Ruth’s?” She quickly corrected me. “Yeah. That. You tryna turn me into a chicken, girl?” I daringly take a step closer to her. She doesn’t flinch. “Well, You are what you eat. So technically, you’re already a chicken.” Seeing that sly smirk on her face and almost lost it. ‘If I am what I wanted to eat, I would be you.’ I’m thinking to myself. “Besides, they have fried fish, pork chops, grilled chicken.” She’s stating the last option in a sarcastic tone that I peep. I lick my lips, pulling her by her belt loop, “Oh, so what would you suggest I get?” She doesn’t pull back like I thought she would. Instead she moves forward two steps, mere inches away from me. “Their BBQ Salmon is really good. With her Collards, Mac and Cheese, and yams.” She slowly blinks her light brown eyes to look me in mine. I finally release my lip and nod my head. “Thank you.” I let go of my hold from her pants and head towards the door.

9:10 PM

Zig finally gotten back from the office. I’m on the phone with my Auntie to let her know how her trifling her son was living.

“Yeah Auntie Leenah. Yo son starving himself and he– he TRYNA STARVE ME OUT!” Zig rushes at me grabbing my phone,

“Hey momma! I’m never home so there’s never any food in here! LOVE YA BYEEEEEE.” He says all of that hella fast, almost all together, and hangs up on her. “Nigga That’s what we doing now? You told my momma on me!”

“Yeah nigga! You know how much bread I spent on breakfast and lunch today?” “That’s nothing! You want your money back? Witcha patchy ass beard! Shit is never connecting son! Let it goooo!” “$30.88 for Amy Ruths, $12.12 for the Uber to get to Sylvia’s for lunch, $41.13 for Sylvia’s, 14.01 for my Uber back from Sylvia’s.” I read down my bank transactions. “For being fed in the wintertime in these cold NYC streets, PRICELESS.” Zig pats my back and walks in his bathroom.

“If you want me to pay you back, I will.” He yells. “Nah, you good. You owe me though.” “Nigga I owe you what?” The shower turns on as he’s yelling over the stream. “Hook me up with Syd.” I barely yell out. “WHAT NIGGA!?” I blurt out, “HOOK ME UP WITH SYD!” He warns me, “Syd don’t do that shit!” “She don’t like men?” ‘Could’ve fooled me’ I mumble to myself. “YEAH SHE LIKE MEN, DUMBASS. MAN, HOLD UP.”

Zig was never one to multitask. Even showering and having a conversation is close to impossible. I plop on Zig’s sad excuse for a couch logging into my Macbook. It pulls up everything that I was searching for before I close the screen last, researching my bitch ass Uncle T’Chaka and his family. He has two kids, T’Challa and Shuri.T’Challa looks my age, maybe a year or two older or younger. Shuri looks way younger than me. Maybe eleven or twelve. I grip the edge of my laptop in anger. Thinking that I would’ve known my cousins if this bastard didn’t kill my father and leave me in Oakland to fend for myself.

I snap out of my angry transfixion when I hear the bathroom door reopen. “Now, as I was saying. Syd don’t do that one night stand-y, friends with benifits-y, bullshitt-y..bullshit that is your status quo when it comes to getting with other people.” I jump back at his accusation. “I do nothing of the sorts, Greg. I do not know what you’re talking about!” “Nigga if you don’t stop with the lies. I’ve only known you for a year and there’s been..Tyesha, Unice, Pheobe, Cynthia, Grace..”

“Yeah! OKAY OKAY OKAY! I get your point. Damn. I’m a ladies man.” “Nah cuzzo, you a hoe. Syd don’t do hoes. In the 3  years she’s lived here–and I’ve been home. I’ve seen Syd go on maybe 4 or 5 first dates. None of them came back for second or recurring dates. The one boyfriend she had treated her like shit.. I’m not even gonna get into that right now. The point is, the girl is a keeper. If you don’t wanna keep her, I’m not hooking you up.” “Damn cuh, that’s on the homies?” “On everything N’jadaka.” Zig only calls me by my first name when he was dead serious. So I give him a stern stare, “Aight. I’ll keep that in mind. If I ask you again, I mean that shit.” I close my laptop as he joins me on the couch. “Okay. Well now that we got your feelings all out the way, I’m dressed. You ready to pregame?”

–

11:05 PM

Me, Nina, Zig, and B pull up on a cobblestone street. Jemel Terrace. It was a long side road with stoop front duplexes. When Zig told me it was a block party I was thinking the entire block was gonna be a party! The party was at the further end, at units 17 and 18. We get up to the stoop to be met with weed smoke and Nina’s boyfriend, Rashad. She greets him with a kiss and hug. “Hey baby! Rashad, You already know the homie Ziggy, this is his co-worker B, and his cousin, Erik.” We all dap him up, in the order we were introduced. “Aye, I thought this was a block party. Where the block at?” I ask, looking around the street. “Oh, the entire block was a party. Earlier. It’s night time all the kids went home, all the Old heads too. Me and my homie Grant are hosting the after hours pop off.” I dap up the guy next to him. “Aight.”

–

My brain is already a lil hazy. I’ve been drinking since I went to Sylvia’s for lunch. They had a bomb cocktail I couldn’t turn down called “The Perfect Alibi” or something along the lines of it. I had about 3 of those, then pregammed at Zig’s–of course he had the Hennessy. But here we are, in Rashad’s kitchen taking more Henny shots. Nina makes us take three back to back. The last one hits my chest real hard. “AHHH!” I punch my chest for good measure. To make sure I’m still among the living and shit. “WOOO!” Nina squeals in a high falsetto. Next thing I remember is the bass, I’m standing in what looked to be the living room right next to the speaker blasting “Bobby Bitch” I can’t help but bob my head to the beat as I take a squig of the drink I made. Hennessy, Cranberry juice, and Berry Punch Minute Maid. Don’t knock it until you try the shit. The red light bulbs in the ceiling fan is setting the sinister mood I was in tonight. This Henny in my cup is fuel to the fire. “Aya! I got that Dour! You want some?” Grant motions at me. “Hell yeah!” I drank the rest of my cup as I follow him back in the kitchen. He hands me a backwood and some tree and being from Cali, I’m not new to this. I unravel the cigar and start rolling after I broke the tree down. I got done rolling up and I grab the lighter as I strut to the living room with it unlit, accompanied with my new cup of henny straight. Tonight is gonna be one of those nights I guess. As soon as I lit the blunt Jay-Z’s  “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt” is booming through the speakers.

“A little over a year ago I was in bondage. And now I’m back out here, reaping the blessings, and getting the benefits that go along with it. Everything that’s out here for kings like us. The reason why we like this—this jewelry and this diamonds and stuff—they don’t understand, it’s because we really from Africa. And that’s where all this stuff come from. And we originated from kings, you know what I’m saying? So don’t look down on the youngsters because they wanna have shiny things. It’s in our genes, know what I’m saying? We just don’t all know our history, so…”

As the beat hitches before the drop, I look over to the door and it’s like everything is moving in slow motion, but I hear everything at regular speed. Syd walks in. I inhale the smoke. Almost choking in shock. She looking like a whole grocery list. She rocking a distressed olive green tee that is long enough to pass as a dress with those long boots she had on yesterday. I almost don’t recognize her because her hair. She straightened it. I preferred the curly look. But seeing her hair straight does some shit to me that it shouldn’t have in the second it took for me to notice. She turns her back to face the door she just walked into, I see the same nigga she was cursing out yesterday with her.

                                                                                                    Syd’s POV:

6:28 AM

I must be on my eighth hour editing these photos! UGH. I AM TIRED. I’ve been up for about twenty two hours now. I’m forcing myself to sit up on my couch so I can finish the last set of photos of her models silhouette shots. I suddenly shoot up off of my couch and remember, “MY PHONE!” I left it on the charger after Erik patched my finger up and it’s been off ever since. I ran over to my charger to unplug my phone. Turning my phone on, I see an unread message from Yani.

I thought about when she sent me the message, SHE SENT THAT SHIT TO ME WHILE YASIN WAS PUTTING HIS NUMBER IN MY PHONE! That’s why he stopped and grinned like it was Christmas all over again! UGH! I hate that bitch sometimes yo! I’m calling her ass! Riiiiiing…Riiiiiiing…Riiiiiing “Wassup Syd?” “‘Wassup Syd?’ That’s what you gotta say!? Bitch Yasin was putting his number in my phone when you sent me those messages!” she starts howling. “You so damn reckless, Ayana!” “Bitch, I didn’t think he was gonna see it! I’m sorry. I love you biiiiiihhh” “Yeah, Yeah whatever. I guess I love you too.” “You know you do! Next time, put the guy’s name and number in YOURSELF, you won’t have this issue! Now I got a meeting in 10, is there anything business related that I can help you with ma’am?” She is typing away, probably sending those white folks at her PR firm “As per my last email…” responses. “Yeah, actually. I need one more model for my next two shoots. A female. If you know anyone-” “Yeah, yeah. I gotchu. I’ll let you know. OKAY LOVE YOU BIIIIHHH!” BEEP BEEP BEEP. This bitch just hung up on me! The audacity!

8:05 AM

I’m starting to doze off. I am beyond spent at this point. On my twenty third hour of being up and I know I need some type of sleep before meeting with Myles. My miracle worker is definitely a beast, but he works best when I’m on my A-game. I set my alarm for 9:30. I should be okay.

9:43 AM

My alarm starts beeping for the third time after pressing snooze. I’m groaning at the top of my lungs. I don’t feel like going to this damn meeting! I’m beat! Plus I got stops to make later on today. “Yeah. I’m gonna do a rain check.” I say as I dial up Myles. Dammit, he’s not answering. I’ll leave a message. I’m desperate. “Heeeyy My Myles. It’s me. Look I know I said we’re meeting at 10:15. But I’m just now getting to bed from editing those Highbridge photos. So we’ll just reschedule for Monday? Take the weekend off babe. Let Orlando take you out for a change. I love you and I’ll see you on Monday. Bye.” BEEP BEEP BEEP. I’m going back to bed.

2:58 PM

I woke up around noon and I was still a bit tired, but I had to go shopping in Manhattan for a few last minute pieces for my next shoots. By the time I was ready and on my way out the door I heard three loud knocks on my door. I grabbed my bags and keys before moving to the foyer. I open the door to see Erik standing there.

“Oh, hey Erik. What’s up?” He looks hella spaced out. He looks as good as he did last night, maybe even better. Because he was so spaced out, I had time to check him out. He was wearing some tight ass black shirt so I could see his chiseled chest and abs and some dark gray sweatpants with the Lebron twelves. ‘I’ve been meaning to cop a pair for myself but he’s definitely doing them justice. He looks like a size 12-13.. I wonder if his-’ then I snap out of my train of inner thought.. Realizing that Erik was still zoned out. I snap at him twice.

“Hello. Erik! What do you want?” “Oh yeah! Sorry Syd. I was just thinking about something.” ‘No shit, Sherlock.’ I thought to myself.

“Can you give me a suggestion for lunch? I’m hungry as hell and Zig is either starving himself or eating out every day.” “Whatcu got a taste for?” I cross my arms trying to think of good places open on a Sunday. There he goes again, drifting off. He’s biting his lip and closing his eyes. Is this nigga envisioning some food he doesn’t even know he’s gonna eat?

“Yo! What’s wrong witchu? You drifting off in your own world or somethin’?” I start to snap in his face so he can come back to this world. I wonder if he’s high and got the munchies at this point. He shakes his head at me like a child that doesn’t want to take a nap. “Nah. I’m sorry. Again. I gotta taste for some soul food. Since it’s Sunday and all.” I start thinking of all of the soul food places that are in Harlem. I was about to suggest Amy Ruth’s but I know how busy they are around this time so I decide against it. I was about to open my mouth to suggest Sylvia’s but Erik interrupts me.

“Were you leaving? I wasn’t trying to interrupt-”

“Oh. No. I mean- yeah but- I don’t mind. Try Sylvia’s. Her fried chicken is to die for!” Just thinking about that crispy crunch of her chicken makes my mouth water. Erik shakes his head at me again. “I already had fried chicken and waffles this morning at some place called Ann’s.” I laughed to myself ‘Glad I didn’t suggest Amy Ruth’s’ “Oh. Amy Ruth’s?”

“Yeah. That. You tryna turn me into a chicken, girl?” He takes a step closer to me. “Well, You are what you eat. So technically, you’re already a chicken.” I smirked. He kind of turns his head a little to his right, which makes me mirror his move. “Besides, they have fried fish, pork chops, grilled chicken.” I am listing options as I’m thinking of the vast menu. All of a sudden, He pulls me closer to him by my jeans. I’ve never been turned on so quick in my life.

“Oh, so what would you suggest I get?” I step as close to him as I could without stepping on his kicks and suggest, “Their BBQ Salmon is really good. With her Collards, Mac and Cheese, and yams.” I’m looking at his chains again and blink up at him.

“Thank you.” He let go of my pants, I let out a slight exhale of disappointment, and he left. Damn. What is this man trying to do to me?

9:10 PM

I’m just now getting back to my house. Shopping without Myles was quite an interesting experience. I got followed around H&M like I was homeless or some shit, I had to curse the manager out and throw my money at him for profiling me like I didn’t have it. Then I went to Forever 21 to get some little accessories for a couple looks. I was scrolling through my phone to find the look I took a photo of on my mannequin. I had to make sure the accessory matched the look and some tourists bumped into me, knocking all of my bags and some of their things over on the sales floor. Just thinking about that shit makes me take a long sigh. I have to sit down for a while. I need to check to see if Mr. V is home. I go back outside to see his living room window, his light was off. “Yes! I can smoke before I leave!” I celebrate bouncing my way up the stairs. I quickly toss all of my bags by my mannequin and clothes rack knowing I’ll be organizing them the next day anyway. As I was about to go over to my night stand to grab my stash, My phone starts buzzing.

I’m rolling as fast as I can. By the time I get the weed in the blunt and began to roll, I start opening up my windows with my free hand. When I tuck the last end of it, I jog over to my bathroom to turn on my flat iron.

When I stopped to care, then I find there is no one there. But I think of you and I know we are something new. We get high and high, crazy blue like Saint Elmo’s Fire. Love’s so sharp and fly, that it’s hard to know just where you at, where you at

I’m laying in my bed looking across the room at my full length mirror where my outfit was hanging. Listening to some old Fab, taking drags of this loud ass weed Yani put me on to. I feel my body mellowing out, but I still felt my nerves creeping up. I’m hella nervous. First dates usually end up being my last. To be honest, I haven’t been on a date since me and Josiah broke up this past summer. I put the roach out, threw it out the window and jogged to my bathroom to tame my mane! What seemed to be a couple of minutes, ends up being about a hour and fifteen. 10:27 PM FUCK. I need to get dressed and I still hadn’t done anything to my face! I only have time to do my eyebrows and slap on a lippie. Hmm. I’ll go with a dark plum lip and my bamboos that match my personalized necklace and ring. Checking my phone again it reads 10:39 PM Good timing.

(KNOCK KNOCK!)

–

11:05 PM

Yasin made it to my apartment a little early but it was no sweat. All I had to do by the time he got there was get dressed. He wasted no time complimenting me when I opened the door and proceeded to run around like a chicken with no head. “You look good girl.” “I’m not dressed! I’ll be ready in 10 minutes. You can sit on the couch while you wait.” Now we’re in his Jeep Wrangler riding to Lil Durk This Ain’t What You Want. We got down 124th Street and he reaches his hand out for mine, I took it. I’m glad we found some time to hang out. I’ve been working so hard this past month I haven’t been out at all.

“So tell me Syeda. When was your last relationship?”

“It ended in June. I was with him for two years.”

“So what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.” He’s raising his hands up cautiously, not intentionally trying to overstep boundaries.

“You’re good. It ended because he cheated on me. Multiple times. I was done.”

He lets out a “Hmm.”

I threw the question back at him.

“My relationship ended a year ago. She said I wasn’t the one for her and she met someone who she thought was.” I turns to me after he says it. My heart was breaking for him. I can only imagine how that felt. “Damn. You know where she is now?” “She’s engaged. She’s happy. I can’t be mad at that.” he smirks at me. “Besides, I wouldn’t have had my chance with a beautiful woman if she was in the picture.” I blush as he turns down some cobblestone street and the friction on the wheels makes the car jerk up and down. “I’m sorry baby, I didn’t know the party was on a cobblestone road.” “You’re good. I wasn’t expecting it that’s all.”

You Have Arrived At Your Destination

The GPS lady said as he pulls an effortless parallel park.

I’m taking off my seatbelt and moving my hair around so that it won’t get caught up in it. Sin opens up my door and insists that he help me out of the car. “C’mon baby. I know you short so I’ll help you.” I’m rolling my eyes, still taking his hand to help me. We get to the stoop where we see the party is actually in two houses which both actually looks lit, when we see Nina all hugged up with some guy.

“Nina?”

She turns around to face me, “Hey Syeda!”

She gave me a hug. “How are you?” “I’m good. This is my date, Yasin.” Yasin shakes her hand “Nice to meet you.” “You too. This is my boyfriend Rashad. Rashad, this is Syeda. The girl I told you about yesterday.” “Oh you the Showrunner turned stylist!” He shakes my hand. “Aspiring stylist. I’m hoping I can get this Lookbook/Fashion Show finished by next fashion week.” “Alright, Alright. Hey Sin. What’s up bro?” He daps Yasin up. “Nothing much brutha. Tryna enjoy a nice night out with a nice lady.” Yasin looks down at me cheesing like he won a trophy. “Alright. Don’t let me stop you! Enjoy.” 

He takes a drag of his blunt and pulls Nina back in between his legs as he sat back down on the stoop. We walk in the door to mad bass and hella people all sprawled out around the living room and kitchen. “YOU WANNA MAKE A DRINK?” Yasin forcefully has to yell at me because of the high volume of music playing. “YEAH!” I say back. Sin holds my hand and guides me to the kitchen. When we get in there, the only drinking option was Hennessy. I poured some in my red SOLO cup. I take a couple of gulps. I look up and across the living room..and I see Erik standing beside the speaker with his jaw clenched.

🌹