06

Kennedy and Tasha couldn’t help extremely feeling themselves whenever City Girl’s Act Up came on. The song had a ratchet factor about it that caused any listener to wanna twerk for no reason.

The two friends were currently in Kennedy’s car, on their way to Malik’s house. Although Kennedy would have wished it was for other reasons, they were only going to Malik’s because Tasha had a group project with three people in her English class and he was one of them.

The other two were a girl named Claire and, despite Tasha’s displeasure, Steven was a part of their group too.

When Kennedy heard from Tasha that she had to go over to Malik’s house to start the project, she self-volunteered to drive her. Which truly was an excuse for her to see her husband, as she called him.

Kennedy lowered the music and gave Tasha a sideward glance. « Bitch, how do I look ? »

« Like shit. »

« Haha, you not funny. I know I look good as fuck, like a snack. »

Tasha laughed and shook her head. « Nah, sis. You look like a whole meal. »

Kennedy flipped back her professionally installed weave and exclaimed, « And that’s facts ! »

In didn’t take long for them to arrive at Malik’s house. That term could be used lightly though, because house was an understatement for the monstrosity that was his so-called house. The thing was huge.

« Woah, his family got bank ! » Kennedy turned off her car as she stared at the house incredulously. Her family had money too, still, it wasn’t on this level.

Tasha had already been at Malik’s house, she was now used to the size of it. « Yeah, his dad’s a business mogul. »

« You don’t seem surprised by the house. » Kennedy did not know that Tasha had already been to the house several times.

« Oh, yeah. I’ve been here a couple of times before. Middle school, funny enough, we had an English project together too. Lovely family. »

Kennedy was appalled. « Bitchh, what !? Why did I have to go to a different middle school though ? »

« C’mon. » Tasha chuckled at Kennedy’s expression, she was so extra. « At least you get to see it now. Let’s go. »

Walking to the front door was a nerve-wracking experience for Kennedy, even if she’d never admitted it to anyone. When Tasha rang the doorbell, Kennedy contemplated making a run for it.

The girls heard a voice from inside the house scream, « Coming ! » And it sounded a lot like Steven’s.

True to their suspicions, a shirtless, wet and smiling Steven opened the door for them. Now that was a Steven Tasha did not mind as much, the body was good enough to make up for how much he consistently annoyed her.

« Ladies. » Steven’s eyes were glued to Tasha’s as usual, he noticed that her hair was now in long braids, cascading down her back. « We were expecting y’all a little later. »

Kennedy gave Steven a look. « What are you tryna say ? That we black and we always late ? » She liked messing with Steven, he always tried to be nice to everyone so she capitalized on making him think he was in the wrong.

« Of course not ! I’m sorry if it came off that way. I meant that we didn’t really—« 

Tasha chuckled and shook her head, stopping his apologetic ramble. « She was just messing with you, no harm is done. Now can we come in ? »

He quickly realized his mistake and opened the door more in order for Tasha and Kennedy to enter the house.

Steven decided to warn them before one of them fell, « It might be a little wet, so watch out. »

They followed Steven as he walked in front of them, presumably to the living room, or the area where they decided the project would be done.

« What are y’all doing ? Why are you wet and without a shirt ? »

Steven laughed and passed a hand through his wet hair. « You always wanna know everything, huh Kennedy ? »

« Yes, sir. »

« Well, to answer your question, me Malik and his brother were messing with water balloons in the backyard. »

« Oh. » Kennedy made an unsatisfied face. « I thought y’all were having some type of kinky orgy sex shit with water involved or some shit. Not a plain old water balloon fight. »

Tasha tried to stifle a laugh. « Girl, you wiiild ! »

Kennedy just shrugged at Steven, who looked at her as if he didn’t know if she was joking or not.

Steven told them to take a seat when they arrived at the spacious living room. Kennedy took her time to look around at the modern and sleek-looking space. Everything had it’s perfect order, looking as if it came from those home magazines.

Taking their seats on one of the three sparkling white plush couches, they expectedly waited as Steven walked away from them, probably to get dressed or call Malik, who was apparently still playing outside with his brother.

« Damn, he fine and got a house like this ? I’m finna marry this guy, » Kennedy joked, making sure to whisper.

Tasha called Kennedy’s bluff. « Oh, please. You don’t even have the guts to make conversation with him. »

A voice, obviously male but toward the younger side, interrupted the words Kennedy was ready to throw at Tasha.

« And who do we have here ? » Tasha recognized that voice as Malik’s younger brother Leland’s.

A confident smirk was on the boy’s face, he stood shirtless in only black shorts, a towel in his hand, and his body looking pretty good for a fourteen-year-old.

« Long time no see, Leland. Last time I saw you, you were about ten ? »

From his posture, it was evident that Leland was always up to no good. Young as he was, he knew the whereabouts of the fuck boy department, yet was still only getting his feet wet. He was a very smart kid, perhaps a little too wild.

Leland’s smirk stretched as he stared at the girls, his stare obviously fixated on Kennedy. « Yeah, I was ten. Still, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of me, though… »

Tasha found Leland to be so cute, more in an endearing way than sexy though.

« I like him, » Kennedy told Tasha, as she laughed. « He so darn cute. » Kennedy couldn’t even say damn in front of him, she didn’t like cussing when kids were present.

Leland gave Kennedy a cheeky grin and gave both girls a small wave. « It was nice seeing you beautiful ladies. Gotta go now, duty calls. »

« You mean video games are calling. Stop lying, they aren’t impressed with your skinny ass ! » Malik entered the living room, dressed in a wet T-shirt, already joining the conversation.

Kennedy’s heart went on a rampage while all her other functions decided to go on a coma. She wanted to laugh, but somehow couldn’t.

Leland gave a middle finger to his brother, taking no offense in the diss, climbing his ass up the stairs to indeed play video games.

« Now that he’s out, let’s get down to business. How y’all doing ? » Malik’s usual grin was in place, showing off how at ease he was in his skin.

Kennedy managed to respond with a normal enough answer and Tasha followed suit.

Malik sat next to Kennedy and turned to her with a smile, his eyes with an intensity only noticed if observed deeply. « We haven’t formally met, I’ve seen you with Tasha a lot, though. And I think we had math together last year, right ? My name’s Malik. »

Kennedy had not expected that at all, but she wasn’t about to embarrass herself, so she quickly collected herself and acted casual with a smile like Malik’s on her face too.

« Yeah, we had math together with Mrs. Sampson. Nice to meet you, Malik. My name is-« 

« Kennedy, » he said before she could. « Yeah, I know. »