When We Sleep

5.)

"Yo, Kiara, are you ready?" I heard Karisma call to me.

"Yeah, almost!" I yelled back. I finished putting on my hoop earrings, before applying clear lipgloss over my brown liner. After I stepped into a pair of sandals, I grabbed my bag and met Karisma in the living room.

"Okay sis!" I complimented. She wore an off shoulder yellow crop with denim shorts that cut off just barely above the fold of her asscheeks. On her feet were simple yellow crocs. 

"Thank you, and you look stunning. I feel so bad because I just know Karim is gonna try to get with you." She handed me a shot of what smelled like Bacardi.

I laughed, though I wasn't sure if I'd be super against that. Karim was cute, and I was single so it'd be a nice distraction. I was wearing a pair of beige high-waisted flare leggings and a white bandeau.

"The Uber's outside." Karisma said, grabbing her wallet and house key. After downing the shot and putting the glass in the kitchen sink, I grabbed my belongings as well and followed her outside.

"Karisma?" The driver asked. We nodded. "Hop on in."

The ride consisted of Kari and I chatting lightly with the nice lady taking us to Karim's. It took less than 10 minutes for us to arrive in a nice complex called The Village.

"Be safe tonight, girls." Our driver said to us, as we thanked her and exited the car. I followed Karisma up towards a door, of which she didn't even bother to knock on, simply pushing it open and entering.

"Kari!" A masculine voice yelled. I looked at the voice's owner to realize it was Karim.

"Karim, baby, hi." Karisma smiled at him, giving him a hug. "How was your time back home?"

"It was okay, hard to enjoy because of how much I missed you though." She sucked her teeth at his cheeky flirting, just as his eyes landed on me. "Kiara, right?"

I nodded, giving him a smile that he easily returned. "Nice to finally meet you. Karisma and Deja have told me so much about you."

"Whatever they said was a lie!" He joked, moving to stand closer to me.

"It was all good things." I laughed.

Karim was way cuter than his Instagram portrayed. He had nicely tanned skin from the Moroccan sun, standing perfectly at 6'0 with a slim but muscular build. His curly hair was a dark brown but streaked with a lighter brown at the top. When he smiled, it was almost blinding. He also had a thick accent that I couldn't get enough of. At least this white ass school enrolled nice looking men.

"Let's get some drinks in you ladies." Karim lead us into his kitchen, where I saw a few other people talking lightly. There were no more than 7 people in the space, including Karisma and I. That was fine with me-- I just really wanted to make some friends.

"Deep Edy's, right?" I nodded, as he got me a cup. "Straight or mixed?"

"Ugh, mixed please."

Karim smiled, pouring about four shots worth of the vodka into my cup. He then added in raspberry lemonade and sprite. "You won't even taste it."

I pursed my lips, not believing him. Nine times out of ten, people who say you can't taste the alcohol in something are just heavyweights who can hold their liquor. I, on the other hand, was a lightweight who could not. I prepared myself for the bitterness of the alcohol. When all I tasted was the combined flavors of sweet fruit and carbonation, my eyes widened.

"Good, isn't it?" Kari smiled. "Karim is a master drink mixer. He might as well be a bartender."

"This is dangerous." I looked down at the cup, before taking a bigger swallow.