LOVE IS ALWAYS CLOSE BY

𝐎𝐧𝐞

✿ 𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐋

2012 ➷

It's August 3rd and it's a Monday. Today I had my first day of high school. It was a rush and I was fearful of the giants I would see today. But now that it's over, I could hide in my room until I have to do it all over again tomorrow.

I was on the brink of passing out until I heard loud movements downstairs. I quickly kicked the door closed with my foot so my parents don't get any ideas. When I hear the movements rush upstairs, I pull my blanket over my head.

"Hazel?!"

I could tell it was my mother by the sound of her voice. I pulled the covers back and looked up at her. "Yes." She furrowed her eyebrows looking down at me. "Did you hear me calling you before?"

I shook my head and climbed from under the covers. I walked over to my closet to grab a sweater before sitting back onto my bed. "Oh no. Get dressed. We have new neighbors to go see." I whine causing her to give me a straight face. "When did you even meet these people?"

"At Dads Job."

"Do I have to?"

She gives me another scornful look. I shut myself up and began to change. She puts down a dress for me to wear. I wasn't in a mood to wear one right now. But I somewhat feel the glare of my mother in the back of my head. So, I placed on the yellow floral dress. I slipped on my converse and pulled my Afro into a big bun.

I rushed down the stairs, grabbing my cardigan. My mother walked towards me with my little brother in her arms. He turned two years old yesterday. I held onto his hand which he aggressively declined. My heart broke as he swatted me away. My father walked towards us. "Ok, you all ready?" I nodded my head.

I took some bags out of my fathers hands walking over to the house next to us. My mother rang the bell. It only took seconds before a tall tan woman opened the door. She smiled at me as she pushed back the door. "Aren't you pretty?"

I usually don't like getting talked to like a child. But I couldn't blame her because I was like 5 foot.

She was a very beautiful woman. She had dimples that appeared anytime she smiled.

My mother hugged her, tightly. My brother whined causing unnecessary disturbance. The woman made faces at my brother and quieted him. My brother was calm within seconds. "You got some magic," My mother laughs. The woman lightly laughs, trying to not panic the child. "Come inside. I don't want you to be caught in the cool weather." We walked inside, setting aside somethings. The woman stops me, which kind of caught me off guard.

"What's your name, young girl?"

My mother twirled around a curl from my hair. "This is Hazel, the 14 year old."

The woman's mouth gaped. I give her muddled look. What's so surprising?

I feel my mother tap my shoulder. "You look so much older. Hi, I'm Jamila ." Just as she examined me, her husband walked behind her. He had an apron on and was wiping his hand with a towel. He had tan skin like the woman in front of us. He was bald like my father.

"This is Hazel and Sammy." She says, pointing towards me and my brother. He waved at me and shook Sammys small hand.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs. Amani." He gives my father a firm grip and my mother a hug. My mother pulls away. "I'm so happy we could meet up with you both, Mr. and Mrs. Adel."

Just as Mrs. Adel goes to say something, she looks around. "Oh oh, we're missing someone." It wasn't long til I saw a some what tall boy sneak around the staircase. His brown eyes peeked at me before hiding again. Heat rose to my cheeks and a sudden feeling appeared in my stomach. Butterflies???

"This is..." She moved and pulled him from the stairs. For someone who looks my age, he sure does act like a child. "This is Xavier Cairo Adel." I raised a shaky hand up, waving at him. He waved back at me and pushed up his black glasses. He slightly smiled showing off his deep dimples. My eyes widened as did my mouth. "Hazel, Close your mouth before flies go into it." I closed my mouth.

                                         ✿

We were all eating at the dinner table. Just my luck, my parents sat me right in front of Xavier. He was completely nonverbal and too busy playing with his food. He would periodically glance at me then look back his food. "Xavier, will be at your school Hazel. Maybe you could show him around." Mr. Adel says. I look back at Xavier and to my surprise he was already staring at me. He quickly looked at his food like he wasn't. I couldn't even lie, I was a bit irritated. "Do you talk?" I ask, tilting my head. My mother gasped and hit my shoulder. Mrs. Adel laughs at my question. "No it's fine. Xavier is really shy around people."

He stares back at me. "I'm sorry." He whispered. Though his voice was minimal, I could hear a crack in his voice. "I'm Hazel." I reach out my hand. He placed down his fork and grabbed my hand. His hand was a bit sweaty. I grabbed it back and slight smiled. He smiled back and ate a bite of his food.

That was it, that was all the interaction we had during that dinner. I don't know what's wrong. Maybe he doesn't like me.

✿

My parents grabbed their things and were out the door. We had said our goodbyes as we walked onto the sidewalk.

When we reached our house, I had ran upstairs to my room and blocked out any noise with music. I grabbed my iPod touch and began listening to Who Says. I was on the verge of sleep until I heard the door crack open. My mother peeked around the door. "You didn't hear me calling your name?" I shook my head.

"Stop putting your music so damn high. What if..."

I deeply sighed. "I know." She tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. She had also crossed her arms as a finishing touch. "I'm sorry."

She sucked her teeth. "You have to show Xavier around tomorrow. Try to see if y'all have the same classes." I nodded my head. She said her last remarks before exiting. I didn't even bother changing. I just passed out quickly as the song Sure thing played over in my earbuds.

————————————————————————

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠?

𝐇𝗼𝐰 𝐝𝗼 𝐲'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝗼𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭?

𝐒𝐡𝗼𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝗼 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝗼 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝗼𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝗼𝗼𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐗𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝗼𝐫 𝐭𝗼 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝗺𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝗼𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝗼𝗼𝐥?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 2000𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐭. 𝐈 𝗺𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝗼 𝗺𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝗼𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝗺𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝗺𝗼𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐁𝐂 𝐟𝐚𝗺𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝗼𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝗼𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. (Let me add late 2000s MTV too.)

What do y'all miss or remember from the early 2000s?

-STAR ⭐️