|A L W A Y S & F O R E V E R| B O O K 1

41||U n t i l t h e D a y C o m e s

Date: 2/ 22/16
Day of the Week: Monday
Location: Los Angeles, California
Place: Ciara's House

Russell
My eyes opened slowly, and I squinted, trying to adjust to the light that was shining through the curtains. I looked around the room at my surroundings and realized I was in the living room. I felt something weighing me down, so I looked down to see Ci lying on my chest with her arms wrapped around my waist. I guess we fell asleep in the middle of watching Greenleaf last night. The TV was still on Netflix, but the remote was on the table, and I didn't want to wake Ci. So I left it on and just watched her sleep peacefully. I remembered that my phone was in my pocket, so I pulled it out to see what time it was. 7:50 AM. My stomach started to rumble shortly after, causing me to sigh. I'm pretty sure she has breakfast food here, so I'll probably end up cooking our breakfast. I didn't feel like going out this morning.

After laying on the couch for another fifteen minutes, I gently shook Ci to wake her up. She groaned and opened her eyes while frowning at me. I chuckled because I knew how much she hated being woken in the mornings. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before rubbing the back of her neck. I guess the position we slept in was uncomfortable for her, considering we slept on the couch.

"We really fell asleep on the couch. No wonder my neck hurts." She mumbled before standing to her feet and grabbing the remote to turn the TV off.

"Yep. Watching all those episodes of Greenleaf put us straight to sleep. I'm hungry though, so I was about to cook us breakfast. You want anything in particular?" She shook her head no.

"Whatever you decide to make is fine with me. You offered to do it, so I'm not complaining."
>>>
After I made our breakfast, I fixed Ci's plate and sat it down in front of her on the island. She thanked me, and I went back to fix mine. I sat it down at my seat next to her.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Water is fine." I went over to the cabinets to get two glasses and filled them with cold water from the fridge. Afterwards, I went back over to the kitchen island and sat them down next to our breakfast.

"This is so good, babe. Thank you again. Because if we're being honest, I didn't feel like cooking." She says.

"It's the least I could do since you cooked dinner last night. Figured I'd return the gesture."

I cooked blueberry waffles, bacon, breakfast links, and fried eggs. We sat at the island eating our breakfast while holding conversations every so often.

"What are your plans for the day?" I asked her after wiping my mouth with a paper towel.

"I'm picking up Zahir at 11. You can ride with me if you want. That's up to you." I think about it for a minute before answering her.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" She shrugs her shoulders.

"I mean...eventually, you're going to have to meet him. Especially if you plan on being in Zahir's life." I sat in silence for a moment. She wore a blank expression on her face as she looked at me.

"Then I guess I'll go. I just don't want any problems, to be honest."

"I understand, babe."

When 10 o'clock came around, we made our way to the park where Ci would be meeting Zahir's dad. We got there about 45 minutes later, and she parked in a parking space before turning the car off. Not long after, a car pulled up next to us. Ci got out and walked over to the car. He got out of the car, and they shared a few words before he opened the back door. He gave her all of Zahir's belongings before taking a sleeping Zahir out of his car seat and handing him to her. They shared a few more words before he turned towards the car. We made eye contact before he nodded his head towards me, mugging me in the process. I returned the gesture.