A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝚂𝙸𝚇

✞ C E L A I   L a C R O I X ✞

Julian and Marquis carry in another load of suitcases and bags as Celai and Sabrina sit pretty on the couch.

"Hurry up!" Sabrina commands them, making them both give her an annoyed glare.

The girls laugh and as the boys walk away, Celai leans into Sabrina. "Do you think Marq and Julian look alike or is it just me?"

"Oh, no, they definitely do, I've been saying that since we were kids. I call Julian Marq's brown skin twin."

"How did they remain friends after Julian moved up here?" Celai wonders aloud.

Sabrina sips on her drink before telling her. "They used to spend every summer together. One would take a six hour drive to see the other. Then in college, that became a little less frequent, and then when I reentered the picture— cus I had gone to a different high school as Marq— Julian and Marq's relationship was on its last legs. But then God was like, 'Bromance is aight' so we moved up here with Marq's new job."

Celai laughs at her explanation and Sabrina continues. "I'm for real though! Cus not even a month before, Marq was telling me he doesn't want to lose Julian as a friend cus that's his brother. And then all of a sudden, we're moving. I didn't want to at first, but I'm making friends now so it's alright."

Small crying comes from a room and Sabrina sighs a little. "This girl woke up again. Let me go lay her back down. When I get back, we should be ready to go bowling," she tells Celai before she leaves the living room.

Julian and Marquis return from putting away the bags and Julian crashes beside Celai while Marquis goes down to grab the last suitcase. "I don't know how a woman who's staying for two weeks needs so many bags," he huffs.

Celai offers her iced tea to him, which he gratefully accepts. "One that's married to Ricky Prior," she says.

And on cue, a middle aged woman with long blonde hair and Sabrina's cloud gray eyes walks in. "Where's Sabrina?" she asks after she takes a moment to look around.

"She's trying to get Baby Autumn back to sleep," Celai informs her.

The woman nods shortly and takes the same route Sabrina did. Not even five seconds could pass before Julian and Celai both hear Sabrina say, "Mom, I got her," followed by the recommencing of the baby's cries.

Julian and Celai try not to laugh. They've been over at Marquis and Sabrina's place all day and they can tell that Sabrina's mom is more than protective over her first grandbaby.

Celai thinks it's cute though, and she found herself thinking of how it'd be when Kassima would be around her grandchild.

That won't happen for a while, however.

Celai leans on Julian's shoulder and lowers her voice, knowing Marquis is probably on his way back up, and Sabrina is a natural at soothing her baby, so it won't take long for both of them to return.

"I'm excited for our date tonight," she says. "I've never had authentic Italian," she mentions.

"I'm excited too," Julian responds. "Are you sure we can't skip bowling and just go straight to the restaurant?"

"Nope. We both need time to spend with our friends. I feel like I hardly see Jayelle anymore so I know you hardly see Marq and Sabrina. And they're right across the hall from you. We need this."