One night in Manhattan

Rock the Boat

**

"Just as I thought. Late." Zac said hearing Lauren's bare feet tapping on the floor as she made her way to the living room.

"Shut up. I'm here ain't I?

Fatima looked straight ahead to the tv, she was still mad at Lauren for last night and even refused to wake her up for living room church.

When Fatima went to bed last night, she was certain that Zac had heard their conversation. But the way he was acting in the moment had her questioning herself. Zac and Lauren exchanged a few more unpleasantries before she took a seat on the couch. Fatima was seated in front of her on the floor drinking her coffee and Zac sat on the loveseat with his feet resting on the side of the coffee table. Zac handed Lauren her coffee and everyone sat quietly for the remainder of the service. Shortly after service ended the girls left and Zac went to the gym. He usually went with Jordan, but he was sure that he was hungover from his party the night before, so he went without him.

At the gym, he saw a few of the students he tutored on the side. They were all high school students that Zac met a few summers ago who desperately needed to get their grades up if they were going to remain on the school team. "Yo! Mr. Taylor. I swear I saw you yesterday! It wasn't you but they say everyone has a twin. Plus, twin you, was with two baddies dressed like disco dancers. Ain't no way that coulda been you."

Zac pulled out his phone. "These two?" he said showing the group of boys a picture of him and the "two Baddies". The boys erupted in a mix of cheering and clowning. "bro!!! that's Ms. Wilson!!!" the first boy chimed back in after examining the picture further. "She work at our school!!" Zac snatched back his phone. "you saw nothing. You say nothing." Zac went into his wallet and grabbed two twenties. He gave one to each boy. "beat it." The boys eagerly obliged and cut their workout short. "Zac took a seat on an empty bench and dialed Fatima.

"Hey." He said into the phone. Fatima was yawning into the earpiece. "Wake up. I need to talk to you."

"I'm Up, What's up?"

"So it's no big deal but, two of your students saw you in your get up from last night." He said nervously squeezing his eyes shut as he delivered the news.

"Huh? Zac, what?"

"I'm at the gym and a few of my students happened to also be your students recognized you from a picture of us last night. But I gave them a few bucks for hush money. Just preparing you tho. They're teenage boys so you never know."

"Send me the picture."

"Bet. Sorry."

"You good. I'm bout to hop in the shower. I'll call you later." Fatima was dragging herself out the bed and it was taking longer than usual. She reminded herself that her stay up all night days were very much behind her. Fatima looked at the clock. Seven should be returning home from her sleep over in three hours. Lauren and Fatima didn't live together but you'd never be able to tell by the amount of time they spent at Fatima's place since her accident. Fatima didn't mind, her rent was dirt cheap thanks to Rent stabilization and the fact that her grandparents left her the apartment after their passing. She had a three-bedroom one and a half bath apartment on the Upper West Side and barely paid over one thousand dollars a month for the huge space. And having Lauren around for to help with seven is a plus. Fatima was trying to leave the room quietly, not to wake Lauren who had to work later in the evening.

"Oh yea. I gotta tell you about the dates for the cruise so you can pick." Zac was making sure she did his part of the deal first because he didn't want to chance her chickening out on him.