Secret Walls (Under Editing)

Chapter Seven

Eboni forked her spaghetti noodles, and mentally replayed Malakai's baritone voice as it cooed to her over and over. She just wanted the thoughts to vanish completely, and rid her of this terrible curse.

She kicked herself for giving him the opportunity to even speak to her after everything that happened. But Malakai was right, she did want something more but she knew that nothing good would come from it. I mean, what if they got caught? This was her brother's best friend for crying out loud!

Eboni knew she'd gotten herself into a sticky situation the moment she let Kai talk his way back into her life. Malakai was manipulative and Eboni was caught like a fish on a line. She was his girlfriend now, and Eboni didn't know if she should be honored or horrified for what was to come of their  relationship. Taking a sip of lemonade, she groaned with her elbows pressed firmly on top of the table. Just the thought of sneaking around with Malakai made her stomach churn.

"Eboni?"

She jumped at the call of her name. Her mother quirked up an eyebrow at Eboni's bizarre behavior, while Malcolm continued to talk about his job that evening. Eboni laced her fingers through her hair, then distracted herself by rubbing out imaginary wrinkles from her tank top in order to keep from looking at her mother. Her throat felt like the Sahara, and Eboni feared that her hidden dilemma spilled from her pours. "You okay honey? You look a little tense." Her mother said.

"Mama, I'm good. Just thinking about this history project that's coming up." Eboni answered, before taking another sip of her lemonade then added, "Since Chyna wasn't at school today, I have to come up with an idea by myself and tell our teacher about it tomorrow."

Mrs. Holmes shook her head while taking a bite out of her garlic toast. "That's very typical of–"

"Speaking of school," Malcolm began, "Eb, how was it today?" he asked.

Eb forced a smile and assured him that her day at school was quite interesting. Before going back to aimlessly swirling the fork around in her spaghetti again, Eboni pondered on the moments with Kai prior to dinner. Eb couldn't find it in herself to eat with all those questions raging through her mind.

"So, anything interesting happened today for you two?" Eboni teased as she wiggled her eyebrows playfully at Malcolm. Both her mom and brother looked at one another before Malcolm shrugged his shoulders.

"Just work. You, mom?" He asked.

Ms. Holmes forked her food for a moment. Her eyes danced a swift tango as she stared at her plate and thought. Eboni watched her mother sigh before a smile curled up her lops. "Nothing really, other than my second son, Kai finally stopped by to visit me after going missing." Their mother began, eliciting Malcolm to shrug his shoulders and smile at her.

"Well that's Kai for you, Ma. He always been to himself." Malcolm stated as he broke off a piece of his garlic toast and popped it into his mouth. Eboni glanced over at him, cracking a faint smile when her brother winked at her. "...Why he ain't stay for dinner? Ya know Kai always tryna snag a free meal." He added.

Their mother laughed, swirling her fork in her spaghetti to get a good amount. Eboni took a sip of her lemonade as calm as possible, and relaxed in the seat listening to her brother and mother talk amongst themselves. Ms. Holmes took another bite at her dinner before replying, "He said he didn't want to intrude on dinner since it was an unexpected visit."

"Yeah, he told me he had a few errands to run so he didn't have time to sit down." Malcolm added. Ms. Holmes shook her head.

"You two act so grown now. From the apartment days on Second and Fourth street to working young men. I've very proud of you two," their mother said. Eboni watched her mother's eyes turn towards her, "and you as well, Eboni. You're about to graduate high school and I will have three babies out of the nest."

For the rest of their dinner, they all ate in peace. Over the course of dinner, their mom left to take a bath and call it a night before work the next morning. However, Malcolm and Eboni continued to sit at the table long after the food was put away. Eb ate a forkful of cold spaghetti in silence before she looked up to see her older brother watching. Malcolm worried his bottom lip, then arched an eyebrow when Eboni placed her fork on the plate as a sign that he now had her undivided attention.

"What?" She retorted, earning a mush to the face from her brother.

"Don't play, Eb," Malcolm teased. "...You feeling alright?" He asked.

Eboni shrugged her shoulders, then rose up from her seat. But froze when Malcolm did the same. She needed to keep her distance from Malcolm. As much as she loved her brother, he was definitely nosy. Which would be detrimental for her if he started snooping around a bit too much. In all honesty, she still was concerned on whether her and Kai were an item or not. Even though they had deemed the situationship an official "relationship", the idea of sneaking around still didn't sit well with her. And that wouldn't change the fact that Malcolm would be angry with both of them regardless. With her half eaten plate close in hand, Eboni narrowed her eyes as Malcolm folded his arms against his chest. She attempted to push pass her brother but he didn't budge. "For real Eb, what's going on? You been out of character lately."

Eboni sighed, "Malcolm I'm fine. I've just been tired from school that's all. I'm good." She smiled at him.

His eyes narrowed a bit, before he stepped aside and allowed her to walk out the dining room. Eboni could tell that Malcolm didn't believe her for one second. It was very strange for him to just give up that easily and let her walk free without any hassle. Eboni could tell Malcolm had something up his sleeve and she needed to make sure her relationship with Malakai stayed reserved; thrown away deep into the archives for only them two to find.

Eb put her plate on the sink and headed upstairs to her room. Malcolm was always the overprotective type, but she was old enough now to take care of herself. Well, except for the whole driving situation, she didn't really need to depend on anyone else. Fixing her black tank top and her grey shorts, Eboni walked into her room, where she flopped on the bed and watched the ceiling fan twirl.

The cool breeze seemed to calm her burning skin with every touch of cool air. She raked her hands through her hair, and gazed at the ceiling. How had her relationship with Malakai developed so quickly?! She loved the idea of being with him, and that was something she definitely wouldn't take for granted. Especially when it takes a lot of effort to hide the relationship in the first place.