That's South Side

Chapter 11

"Where are you goin?" Isaiah asked, as Alinea came down the stairs to in black jeans, a striped shirt and a leather jacket on Saturday night.

"I'm going on a date." She shrugged to her brother, "How do I look?" She asked, walking out in front of him.

"Normal." He said in a surprised tone.

"Okay." She rolled her eyes, looking for her purse.

"Where are y'all goin?" He questioned.

"Nothing crazy," Alinea answered, finally finding her bag, "Dinner first, the movies."

"Classic." Isaiah nodded, with a smile, "I never thought you'd be going on a date with Jimmy Buckets." He teased.

"Jimmy?" Alinea scoffed, heading for the door, "No."

"Really?" He questioned in surprise, "I just figured because it seemed like y'all-"

"Bye!" She interrupted, closing the door behind her and heading to  the train. She let Taj know she was on her way as the train arrived as the two were meeting up.

"Alinea. hey!" She heard that soft spoken voice call from behind her, as a large hand gently fell onto her shoulder.

"Hey!" She greeted with a large smile turning around to give Taj a hug.

"You look-" He began, pulling away as she just shook her head.

"C'mon," She laughed, "Let's go eat, I'm starving." She continued, grabbing his hand and taking them inside.

After they'd ordered they started talking and Alinea never realized just how much they had in common. Where had she been all this time?

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"So," Alinea began, shoving her hands in her pockets as the two approached his car at the end of the night, "I had a lot of fun." She admitted, looking up to see him smile.

"Me too." He nodded, "I'm such a idiot for waiting this long." He laughed.

"Yeah, lil bit." She joked.

"Well, I'm sorry." He shook his head with a smirk, "You want me to take you home?" He offered.

"Oh, nah." She shook her head, "I'm good, I can take the train. Seriously, T."

"Nah," He shook his head, "I don't want you all by yourself on the train at this time of night, I'd be worried about you."

"I can handle myself." She reassured.

"C'mon, pleassssse." He persuaded, with a cheeky grin.

"Fine." She shook her head, as he opened the door for her.

They joked a little bit on their way back until Taj finally pulled up in front of her house.

"This is it?" He questioned.

"Yeah," She laughed, "You wanna come in?" She asked out of habit, putting her hand on the car door.

"Oh, nah. It's cool. " He chuckled, "I swear that's not why I asked to drive you back. I just wanted to." He explained, with a laugh.

"Really?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm serious!" He defended, "Look," He breathed, " I like you. I really like you." He admitted, "And I don't wanna screw it up. So," He sighed, "I wanna just take things slow, I mean, if that's cool with you." He acknowledged.

"Oh, so you didn't wanna just fuck?" She said straight faced.

"What? Wait I-"

"I'm sorry," She busted out laughing, "I'm just kidding!" She revealed as Taj's face filled with relief.

"Look you're obviously like wow," He chuckled, causing her to shake her head, "But, I don't wanna do anything to mess things up. I do that a lot." He sheepishly smiled.

"No," She softly smiled, "That's a good idea. I can go slow." She laughed, "It'll be good."

"Yeah?" Taj nodded, "Wow, aight cool." He swallowed, feeling his heart race as she inched a little closer to him.

"Would it be too fast if I kiss you right now?" She whispered, just inches from his face as her eyes darted from his eyes to his lips.

"Uh, no." He whispered, locking eyes with her as he felt heat rise in his entire body.

"You're sure?" She asked again, inching slightly closer so that their lips were just brushing.

Taj took a calming deep breath before closing the space between them. Bringing his hands up to gently cup her face. After a moment, Alinea decided she'd better pull away before she couldn't stop.

"Whoa," He mumbled, as Alinea just bit her lip.

"Well," She raised an eyebrow, finally opening the car door, "I'll see you on Monday." She waved, giving a final wink before walking up to her door, "Thanks for the ride."

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"So?!" Dwyane insisted, he'd been harassing Taj all morning wanting details about how his weekend went. 

"So what?" Taj asked, approaching the sitting Jimmy who was taking a little break, drinking some water.

"You gonna tell me - us, about it or no?" Dwyane asked like a middle school girl asking her friend for details over a crush.

"It was good." Taj smiled widely.

"What are we talkin about?" Jimmy asked in confusion, taking another sip of water.

"Taj went out with Alinea on Saturday." Wade smirked.

"Oh." Jimmy nodded, "How was that?"

"Good." Taj nodded, "She's so cool."

"You did it already?" Wade exclaimed.

"My God," Taj shushed him, "we didn't." He shook his head.

"No?" Jimmy asked, "So, y'all didn't?" He clarified.

"Nah," He shook his head, "I asked her if...we could take things slow." Taj admitted, "I don't wanna mess anything up."

"Awww." Wade swooned, "Look at you, bro!" He laughed, "So mature."

"Alright, enough." Taj shook his head, getting up and walking away.

"What's up with you man?" Dwyane asked towards Jimmy. 

"Huh?" Jimmy responded, getting up.

"Why you bein so nosy?"