Affinity

Chapter 2: How it All Went Down

" Rah."

" Hmm." Was his sleepy response. It was 4am and I was heading to work, which explained why I was sneaking into the spare bedroom in my apartment to let him know I was about to be out. Yes, I'm a twenty year old with a two-bedroom apartment but I got a good deal on it so I took the luxury and ran with it.

" I'm going to work, then I got class. I'll see you tonight?" I smiled as I sat down next to him on the bed and buried my face in his neck as I awaited a response. I'll take a reprieve here to assert that Raheem and I did not spend the night in the same bed last night. That kiss was everything, but neither of us was about to hop into this without testing out the waters first. That's not to say the urge wasn't there mind you.

" You wanna go out? My place? yours?" He posed the multi-layered question with still shut eyes; I drew back and thought about it.

" I like the sound of dinner, then your place actually."

" Ard then Ab, sounds like a plan." He opened his eyes and sat up in bed pulling me onto his lap.

" Is it too much to ask you to pack me a bag for the night?" I was pushing it, but I knew there was no way he could deny me.

" I got you covered baby girl, now go head to work. I'll lock up before I leave out." He kissed me slowly, the feeling of a suspended moment enveloped us before my breath caught itself and I inhaled sharply as our lips untwined. I stood up to leave but he stopped me as I reached the door.

" I think your forgetting something Ms. Ever." A comical grin as he threw the words at me revealed I'd dropped the ball on saying those now, not in the least bit, elusive words.

" I love you Raheem."

" And I love you." was his response.

" Hey Abbie." I forgot what today was as my older sister and my nephew walked into my job.

" Hey Jaz, give me my munchkin. Hey pumpkin." James had been named after our father, whose name in part I had as well. He was now ten months old and had the chubbiest cheeks, the prettiest brown eyes, and my sister's smile; needless to say I was head over heels with the little boy.

" So pretty, baby girl." As I held James in my arms and kissed his cheeks Jazmine pushed my hair back behind my ear and watched as the curls in my hair that I'd flexi-rodded the night before sprung back into place. I loved my sister, we looked a lot alike and she always made sure I took stock in it. She was gorgeous so by default, I was too.

" Thanks sis, you looking good too. What ya'll doing today?" I bounced James in my arms as he smiled and giggled in my face.

" We gon go over to Trey' mom's house so she can see the baby, then ima head into the office to pick up some stuff, and back to the house. You know me, I'm tryna be with my family nothing else." My sister was a great mom I had to admit. She had set up her work as a freelance notary and document preparer so that she could spend as much time with her son as possible. She was in the office three days a week at the most, and when she traveled to notarize or prepare documents she worked half days so that her son wasn't in daycare but half days. Our parents had taught us to hustle and we both took to it like ducks to water, the Ever girls were no joke.

" Sounds good, how is my brother?" Trey and Jazmine had been together for five years now; let's mention here that once I met Raheem I counted him as my Trey, even before our revelation of mutual love. He was a great guy. He worked as a risk management advisor at a financial firm he'd started just two years ago and things were on the up and up for it. He was always attentive to my sister's and their son's needs and he accepted our family from day one. It also didn't hurt that he and Raheem had become close since I brought him around so much.