Times Three (X3)

CHAPTER 4 - Tariq

Author's Note: To my beautiful and supportive readers... please know that this story won't be rushed into the main event like other stories. I set the pace and highlight a background so you can get to know the characters as they get to know each other. The story will ignite and I'm 100% sure you'll love it when it happens, then you'll understand the whole content.

Thank you all and enjoy the ride!

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Photo - Tariq.

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As I scroll through random stuff on my phone, I sense the presence of someone else walking up and sitting across from me. Seriously, I only wanted to have a decent lunch alone and now it's 2 of them?

I roll my eyeballs upwards without changing any of my body's posture. My vision settles up on a guy with his nose all bandaged up.

My eyes finally find his annoyingly beautiful, deep brown eyes. So beautiful that for a moment I only saw his eyes and not him. Is that even possible?

"Hi.. Uhm.. I'm glad both of you are here. I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I was a total dick, we got off on the wrong foot." Hmm. Does he sounds sincere?

I now lift my head completely, looking at him directly, knitting my eyebrows. Mariyah stays awkwardly silent, suddenly pretending she's interested in the surroundings. I suddenly feel the need to laugh. My face swells up, holding in the laugh.

"Tariq, right?" I ask.

"You remember." His lips threaten to flip into a smirk but he resists the urge and oh I'm so glad he did.

"Do you have a mother, Tariq?" I'm already getting annoyed.

"Uhh.. yeah?" His eyes become squinted eyes and knitted eyebrows.

"And she's alive?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm. You prolly have a sister too."

"Yes?."

"And yet, here you are.. going around being a pig to females." I place my elbows on the surface and lean forward in to him, his body shifts uncomfortably at my close proximity.

"I'm not usually like this.. it's just that, Shane is my cousin and I don't know what had gotten into us. We're just anxious about our second year at college and we had a bad misconception of what the freshmans would be like.."

"I don't give a shit. You are wreckless, pathetic, disrespectful, abusive, arrogant... you are just.. full of shit. You're a whole bag of shit." I hear a snorty laughter escapes from Mariyah and she tries to conceal it by covering her mouth and nose.

"Well, I guess I deserved that." He tilts his head downwards, playing with the material of his clothing.

"You're out of control dude! You owe Mariyah an apology too."

"You're right. Shane and I owe both of you an apology. He's not in today so I'm going to speak on his behalf. We were complete assholes and I promise that's not who we really are. We were out of line and I'm truly sorry." He says to both of us.

I could've sworn I just sensed a little sincerity in him just now. When I actually look through the barriers of him being an ass, he could almost pass for a decent human being. I mean, I give him credit for actually coming back to apologize, especially after that nose job I gave him.

And further more, he's pretty darn easy on the eyes. Tariq is tall, he wears braces over his already perfect set of white teeth which makes no sense to me, he's about 5"11.. shit, probably 6ft or over. His silky, chocolate dark skin goes perfectly with his glistening dark brown eyes.. his body looks hard beneath his clothing, probably an athlete or some shit.. he's just very good looking and handsome if I should admit.

His head is faded around the sides as his hair is long, curly and styled with twists that is laced with beads at the ends laying down in his face and around his head from in the middle. He's covered in designers. Mariyah steals a glance at him and bites her bottom lip, then looks at me in sympathy.

"I accept your apology." She smiles at him.

"Good. You can leave now." I shew him with a hand.

"But.. do you accept?" His eyes are visual evidence of his desperation.

"Goodbye." I continue to shun him away with my hand.

He holds his hands up in surrender and gets up to walk away. Tariq and his cousin were wrong. But although they wronged us, Tariq came back and made it right. I have to give them credit for that. Maybe they are actually decent guys who just wanted to poke their pathetic egos.

He turns again and looks at me with squinted eyes, like he's trying to figure out something. I guess squinting his eyes is a habit for him.. a very cute one at that.

"You look so familiar, Curly." He holds up an index finger.

"If you don't leave right now, Tariq.. I'm going for your jaw bones this time." I warn and he puts up his hands again with that annoying smirk. I give him the finger and he leaves.

I wouldn't want to be forced to dismantle such perfectly sculpted jawlines of his though.

"Oh my God, Jada. That was so cool." Mariyah squeels and I smirk while looking in my phone.

We stay silent for another 5 minutes and just when I thought I escaped the social torture, she starts again.

"Well, I don't wanna.. annoy you. I mean, I'm 18 now.. it's just that my parents really want me to make a friend, well.. they got me a therapist and it was actually her idea. You're my roommate and you broke a guy's nose for me, why wouldn't I want to be your friend?"

I hold my head up again with my brows knitted in question.

"Your parents hired a whole therapist just to tell you that you need a friend?" My confusion is obvious.

"Ugh. Sometimes I feel like they care too much. I mean.. I didn't have much friends because I was.."

"Homeschooled." I say finishing her sentence.

"Yeah!"

"Why would they homeschool you up until you're 18 and then force you to make friends now?"

"Because.. they're very high profiled and they've always wanted to protect me. They would introduce me to their rich friends kids but I just didn't click with them at all. They're just too... prudish."

"You're prudish." I say in a bored tone and she avoid the urge to feel offended, as if accepting the fact that that's just how I speak.

"Exactly. That's why I want friends that aren't... prudes."

"Well, your parents level of overprotectiveness is just insane.. I mean.. their profiles can't be that high."

"Trust me.. it is." She forms an unreadable look on her face.

"Try me." My interest slowly sparks up a little more.

"My correct name is Mariyah Dé'Neilio."

My eyes widen in shock and she folds her lips inwardly at my reaction. I cough. Is she really who I think she is?

"Dé'Neilio, as in.. the president's daughter.. Dé'Neilio?" If my eyes get any wider they'd just fall out of sockets.

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