3.0k words
⚠️ light swearing
he doesn't get like this,
not for anyone.
you ever see those cheesy romance movies, or those cheesy romance shows? you know, the ones where the sweet innocent girl breaks the wall down of the dark, distant bad boy? zion hated those movies. he thought they were individual pieces of crap. the hell did he look like, letting a girl break him down and make him all warm and shit?
he was no bad boy or anything like that—well, not as far as those movies depicted; but he was distant. he wasn't one for emotions or feelings. sure, he sung about them and occasionally rapped but if he were being honest, he was as connected to those lyrics as wifi was to a nokia. his family knew, so did his friends; so no one expected him to walk into thanksgiving dinner with a girl by his side.
a girlfriend, nonetheless.
but he did.
it was safe to say he caught them all by surprise. yes, he has had his fair share of flings but for him to bring one to meet his family, it had to be more. even his roommates, edwin and nick, were shocked. sure, he had been going out more and his tendency to blast drake at the ass crack of dawn had died down, but they thought he had just found a new way to wallow in the single life—seeing how he was the only single one in their apartment. but no, he had a whole girlfriend and just kept quiet about it.
in hindsight, though, the two should have noticed the change in their friend. he started to listen more when they talked about their relationship problems—actually offering real advice instead of his usual "fuck the girls and just focus on the bag."; they weren't waking up to see random girls in the kitchen nor their shared bathroom and he was a lot happier.
tiana was something that no one had expected zion to bring home. she was different from the girls they would see with him here and there. for starters, she wasn't as loud as the others—vocal and personality wise. she was more to herself but once she was comfortable, she loosened up a little. she never came in at a hundred. she described herself as an 'introverted extrovert'; she could be out and converse but deep down she wanted to be in her bed, curled up and watching netflix.
secondly, she was far more in-tune with herself and all that was around her. zion had built up the reputation of chasing and getting girls who weren't all that political and were more concerned with new trends and parties than world issues and idiots in office. but, tiana was far from that. she liked her occasional party once in a while but she was more into conversations. discussing real issues and hearing real opinions but also just getting to enjoy people without all the loud music and alcohol.
she had spent the period after the dinner discussing with zion's father about the willie lynch letter and its now, somewhat subtle oppressive chain in the world of media; from the conversation zion knew he needed to do some reading to further understand her perspective and build one of his own. the others would hear bits and pieces and wonder where zion could have picked her up from. he just kept saying they found their link.
nick was the first to learn that the pair had been together for nearly eighteen months. he was also the first of five to slap the faux blonde upside the head for keeping her a secret for so long.
edwin was the first to be in on zion's two-year anniversary plan. he had drawn out the decor and had stayed up the last two nights with the lanky boy to make it special.
