happy // shareef o'neal. [on hold]

come thru.

candy and sai were in bed, scrolling through their phone's with the tv on as background noise when candy got a message that made her raise her eyebrows.

IMESSAGE

tiana😇: since when did you and sai know shareef o'neal and them?

candace😒: well i didn't until sai introduced me to them.
seen

candace looked at sai before showing her the message tiana sent her. sai shrugged and went back to texting shareef "why is she asking questions all of a sudden? isn't she the one that went m.i.a on us?"

tiana parker was sai and candy's friend from junior year. the three were inseparable until college happened and tiana decided to attend school in louisiana while sai and candy went to berkeley. tiana now went days without talking to the two and this time, it's been almost four weeks without a message, call or facetime. the only time they did see her was when she liked a picture of theirs randomly or decided to post.

"why didn't she even come back to l.a.? her mom and dad live here." candy was truly baffled at tiana's behavior and quite frankly, getting sick of it. she also hated how tiana would often take advantage of saiyr's quietness as a means to walk all over her. tiana used to think she was slick doing that in high school when candy wasn't around until finding out that sai would always tell candy what was up with anything in her life and vice versa. the two never kept secrets from each other but more recently, they've been refraining from telling tiana happenings in their lives.

"i'm not getting involved in whatever tiana is going through this time. if she wants to not talk to us, fine by me." sai shrugged already over the conversation and candy nodded, going back to talking to her boyfriend, ken. sai also went back to talking to shareef.

IMESSAGE

reef🐧: i had fun the other day. so did qir and jay.

sai😍: i did too!! we should do it again reef

reef🐧: bet. so why don't we except just the two of us?

sai😍: like a date?

reef🐧: i definitely mean a date sai. so what do you say?

sai😍: i would love to go on a date with you💗

it was a friday when sai and reef's date came around. the two wanted it to be a low key date so shareef was taking sai to a hole-in-the-wall family owned restaurant. josh and shaqir were the only ones who knew where he was going, and candy and sai's mom, london were the only ones who knew where she was going.

sai dressed in a simple red dress that went down to her knees with black strappy heels and her wig was put up in a high ponytail. she had simple makeup on and she only carried her small prada purse, a gift from her mom. shareef was picking her up and luckily her dad was going to one of his restaurants that night so he wouldn't give shareef twenty questions.

he did meet her mom though.

and her mom loved him obviously, he was a gentleman and nice and humble. london could see that he would treat saiyr with care and respect.

the car ride to the restaurant was quiet yet comfortable. sade played softly in the background and saiyr sang softly to the song with shareef glancing at her in awe every once in a while. the restaurant was dimly lit and set a romantic mood as soon as you stepped foot in it. when the two were seated, a waiter took their orders after deliberation and shareef and sai took the time to intimately know each other.

"so you've never had a boyfriend?" sai shook her head no. she never found the time to date in high school nor did she want to but she was in college now and her mindset had changed. besides getting a degree,she wanted to find herself a life partner to build with. that meant career wise, relationship wise, family wise and religious wise.

shareef on the other hand, had been in relationships and obviously had sex. the more he got to know saiyr, the more he realized she could be the one. when they made things official, and he would, he definitely didn't plan on rushing her into anything. he wanted to be her first and last and vice versa.

the two enjoyed their dinner and dessert, with sai getting a to-go bag on the lava cake they shared, they then headed to the beach where shareef parked and they talked some more, basking in each others presence.

shareef looked into saiyr's eyes and for a minute got lost in them. noticing his silence, sai turned from looking at the waves to looking at shareef and to find him looking at her. she smiled softly. "what?" he shook his head before licking his lips and looking at the waves before looking back at her.

"can i kiss you?"

sai could feel her cheeks heat up and nodded minutely. shareef leaned in with sai doing the same and they both stopped with their lips an inch apart from touching. their breaths mingled with each other. sai, a chocolate scent while shareef, a minty kind. he leaned in and he swore he felt butterflies all over his body when his lips touched hers. they were like the softest pillows you could lay upon and saiyr felt the same with his. electricity shot through her body and she felt like she was on cloud nine. she didn't know waiting for her first kiss was going to be worth it but damn, she was glad she did. they pulled apart and just stared at into each others eyes before smiling softly.

they might just have fallen in love.

the ride back to saiyr's was quiet yet comfortable. the radio was off and saiyr had her left hand intertwined with shareef's right while the other gripped the steering wheel. her hand was small yet fit perfectly into his as he stroked her hand softly, sai melting into the seat of the car at his gesture. shareef pulled up to the gate and entered the pass code sai recited to him before driving up to the front door. shareef exited the car first before opening sai's door and sai thanking him. sai hugged shareef and they stayed like that for a few minutes before shareef kissed her on the forehead and reluctantly pulling apart.

"text me when you get home."

shareef nodded and watched as she made her way to the front door before getting into the car and making sure she got inside before pulling off.