8 - smoke & mirrors

Amina

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Two weeks had passed since the last time Dominic and I had done anything. The day after we hooked up he had left my uniform outside our door. Since then he hadn't spoken to me and gave me not so much as a glance when we passed each other.

He seemed unbothered, completely okay with us no longer having sex or speaking. But I was slowly going mad. I was hiding it pretty well and I had hoped that it was the same case for him.

I wasn't going to crack and speak to him first though. I'd be damned if I went back on my word. But was I wrong to want him to beg for me? Corner me in the mailroom again begging for one more time?

But no, the asshole had to respect my wishes.

I was in class, listening to the teacher go on and on about the importance of stocks and investments. I made sure to take note of important things she said. Isaiah on the other hand sat next to me, doodling in the notebook in front of him.

"Pay attention!" I whisper, nudging him gently. This causes him to mess up on his drawing. He scowls me before scribbling a doodle on my notebook. I glare at him for ruining my perfectly written notes. "You are a child."

He flips me off before attempting to fix his picture. When the professor finally finished she dismissed the class a few minutes early, giving me time to grab a snack before my next class. "Amina." The professor calls out as I stand from my seat.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to speak to you about an opportunity, do you have a class right after this?"

I nod, "You let us out early so I have time. It doesn't start till 11:30."

"Oh, goody. I was reading the papers everyone submitted last week and yours stood out to me."

I smile proudly, "Thank you! I was very passionate about the topic."

"I see, which is why I think you should apply for this." She picks up a piece of paper off of her desk and hands it to me, "It's an internship with the Acme Corporation."

My eyes widen, "Really?"

"Yes, really. With the way you think I bet you have a real shot at getting it. I'll even write you a letter of recommendation if you decide to apply."

"Oh my gosh. Thank you so much, Professor Huggins."

"Don't thank me yet, go send in that application."

I nod eagerly, "I will! Thank you again."

I leave the classroom with a wide smile on my face. Internship opportunities are exactly what I need at this point in my educational career. The plan was two years of community college, two of university, and in that time at university acquire at least two internships before graduating.

Isaiah waited for me at the end of the hall, as we usually do after this class. "What'd the professor want?" He asks.

I hold up the paper, "She wants me to apply for this internship."

"Why didn't she ask me?"

I quirk my brow, "Maybe because you spend your class time drawing pretty pictures instead of listening?"

He rolls his eyes, "Yeah yeah. Congratulations though."

"I haven't even applied yet."

"But you're going to right? I'm sure you're going to get it. I mean why wouldn't you?"

I smile, "Thanks. Do you plan on doing any internships this year?"

He shakes his head, "I'm not even sure about my major anymore honestly. I don't think business is for me."

I raise a brow, "Then what do you wanna do? You're already in your third year."

He shrugs, "I don't know. Not everyone has it all planned out like you Ami."

"All I'm saying is you gotta figure it out fast. The clocks ticking."

"Yeah, you think I don't know?" He lets out a sigh as we get closer to River Hall, "I'm going to head to my next class. I'll see you later."

I wave him off as he enters the classroom building. I had two more classes I needed to get through before the day ended. I look at the time, almost 11:30, and begin to make my way to my class.

-

After school, I had another shift at the diner. Thankfully it wasn't too busy, just a few people who came in and out. We had a new employee who started their first day today. His name was Milo and he was the cutest little 16-year-old. He was Caucasian with curly brown hair and green eyes. He was Melanie's little brother and today I was going to be training him.

"Where does this go?" He asks holding an empty ketchup container in his hand. His accent was as thick as Melanie's and it was adorable. I point to the back room, "You put it in the back so it can be refilled later, then you grab a new one and replace it." He nods in understanding before heading to the back room.

I assigned him the duty of cleaning up tables as I took orders. Since it wasn't too busy, the only people on the floor were me, Mel, her brother, and the manager. Halle was to be coming in later for the night shift.

As I'm waiting tables, commotion can be heard from the door. "Ami!" Isaiah calls out once he sees me. Behind him follows Caleb and the rest of their roommates. I let out a sigh as they entered into the diner.

Approaching their table, notepad in hand I shush them. "You guys are loud!"

Caleb chuckles, "We just wanted to see our favorite baby cousin."

Isaiah nods, "Plus we would like to personally invite you to our birthday party."

"Ah yes, it's that time of year again." I chuckle as they take a seat at a booth.

"Yes, this weekend on Saturday, September 17th at our place. You'll be there right?" Isaiah asks.

"I'll have to check my work schedule."

Both the twins frown, "You'll skip our birthday for work?" Caleb asks.

I chuckle, "I'm just kidding of course I'll be there. What can I get you guys?"

"We're just gonna get our drinks now, we're waiting for someone." Oliver adds in.

"Ooh, dates?"

"Only if it's with you." Noah says with a wink. Caleb slaps him on the head and the two begin arguing.

"Guys! Drinks?" I ask again.

The boys give me their drink orders and I walk away with a headache, they're all such a handful. "Milo, come with me. Let me show you how to fill a drink order." I instruct him on how to fill the cups and how to carry the tray. I allow him to carry the drinks to the table as I follow behind and he places the order down perfectly. I high-five him as he comes back and give him a bright smile. "Thanks, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."

The doors open again as I'm cleaning the counter and a familiar face enters the diner. He wore a black durag and a fitted white T-shirt. His eyes meet mine as he walks over to the counter. "Looks like we meet again." He smirks.

I stared at the man in confusion, he looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on where I knew him from.

He chuckles sensing my confusion, "The back-to-school party? You said if we met again I could have your number."

My eyes widen as I recognize him making me smile, "Oh! I remember now. Well, it looks like I have a promise to keep." He pulls out his phone and hands it to me making me chuckle.

I put my number into his phone and handed it back to him. Suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder, "Where do I get more straws?" Milo asks.

I smile, "I'll be back." I tell Aaron before leading Milo to the back room once again. After that, I head over to the boy's table to take their orders. I had noticed Aaron had left the counter and was now seated with the boys. "You know them?" I ask him.

"They're my teammates." Aaron answers, "You know them?"

I chuckle nervously, ignoring his question. "What can I get for you guys?"

"She's our little cousin, when did you meet her?" Caleb asks suspiciously. Before Aaron can reply I interrupt, "What can I get for you?"

Catching on quickly Will replies, "I'll get the chicken sandwich with curly fries."

Noah adds, "Ooh can I get the BLT with crinkle-cut fries."

"I'll take the cheese steak sandwich."

I turn to the other three, "And you guys?"

They say their orders and I quickly get away from the chaos that was to emerge. The twins and I usually tried to avoid dating each other's friends, but that rule was from middle school. That's why I didn't care whether Bianca dated Caleb or not. But Caleb didn't like the idea of me with Aaron. You could tell by the glare he was giving Aaron that he didn't like it one bit.

I returned with their food and they all thanked me before digging into their meals. After they finish I place the bill down on the table. They all head out and thank me after paying. "I'll call you." Aaron winks as he leaves the restaurant. I smile and wave in return, not noticing Caleb standing behind me. I groan, "What now Caleb?" I ask as I begin clearing the table.

"Anyone but him Ami, he's not a good dude."

I roll my eyes as I stack the dirty cups, "I can't hang out with Dominic, Aaron's bad news, next you'll be telling me to keep my distance from Noah too."

Caleb shakes his head, "I'm trying to look out for you." A car in the parking lot begins honking its horn. Caleb looks over to the window and notices Isaiah sticking his head out of the driver's seat window and waving. "Look I gotta go, we'll talk about this later."

I shake my head, "Nothing to talk about." He frowns at me before leaving the restaurant.

-

I was exhausted after work and was tasked to close up the restaurant with Halle and Milo. I had to walk him through all of the closing procedures before finally locking the doors and grabbing a ride home with Halle.

"Thanks for the ride." I say tiredly as I get out of her car.

She smiles, "Don't mention it! Now go get some rest."

I smile in response before waving and making my way to my building. As I make my way up the stairs, I notice a person come into view at the top. Dominic was sitting on his porch smoking a blunt in front of his door.

He makes eye contact with me as he lets out a cloud of smoke. "Why are you always out here when I'm coming home from work? Trying to get my attention or something?"

He smirks, "Not everything is about you Amina. I happen to live here."

Gosh, he was so hot. Even the way he said my name was so damn sexy.

I roll my eyes, "Whatever."

"Someone's in a crabby mood tonight." He comments as he lets out another drag. "You ever smoked?" I shake my head and he offers the blunt to me. "Wanna smoke? It's relaxing."

I raise my eyebrow, "You want me to smoke? With you?"

He nods slowly as he looks up at the sky, "I'm a lot nicer when I'm high. Hurry up before I change my mind."

I was reluctant but ultimately decided to join him. He hands the blunt to me as I take a seat in the chair next to him. "Place it on your lips and lightly suck air through the joint like drinking through a straw."

I did as directed before it resulted in me having a coughing fit. Dominic chuckles at me as he pats my back gently. "Newbie." He laughs.

"That wasn't relaxing." I respond after catching my breath.

"Like this." He takes the blunt from me before bringing it to his lips and inhaling as he instructed me to. After holding it for a moment he suddenly let it out, allowing a cloud of smoke to appear in front of us. There was something sexy about watching him do the simplest things. Even as he sat here glossy-eyed eyed smoking up a storm I found myself to be turned on.

"I should head inside. I probably look like a mess." Before I can make the move to get up his arm holds my wrist.

"You look fine. Let's talk."

"About?"

"Anything. Just talk to me."

I was a bit taken aback. This was the same man who distinctly told me to stop talking to him. And now he requested my presence for conversation?

"Um okay." I sit back and look up at the sky above us. After a few moments, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You think there are other species on other planets?" I ask randomly.

He chuckles, "Definitely. Why would we be the only ones?"

"Because Earth is one of the only survivable planets."

"For us. We don't know that another species isn't surviving on Jupiter or Saturn."

"Jupiter is so dry and made up of almost entirely gas, how would anything survive?"

He pauses for a moment, "They're just built differently, I don't know."

I chuckle at his response. It was interesting seeing Dominic like this. He was so calm and talkative. I can usually only get a few words out of him that weren't rude remarks.

"I've never heard the name Amina before." He says suddenly. "It's a beautiful name though. So does that mean you're Nigerian?"

I raise a brow, "How did you know that?"

He shrugs, "I just know things."

I laugh again at him, "Since when are you so interested in me?"

"Since I started smoking this blunt." He says as he takes another hit. I chuckle, and my phone dings notifying me of a text. "Whose texting you this late?" He asks curiously.

I pulled my phone from my pocket to see who it was from.

A: sorry I couldn't call today, maybe I'll see you tomorrow?

I smile before texting him back.

A: it's okay, and I hope so :)

"Someone's got you in a good mood." Dominic mutters from beside me.

"Jealous?" I tease. He ignores me as he lets out another cloud of smoke. I chuckle before placing my phone down and sitting back. "Why don't we switch it up and I ask you some questions?"

"No." He responds flatly, the mood suddenly changes.

"No?"

"No." He repeats, "Game over. You should go off to bed."

"I think I can decide for myself when I want to go to sleep."

"It's after midnight and you have Crutchfield in the morning."

I raise my brow, "How do you know that?"

He was silent for a moment as he stared up at the sky. "I remember things." He replies simply.

I sigh knowing he's right. I hadn't even realized it was so late. I stand up from my seat, "Fine I'm going, but because I want to not because you told me to."

He chuckles, "Good night Amina."

"Good night Dominic."

———

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-AuggiePooh_