Lourdes was woken up by the sound of pots and pans banging in the kitchen. She groaned and closed her eyes again, enjoying the warmth of her bed. She was being blanketed by an extra source of heat and she sighed in satisfaction, extremely comfortable. She cuddled into the source of heat more, trying to preserve the warmth. When she wiggled around a bit, she froze when she realized the source of heat was another body. Her eyes shot open and she looked around the room, trying to remember what had happened last night. Turning her head slightly, she was face to face with Rashir, who was fast asleep and had his arms around her waist, cuddling with her.

She panicked for a moment, why was she cuddling with Rashir? And why did it feel nice? She had missed the feeling of waking up in someones arms, she hadn't cuddled with anyone since Myles and that was a long time ago. She looked at the time and saw it was 9 in the morning, meaning she'd only gotten a total of 5 hours of sleep since Rashir had woken her up at 3 and she wasn't able to go back to sleep until an hour after he got into bed with her. She was overthinking and it kept her up for a while, having him sleep an inch away from her wasn't helping at all.

She heard pots and pans clang again and Nala telling Aaliyah to "Be quiet," in a hushed voice. She needed to get out of her bed but she was scared Rashir would wake up while she was trying to escape his embrace and that would be incredibly awkward. She chewed on her lip, trying to figure out how she was supposed to get out of this one.

She had been hoping  Aaliyah and Nala would still be in their rooms so they wouldn't see Rashir leaving the apartment but apparently, luck wasn't on her side since they were awake somewhat early for a Saturday morning. Aaliyah was usually up by 10, and Nala didn't wake up until after 12. She was confused and surprised at the fact that they were awake at 9 in the morning, especially Nala considering she cussed them out for trying to wake her up at 11:30 once.

Carefully picking up Rashir's arm, she placed it on the pillow beside her, and quietly shuffled out of her bed. Her feet were freezing as soon as they touched the cold floor, so she looked around for her slippers, trying not to wake Rashir as she searched her room. She found them under her bead and quickly slipped them on, and opened her bedroom door to exit her room. She walked to the kitchen, surprised to find Nala making pancakes while Aaliyah sat at one of the stools, talking to her. Both of them looked up at the sound of her footsteps.

"Morning!" Aaliyah greeted her cheerily, "Do you want pancakes?" She pointed to Nala who was flipping a pancake on the stove.

"Uh, sure. Why are you guys up so early?" She asked them as she opened the refrigerator to get some apple juice.

"Gianna called me and said she wants all of us to go out to lunch at 12, so I woke up Nala," Aaliyah explained.

"You woke me up 2 hours early," Nala grumbled, "Did Rashir come over last night?" Nala turned to ask her, making Lourdes freeze with the apple juice in her hands, "He left his shoes, they're by the door," Nala gave her a suspicious look at her reaction and placed a pancake on a plate.

Lourdes didn't know how to tell them that Rashir spent the night in her bed, she knew how they would react. If he had just slept on the couch, it would have been a different story, but the fact that they woke up cuddling would cause both Nala and Aaliyah to go into cardiac arrest.

"Yeah, he-"

"Goodmorning," They all whipped their heads around at the sound of a deep voice joining them. There stood Rashir, rubbing his eyes and stretching, causing his shirt to ride up an inch. Lourdes internally groaned, not wanting to deal with the questions she was about to be bombarded with.

"Hi, do you want pancakes?" She asked, ignoring the fact that Aaliyah and Nala's eyes were bulging out of their heads.

Rashir shook his head, "Nah, I better get going, I got practice in a couple hours,"

"Oh okay, you want me to walk you out?"

"Yeah, lemme get my stuff from your room," Lourdes almost winced at the mention of her room, giving him a stiff nod. He left the kitchen and she slowly turned back around to face Aaliyah and Nala who were currently frozen in a state of shock.

"I think the pancakes are burning," She pointed at the stove, where smoke was coming from the griddle.

"Fuck the pancakes! Rashir spent the night?" Nala exclaimed, loudly.

"In your room?"

"Did you fuck?"

"Wait, you did it while we were home?"

"Was it big?"

"Were you gonna tell us?"

"Was it good? I've heard rumors about his stroke game, tell me if they're true,"

"Guys!" Lourdes interrupted their badgering questions, holding up her hands, "We didn't fuck, relax." She hissed as Rashir came back with his stuff in his hands.

"I'll wash this and give it back to you later," He said, gesturing to the clothes he was wearing.

"Oh, it's no rush," She assured him, "Come on I'll walk you out,"

"Aight, bye y'all," He waved to Aaliyah and Nala who were still struggling to function properly. Rashir seemed to be amused at their reactions but didn't say anything else as they walked to the front door. He put on his slides and she handed him his jacket from the coat hook, "I'll talk to you later," He gave her a quick hug and she nodded. She opened the door and told him goodbye, shutting it behind him. She put her back against the door, not looking forward to going back to the kitchen where Nala and Aaliyah were waiting with their millions of questions. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for battle, and walked back to the kitchen.

Nala and Aaliyah were sitting together, looking up when she entered. "You better start talking," Nala threatened.

"So you're finally talking to him?" Gianna asked. All of the girls were sitting in a restaurant in Georgetown  for lunch and Lourdes had just finished explaining what happened with Rashir for the second time in a day. After she was able to get it through to Nala and Aaliyah at breakfast that she and Rashir had, in fact, not fucked, she told them about how he showed up at 12 am to apologize and how he ended up in her bed.

They were having lunch at a cafe in Georgetown, Gianna wanted to walk to the waterfront that was close to the restaurant after they finished eating so they could take pictures.

"I think they did a bit more than talking," Nala cut in, making Lourdes glare at her.

"And I told you, he asked to sleep in my room because the couch was uncomfortable, nothing else happened," Lourdes repeated for the tenth time today.

"Alright, if you insist," Nala held her hands up in surrender, "Where's our food? It's been like 20 minutes," She began to complain, taking a sip of her soda and looking around impatiently for their waiter.

"So when are we going to the boys' house? We talked about it in the group chat but we never set a date." Aaliyah asked.

"Rashir said Monday, can you believe we're leaving in a week?"

"Aren't you excited? Spending your birthday in the Bahamas," Gianna nudged her. Lourdes was excited, most of her birthdays she just spent the day with Aaliyah and Nala, going to a restaurant or the movies. She had never made a big deal about her birthday, when she was younger she never had parties, her mother never remembered. Her brothers would try their best to make sure she had a good day, but she never got the full birthday experience. She had grown to just treat her birthday like a regular day, not caring for the gifts or cake. This year was the first time she was actually looking forward to it.

"Yeah I am, I need to go shopping though. I just got paid so I have some money to spend,"

"We should go together! I need new swimsuits," Aaliyah agreed.

"You should get some lingerie too," Nala suggested with a smirk on her face, "I'm sure Mateo would love to see you in some,"

"Be quiet," Aaliyah blushed and looked away.

Aaliyah was saved by more teasing from their waiter, who brought their food out just in time. Lourdes almost moaned at the sight of her pasta, thanking their waiter and immediately digging in. They ate silently, the only sounds were the chatter of the busy restaurant and their silverware clinking against their plates.

"This is so good, how did you find this place and why haven't you taken us here before?" Nala asked Gianna while taking a bite of her sandwich.

"I just found it! And when's the last time we've gone out to lunch? Y'all are always busy," Gianna defended. It was true, it seemed like lately everyone had a boyfriend to hang out with, assignment to do, or shift at a job. They ate the rest of their lunch, gossiping and messing around. The check came and all of the girls reached for their purses to grab their wallets but Gianna stopped them.

"It's on me," She gave them a warm smile and put her credit card on the table, sliding it to the edge.

"What's this for?" Lourdes gave her a suspicious look and slowly put her wallet away.

"No reason, just in a good mood today," Gianna shrugged.

"Is it because of a certain white boy named Jaden?" Nala waggled her eyebrows, "Have you two hung out yet?"

"Yes, we went out to eat the other day,"

"And? How was it?" Lourdes asked.

"It was nice, we're hanging out again on Wednesday," Gianna replied, just as the waiter returned her card, wishing them a nice rest of their day. "Alright let's go, I wanna take pictures while the lighting is still good," Gianna rushed them as they stood up to gather their things.

"Okay, okay, relax. The waterfront is only like a 5-minute walk from here," Aaliyah said as she grabbed her to-go container.

"Why do you want to take pictures by the water? It's freezing outside," Nala whined. They walked out of the restaurant, being hit by the cold air from the outside, and shivered, quickly scampered on the sidewalk to make their way to the waterfront. Georgetown Waterfront was a popular place in D.C. There were restaurants, bars, and shops that overlooked the Potomac River, hence why it was called a waterfront. People liked to walk along the water and take pictures, ride bikes or sit on the benches and enjoy the view. Lourdes had been a couple of times before, the view was amazing, especially at sunset or golden hour.

"I haven't posted in a while and the water is the perfect background for pictures! Quit whining and pick up the pace," Gianna began walking behind Nala, pushing her forward as they walked. They walked for a couple of minutes, passing snobby-looking business people and shoppers coming out of boutiques. Once they reached the waterfront, Gianna immediately pulled out her phone and asked Aaliyah to hold her jacket.

"Lourdes, can you take some pics of me, pretty please? My pictures always come out the best when you take them," Gianna pleaded. Lourdes sighed and nodded, holding her hand out for Gianna's phone. Gianna squealed and thanked her, putting on lipgloss and stuffing it into her back pocket.

"I'm gonna go sit on that bench," Nala pointed to the bench that was overlooking the water.

"Yeah me too, come get us when you're done," Aaliyah followed Nala's to the bench, telling her to wait up.

"Alright, can you just get from the top of my head to like my hips? We can do full-body pics after," Gianna instructed Lourdes.

They took pictures for Gianna for 10 minutes, before Lourdes's arm started to get tired. "Gia, are we almost done? My arm is about to fall off," She complained.

"One more, please?" She pouted and Lourdes gave in.

"Fine,"

"Do you want any?" Gianna asked when they finished, Lourdes handed her back her phone and shook her head no. Lourdes didn't like taking pictures, she insisted she wasn't photogenic and hated people taking off-guard photos of her.

"You sure?" Gianna asked her again as they walked to the bench that Gianna and Aaliyah were waiting at.

"Yes, I'm sure,"

"Finally you guys are done, we were freezing our asses off," Nala quipped when they arrived, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's walk back to the parking garage," Gianna waved at them to get up. Gianna showed them the pictures as they walked, swiping and asking for their opinions.

"You're so pretty Gigi," Aaliyah complimented, "You should model,"

"For real, tell your parents, their probably friends with some agent," Lourdes agreed.

"Oh stop," Gianna waved them off. They reached the parking garage, paying for their tickets and taking the elevator to their level. When the elevator stopped, they all walked off and Gianna abruptly stopped, making Lourdes bump into her.

"You good?" Nala asked her, giving her a strange look.

"Lourdes, go stand right there," She pointed to an empty parking spot, pulling out her phone.

"Huh? Why?" Lourdes obeyed her, still confused.

"Okay now smile," Gianna pointed her camera at her and Lourdes rolled her eyes at her, holding her hand in front of her face.

"Gianna, I told you I don't want any pictures right now,"

"C'mon! You look so good and the lighting is perfect just one picture?" Gianna clasped her hands together in a begging motion and gave her puppy dog eyes.

"Just let her take the picture," Nala advised, "She's not gonna let this go,"

Lourdes grumbled under her breath and stomped back to the parking space Gianna directed her to, knowing Gianna wouldn't give up until she got what she wanted.

"Yay! Now smile,"

"Do I have to?"

"Lourdes!"

"Okay! I'm smiling, see?" She posed with her hands behind her back and smiled, "Can we go now?"

"Look how pretty you are! You should post them," Gianna handed her the phone, showing her the pictures. Lourdes inspected the pictures, expecting them to turn out badly but was pleasantly surprised at the results. She looked pretty and the background matched with the pictures. "I knew you would like them! You need to take more pictures, you're so photogenic,"

"Lemme see those," Nala reached for the phone, Aaliyah huddling next to her, "These do look nice Lo, post them before I do it for you,"

"Gia, can you airdrop those to me?" She asked. She hadn't posted on her Instagram in forever, she never took pictures, but these seemed Instagram-worthy.

"I know Rashir will like them," Nala teased.

"You ruined the moment,"

***
this chapter is short asf i'm sorry y'all 😭 i'm busy w school and stuff so i might not update every other day anymore but i promise i won't make y'all wait! also we hit 8k reads wtf? thank y'all for reading and voting for this book it's really making me happy <33 don't forget to vote and comment!