𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐉𝐀𝐇'𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 / 𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐈𝐄 𝐁

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟕: 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓.

"Run this by me again—no, no, T, we gotta play it back!" Lauren cried, pausing the video playing on Khadijah's laptop. Khadijah hid her face in her mom's shirt, half amused by her aunt and half mortified as she watched her mom's face contort and twist as the music video continued to play. Some of the clips Kaiyah had included are some Khadijah had never even seen before—like the one of her and Arion shotgunning. "Are you wearing his chain?" Lauren asked Khadijah incredulously. She'd rewound the video all the way to the beginning, and sure enough, one of the very first clips was of Khadijah cheesing into the camera, holding up Arion's large Cuban link that was clasped around her neck as the camera zoomed in on her.

"You sure you want to do this?" Khadijah asked Arion as he gently laid the chain around her neck.

"You the only girl I would let wear my chain, Jah."

Khadijah couldn't help herself—smiling at the memory as the video continued to play. The three women sat squished together on the couch in the Karim's apartment. Unconsciously, she whispered the lyrics to Arion's verse under her breath, watching alongside her mother and aunt as Kaiyah mashed together different clips to create the music video but somehow still made them flow and work cohesively as visuals to the song. Filming the video wasn't as hard as she anticipated—everyone tried their best to keep her distracted so it just felt like she was at a regular party rather than shooting a music video.

"Timera, look away," Lauren joked as another clip of Khadijah and Arion appeared on the screen. Arion had his arms around her neck, throwing up gang signs as Khadijah smiled brightly, hand resting on his bicep. Khadijah was just happy to be there.

The music video progressed steadily and despite her mother's apprehensive deposition, Khadijah could secretly tell that she enjoyed the song even if she didn't want to.

"W-what are you doing?" Timera asked, voice laced with confusion. Khadijah and Arion were in frame as Kevin's verse played in the background. Arion had his arm strewn over Khadijah's shoulder, and they bounced back and forth together, dancing in tandem—the crowd shouting wordlessly behind them.

"Arion wanted me to get sturdy," Khadijah stated, rolling her eyes, despite the small smile on her face.

"No, no, I can't dance, D," Khadijah said, shaking her head furiously as Arion tugged her forward by her forearm. She was faded as hell, having taken a few more hits of the blunt Blu had rolled. She'd loosened up considerably, but no amount of weed or Hennessy could make her forget the fact that she couldn't fucking dance to save her life.

All these boys wanted to do was dance.

"You trust me?" Arion asked her, eyes baring into her own. She stammered slightly, helplessly opening and closing her mouth. "Answer me, Khadijah."