black and gold

0.2

      knock knock. kacey rapped on the door with her small fist. her mother was juggling a tray full of pork and bean casserole and a tupperware container filled with warm cookies. next to her stood a bored looking elise. the older sister to kacey was forced to change out of her crop top and short shorts into some skinny jeans and a top that actually reached past her belly button. "you are 15 elise. you don't need to be barely naked" her mother imposed. "i'm wearing clothes mom. and this is california. it's too hot to be wearing a snowsuit" elise fired back. "i'm not asking you to wear a snowsuit, dear. I just think you should-" slam. elise had shut the door leaving her mother confused as to when her attitude shifted so suddenly. puberty. "at least kacey doesn't act like this." the mom of 2 thought hastily.

      kacey. looking at her you could easily tell she was bouncing with excitement. literally. she was on her tippy toes bouncing up and down. the american girl doll that she had brought with her was tucked between her elbow and her midsection. it had blonde back length hair and blue eyes- just like kacey- and an outfit that elise thought to be tacky but kacey thought it looked fine when she picked it out. she was dangerously close to dropping it with the way she was moving around.

      kacey raised her hand to knock on her new neighbor's once more but then the door swung open to reveal the teenage boy kacey saw earlier this afternoon. elise looked up at the sound of the creaky door opening. immediately she dropped her bored demeanor and put on a smile. elise thought the boy was hot. his tan skin contrasted nicely with his jet black hair. she had never seen anyone so handsome. and his smile; elise swooned when he bared his pearly whites. just before elise had a chance to confess her love her mother spoke up. "hi dearie! we're your next door neighbors. we just decided to stop by and say hi." the boy smiled wider. "i'll get my mom" he said with his oh so deep voice and walked back into the house shutting the door slightly.

      a minute later a woman with warm brown eyes and thick-black shoulder length hair appeared at the door. she smiled at kacey. "hello. i'm mrs alnasseri. we just moved here from ohio." "it's so nice to meet you mrs. alnasseri. i'm mrs reynolds but you can call me laura." mrs. reynolds said smiling. mrs. alnasseri looked down at the tray and plate in mrs. reynolds' hand. "is that for us? oh laura, you shouldn't have." "it was no trouble really." mrs. reynolds insisted with a wave of the hand. mrs. alnasseri ushered the trio inside.

      sat on the couch (that still had some plastic wrap over it) with earphones in was a girl who mrs. alnasseri introduced as 14 year old zeinah. at the mention of her name she took out an earphone, said hello and went back to staring at her phone.

      mrs. reynolds could see boxes of various sizes strewn around the den with some of them opened. she could hear the sound of boxes being dropped and unpacked from upstairs. she set the aluminum foil tray and tupperware box down on the couch next to her. mrs. alnasseri rose from where she sat next to zeinah and picked up the food containers. she made her way to the kitchen. from the couch mrs. reynolds could see her set it down on the island.

      the boy who answered the door earlier began a descent downstairs. elise subconsciously sat up straighter and ran her fingers through her hair. "come say hi to our neighbors, adam." mrs alnasseri told him leaving the kitchen. "adam. what a dreamy name" elise thought.

      adam walked towards the couch that the reynolds family was sat on smiling that smile that elise- even though she had only seen it minutes ago- was so fond of. adam stood in front of mrs reynolds and shook her hand. "i'm adam. it's nice to meet you." mrs reynolds smiled, charmed. "hi adam. i'm mrs. reynolds. we live just next door." adam moved over to kacey who was playing with the hair of her doll. "and who might this little princess be?" kacey giggled and said her name shyly. "a name fit for a princess." adam said smiling. standing in front of elise, the tall boy held his hand out. "adam. and you are?" elise resisted the urge to say 'your future wife'. "elise" she opted for instead. "nice to meet you elise" elise wanted to jump on him and never let go. she had missed her chance because right after he said very apologetically: "i have to get back to work. dad wants me to help him unpack some of those boxes before it gets dark." "you sure you can't stay for a bit longer and sit with us?" elise found herself saying. "sorry elise, duty calls". he walks into the kitchen, walks out with some of the cookies kacey and her mother baked and back up the stairs. "why did I say that?" elise thought to herself utterly embarrassed.

      mrs alnasseri and mrs reynolds make small talk while zeinah and elise type away on their phones and kacey plays with her doll desperately wishing that the girl she saw with her own american girl doll wasn't asleep upstairs.

      half an hour later mrs reynolds says goodbye to zeinah who is still preoccupied on her phone, mrs alnasseri- laura can call her nour- and adam who comes back down for only another handful of cookies. elise just gives a sheepish smile and waves. kacey gives a big smile and says "bye adam!". "bye princess." adam says with a mouthful of cookies. for some reason elise found herself getting jealous of her 7 year old sister.

     
      "laura, before you leave tell me what's in the tray. it smells pretty good." "oh that's just my pork and bean casserole. it's really popular at the easter picnics at church." laura replied smiling proudly. "sounds great laura!" nour said with an unreadable expression on her face. laura and her 2 kids scurried across the lawn to their own abode; the mother having yet to start on dinner.

      mrs. alnasseri closed the door and sighed. she was going to have to throw out another welcome casserole. "hadn't anyone ever heard of chicken casseroles?" she muttered to herself.

      the adhan coming from her phone told her it was time for maghrib. mrs. alnasseri walked towards the bathroom that she was not yet used to and made wu'du. after she grabbed the first scarf from the box of her personal things she saw and put it on she prayed. she went to go remind zeinah to pray as she always got so entranced in her phone that she had to be reminded. she found the girl in the kitchen with a fork in hand ready to dive into the haram casserole. "zeinah no!" startled by her mother's sudden voice, zeinah drops the fork. she turns around holding her chest. "wallahi mama, you scared me half to death." zeinah blurts out panting slightly. "sorry habiti but you cannot touch that casserole. it has pork in it." mrs alnasseri tells her daughter. "pork?" zeinah questions incredulously, "is that lady trying to kill us?". "don't be rash zeinah. she probably doesn't know we are Muslims." mrs alnasseri reasons. "i guess" zeinah says, her argument weak. "now go pray maghrib. your father should be back from the store with groceries any minute now. i know you're hungry." mrs alnasseri tells the girl. zeinah leaves the kitchen to go pray, hoping her father bought pizza rolls.

      mrs alnasseri sighed a great big sigh. taking the tin foil-wrapped tray in her hands she made her way towards the front door. slipping on the first pair of shoes that seemed to fit -which happened to be her husband's flip flops- and opened the door holding the tray in one hand. the summer sun had set just a few minutes ago meaning that it was quite dark save for the lamppost a few yards away. she sauntered across the driveway towards the large black garbage bin. standing in front of it, she opened the top feeling thankful that there was no rank smell to it. with a quick and simple movement mrs alnasseri dumped the casserole into her trash bin. she flipped the lid back on and walked back into her house just as her husband pulled up to the driveway with groceries. not excluding zeinah's pizza rolls.
                  •••
End Notes: So that's that. No casserole for the Alnasseris. And Elise seems to have a little crush. By the way, the father of the Reynold's family will be introduced next chapter.
AN: Hi lovelies. Hope you all are well. I hope you guys liked this chapter. It took me a while. And you might notice that it's longer than chapter 1. The chapters should end up being longer as I get more comfortable writing this story. Please comment, vote and recommend this story to your friends. Thats all I have to say. Have a great morning/night!