Loud

Chapter One

A/N: Ok so this chapter is name the Clipping SONG. Enjoy!

I raise the volume of the bass which causes my headphones to vibrate and finally feel content with the track. When I can feel the music it's good.

I swipe my headphones off my head and realize someone's knocking on my apartment door. I slam my laptop closed and run to answer who's calling.

"You should really turn the volume down, Daveed," my neighbor Yolanda Williams lectures with a playful smile. "I've been knocking for a while."

"I know, but the bass and-"

"Yeah, I know," she laughs.

I smile and shove my hands in my pockets. "What needs to be fixed?"

"The sink...again. Come on, little boy." She grabs my wrist and pulls me to her apartment three doors down.

I scan over her wedding photos as I walk in the door and grin slightly at the sight of her late husband, Randy. The day he died will always be a vivid memory but the laughs Malik and I shared with him will always overpower his death. Randy was like a father to me since my parents were always busy when I was a kid. And that means Yolanda is my mother.

"Oh my god, Yolanda, what do you do to this sink?" I laughed, accepting the toolbox that Yolanda bought just for me.

"I was just washing dishes and then it stopped working."

"I think you need a new sink," I suggested, getting onto my hands and knees.

"You haven't even looked at it yet," she reasoned.

"It's the fifth time you've asked me to fix it. You might as well buy a new one."

"Why buy a new one when I can get it fixed for free?"

I smile and shake my head as Yolanda bursts into laughter. Sometimes there's nothing you can say to that woman.

I turn the sink on and no water comes out, just as Yolanda had testified. I look under the sink and turn on the shutoff valves but water doesn't flow from the faucet.

"Do you have a bucket or something?" I asked, turning the valves off.

Yolanda hands me a bucket as I turn the faucet off. I disconnect the supply hoses, point them into a bucket and turn the valves back on. Water flows freely into the bucket and a chuckle escapes from my mouth.

"You need a new sink," I tell her.

"And how do you know?"

"Because I just checked." I turn the water off and stand on my feet. "Trust me."

"You know how much I like to be right and you still prove me wrong. Don't tell anyone," she whispers.

"Your secret is safe with me," I laugh.

"Alright, well, I made all this food and I'm not gonna let myself get fat so you're gonna help me," she announces, getting plates from the cabinets.

"What'd you make?"

"Mac n' cheese like always," she said with a smile.

"It's all good. Where's Malik?" I pour us some lemonade and take a seat at the kitchen table.

"He's out in one of those protests again," she sighed, taking a seat across from me. "I mean, I love that he wants change, but I don't want anything to happen to him. You know?"

"Yeah. He's always been into that kind of stuff so I'm not very surprised." I fork some cheesy noodles into my mouth. Yolanda's mac n'cheese is the best mac n'cheese.