Orphic (#1 in the Hajar series)

thirty-one

chapter thirty one - oceanic nights

song of the chapter ; easily - bruno major

YALL I SHOULD BE STUDYING FOR MY FINALS BUT IM UPDATING LOL I HATE MYSELF

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THE LIGHTS OF Los Angeles passed in a blur, all bright and entrancing but nothing compared to the moon that hung high in the black sky. The wind of the night blew back at Farah's black hair, whipping it behind her face. She liked this, this sensation. Happy and carefree, she hadn't felt like that in a while, and now that she had a taste she didn't plan on forgetting it any time soon. The roof of the convertible was cast down, allowing the breeze to flow freely throughout the car.

"You enjoying yourself?" Israfil asked with a smile that reflected her own. He hadn't seen her this way in a while, thick lips outstretched in a grin, allowing her white, straight teeth to be on full display along with her dimple. He watched as she nodded, gazing at the palm trees with fascination.

He was finding it a bit hard to breathe with the expression of joy on her face, reminding her of how stunning she was in all of her melanin beauty. Israfil forced himself to focus on the road instead of the girl sitting next to him, bundled in a blanket to hide from the December chill of California.  

They continued that way for a while, the radio blaring and the air flowing behind them until they finally arrived at their destination.

"The beach?" Farah inquired.

Israfil nodded, getting out of the car and walking over to her side to open her own door. He didn't miss the downcast of her eyes and her lashes shadowing over her cheekbones, and her skin flushing over again as she bit the inside of her mouth. "Thank you," She murmured, wrapping herself tighter in the oversized hoodie he had given her over a week ago.

Unsure, he wrapped his hand in her own, smiling to himself when she didn't flinch or pull away. With his other hand, he grabbed their ice cream and locked the car before they began following the sidewalk on its path to the sand. 

"Am I ever going to get my hoodie back?" He asked jokingly, secretly never wanting for her to return it to him and just wear it instead.

A look of realization appeared on her face, "Right, sorry." She began to pull away so she could tug it off.

"I'm joking." He laughed, "Keep it."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you sure? I have plenty of my own clothes-"

"Yes," He chuckled again, the sound making her skin crawl with attraction. "Besides, you look better in it than I do."

Farah silently thanked the Lord above for her deep skin and its ability to mostly hide crimson blood rushing to her face. Had she have been lighter, her entire face would've been covered in a red blush due to the compliment. "Thanks," She said again, turning her head to the side when she had noticed that they had stopped right in front of a smooth top rock that was placed right where the sand met the ocean.

"Take off your shoes." He told her and she abided, sliding off her sneakers and socks, tucking them into her shoes. She knew what came next, she climbed onto the rock and took the ice cream as he followed suit.

"So," He said after a moment, staring out to the water, his face illuminated by the pale silvery moonlight that matched his eyes. "Tell me about yourself."

Farah took a bite of her ice cream, biting down on the chocolate but immediately wincing when the cold of the vanilla made her teeth ache with sensitivity. "What do you mean?"

"Well," He began, "I barely know anything about you personally."

Farah bit back a laugh, "What, you mean like my favorite color and all of that bullshit?"

"Yeah," Israfil uttered, amusement clouding his voice.  

She looked back at the luminescence dripping from the crescent that reflected against the water. "Okay, well my favorite color is blue." Was the first thing she said, "I'm twenty-three and my birthday is March eighth, and I was born in Louisiana."  

"That's it?" He questioned. 

"What do you mean that's it?" She punched his shoulder facetiously.

He raised an eyebrow, putting a spoon loaded with ice cream in his mouth. "You have nothing more to say?"

Farah huffed, brushing her hair out of her face. "Fine. I was born to Ghanaian and Dominican immigrants, and then I moved from Louisiana to Seattle with my mom. I fluently speak Spanish and I can play the piano. There." She stated, almost smugly, a satisfied smirk on her face. "Your turn."

He nodded his head, "Okay." He placed his ice cream down on the rock. "I'm twenty-four and I was born in Aleppo, Syria. My favorite color is green and I was born on May eighteenth. Arabic is my first language." 

"Syria?" She asked, frowning slightly. "Isn't there a war going on over there?"

He sighed, "Yeah, that's why we had to leave. There was a lot of terrorist activity in our neighbourhood and they looked for our support to join their... organization or whatever, we refused. They retaliated by bombing our house."

"I'm sorry." Farah apologized, feeling bad for even bringing it up. 

Israfil shrugged, "It's okay, we had property and pack here in LA anyway, so I guess it was better for us to move here." 

She nodded and looked off to the beach, fascinated with how black the water looked under the manipulation of the matching sky. A straight line of white silver light danced down the middle of the body of water, a beautiful glare to match its lovely surroundings. The moon highlighted the high points of her face; her cheekbones, chin, forehead, bridge of her nose, and lastly, her black eyes, only accentuating her pulchritude.

"Farah?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

She turned to him. "Yeah?"

He kissed her. 

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gn this was short but i updated twice in 24 hours !! yay me !!