SAHARA DAWN PATEL
saturday august twenty-first 2023

"oh fuck no, darrian get this shit." anastasia spoke to her little brother as she handed him one of sahara's heavy boxes. "fuck in here hara? fuckin bricks?" ddot cursed as he carried the heavy box up into the apartment. "it's just my books." sahara laughed at her little cousin.

sahara looked at her new room in awe. it was definitely an upgrade from her one back home. "you know how you're gonna decorate it?" brianna, her aunt asked. sahara shrugged her shoulders and just sighed. "i think i'll decorate it over time. i gotta get a job to get the rest of my stuff." brianna just stared at her niece in confusion. "get a job for what?"

"i can't live off of you for forever. you already gotta take care of asia and d, so imma just get a job to keep myself a float and to buy my needs." sahara explained as she sat down in her desk chair. that was her only piece of furniture as of today. her bed and dresser doesn't get delivered until tomorrow, so she'll be rooming with asia until then.

"okay, i can respect that, but don't ever feel like you can't ask me for help. you know i love you and i will always help and support you." brianna smiled as she pulled her niece into a hug. sahara hugged her aunt back tightly. "i know bri."

"sorry to break up this loving reunion, but hara here's your heavy ass box." brianna flicked ddot on his forehead for his language while sahara laughed and took the box from ddot.

"is that the last box?" sahara asked as she placed the box with the rest of her stuff. "hell nah, it's like three more left." ddot spoke with a sigh. "let's go get them then." sahara and ddot left out of the apartment and walked down the stairs.

as they reached the bottom, ddot saw his friends, dd and notti smoking outside the apartment. "yoooo, wassup my hearts." ddot smiled as he stole the blunt front notti who mugged him in response.

sahara came out after ddot and saw him smoking with the two boys who she assumed were his friends. "oh, this my sister sahara. hara, this dd and notti." the two boys smiled in response which made sahara smile. "it's nice to meet y'all."

"c'mon and help me with the boxes d." sahara spoke as she walked towards the opened uhaul truck. "i'll help you." notti replied as he dusted his pants off. "ddot more worried about that blunt right now." notti laughed as he followed sahara. "oh, thank you." sahara smiled.

sahara and notti climbed into the truck as the rest of the boxes were all the way in the back. "i thought asia was ddot's only sister." notti said as he grabbed the biggest box. "she is. i'm just his cousin." sahara replied as she grabbed the second to last box. "makes sense. what made you move here though? cause i can tell you ain't from here." notti asked.

"issues with my mom. she kicked me out and my aunt accepted me. bri honestly been wanted me to move outta there, but i had hope that my mom would change her ways. she didn't though." sahara laughed sadly. "having ethnic parents is a real struggle." notti silently nodded his head in agreement. he wanted to ask what happened between her and her mom, but he know he'd be overstepping any boundaries she may have.

"oh, i was just comin out here to help you with the boxes." anastasia said as she swung open the apartment building door. "it's one last box in there." sahara replied as she walked through the door asia was holding. "bet."

notti and sahara made their way to the apartment making casual conversation. "oh, i know you just moved here and shit, and you prolly gotta unpack, but it's a block party tomorrow, you wanna go?" notti asked sahara as he held the door open for her.

sahara felt like notti was asking her to go with him and just from seeing how he acts with ddot, she assumed he was fifteen too. "you mean like just me and you?" sahara confusingly asked as she placed her box onto her freshly vacuumed carpet. notti blushed at the assumption. "no, i mean with the rest of us. you know... me, dd, ddot, asia and my other brother, jay." notti awkwardly laughed.

"ohhh, okay. i planned on looking for a job tomorrow, so what time is the party?" notti felt nervous under sahara's unintentional intense gaze. "ion really know when it starts, i'll tell ddot to let you know when i figure out the time." sahara could tell notti was nervous, but she didn't understand why.

just as she was about to ask notti if he was okay, she was getting a phone call. sahara grabbed her phone from her back pocket and sighed looking at the caller ID. "uh- hold on, i gotta take this." sahara left notti in her empty room as she made her way to the unoccupied living room.

"sahara, va todo bien? en la, no se como decirlo." (sahara, is everything good? in the.. i don't know how to say it.) sahara's father, ivan, spoke in a hush tone. sahara knew he was speaking so quietly because he didn't want her mother to know.

"la ciudad es buena. por que hablas en espanol? nunca hemos hecho esto antes?" sahara mumbled. (the city is good, why are you speaking in spanish? we've never done this before.)

"no puedo hablar ahora, adios." (i can't talk now, goodbye.) ivan quickly hung up without letting sahara say bye. the brownskin girls face turned sour at the conversation.

"you good, sahara?" notti's voice brung sahara out of her heavy thoughts. "yeah, i'm good." sahara slightly smiled as she walked towards him. "did asia and darrian walk back into the house?" notti shook his head no. "i wonder what's taking them so long.... c'mon." sahara and notti walked out the front door and sahara immediately bumped into someone.

"oh my- i'm so sorry!" sahara profusely apologized as she backed away from the stranger's chest. "you're good." sahara looked up at the stranger shocked by their response. as she took a good look at the stranger, her eyes widen in surprise. he was fine as fuck. she watched as the stranger and notti dapped each other up.

"sahara, this my older brother, jay. jay, this sahara." sahara gave jay a slight smile as she stared at him. jay just gave her a head nod.

"oh good, you met the other one." asia came out of nowhere scaring the shit out of everyone, but jay. jay rolled his eyes at asia and just leaned against the wall. "so sassy." asia mumbled, talking about jay.

"where's dd?" notti asked as he opened the apartment door for asia. as asia walked into the apartment, everyone else followed. "you already know he's talking to some girl that he saw pass by." asia placed the last box into sahara's room.

"that nigga." notti laughed as he pictured his brother bothering some poor girl on the street. "y'all wanna get something to eat? im kinda hungry." asia asked as she rubbed her empty stomach. "doordash or we goin to get it?" notti asked.

"doordash, it's too hot outside." asia replied as lightly fanned herself with her hand.

four hours later sahara, dd, notti, ddot and asia were sitting in asia's room watching sahara's favorite show, sex and the city.

"samantha is definitely me. play these niggas before they play you!" asia exclaimed while shoving some french fries in her mouth. "i'm more of a charlotte. just loving everyone with everything i have." sahara added as she scrolled on her computer looking for jobs.

"bro, carrie about to piss me off. why does she keep going back to big? he clearly don't want her ass." dd said as he rolled his eyes seeing carrie make a foul of herself. "nigga what? that's literally you with every bitch you meet." ddot scrunched his face up at dd. dd waves ddot off as his eyes followed the screen.

"if i was a girl, i'd be miranda. she's logical." notti added his two cents. asia raised her eyebrow at notti. "nigga, you don't use your head for literally anything..." she trailed off as she leaned her head on sahara's shoulder looking at her computer. "nah don't apply there, you won't get any hours." sahara clicked off the dunkin' donuts application and started scrolling again with a small sigh escaping her lips.

"this is annoying." sahara mumbled as she closed her computer and leaned back onto asia's fluffy pillows. "ouuu, i have an idea!" asia turned around and looked at sahara who looked stressed. sahara hummed at her cousin to continue. "you know how i be modeling sometimes? why don't you do that with me? i have a shoot coming up soon and he needs another model."

sahara could see how excited asia was and she didn't even have her eyes open. "what kind of modeling is it?" asia smiled and mentally screamed in excitement at her cousins slight interest. "just a clothing brand shoot. nothing major and it's not bikini's or anything like that."

"you talkin bout alexander brand?" dd cut into the conversation finally taking his eyes off the tv. asia nodded her head before grabbing her phone to text alex. "how much does it pay?" asia's face fell flat because it's not much. "well, it kinda depends on how much traction he gets off your photos. but! you're literally gorgeous and you'd be new on his page, so people will interact with your post."

sahara just shrugged her shoulders. she had nothing better to do anyways. "okay, i guess i'll do it, for now until i find a stable job." sahara mumbled. asia let out a squeal in excitement. being the affectionate person she is, she hugged and kissed her cousins cheek. "o-m-g this is gonna be so much fun!" she cheekily smiled as she went to text alex.

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