Samara opened the door to her little brother's depressingly decorated bedroom without knocking, laying eyes on his figure underneath the covers in the king sized bed where he held his iPad horizontally while laying on his side.

"What you doing boy?" She asked, shifting her purse on her shoulder. She then covered her eyes when he turned his iPad around to show her the video he was watching on PornHub before following up with an annoyed smack of her lips.

"You could've just said you were watching a video. Did you have to show me? You disgust me." She told him with a frown on her face.

"Well don't come in my room then." He shrugged, focusing back on the video.

Unlike most men—well, people in general—Samir didn't watch pornography to get off to it, as in, ejaculation. Shockingly enough, he never got boners from it either; the videos were regular entertainment to him, like a TV show or something. He watched them strictly to educate himself.

His sister knew that but teased him about it anyway because it was so uncommon and almost unbelievable for someone to watch porn if it wasn't for a sexual release. Her little brother was just weird like that, though.

"I'm finna go to Juicy Crab with my man. You want me to bring you something back?" She asked.

"It's ten in the morning." He said back with furrowed eyebrows, confused on why she wanted to eat seafood this early in the day.

"And? I know how to read a clock boy. Do you want some crab legs or not?"

"No thanks.." He pulled the cover over his head to let her know he wanted her to leave without actually telling her, making Samara smack her lips again.

"You need to get up and do something today. All you do is work and sleep; nigga don't ever talk and barely ever eat. Be regular today. Go knock on that lady door and make a friend or something."

"I think she left last night." He mumbled under his breath.

"Uhun. I just seen her on the elevator. I think she went downstairs 'cause they catered Chic Fil A today."

"Was it a man with her?" He lifted his head from underneath the cover, and Samara smiled at how quickly that caught his attention.

"Nope. You better go try and catch her for he pop up and beat yo' ass for tryna get at her."

"But what if she was leaving? Like leaving the building?" He signed with his hands to her, now unable to talk at the mere thought of Nina. She made him so nervous, even in front of his own sister.

"She didn't have a purse with her or anything." Samara shrugged, and Samir pondered on his decision for a few seconds before raising up from his bed.

"Ok I'm leaving now foreal. Let me know how it goes." She chuckled at her little brother's urgency to see Nina, though it made her really happy that someone finally caught his interest. He turned down women so much that she was starting to think he had a little sugar in his tank.

Samir didn't respond and only gave her a thumbs up, and she stood on the tip of her toes to kiss his cheek before actually leaving.

He was a bit upset that he would have to rush to put some clothes on, but luckily his wardrobe consisted mainly of two piece sweatsuits so it wouldn't be that hard to find an outfit. What annoyed him was that he didn't have time to panic or overthink about his outfit choice. He wanted to wear something that Nina would like, not something he'd like himself.

After a few minutes of going back and forth with his conscience, he went with a black fitted tee shirt and a random pair of black sweats. Then he got mad at himself because he wore something very similar when he saw her in the elevator last night, so what if she thought he was dirty?

He ended up changing to a gray Essentials two piece sweatsuit set with a brand new pair of low Air Force Ones, and the only accessory he added was a matching gray Louis Vuitton beanie that was gifted to him last Christmas. The last thing he did was spray a few pumps of his favorite cologne over himself.

All of this just for him to not even be sure if he'd catch her in time. His nerves happened to get the best of him as he thought about that in the elevator, as well as over the fact that there was probably a million people in the lobby right now and he'd have to search through the series of faces for the prettiest one he'd seen in a while.

Samir became anxious when his assumption was confirmed, and he had to stuff his hands in his pockets to prevent them from becoming sweaty.

Yet, as if the universe was working specifically in his favor, he spotted Nina easily in a semi-long line of people who were all waiting to get a free Chic-Fil-A combo.

As immoral as it was, Samir skipped at least twenty people in line to step into an open spot behind Nina; but didn't beat himself up about it because he didn't want any food. He just wanted to talk to her, so it wasn't like he was taking anyone's meal.

Now that he was here, what was he supposed to say?

She probably thought he was weird. Thinking about that made him want to vomit. He feared rejection more than anything but didn't even have the balls to make a move in order to actually be rejected.

"Are you stalking me?" Nina asked without turning around, and for a moment he thought she was being serious, but when he looked at her, he saw the small smile on her face.

He didn't know how to respond to that, and after a few seconds of silence, Nina turned around to look at him. He watched her take a brief once over of his outfit, and his heart practically fell out of his chest as he thought about her mentally judging him.

"Well?" Her curious eyes landed on his as an almost invisible smirk replaced her expression.

There was nothing more Samir wanted than to be able to talk freely to her without getting in his head about it, but he just couldn't. His anxiety quite literally made him choke on his own words and even on his thoughts too.

"I—I'm sorry." His voice was soft and so quiet that she almost didn't hear him. That same nervousness from Starbucks still lingered in his tone and most likely attributed to his stutter.

"For what?" She asked.

"It's hard for me to talk to people I don't know because of my anxiety," He signed with his hands, taking a short pause as a small frown settled in on his face, "but I want to talk to you."

"I'm married, Samir.." She figured he meant that he wanted to talk as more than just a friend, especially since he randomly mentioned not having a girlfriend the other day.

He went silent again, lifting his hand to his head to lightly pull at one of his dreads. He didn't need to be made aware of that. Both of them knew that she was married so why bring it up? That frustrated him a lot.

"Besides.. you need somebody that's young like you." She chuckled, gazing up at him.

"I don't care about your age." He signed to her.

"Well I do. You still a baby. I'll be thirty next month." She smiled with a tilt of her head.

"Nah, I'm not. I can show you that I'm not." He talked this time, and a bit louder than the usual tone he used.

"I don't know why you mentioned being married. You took off your rings. You didn't like when he kissed you last night. You were crying the first day I saw you, the day before you went to Starbucks. And you wouldn't even look at me if you were genuinely happy in your marriage." He read her for filth but in sign language, which made the read even filthier.

"And? What will fucking you do for my marriage?" She quickly became defensive, clearly offended by how easy it was for him to come to the conclusion of all of that.

"When did I mention sex? At any point?" He spoke calmly, causing her frown to deepen.

Nina turned back around just in time for her turn to build a meal from the heated bags on a long white table, and she chose one out of the bag labeled 'chicken minis', and from the bags of sides, she chose both hash browns and a fruit cup.

After grabbing a few sauces, she walked away from the table and headed to the elevator instead of going to the little conference area they had set up. The tenants were supposed to attend that meeting in order to get the food, but Nina didn't care about that.

She was just here for the free food.

"Nina I didn't mean to make you upset. I was j—I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry." Samir got onto the elevator with her, and he let out a sigh once she failed to respond.

"Look, I—I don't do this often if y-you couldn't tell.." He started to stutter, so he went back to signing.

"I'm sorry. Sometimes I get ahead of myself without realizing. That wasn't my place to say any of that. It's just, I'm never interested in people—like, in women. And I don't know why I like you because I know that you're married and I don't even know you outside of your name.. but something is j—," He stopped signing to drag his hand irritably down his face.

"You probably think I'm weird and that's fine because a lot of people do. I'm not that bad though, and I don't wanna have sex with you either. So if you're not busy right now, I can show you my art room? And the picture I drew of you?" He nervously rubbed the back of his neck, hoping that she wouldn't turn him down.

Samir was really stepping out on a limb here. He was actually prepared to be shut down by her because what woman—especially a 29 year old, since apparently her age was an important factor—would want to look at a stranger's art room? That was a kidnapping scene waiting to happen.

"Okay." She vaguely agreed, causing his expression to fall flat into confusion.

"What?" His head tilted to the side.

"What," She repeated. "You invite me over and what, you wanted me to say no or something?"

"No I—I just didn't think y—nevermind. I don't want you to change your mind." He shook his head at himself, and she smiled as the elevator doors opened.

She gestured for him to lead the way, then looked down when he held his hand out for her to grab. She let him intertwine their fingers, and she knew she was in over her head when butterflies filled her stomach as the result of him rubbing the back of her hand while leading her to his apartment.

Honest to God, she had no idea what she was doing. She didn't know if she agreed to go with him to get back at Tyler in a way for cheating on her, or did this supposedly 'not all there' man genuinely just convince her to come to his apartment while her husband was away after reading her like a book?

Either way, Nina would never cheat on Tyler; not physically, and not mentally—simply because she just wasn't that type of woman. Her body and mind was for one man and one man only, but she couldn't deny the fact that Samir made her curious. He seemed like he could be a good friend.

Though, still a friend that she wouldn't be able to tell Tyler about. He didn't care if the friendship was strictly platonic, he preferred for her to only befriend women. He didn't even like when she spoke to his male cousins, or his friends outside of church. It was quite the insecurity..

"What are you thinking about? I'm not going to kidnap you, if that's what it is." Samir signed to her after unlocking his front door.

"Boy you look easy to take down. I'm not worried. Trust."

"You don't believe that ma." He said with a chuckle, causing her smile to return.

"You flirting with me again Samir?"

"If you don't want it to be that, don't bring it up." He turned to look at her, and she went silent while staring up at him. When did he get so close? He was right in her face.

"How can I not when you say stuff like that and do stuff like this?" She didn't back down from him, bringing her eyebrows together in a frown.

"How can I not when you look like this?" He remained where he was, and Nina's frown disappeared again. She was in way over her head.

"You win. Get out my face." She gently pushed his head back, and he only smiled in response. He was serious. She was more than beautiful.

Samir led Nina down a hallway in his apartment before opening the second door on the right.

"It's kind of messy. Sorry. You can sit right there and eat your food if you want." He pointed to a group of beanbags while removing his sweatshirt, leaving him in just a white muscle tank top.

The room wasn't messy at all. In fact, it was almost too clean, even with all of the decor. There were a bunch of plants—mainly houseplants and flowers—and she knew they had to be real because of the scent in the air. It wasn't a bad smell, it was actually kind of refreshing.

There was a knitted hammock in the corner of the room near a bookshelf and a cushioned window bench, a big desk with a rolling chair, and a cart with a bunch of pencils, crayons, markers; things of that sort.

Surprisingly though, the walls were nearly empty. For an art room, Nina was expecting there to be drawings and paintings everywhere, but there were only two large ones hanging up—both portraits of his older sister, Samara.

"You want something to drink? I have sodas, juice, water.." He named, insinuating that he had a little bit of everything.

"You have lemonade?" She asked, mentally stopping herself from pronouncing that word with a 'y' sound.

"Yeah. Regular and blue raspberry. It's Koolaid though."

"I want that please." She opened up the red and white bag while sitting down in the hammock instead of on a beanbag, and Samir nodded before leaving out of the room.

He came back about a minute later with a gray cup, and a napkin was wrapped around the bottom of the cup because Samir hated the condensation liquid formed from the ice in the cup. He would gag if he had to touch it with his bare hands.

"Mmm, this is good. It's not too sweet or nothin'. It's perfect." Nina took another sip after tasting it, then sat it down on the windowsill.

"My sister makes it like three or four times a week, the same way every time. She drink that stuff like it's water or something." He signed to her, and she smiled at the disgusted look on his face.

"You said you don't talk because of your anxiety, Samir?" Nina questioned curiously, and he nodded his head while opening up one of the drawers of the desk.

"Does it come and go? Is that why you switch between signing and talking?"

"Normally I don't sign or talk because I don't know many people who know ASL, and even if they know it, it takes me a minute to get comfortable with people. I really don't do this often. I've never even invited anyone to my apartment before. You're the first." He signed.

"Wow. A complete stranger. I got it like that, huh?" She grinned, and he nodded again with a small smile on his face.

"So, you said you didn't have a girlfriend the other day.. you've had one before though, right?" She then asked, slightly confused with how she was the first to come over.

"No." He spoke.

"Swear?" She stopped chewing her hash brown to look at him, and he nodded yet again. "How come?"

"I just told you." He said matter of factly.

"Don't be sassy lil' boy." She narrowed her eyes at him, then laughed when he rolled his eyes as if she didn't scare him in the slightest.

"For real though, you kinda delusional. I like that. You crushing on a married thirty-year-old and invited her to your house even though you don't know her. And I'm the first? And you've never had a girlfriend? Wow. I'm feeling lucky. Maybe I should put some numbers in the lottery this week."

"You talk a lot." He said without confirming or denying her the assumption of him having a crush on her.

"Yeah and apparently you like shit like that." She popped another round hash brown in her mouth, making him smile again.

Nina's mouth then fell open in shock at the canvas he held out in front of her, similar to the sketch he'd drawn at Starbucks. The only difference was the new attention to detail and the painted colors. The portrait was so good that she would've thought she was looking through a mirror.

"Oh my god, Samir.. it's so pretty." She seemed genuinely distraught by how good the painting was.

"You are so pretty." He said back, causing her gaze to trail up from the canvas, looking at him as he stood over her.

"That's why I wanted to paint you. Remember I told you that at Starbucks? I was serious." He signed to her, sitting down next to her in hammock. His arm rested behind her shoulders to keep her still as the hammock rocked from his weight, and she looked over at him as he kept his arm there even when it stopped moving.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was trying to make sure you didn't flip back. That happens sometimes." He then attempted to move his arm, but Nina grabbed his hand to keep it where it was.

"You want some?" She held her carton of hash browns out to him, and Samir continued to stare at her for a few seconds before grabbing one of them.

"How long have y'all been together?" Samir asked in a quiet voice.

"Chile.. five years." She chuckled, rocking with him in the swing.

"Did it seem like it? When you saw us in elevator?" She turned her head to look at him again, watching him shake his head.

"I figured.. I've always wanted to be one of those couples where you can just see how much they love each other, you know? Like it's as if they're in their own world or something.." She sat her bag down, letting out a quiet sigh as she wiped her hands off with a napkin.

"What happened?" He asked. It was obvious that something had. She seemed regretful.

"I can't believe I'm telling my business to a stranger," Nina mumbled with a light smile.

"Sometimes it's better that way. I can't be biased if I offer advice. Or I can just listen, if you want." He shrugged.

Samir watched her as she went quiet for about a minute or so before she went on to tell him about the cheating scandal that happened a few days ago.

One of the main reasons she rarely told anyone her business was because she was afraid for it to be thrown in her face again. Yet, oddly enough, she felt like she could trust Samir. Plus, he was a stranger, so him throwing it in her face wouldn't even offend her.

She'd been itching to vent to someone about what happened ever since it happened, but she was too embarrassed to go to Zyriah, the only person she trusted, so she was forced to keep it bottled in. It felt good letting it out to Samir.

He was a great listener, too. He never interrupted her and only chimed in when necessary. And when she started crying, he acted as if it was completely normal and consoled her until she was ready to talk again.

This could actually be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Or.. maybe something else.

What y'all feeling like???????????