Naira finds that she is more tense than usual after weeks of successfully hiding her suspicions from Credence and her friends.
Though some of the tension is relieved upon realizing she’s made it to graduation. From her seat, she sees her sister conversing with Ms.Kim. Her own mother and father hadn’t shown up, but it isn’t surprising to her, as she's all too familiar with how spiteful and evil they could be. Jemina, her big sister, shows a beaming smile from ear to ear upon seeing Naira watching her.
“Naira Ayad!” the dean calls and Naira walks across the stage, stopping to take a picture with him, and grab her diploma. Families cheer and the flash of cameras are almost blinding. Naira can't help but smile from ear to ear as she takes a second to flex her muscles before walking off stage toward her friends.
“That’s right, girl! Show them pretty ass teeth!”
“Cheese!” Naira says with an exaggerated smile to Addy who cheers while laughing with Randy. Naira leaves the stage and is swept off her feet by Credence, who gives her a big kiss. A light flashes.
“This better be framed right on your wall the next time I visit. I don't bust out the photog skills for just anybody,” Cole says, having just taken a picture of the two. Credence puts Naira down and introduces himself to Addy.
“Hey, you must be Addebowale, it's so dope to finally meet you!” he says as he hugs her.
Somewhat taken aback, Addy smiles and returns the hug. “Hey Credence, you so tall, jeez. Oh, this is my dad, my mom, and my little brother Shaka,” she says while rustling her brother’s hair.
“Hey Creed, I heard a lot about you, man. It's great to meet you. Naira is like another daughter to us. So don't be makin her sad or nothin,” her dad adds while lightly punching Credence who raises his hands in a surrender. He and Reggie laugh and dap each other up. "You got it man I don't want no problems" Credence says as he throws his arm over a laughing Naira’s shoulder.
“Daddy, stop messing with him. Mom, we bout to go down to The Brass and eat. I be back home soon.”
“Alright baby, y’all make sure y’all wrap up, it's cold out there today. Credence, it's been good seeing you,” Addy’s mom says before leaving with her husband and son.
“Naira! Naira!” Jemina yells as she walks toward Naira and gives her a big hug. “You look so pretty! I’m gonna send these to Mattia and Nalani,” she says, and a few tears leave her eyes as she begins to take more pictures. “I know you’ve got to go, but I just wanted to let you know I'll be swinging by the apartment tomorrow, okay?” she adds while hugging Naira.
“Alright, just text me when you’re there! I love you, sis!” They hold hands for a few more seconds, Naira understanding how proud her sister is of her. They both part ways.
Sitting at the restaurant with her friends, talking and laughing, Naira notices that Addy and Rollo haven't stopped talking since they left the ceremony. The restaurant is luxurious, the tablecloths are blindingly white, the glasses appear to be made of diamond, and the silverware is impossibly shiny. Soft orchestral music plays on the overhead speakers. The mood is so convivial it’s almost intoxicating. Naira speaks with Credence while scanning the room to see that all of her friends are enjoying themselves just as much as she is, all but Emory.
And as she stared from the corner of her eye, she caught Emory looking at her knowingly. Having taken it as a signal, Naira nods and Emory makes her way to Credence.
“Hey, Creed,” she tries to say quietly yet casually, “is it alright if we talk outside for a sec?” Everyone at the table hears them and grows silent.
“Yeah, no prob, something wrong?” he asks, getting up to leave.
“No, I just wanted to ask you something,” Emory answers, brushing past him to walk outside. Naira knew Emory was tall, but she’d never noticed just how tall until she stood beside Credence. She looked incredibly formidable. Credence kisses Naira’s forehead and follows behind Emory.
“Ok, what the hell was that?” Cole asks, jaw dropped.
“No idea. But she looked like she was gonna kill someone,” Fleur adds.
Naira assures them it's nothing, waving a hand up in the air. Her dismissive attempt failed with Rurik, who could tell something else was going on. Five minutes pass before Credence walks back in without Emory, and he signals Rollo to come outside with him. “We’ll have to put this conversation on hold,” Rollo says to Addebowale, with a warm smile before heading outside with Credence.
“That boy is fine! Fine! I think we had a class together. I don't know how I didn't notice him,” Addy thinks out loud as she watches Rollo walk outside with Credence, his long black dreadlocks tied into a ponytail. Naira’s thoughts run wild as she can only imagine what's happening out there.
“Naira, tell me what's goin on, you can lie to them, but you ain’t lying to me. Imma go to the bathroom. Wait thirty seconds then follow me in,” Addy commands Naira telepathically, and she responds with a non-startled nod, this doesn't come as a surprise as they've used this trick frequently when cheating on tests.
She excuses herself from the table, following her friend. By the time she sets foot in the bathroom, she can already feel the tears spill over. “Nana, oh girl,” her friend says sadly and wipes the tears with her hands. “What is going on? Imma need you to tell me why Em looked like she bout to fight,” she asks while hugging Naira.
In between breaths, Naira calms herself down. “We think Creed murdered a were-person and the council could kill him if he’s caught. I don't wanna lose him, Addy. I like him a lot,” Naira says shakily as she begins wiping her face, trying to keep herself together. Addebowale, too stunned to speak, lets her mouth drop. Fleur walks into the bathroom noticing their absence.
“Naira, what's wrong? Addy, is she ok? What happened?” Fleur asks while grabbing tissues to help Addebowale console Naira.
Addy looks at Naira as if she were asking if it’s okay to tell Fleur. Naira closes her eyes for a second and nods. “You remember he a hybrid, right? Credence?” Fleur replies a short yes as she waits eagerly for her to continue. “It’s something else about it Emory figuring out. But right now, we gotta stay quiet. If we don't, shit could get bad… I mean real bad,” she finishes.
Fleur, in shock, looks over at Naira and tries to calm her down. “We won’t tell anyone, we love you, we would never put you at risk like that,” she assures her friend.
“It’s okay for now. That was a wild ride,” Emory says leaning against the wall, startling the group.
“Wait, so he didn’t kill anybody?” Naira asks.
“Oh no, he definitely killed a guy… just not the way we were thinking,” she says, seeing eyes around her filled with confusion. “I'll explain it when we get home, dry your face and come back to dinner. Everyone's starting to act weird,” Emory says before walking out of the bathroom. The three friends walk out of the bathroom and sit at the table. Credence holds Naira’s hand and kisses it, unaware of the tears that were still visible on her face.
“So, Credence, tell us how you and Naira met,” Cole asks, trying to break the tension.
“It's actually a funny story. I was walk-”
“Hey I've got a better question, have you ever tried to feed on Naira?” Rurik bluntly interrupts, still looking down at his plate and fidgeting with his dinner knife. As everyone looks at him with a puzzled expression, Credence clears his throat.
“Um, nah. I don’t need to. I like burgers too much. Plus, I've got blood in my fridge,” he says, not understanding if he’s meant to be serious or sarcastic.
“Yeah, right… And how do we know that one day you won’t get tired of the fake stuff and drink right from Naira? That kind of thing isn't too uncommon in these types of relationships,” Rurik says, slightly slurring his words, and sounding even more agitated than he was before.
Naira grows angry. “Dude, what the fuck…” she says, and Credence gently taps her hand before she can finish.
Credence sits up in his chair. “Bruh, is something bothering you? I feel like you're not asking the questions you really wanna ask.” Everyone listens in silence.
“How do we know she’s really in love with you? For all we know, you could be using one of your vamp abilities to trick her mind. Look man, you may think you're charming everyone here, but I know what you really are and what you really want,” Rurik attacks him, staring daggers at him before taking another gulp of his wine. “This shit is unnatural. It isn't right. Naira told me she wanted kids. How can she possibly have kids now? You're a corpse! Your kind kills children, I bet you've even killed children before. How can you dare say you love her with the same mouth you use to drain the life of others? What Naira and I had was love! We were able to feel each other’s warmth. I didn’t look at her as some kind of snack or meal,” Rurik continues, so loudly that he began drawing the attention of the other tables.
“Maybe if you did treat her like a snack, she’d still be dating you,” Cole says jokingly.
“Nothing like some Sanguivoriphobia to go with my salad,” Randy adds while scrolling through his phone. Credence still smiles as he playfully twirls his fingers through a furious Naira’s curls. Cole looks back and forth between his friends, enjoying every minute of the drama, smiling like a kid on Christmas day as he cackles at Randy’s remark.
“I bet everyone’s gonna act like I'm the crazy one. You know she met my mom? My mom called Naira her daughter-in-law. We were inseparable. We were supposed to move to California together! Now all of that is gone because some Vamp decides he wants to try dating a human for a change!” Rurik shouts and turns to Naira, trying to reach for her hand, which she pulls away. “Naira, I know you think you love him, but his kind is incapable of love, it's a scientific fact. He’s toying with you,” he finishes, shaking with anger.
“Oh, shut up already! One,” Cole lifts a finger in the air, “she doesn't want you anymore Ricky, and in my opinion, their seven-month relationship has been better than the two-year ersatz you tried calling a relationship. The only thing your speech tells us, is that, two, you haven't been doing much but pining after Naira since you two broke up. Three, you're clearly a bigot. And four, your usage of ‘scientific fact’ would be a misnomer, your kind of fact and real fact are starkly different seeing as your only aim is to weaponize propagated falsehoods. Scientists said Elves and humans can’t produce offspring only seventy years ago, yet here I am eating steak and reading you to filth. You need to get a life, Rurik. Watching you whine was fun for a bit, but it’s gotten old. Either leave or shut up,” Cole snaps as he eats the steak Randy neatly cut for him. Rurik stares in silence, and everyone looks down at their plates. A sniff takes over the quietness.
“Rurik… do you know how many black people used to die cause medical professionals believed we ‘exaggerated’ our pain. And what about forty percent of first-year doctors believin that our skin is thicker than white peoples’. Don't get me started on the number of black women that died during childbirth because incompetent ass doctors wanna believe in these medical myths, or scientific facts, as you call them. You study so damn hard, you wanna be one of the best surgeons in the world, right? Tell me how you bout to do that shit when you over here letting your hatred for this man inform your view on Vampires at large. If you bout to act this way when Were-folks, elves, and merfolk walk up in your office putting they lives in your hands, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see a patient in yo lifetime. Do you understand me?” Addebowale warns menacingly at Rurik, who shrinks in his chair. “ I know you a ‘lil tipsy right now, so I'm not mad at you. But I think you owe everybody here an apology, especially them two,” she gestures at Credence and Naira with her head. “You can believe whatever you want, but please keep that shit to yourself. We here to eat and have a good time. If you wanted another chance with Naira, you shoulda talked it out when you had the chance. Now it's too late. She with a cool dude now. You don’t gotta like they relationship, but you gon respect they shit. When you done apologizing to them, make sure you apologize to everybody else you offended, all because you wanna show yo ass. This they first time meeting us and you sitting here embarrassing us like this, get yourself together and apologize” She demands while looking at Rurik with stern eyes.
Credence and Rollo smile surprised at each other. Rurik knew he wouldn’t win an argument against Addy, let alone Cole, no one has. “Hey man, I’m not gonna go as far as to say your love for Naira wasn’t real, and it's pretty damn obvious you still care a lot about her. But I know I also love her. She’s done nothing but change my life for the better. I've never met someone as funny, as spontaneous, and as open-minded as she is. And I'm sure you loved those qualities too but you got nothing to fear, I’d rather die than harm a single hair on her head. So If you really loved her, you’d see that she’s happy. You don't have to give a shit about me, If you hate me and my kind that's cool. I won't try to change your mind but please man just try to respect her and her wishes,” Credence says before softly rubbing the back of his hand on a visibly upset Naira’s cheek in an attempt to calm her down.
“Rurik, you got it off yo chest. Now can we all just go back to eating and having a good time?” Addy pleads, turning back to Rollo and continuing their conversation. Fleur takes Rurik outside and everyone resumes talking. “You all are a lively bunch. I think I heard that guy say that we kill children, I don’t recall killing any children this morning,” a tall black woman with dreads facetiously says to the table. “You all just graduated, correct? Veni, vidi, vici. I just want you to know that all of those long nights and stress-inducing papers will be worth it, your future is a canvas and it’s up to you to paint it as you see fit,” the woman smiles, and the nearby tables applaud, confusing Naira and most of her friends, who sat clueless as to who the woman was, and why people cheered for her.
Emory walks over to the woman and shakes her hand. “It is such a pleasure to meet you, Asha. I am such a huge fan of your work. I even have one of your pieces as the wallpaper on my phone.”
Asha smiles and hugs Emory. “And for that, I am so thankful. I really do enjoy attending graduations, they give me great hope, seeing such young and powerful people begin their journeys. I'll invite your group over to view my private collection and unfinished pieces sometime, here's my card.” she hands it to Emory, gives a smile that makes her eyes squint, and walks away so softly it almost seemed like she was floating.
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