37 - surprise visits

Dominic

$$

"What do you think about Miami for spring break?" I ask Andre as we sit at a booth in the diner.

He shakes his head as he sips his Dr. Pepper through a straw. "No can do dude. I'm taking Halle to Cancun."

My eyes widen, "What? You want to break the spring break tradition? You've only been together a month!"

Andre and I had spent every spring break together since we were old enough to be in school, breaking that streak now would put an end to a 16-year tradition.

"A month and ten days!" He corrects. "Look man, when you know you know. And I know I have strong feelings for Halle, so I want to do this."

"Where did you even get the money to go to Cancun?" I ask skeptically.

He chuckles, "Don't worry, nothing shady. I got a good deal for the resort."

"A resort?"

"Yes, where else do you take beautiful women on vacation?" He smirks, "Me and my lady are gonna do all the couple things people do. I'm excited."

I chuckle at him, genuinely happy for my friend despite the betrayal he just unleashed on our friendship. "You're so whipped already."

"Shut up fool. Nobody is more whipped than you. Let's not forget who got caught in 4K with a bouquet of roses and makeup on Valentine's Day like a certified simp." He says with a laugh making me roll my eyes, "I can already see you walking in the makeup store sampling it on yourself." He says making him laugh even harder.

"Okay, we're both whipped. Shut up!" I reply throwing an onion ring at him.

"The only difference is Halle is my girlfriend and Ami is just your 'friend'. Or have you guys finally confirmed it?" He asks when his laughing finally dies down.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes we're officially dating."

He smiles widely, "I knew it! Ooh, Halle is going to owe me big time." His eyes light up as an idea pops into his head, "Why don't you guys join us for spring break? We can both do couple things and still get to keep our spring break tradition going."

I shake my head frantically, "I don't know man things are still very new with us. I don't think she'd be down for that."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun and it'll give you guys a break from all the drama here."

I stroke my chin in thought, a beach vacation with Amina. "You know I haven't gotten to see Amina in a bikini yet." I say out loud as I think. I sigh, "Alright I'll ask her. You sure Halle would be okay with us intruding?"

"She'll love it. I honestly think she's nervous to go away with me so soon."

"Well yeah, I'd be too." I say, making him shoot me a glare. I laugh, just as Andre's gaze falls behind me. He squints his eyes as if he's trying to recognize something in the distance.

"Isn't that Aaron?" He asks.

My brows furrow as I quickly turn around to see. Aaron was in the furthest part of the parking lot, making a phone call.

"What the hell is he doing here? Thank God Amina's not working."

"He's being an idiot. I say we go and jump him, it's the perfect opportunity." Andre suggests.

My face lights up, intrigued by the idea. The diner wasn't busy, and he was far enough away for us to beat him up behind the dumpsters.

I sigh, "I don't know if she'd want me to though."

He scoffs, "We're not gonna kill him, just rough him up a bit. Hasn't he been bothering Ami at work?"

"He has." I said recalling the times she's come home crying or distraught because of the asshole.

Suddenly a car pulls up to the back part of the parking lot where Aaron was at. A man got out, aggressively approaching Aaron. He stood over him by a good 4 inches, glaring down at him menacingly as he barked at him aggressively.

"Who's that?" Andres asks in surprise as the man grabs Aaron by the front of his shirt, lifting him to meet his eye level.

"I don't know."

The man says something else before pointing off in the other direction. Aaron nods, walking ahead as the man follows behind him.

"Let's follow them." Andre said suddenly.

"What?"

"What if we can get some dirt on him? This could be a drug deal gone wrong or something." He says excitedly.

"So we can get killed too?" I ask frantically, trying to be the voice of reason between us two.

"Oh don't be soft we've seen worse. Come on." He gets up, leaving money on the table and stealing a kiss from Halle. "Be right back baby." He says before rushing out the door.

I groan before following him out as well. I followed behind Andre who was following the two as they made their way to a darker corner of the parking lot, out of eye view from the restaurant goers. Andre and I hid behind a dumpster bin, getting a proper view of the two men.

The man had Aaron pinned to a wall, his eye already black from being punched in the face. "You're not going to touch her, talk to her, or even think about her again. Am I clear?"

"Yes!"

He pulls him closer to his face, "If I hear you even decided to breathe near Amina. I will come back here and I will break both of your legs."

My eyes widen at the mention of Amina's name, and both Andre and I exchange glances. Who the hell was this guy? The man had a sense of familiarity to him, but I had never seen him before.

"Okay! I won't! I won't!"

The man lets go of Aaron, allowing him to fall to the ground. "Pussy." He mumbles as Aaron scurries away past the dumpsters we were hiding behind.

"He just said Amina." Andre whispers beside me.

"Maybe it's a different girl?"

He furrows his brows, "He knows Ami and he's beating up Aaron, don't be dense." He looks over at the man again who starts to walk away. "He's leaving! I'm going to ask him."

"Are you insane?"

"We were just about to do the same thing he just did. If he turns on us, I think we can take him. Come on!" Before I could stop him, Andre stood up. "Hey!" He calls out loudly, making the strange man turn around.

I groan, "Andre sit down!"

He doesn't listen and steps out from behind the dumpster bin. "I appreciate the work you just did. We were just about to jump that idiot."

"We?" The man asks, unamused.

Andre nods, pulling me out to join him forcing me to wave awkwardly. "What's your name?" Andre asks.

"You were going to jump him, but instead you stayed behind the trash cans and watched me?" He asks ignoring Andre's question.

"We thought this was a drug deal gone wrong, to be honest. Didn't know if you'd pull out a gun and shoot us." Andre says with an awkward chuckle. The man stares at him blankly. "You're friends with Ami?" Andre asks.

The man's eyes widen, "Whose asking?"

"A good friend and her boyfriend." Andre says pointing to me, making my eyes widen.

"I am not her boyfriend, not officially." I clarify to the man.

His face lights up with realization after analyzing me. "You're the guy with the roses!"

"Oh God, did everyone see that?" I mumble to myself.

The man approaches me before embracing me in a hug. My body stilled as I awkwardly waited for him to break away from the hug. When he finally did he smiled at me, "Thank you for treating my cousin with the love she deserves."

My eyes widen, another cousin?

That's why he looked so familiar. He looked a lot like Isaiah but in his own way. He was also significantly taller than both of the twins. He even stood two inches above me.

"My name is Isaac, Ami's older cousin. You're that Taylor kid right?"

"Dominic." I said with a nod, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Sorry, I intercepted your plans to jump that bastard. Would've been even more fun to do it all together."

"That would've been nice, but like I said we didn't know if you were friend or foe." Andre says shaking his hand.

"Why don't I treat you to a meal? This diner has great food." I offer. "After all you did our dirty work for us."

He chuckles, "Deal."

-

We treated Isaac to a meal at the diner and got to know him and why he was there. We sat for hours talking about whatever came to mind. I learned that he was in town for his spring break and wanted to spend time with his siblings. He's the oldest in the family and grew up close to Amina.

"UOT can be tough sometimes. They're really strict with their main players, and it's my 4th and final year."

"Whoa so you're graduating soon, congratulations man." Andre says.

"If you're a big player, aren't you worried about getting in trouble for things like beating up guys in the street?"

"Aren't you? Mr. Big Shot future CEO?" He says with a chuckle, "I heard you were the first one to give Aaron the black eye he deserved for hurting Ami."

"Yeah." I reply plainly, my mood suddenly changing remembering that night.

He raises an eyebrow, leaning closer to the table. "Earlier, you said you're not her boyfriend. Beating up exes and buying her flowers sounds like boyfriend behavior to me." He furrows his brows, a hint of seriousness creeping in. "You're not stringing her along, are you? What are your intentions?"

I frown, shaking my head. "No, I wouldn't do that to her. We're just trying to figure things out. But I really like her, and eventually, she'll be my girlfriend."

"Good, because if you were, I'd have to put you on my bad side." he replies, a playful glint in his eye. "And that's not somewhere you want to be."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Aaron might've been afraid of you, but I'm not him."

His expression turns serious as we stare each other down, tension crackling in the air. Then, unexpectedly, he breaks into a smirk. "Good. I like you," he says, while Andre lets out a sigh of relief.

"I thought you guys were going to start fighting, and I know I couldn't break that up." He says with a chuckle. I laugh as well, just as Isaac joins in too.

"Is everything up to your standards boys?" Halle asks coming up to the table.

"Always baby." Andre says with a smirk, he turns to Isaac. "Isaac, this is my girlfriend Halle. Halle this is Ami's older cousin, Isaac, he's visiting from Texas."

"Nice to meet you." Isaac says politely.

"Nice to meet you too! I didn't know there were more of you." She chuckles.

"This is their older brother."

Halle nods in understanding, "Regardless it's nice to meet you. Ami should actually be coming in any minute now."

My eyes widen slightly, "She's working this evening?"

Halle nods, "She was supposed to work this morning but switched shifts with our coworker." She turns to Isaac, "Does she know you're in town?"

He shakes his head, "Nope. It'll be a surprise, I haven't even seen the twins yet."

"So you came all the way from Texas, and the first thing you did when you arrived was beat up Aaron?" Andre asks.

Isaac nods proudly, "They would've never let me out of the house if I had seen them first."

Andre and I burst out laughing, and I reached out to shake Isaac's hand. "I have to respect it."

"Oop, there she is." Halle says, gaining our attention. We turned around and Amina had just walked into the diner, unaware of the four of us staring at her. When she finally caught on, she turned her head in our direction, her eyes widening at the sight. Without saying anything she scurries into the back of the kitchen, out of our view.

"I should go check on her." Halle chuckles, before making her way back to the kitchen.

"Think she's mad?" Isaac asks.

I nod, "I'd be surprised if she wasn't."

———

You can always count on Isaac to handle it.

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- AuggiePooh_