Chapter 21 Fatima
Fatima
“You look so cute, friend!” I gushed, taking a picture of Isabella.
She smiled and turned to look herself over in the mirror. She was getting ready for the fashion show part of Autumn’s party. I did a mini vlog for Autumn to show off, and now I was preparing to take pictures.
She had a pretty good turnout, and I’m sure she would have a lot of sales tonight.
“Thank you. I love her clothes! I think I spent too much damn money in here since I found out about it,” she giggled and looked at herself again. I turned and captured pictures of some of the other girls in the room, then turned back to Isabella.
“Yeah, me too. They’re so cute and trendy.”
“Okay, everyone, I hope you’re ready!” Autumn walked into her storage room and spoke.
“That’s my cue!” I waved to Autumn then stepped around her to walk out on the sales floor. She had a small stage set up for the girls modeling her clothes.
I walked toward my seat at the end of the small stage, ensuring I could get some good shots. Bending down, I went into my camera bag to change my lens.
“Look at you, looking like a professional.” Ahmad walked up to me and hugged my waist.
I started grinning. “I feel like I haven’t seen you all night,” I whined.
I had been running around taking pictures and vlogging the whole celebration, so I didn’t have time to talk to him besides when I first got here.
“That’s because you’ve been working. I’m proud of you. Your pictures look good hanging up too.” He kissed the back of my neck, causing me to giggle.
Autumn had the photos from the first photoshoot we did blown up on a canvas and placed them on the walls. I didn’t realize it until she cleared it out, but her store was a decent size.
“Thank you.” Ahmad stayed hugging my waist and kissing on me while I adjusted the settings on my camera.
“Son, who is this?” My body froze.
Ahmad pulled away from me, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see a couple standing near us, smiling.
Ahmad stepped around me and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into him.
“Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend, Fatima. Fatima, these are my parents, Loraine and Andre.” I was stuck on him introducing me as his girlfriend.
I glanced up at Ahmad, whose eyes were locked on me.
He was staring at me intensely, like he knew why I was looking at him.
Not that I cared he called me his girlfriend, but I wasn’t expecting it since we hadn’t agreed to titles.
“You can call me Dre. It’s nice to meet you,” his dad said.
Slowly, I pulled my eyes off Ahmad and greeted his parents. “It’s nice to meet both of you,” I smiled.
“Oh girl, come give me a hug.” His mom walked up to us. She grabbed me and pulled me from Ahmad, hugging me. “Any woman that can fix what that rotten girl destroyed in my baby boy is good with me.” I snickered while Ahmad groaned.
“It was a two-way street. We helped each other overcome stuff.”
“Hopefully, I can get some grandkids out of him now.” My eyes widened, and I felt Ahmad grab me and pull me back into him.
“Pops, man get your wife.” I laughed, and his mom winked at me.
“I’m just saying. You’re not getting younger.”
“And neither are you, mom, I know,” he chuckled.
“Excuse my wife. Loraine, leave this girl alone.”
“I’m just saying, I want my son happy with a family. From what I’ve heard, she seems to be a good fit for him.”
“I can see where Autumn gets her hopeless romantic views from.”
Dre hugged his wife and I could see why Autumn was the way she was. You could see how much the two of them loved each other.
“Alright, you guys! First, I want to say thank you for coming out and showing love! This year hasn’t been easy competing with other stores, but my little baby does well!” Autumn spoke, coming onto the stage.
“Oh, let’s get back to our seats. Fatima makes sure you come to our next Sunday dinner so we can talk more,” Loraine said, grabbing her husband’s hand.
“As long as your son brings me,” I joked.
Ahmad’s parents walked off, and I turned to Ahmad. “So, I’m upgraded to girlfriend?”
“Shit, it fits right?”
He wrapped his arms around me. “It sure does, baby.” I leaned up and kissed him. Autumn was talking in the background as I pulled away. “You’re distracting me. Go,” I laughed, pecking his lips again.
“Do your thing, baby.” He gave my butt a light tap, and I turned back to the stage so I could get ready to take more pictures.
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“Autumn, tonight was great! I can’t wait for you to see the shots!” I bragged, pulling her into a hug.
“Thank you so much! I couldn’t have pulled this off without you.” She hugged me tighter.
I smiled and pulled away from her.
“Sis, you did your thing. I’m proud of you.” Ahmad walked up to her and hugged her.
“Thank you. I was so nervous something bad was going to happen, but everything worked out. Even the pop-up shop I had set up sold out.”
Her parents and most guests, including Isabella, had already left. We stayed around to help her clean up.
“You did so good with everyone’s makeup,” I told Ashleigh.
She tossed something in the trash and then turned to look at me. “Thanks, girl!”
I yawned. I had been up since six because I had to work at the coffee shop this morning.
“You ready to go?” Ahmad hugged me and bent down to whisper in my ear.
I leaned back into him and nodded. “Yeah, I’m sleepy as hell.”
“Girl, go ahead. We’re just about done. Thanks for everything.”
“I’ll have the pictures to you in a few days so you can look at them.”
“I can’t wait.”
“I’m glad to see everything is working out well for you.” Autumn looked behind us and started to frown.
An attractive, brown skin man stepped around us with some roses.
“What are you doing here?” Autumn crossed her arms and glared at the guy.
“I saw you were having a celebration for your shop and wanted to show love. What’s up, Ashleigh, Ahmad.” He went to hand her the flowers, but she just stared at them. Ashleigh rolled her eyes and walked off.
“What’s up, Maurice? Nice seeing you.” My eyes widened when I realized who this was.
I looked at Autumn, who cut her eyes to her brother.
“I’m busy, Maurice. Thanks for the flowers, but you can keep them. I don’t even like roses. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She turned and walked away.
Maurice lowered his head and laughed under his breath.
“I should have known this wasn’t going to be easy.”
“You know how my sister is.”
Maurice looked up at him. “Yeah, I know. I guess she’s not over what happened with us.”
I looked in the direction Autumn had gone. She was standing there talking to Ashleigh with her arms crossed, eyes glaring at Maurice.
“You should have known that. But my lady is ready to go. Good luck, man!” He grabbed my hand and we headed toward the door.
I was even more curious to know the history between those two, but it was obvious that it was a sore subject.
“So, I guess your sister wasn’t always a hopeless romantic.”
“Nah, she was. Her and Maurice just been through a lot. He loves my sister though. He was just young and dumb when they were together.” I thought about Autumn when she first mentioned Maurice to me.
I could hear it in her voice; she was still hurt by whatever he did, indicating feelings were still there.
We drove until we got to Ahmad’s house.
I wanted nothing more than to shower and get in his bed. “I got your camera bag and stuff,” he told me, handing me his keys.
I happily took them and walked to his door.
I ended up showering and laying down in Ahmad’s bed while he did sketches in his sketchpad.
“I’m glad you’re still up,” Ahmad walked into his room and spoke.
“Barely. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to show you something really quick.” He walked up to the bed, and I looked at his tattoo filled chest, biting on my bottom lip.
He handed me the paper and I stared at it.
“What’s this?”
“I talked to the realtor that helped me with the shop. He made a list of places that are open for rent or purchase so you can have your own studio.”
My eyes widened then traveled back to the paper. “Really?”
He showed me all thirty-two. “Really!”
I tossed the paper to the side and threw my arms around Ahmad’s neck, hugging him tightly.
“Thank you!”
It may not have seemed like a big thing to some, but the fact that Ahmad did this showed how much he believed in me. I’ve been saying I needed to look at places but haven’t done so yet.
“I believe in you and want you to accomplish your dreams, baby. Anything I can do to help, I got you.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I pulled up and kissed Ahmad.
“You really want me to fall in love with you, huh?”
“Would feel good if both of our feelings matched.” My mouth parted before it turned into a smile.
Ahmad was truly heaven sent, and I will forever be grateful he was brought into my life. He helped me get through a lot of issues I had bottled up and never ran away because of them. Both of us were damaged, but we were able to heal each other.
I ran from love for a long time, but now I was officially done running.
The end!