Page 19 of Falling Into Gravity

Aku broke it first. “You hungry? We got hella food in there.”

Malik ran his hand down his head with a smirk on his face. “Hella? You been in LA too damn long,” he teased. “But I could eat.”

Siasia caught the look in Aku’s eyes and couldn’t help but snicker. The easy back-and-forth, the subtle flirting—it reminded her of when Qamar first laid eyes on her. He’d been hooked from the jump, drawn in by a spirit he couldn’t name, but felt deeply. She recognized that same hesitation in Key. That quiet awareness. She knew what it was to be in the presence of love and legacy and suddenly question everything you thought made sense. How you’d been surviving before someone walked in and made you realize you were never really living. There wassomething about Lunar’s people—the way they carried his spirit, how they kept attracting the ones who didn’t know they needed saving, until they were already halfway healed.

Siasia grabbed Qamar’s hand and kissed his cheek. “Come on, let them breathe.”

Of course Qamar had to give his niece and her friend one last look, but then decided to have a night cap with his wife while the kids were out of their hair.

Once they disappeared down the hall, back into the room they’d be occupying, Malik stood up - stretching his arms.

“Come on,” Aku said. “But you washing dishes if I fix your plate.”

“Say less,” he replied with a half smirk, counting steps in his head every time they moved around the house. Malik needed to know how long it would take him to get to every exit.

After they ate, she led him back to the living room. An R&B playlist was still spinning through the TV speakers on low volume. Jastin Martin’s“Love it here”came on, sultry and slow. The room dimmed between the dusk light and weed smoke.

“This my shit,” Aku whispered, swaying a little where she stood.

“You tryna dance?” Malik asked, his voice low but playful.

She turned halfway towards him, biting her lip. “Don’t play unless you got rhythm. I’m a dance champion.”

He stepped closer, his tall, lanky frame towering over her. “Try me.”

She slid into his space without overthinking it, her arms laced around his neck. His hands fell to her hips—low and respectful.

It wasn’t a club two-step or a crip walk. They moved like something slow had settled between them…something unspoken. Her chest close to his, eyes locked, and their hearts somewhere in between.

Malik leaned his head against hers. “I ain’t danced with nobody since… Shit, I don’t even remember.”

“You doing good,” she murmured, her fingers drawing light circles at the base of his neck.

He closed his eyes…letting the moment hold him…letting her body—warm, steady, soft—show him a version of peace he didn’t know he missed.

This didn’t feel like a fluke.

It felt like something waiting for them to admit it was already real.

When the song ended, neither of them moved at first. They just continued to sway in silence.

“I should go soon,” he whispered, though he didn’t pull back.

“Then go later.”

That cheeky smile and that freckled face, was all it took for Malik to be sucked into Aku’s world. “But I ain’t ‘bout to dance with you all night.”

Aku pushed his chest playfully. “Umm, you ain’t gotta dance with me now. Sit yo’ hard ass down,” she tried to keep a straight face, but it cracked when he stared into her eyes.

Malik tapped her nose, watching her sway her little hips back to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine.

Malik sat back down on the couch and Aku tucked one leg under herself again, passing him her wine glass without asking.

He took a sip and handed it back. “You really be drinking like this?”

“Like what?”

“Cute-ass wine…out a plastic cup, feet up, blunt in hand…all fancy and hood at the same time.”

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