Post by samira ali warsame on Nov 5, 2020 22:02:49 GMT -7
TW/CW: Drunkenness; Sami comes out to her family
October 2025
The sudden screech of tires against asphalt was almost as jarring as nails scraping down a chalkboard, and being jolted forward sharply was enough to make Samira feel like vomiting—even if the alcohol hadn't done that. As the Knight Bus came to a halt on the darkened street, she attempted to get her bearings once again, her sense of balance skewed as she stumbled out of her seat and down and out of the vehicle.
Whether the dead giveaway of her night out had been the Knight Bus’s having to drop her off at her home or the sound of the door’s having been shut a little too hard, Sami couldn’t be sure. All that was evident was that the lights were still on, her parents and grandmother were still awake to catch her in the act, and it was her mother’s eyes that met hers first as she staggered her way inside.
"Samira…" Her family members only ever addressed her as "Samira" and not as "Sami", so that alone wasn't really enough to indicate that she was in trouble. Her mother's tone of voice, on the other hand and the disappointment radiating from it? Oh, she knew. "Have you been drinking again?"
While her first, fleeting thought was to deny it, Sami gave a shrug as though she didn't actually know if she had been drinking alcohol that night or not. It was probably obvious, though, that she wasn't sober. Why did her mother even feel the need to ask? Her mother had obviously seen drunk people before. Sami, though, had lost count of how many drinks she had had while at Club Indigo. One had practically turned into three, and she hadn’t exactly paced herself from there. Then again, she wasn't sure what it really mattered if she drank. It wasn't illegal for her to be drinking anymore; she wasn't underage, and she had used good judgment, in her opinion. She'd taken the Knight Bus. She hadn't tried to Apparate and Splinch herself in getting home. Everything was good.
"…So what?" Sami laughed, interspersed giggles muffling her slurred speech. She had to laugh. Why was her mother so worried? "I've… got a job, haven’t I?" C’est La Vie in Hogsmeade had hired her months before, and she hadn't had a single issue while working retail.
That clearly hadn’t been her mother’s point, as her glare made apparent. "Samira," she emphasized sternly, "please…"
Okay, so maybe it had been her parents' money that she had had to take to pay for her outing, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t had plans to pay them back for it once she received her next paycheck from the boutique. And she was doing well, she thought, for having stayed employed for as long as she had. Besides, hadn't her mother gotten paid more for all of the various Ilvermorny kids she'd had to deal with at the orphanage over the summer?
"You won't have a job anymore if you show up to work like that," her father reminded her, his tone more severe than even her mother’s.
"I'm fiiiine, Dad," Sami insisted, over-emphasizing how fine she was with a laugh, though she could overhear her grandmother making a comment to her father in hushed Somali. Though the old woman was trying to be discreet, it hadn't slipped past.
"Is that a bruise on her neck?"
"It's lipstick," Sami countered. At least it was just the lipstick at that point. And it clearly wasn’t the same shade as her own, either, not that she had much remaining on her own lips.
"Lipstick?!" her grandmother repeated, though Sami knew that her grandmother knew perfectly well what she had just said. The woman might have preferred to communicate in her native language, but she understood her without a problem.
"Yeah… Because I snogged a girl!" Sami’s words met a sudden hush that felt ridiculous to her. It wasn’t as though she was the only person in the world to have ever done it. "And it wasn't the first time," she continued. Though adding insult to injury wasn’t something that she needed to be doing, the alcohol had removed any filter on the thoughts that made their way out of her mouth.
"Because I… I like girls! And I've dated a girl!” The words tumbled out more quickly than Sami would have liked, the suddenness of her admission to her family hitting her a moment later. It was too late to take it back, though, and she was too far ahead of herself. A part of her wanted to keep laughing. It was almost funny that they hadn't noticed for so long. Nina hadn't been just a her friend, a girl friend. No, she had been her girlfriend—one word, not two.
She hadn’t imagined coming out to her family as she had and instantly knew that maybe it hadn't been the most brilliant idea she had had in her life. Then again, she hadn’t expected anyone to be awake when she had arrived home. Every word dug a deeper and deeper hole, though any consequences beyond that immediate point in time were the furthest thing from Sami's mind. Maybe she could still backtrack her way out of it?
Whether the dead giveaway of her night out had been the Knight Bus’s having to drop her off at her home or the sound of the door’s having been shut a little too hard, Sami couldn’t be sure. All that was evident was that the lights were still on, her parents and grandmother were still awake to catch her in the act, and it was her mother’s eyes that met hers first as she staggered her way inside.
"Samira…" Her family members only ever addressed her as "Samira" and not as "Sami", so that alone wasn't really enough to indicate that she was in trouble. Her mother's tone of voice, on the other hand and the disappointment radiating from it? Oh, she knew. "Have you been drinking again?"
While her first, fleeting thought was to deny it, Sami gave a shrug as though she didn't actually know if she had been drinking alcohol that night or not. It was probably obvious, though, that she wasn't sober. Why did her mother even feel the need to ask? Her mother had obviously seen drunk people before. Sami, though, had lost count of how many drinks she had had while at Club Indigo. One had practically turned into three, and she hadn’t exactly paced herself from there. Then again, she wasn't sure what it really mattered if she drank. It wasn't illegal for her to be drinking anymore; she wasn't underage, and she had used good judgment, in her opinion. She'd taken the Knight Bus. She hadn't tried to Apparate and Splinch herself in getting home. Everything was good.
"…So what?" Sami laughed, interspersed giggles muffling her slurred speech. She had to laugh. Why was her mother so worried? "I've… got a job, haven’t I?" C’est La Vie in Hogsmeade had hired her months before, and she hadn't had a single issue while working retail.
That clearly hadn’t been her mother’s point, as her glare made apparent. "Samira," she emphasized sternly, "please…"
Okay, so maybe it had been her parents' money that she had had to take to pay for her outing, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t had plans to pay them back for it once she received her next paycheck from the boutique. And she was doing well, she thought, for having stayed employed for as long as she had. Besides, hadn't her mother gotten paid more for all of the various Ilvermorny kids she'd had to deal with at the orphanage over the summer?
"You won't have a job anymore if you show up to work like that," her father reminded her, his tone more severe than even her mother’s.
"I'm fiiiine, Dad," Sami insisted, over-emphasizing how fine she was with a laugh, though she could overhear her grandmother making a comment to her father in hushed Somali. Though the old woman was trying to be discreet, it hadn't slipped past.
"Is that a bruise on her neck?"
"It's lipstick," Sami countered. At least it was just the lipstick at that point. And it clearly wasn’t the same shade as her own, either, not that she had much remaining on her own lips.
"Lipstick?!" her grandmother repeated, though Sami knew that her grandmother knew perfectly well what she had just said. The woman might have preferred to communicate in her native language, but she understood her without a problem.
"Yeah… Because I snogged a girl!" Sami’s words met a sudden hush that felt ridiculous to her. It wasn’t as though she was the only person in the world to have ever done it. "And it wasn't the first time," she continued. Though adding insult to injury wasn’t something that she needed to be doing, the alcohol had removed any filter on the thoughts that made their way out of her mouth.
"Because I… I like girls! And I've dated a girl!” The words tumbled out more quickly than Sami would have liked, the suddenness of her admission to her family hitting her a moment later. It was too late to take it back, though, and she was too far ahead of herself. A part of her wanted to keep laughing. It was almost funny that they hadn't noticed for so long. Nina hadn't been just a her friend, a girl friend. No, she had been her girlfriend—one word, not two.
She hadn’t imagined coming out to her family as she had and instantly knew that maybe it hadn't been the most brilliant idea she had had in her life. Then again, she hadn’t expected anyone to be awake when she had arrived home. Every word dug a deeper and deeper hole, though any consequences beyond that immediate point in time were the furthest thing from Sami's mind. Maybe she could still backtrack her way out of it?
