Page 16 of Just Like Summer

“Anything else?” Kamilla mumbled.

“Yeah, that C4 nigga. Keep him from around here. And you. You don’t want the trouble he brings. Martez just got home,” Aunt J said. “You trying to end up like your momma?”

She found it sickening how Aunt J was willing to neglect her moral compass for the sake of choosing a man over her actual blood. Kamilla never had the full story of why Aunt J and her mother fell out, but she was ninety percent sure there was a man at the center of it. It was evident that if it came down to her choosing, Martez would win, so Kamilla abandoned her protest.

She offered a simple, “Alright then. Have fun on your trip.”

Aunt J started to say something but stopped. Kamilla watched her aunt’s back before closing the door. Loneliness blanketed her. The only time she felt as though she wasn’t existing in the world alone was when she was with Cairo. That wasn’t how this was supposed to be. She wasn’t supposed to find solace in a stranger. Family was supposed to look out for one another, but family had abandoned her, neglected her and treated her worse than the outsiders had.

A lone tear slipped from her eye. If it weren’t for Martez sprawled out on the couch, Kamilla would’ve opted to call out and wallow in pity all day. Him being here was motivation for her to get ready for her day. Donned in her spare work shirt, she made a mental note to find a laundromat on the way to Loco’s Tacos so she could wash her clothes.

Sneakers on her feet, her bag over her shoulder and her phone in tow, she crept out the house. After locking the door and spinning on the balls of her feet, she was met by the luminous morning sun and Cairo. The sight shouldn’t have been as breathtaking as it was. Fresh white tee, blue dickies, Azul flag tied around his neck, a cloud of Azul Kush surrounding his head like a halo.

Kamilla rolled her eyes to ward off whatever that short musing was. Coolly, Cairo leaned on the hood of his parked car as if his blue didn’t rival the crimson flags that claimed they owned this and the surrounding blocks.

Those full eyes squinted in his direction and back at the door as if Martez was man enough to protest this. Kamilla caught the exchange the night before and concluded that Cairo was who he thought he was. People may have talked to shit to him but directly challenging who he was when she wasn’t around hadn’t occurred. She learned quickly that he didn’t care about any of it. Any block he wanted to tread, he would, and no one was going to come up against him for real.

“When you said you were going to be back in the morning, I figured you were lying,” Kamilla shared, taking in his scruffiness under the morning sun.

“If I say it, I mean it. My word is my bond,” he shared, opening the passenger side door. “Your night was cool?”

She shrugged in response. “It was just another night.” Kamilla was making a great attempt to keep him from digging further into that comment so when Cairo got in, she asked. “Is this an everyday thing?”

“You want it to be? Because if you do, it is.”

“If I don’t?” Kamilla countered, earning her a lopsided smirk.

“You do.” His confidence was unfounded.

“And you know that how?” She buzzed with a quirked brow.

“Because your stubborn ass ain’t stomping up the block in the wrong direction. You can admit it’s cool riding shotgun with me.”

She rolled her tired eyes. “You hold me hostage and force me to be your friend and now you’re putting words in my mouth.”

He chuckled. “I’m just saying what it is. Saying what you won’t. Don’t stress it though you’ll learn it’s safe here to speak your mind.”

She grunted. “I don’t know about all of that.”

“About what?” Cairo asked with a long glance over his shoulder. “Speaking your mind?”

“Yeah. When I do, I get shut down. So what’s the point?”

“What’s the issue?” Cairo asked with true concern lacing his words, his fingers twitching as if they were ready to fight; any place, any time.

Kamilla shook her head. There was an apparent beef between Martez and Cairo that went far past gang colors. It ran deep and for Cairo’s sake, not Martez’s, she wouldn’t say anything. Maybe the motive was selfish because if Cairo went away, this little bit of safety and comfortability she was getting accustomed to would go, too.

“It’s nothing. You slept good? You look tired,” she stated, not wanting to even bring up Martez or the conversation she had with Aunt J.

He nodded slowly. “I fixed that beat.”

“So you didn’t sleep?”

“I don’t sleep for real,” he admitted. “I imagine you don’t either.”

Kamilla swayed her head. “Not unless it’s induced with allergy meds or something. Anyway, where’s the beat, let me hear it.”

Cairo winced and snapped his fingers. “I can swing back by the house-”