Page 24 of Just Like Summer

“Who told you that?”

She shrugged. “I knew a wise man once.”

“Wanna tap into that?”

She shook her head. “Not tonight, I’m too tired to cry.”

“You know those tears are safe here,” Cairo offered her comfort, and she returned the same.

“So are the things you’ve been holding onto. Plus, you’re my only friend so I can only talk about you to you,” she joked, earning a smile from him. “You should do that more often.”

“Do what?”

“Smile. It looks nice.”

ten

The heaviness of the nine pounds on his shoulder was a weight he welcomed. Somewhere between his much needed smoke break and watching her cycle out her laundry, Kamilla plopped down in the chair to his right. Before he knew it, the wired headphones were stuffed in her ears, and she’d subsequently drifted off to sleep. For as long he could sit there without waking her, he did. Every inhale welcomed the same scent that lingered on his sheets and served as the antidote for sweet dreams.

The persistent beeping of the last dryer was the signal that remaining comfortable here was short-lived. Gently, he snaked his arm from around her, turning the screen of her phone upward. Two things he caught: the text from the cellphone company wanting payment and her iTunes.

AyeZee KP’s “Up in Smoke”, a favorited song on whatever playlist she’d been listening to. He knew that song like that back of his hand. He’d never forget the day he accidently walked in on the session. A young boy in a gang full of grown men. Cairo’s backpack was full of work, and he was on a time crunch. It was a test. At the time, AyeZee KP, affectionately known as Azul KP, was at the height of his career. Every club from Los Oceania to Emerald City was packed out to see the rising rapper. From the clubs to the arenas was projected for his future. The first time Cairo saw him, he was mesmerized; he couldn’t even speak until that weed-tinted baritone hit his ears.

“Ay, little nigga, you gon’ stare at me all fuckin’ night or give me my bud?” The question was asked in a lighthearted coolness that settled Cairo’s shyness. Shyness that had to be masked now because he was a killer. A shark amongst piranhas and he couldn’t let them smell his blood in the water.

After the transaction was made and Azul KP had kicked him out the studio, he stopped him, gave him an assuring nod before saying, “Keep your head, young nigga.”

That piece of advice was the only worthy advice he’d ever gotten, outside of his grandmother telling him he needed to come home the same way she let him leave. KP’s words stuck with him so much they were tattooed on his forearm.

Without waking her, he moved away from Kamilla to the beeping dryer and took her clothes from them. His attention balanced from folding her things, to watching her sleep, to the few Azuls gathered on the corner. When everything was folded, packed up, and placed in his trunk, he returned to Kamilla.

“You snoring, Kamilla,” he softly joked, barely touching the back of her hand and taking her headphones out of her left ear.

She groaned softly and shifted her weight in the hard plastic chair. “I do not snore.”

“You do and you drool.”

Kamilla quickly went to wipe her mouth.

“It’s all on my shirt,” he informed in a joking tone. “When is the last time you slept for real?”

He watched as she stretched, scratched her head through her coils, and sighed. “The truth?”

“Nothing but it.”

“Maybe two and a half months ago, before…” she allowed her words to falter while her feet wanted to flee from the truth she wasn’t ready to speak. “Where are my clothes?”

“Folded and in the trunk.”

Kamilla, frozen, squinted her full eyes and tooted her lips up. “You folded my…”

Cairo shrugged like it was nothing. “My grandmother raised me. Well, she tried her damnedest. Either way, it’s not that big of a deal.”

She shook her head and blew out a breath.

“It’s just underwear. You want to fold my drawls so we can be even?” he toyed.

Kamilla rolled her eyes and scoffed as she started out of the building. “Now why would I do that and have your little girlfriend ready to fire me?”