Brown Sugar

22

The summer had began and I finally felt freedom. Not worrying about school and grades felt so amazing. I was going to be a senior and that would be my last year worrying about that fuck shit. I was still debating on taking a year off after high school. I likely wouldn't.

That was my favorite part about my birthday, it was like time gave me the gift of no school. Summer break started days after it. But it'd been summer for a while.

X and his family had went to the beach, and they tried to get me to go with them. My mom was cool with it, but my daddy wasn't. I heard them arguing more times than a few about the leash my father had put on me.

My mom kept telling him that just because Hadia was pregnant, didn't mean I was going to follow suit, and that Xabrien and his people were good people and she was more than positive he wasn't doing anything to me that I didn't want done.

And she was absolutely right, anytime I told X to stop doing something, he stopped and never did it again. The Bryant's were some of the best people I'd ever met in my life. They adopted me into their family with ease.

But Xabrien and I had been arguing a lot lately. He didn't know how to cope with Xabriel's death still, so whenever he was upset he tried to take his anger out on me. So if we didn't have sex to take his mind off of it, it ended up being a screaming match where I'd be close to slapping the piss out of him. He'd leave, then call me a few hours later telling me how sorry he is and how he'd never do anything to hurt me. I was getting fed up, but I couldn't leave X. We'd been together for almost a year. I didn't even know how to start with somebody else.

It wasn't his fault he didn't know how to handle his emotions. And it would be beyond fucked up for me to leave him alone to cope with that.

I was bored out of my mind while he was gone. I had absolutely nothing to do. Raven and Janelle were out of town with their families as well, and I didn't talk to Logan much.

Even though he apologized it just didn't sit right with me to be all in his face, but he was my last resort.

I hated spending time with my sister. She had the habit of making me feel close to her, then stepping on the little bit of trust I'd developed for her like it didn't mean shit to her.

Tired of being bored, I pulled my shoes on and walked down the block to see Lo.

Nadia 👑: I'm in your back yard

Logan: You want me to come outside?

Nadia 👑: Yes!! I'm dying of boredom bro.

A few minutes later his backdoor came open and his deep blue eyes met mine. His lips curled into a smile and he climbed into the trampoline with me.

"It's great to see you. You made you hair curly again." He fingered one of my curls and I allowed him to.

I usually didn't let him touch my hair when he tried to. I'd swat his hands away in a heartbeat. I hated when people touched my hair without asking, especially when it was in its natural state.

"I didn't make it curly, I just washed it. It's curly on its own." I laughed.

"Well, I like it like this. It looks good straight too, but it makes you look older. You look more free spirited like this." He complimented.

"Thanks Lo. Were you doing something today?" I asked him.

"Nah, but I can't handle this heat. How the hell have you been living like this your whole life?" He asked.

"I don't know. I was born and raised here. Never thought much of the heat. I never really had any other climate to compare it to. My parents never wanted to move."