In Due Time

Lawndale

I woke up to that ocean breeze going down my bare back.

I'm on the futon, looking around at Arizona's paintings.

Then I see a sculpture.

One I hadn't noticed before.

It's a man. He's brown skinned, wide shoulders, tall.

His arms are folded, his eyes follow mine.

Then I blink.

He blinks.

What the fuck? I sit up.

It's fucking him. In the real. The nigga who fucked my girl. It's Cairo.

"What the? Who the fuck are you?" his voice was deep and raspy, he sounded like a coach. I hurry up, put my shorts on, put them on the wrong way, put my tee on. "Who are you!" his voice booms.

"You don't recognize me?"He looks at me, confused. "So you've never seen me in a picture frame next to her bed in her dorm room."

That stops him. He looks at me. His eyes get wide. "You're C-"

"Yep." I say.

"Hey, I brought us some-" Arizona. She was walking through the door. Two Starbucks cups in her hand. She notices both of us. "Cairo."

"Arizona." he says, swallowing hard.

She bites her lip, not seductively, not nervously. "Cal, I got us some frappes. I didn't know what kind you liked, so I got one chocolate, one caramel." she smiles.

I smile back. "Yeah, I love these. I'll take the caramel."

"Damn, I slick wanted that one." she laughs.

Cairo looks at us with disbelief. "Arizona, what the fuck is going on here?"

"Your pants are on backward." she says to me, smiling again.

"Arizona, answer my damn question."

"What, Cairo?" she finally acknowledges him. "Why are you here?"

"I needed to see you, we need to talk...You can fucking leave now." He says to me. I look at this nigga, size him up.

"Cal, you're my guest, stay as long as you want." Arizona says.

I check my G Shock. Damn I'm late for work. "I gotta get to work."

"Okay." she says I walk toward the door.

"And close that shit on your way out." Cairo barks. I leave that motherfucker wide ass open.

I check my pockets for my keys. Absent.

Shit. Must be on the futon.

"Really? Really Arizona? You fuckin' that nigga?" Cairo was yelling. I don't go back in, but stand by the door.

"It's none of your business who I fuck, we broke up, right?"

"You brought that nigga to yo studio? You don't even bring me up in here."

"Cause all you fucking do is complain about the smell!"

"You spend all yo time in this bitch, I'm surprised you ain't dead from turpentine poisoning."

"Why are you here?" I hear her sit on the futon.

"To get my damn car back."

"That ain't yo car!" she snaps. "My daddy and me bought that!"

"Who payed for the tinted windows? The new mufflers? Half the fucking insurance? I did."

"The car is mine."

"The hell it is. Bet you had that nigga rollin' around in it too, huh?"

"Shut the fuck up, Cairo. No, I didn't, but you had that bitch cruising in it at Pepperdine."

"Don't flip the script!"

"Don't flip the script or don't tell the truth?"

"How long you been fucking that nigga?"

"We. Are. Not. Together. Cairo. Nothing I do is any of your damn business."

"The hell it ain't ! Who payed for all these art supplies? I fucking did."

"Shit, take them then!"

I hear him walking on the hardwood. "Did you paint a picture of that fucking nigga?!"

I walk in. They look at me.

"Forgot my keys." I grab them, walk back out. Keep the door open as I walk to my car. Cairo comes over, slams it, goes back to arguing.

I drive off, but not to work.