𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 & 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲.

Chapter Eight.

this chapter contains death and a lot of angst.

ONE MONTH LATER.

Cain whistled as he locked the doors to his car, he rakes his hands through his hair as he walked through the school parking lot and he sees a woman hanging out of the back of her yellow Volkswagen Beetle, she groaned as she pulls out a box and she sighs as she moved her hair out of her face. Her skin was beautiful, almost like Ramona's but darker and she was gorgeous in his eyes. Cain clears his throat as he walks up to her. "Do you need any help?" He asked her and she jumped, she turns slowly and she looks up at Cain and she smiles shyly. "Yes please," She murmured and she steps aside, he grabs the box for her and she shuts her trunk then she walks beside him. "I'm Cain Papillon, by the way, I'm the second-grade teacher," He introduced himself as he holds out his free hand, she softly places her hand with his and shakes it. "I'm Autumn Franklin," She smiled and they walked into the school, kids ran in the hall but the two didn't pay any mind because they were having fun.

Autumn guided him to her room and he sits her things on top of her desk, he dusts off his suit jacket and he grins. "I can show you around if you like?" He suggested and she shakes her head not even looking at him as she starts pulling her things out of her box. "No thank you but thank you for bringing my stuff in," She mumbled and he nodded then she puts out a picture of her and this guy, he stares at the picture and he smiles. "Is that your husband?" He questioned, the guy had brown hair, green eyes or maybe blue but he couldn't tell and his arms were wrapped around Autumn as she smiled so big, her head laying on his chest. Autumn looked up and she nods her head with a smile. "Yeah, we've been married for two years," She grinned and Cain looks at the picture with a smile. "That's wonderful, I hardly see couples like you guys. I thought me and my girlfriend were the only ones in Dallas."

Autumn sits on her desk and she shrugs. "I'm not from here, I'm all the way from Alabama. It's illegal for me and my husband Sonny to get married there. We got married in church but by law we weren't allowed to get a marriage license," She explained, she lowered head and Cain could tell she was shy, he tried not to come off so strong or look at her to long because he thought she might lose her mind if he did because he was already intimidating enough. "But in 1967, a law passed that interracial relationships were able to be married by law. It's the Loving vs Virginia case that made it all happen," Cain remembered, he remembers him and Chip listened on the radio about the Loving vs. Virginia case and the thought it was fascinating and exciting at the same time because times were slowly changing but don't mean ignorance and hate wasn't gonna be present. "Exactly but Virginia is one of the few states that didn't allow no matter what the government said and so we moved here and got married again by law last week."

Cain was so glad that Texas wasn't like that even people here were so openly racist and KKK practically lived and flourished here but he would burn the government to the ground if he couldn't marry the woman he loved because she was black. Cain body became hot because that was the sixth time saying that he loved Ramona or said love in the same sentence as Ramona and he wasn't gonna put up a front; he loved Ramona but he didn't want to scare her off by telling her that because it was too soon. "That's great but horrible, I hope one day that Alabama comes to their senses and allow it," Cain tells her and Autumn nodded her head slowly, what they didn't know is that Alabama didn't allow interracial marriage for another thirty years.

Cain looked at Autumn put away her things. "For lunch, if you need anyone to eat with, I'm two doors down. The teachers here are assholes and I'm the only the one who doesn't fake kindness here. My girlfriend made me banana pudding that I don't mind sharing with you... If you want," He said nervously because he didn't want her to be uncomfortable, he really cared for her even though they just met but she radiated innocence. Autumn hummed softly and she looks at Cain. "Sure," She smiled and he pumps his fist in the air softly because she was technically his first teacher friend that he made here. Cain helped her and she grew comfortable enough for him to show her around, Cain dug how quiet and shy she was because she listened to him and stood there quietly as he talked because she rather hears him talk than her talk because that's just how she was.