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𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑼𝑵 𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑵𝑬 𝑫𝑶𝑾𝑵 𝑶𝑵 paola's body as little droplets of pool water stuck to her bare stomach. music played softly from her bluetooth speaker next to her head, the voice of megan thee stallion drifting through the air. with only a couple weeks before school started back up again, pao had every intention spending as much time as possible by this very pool. except, that plan never worked out.
there was a notification ding on her phone, reminding her to drop off lexie's copy of lord of the flies that night. they both hated the book but their summer reading lists required it and pao had finished it two nights ago, promising lexie she'd bring it back today. with a small groan, the blonde lifted herself off of the chair & headed to her bedroom window, which was ground level and facing the pool. it made leaving the house a hell of a lot easier than climbing all the way upstairs. swinging her legs over the sill and into her mini-den, she unceremoniously dropped her phone and speaker onto the futon before crossing over into her bedroom where an abandoned pair of frayed jean shorts lay on her queen sized bed along with a backless tank top. one short shower later, she was wearing the items and shoving her feet into some white high top converse.
upstairs, she could hear dro exuberantly yelling into his cell about mckay's party that night. as she approached him, he told whoever was on the other line to give him a minute and grabbed his wallet from the coffee table.
"pao, can you go get me some molly from fez? tell him to give you whatever thirty'll get you." he shoved a ten & a twenty into her hand with a pleading smile on his face.
"fine but you owe me for making me your drug mule." she replied, going to walk towards the door but catching one of the frayed edges of her shorts on the corner of the dinner table. a part of the ass cheek was torn open and pao grunted in anger. dro stood laughing, throwing his head back in joy as she as ripped the piece away.
once she was on her bike, opting for it instead of her car as she hadn't been on it for a while and missed the feeling a little bit, pao sent a text to lexie that she'd be at her house in a little bit. it was a fifteen minute ride there and pedaling through the familiar streets put a little smile on her face. as much as she hated to admit, eastland was as much a home to her as miami was.
when she got to the two story house, she let her bike fall onto the front lawn and climbed the stairs to ring the bell. cassie answered, immediately pulling her into a hug.
"hey, i haven't seen you in so long!" she rocked them back & forth for a second. semi-awkwardly, pao patted her back lightly until she was finally released. "you look so good, i love your hair."
"thanks cass, it's good to see you too. i came to give lexie her book back?" she waved the paperback a little just as her phone vibrated in her front pocket. a text from lexie read 'im at target w my mom, just leave it w cass'. "oh."
"yeah, it's fine, i'll put it on her bed or something." cassie took the book and pao started to leave before she was called back. "are you going to mckay's party tonight?"
"nah, kinda just wanna get takeout tonight. next party though!" she responded, picking up the bike. "see you at school, cass!"
cassie shouted out a bye and pao started to ride toward the convenience store. she'd bought drugs for dro plenty of times before. he would always reward her in favors like doing the dishes, washing her car, or buying her takeout, like she'd make him do tonight. she planted her feet on the ground as she stopped next to a distracted fez.
"hey fez."
"what's good paola - woah." he'd always been able to recognize her from voice alone. her miami accent was as heavy on her tongue as his oakland one on his, especially toward the end of summer when she'd just be getting back, though it usually faded by winter. she was cute - just cute. he only ever saw her in baggy jeans and equally as baggy tops. her hair never seemed to be out of a ponytail or a bun. she'd give him a small smile, buy a soda and some sunflower seeds, then pay for her brother's drugs. occasionally, she'd bring tray a plastic bag of regular double fudge brownies, which he'd share with fez, and the kid loved her for it. so, anyone good with his brother was good with him. as he looked at her now, seeing more skin on her body than he'd ever had before, he didn't know what to say. so, he played it cool. "wassup?"
she let her bike lean against the wall and sauntered over to him, hair blowing lightly in the wind. it was so long. pretty. her skin was glowing in the sun. that was pretty too.
"dro said to get him however much molly thirty bucks would." she extracted the twenty and ten dollar bills from her pocket & offered him her familiar smile, which had the corners of his own lips tugging up lightly.
"yea, just give 'im a second. customers in there."
"that's cool, i'm gonna grab a drink."
he'd be lying if he said his eyes weren't glued to her ass, especially that exposed part where the rip was, as she headed towards the fridges. the pineapple fanta was on the bottom shelf, next to the blue raspberry & strawberry ones, all her usual favorites. she'd always squat down, door open and shit, and stare at the three before eventually going with pineapple. every single time she came in. today, clearly, was no different. except for her, she was different all over.
after nearly five minutes of her dilly dallying & him trying to pretend like he wasn't staring, he saw rue walk up out the corner of his eye. good, a distraction before he sat there any longer and he went from semi to full on hard.
he told rue about the sailor moon girl. she teased him about lovin' jesus. when she asked about tray, he hadn't meant to sound so surprised. when she heard paola say her name in front of her, she was definitely surprised. they had this whole awkward hug situation before whoever had been before pao walked out & she turned around to walk in.
"i didn't know paola did drugs." rue wasn't asking, she was commenting.
"she doesn't." fez commented back.
"how much molly can dro get for thirty dollars, tray?" pao asked, sitting down on a crate and handing him the blue raspberry fanta. he set down his cereal and grabbed the little baggy from the microwave.
"your brother a cheap ass motherfucker, man." he took the money and she tucked the baggy into her back pocket. "you look different. you do something with ya hair?"
"something like that, yeah." she grinned down at the boy and got up to walk out the backdoor of the freezer, allowing rue to walk in after her. at that moment, blazing rap music erupted from behind her as nate's obnoxious ass f150 pulled into the lot. her eye roll was involuntary, just a natural reaction to his presence. fez walked past her to the back of the store to help with the kegs. she looked down at the bottle of pineapple fanta still in her hand & rushed over to him, money in hand. "hey, fez, wait! i didn't pay for my drink yet."
he turned to her, that same little small smile on her face as he waved off the five dollar bill. "nah, pao, you good." you too cute to be charging, he wanted to say but he didn't.
she could feel nate burning a hole into the side of her head with his eyes as he exited the car but she ignored him. this time, she offered fez that same full tooth grin she usually only gave tray and not on no corny shit, but he could've sworn his heart jumped or something. she walked back towards the front, tucking her hair behind her ears and turning to look back at him just one more time before she left. he was still smiling back at her.
on the ride back home, her phone chimed with a little notification.
