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THE HARTSFIELD-JACKSON ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT was flooded with people, which wasn't unexpected due to its reputation.
Sharife glanced around at the group he was in, taking stock of who else had volunteered to see Brandon off to the West Coast. Brandon and Kylah were at the front, leading the group and having a whispered conversation. Despite Brandon's oversized statue compared to hers, Kylah matched the length of his steps effortlessly.
Sharife and his twin brother, Omar were in the middle whilst Kylah's and Brandon's parents rounded out the back also having a separate conversation.
"Was it terminal B?" Brandon asked, turning his head over his shoulder to ask his mother.
"It's on your boarding pass, dumb ass," Kylah responded.
Kylah's mother immediately snapped her head up, "Kylah Marie! Language!"
Brandon nudged Kylah, "Yeah, language, booger."
"Shut up, ugly." Kylah sucked her teeth lightly and rolled her eyes as she readjusted her black off-the-shoulder t-shirt.
Sharife yawned a little as they continued walking then popped a stick of gum into his mouth in order to stay awake a little better.
He had spent most of yesterday and into the ungodly hours, practicing his jump shot and his ball-handling skills and when he wasn't doing that, Destiny was blowing up his phone with FaceTime.
Sharife was fucking exhausted but Brandon was his friend so he felt obligated to be there to send him off on his journey.
Brandon glanced back at Sharife suddenly then looked to his cousin, "Hold on, Ky."
"Aye, Rife. Lemme talk to you for a second." Brandon walked over to him as the rest of the group continued to walk forward in the brightly lit airport.
"Wassup?" Sharife questioned.
"I need you to watch over Kylah for me," The pair let their gazes drift over to Kylah a few feet away who was talking to Brandon's mother.
"Watch over her? She can't protect herself?" Sharife peeked at Kylah before turning back to Brandon.
Brandon hesitated, then dragged a hand down the lower half of his face, clearly deciding what to say, "She has a tendency to live in her head and she thinks the world is full of people like her, where everyone is kind and has good intentions. If you could just check in on her, make sure she's okay every once in a while... Nyree can only do so much, ya know?"
Sharife gazed at Kylah, taking in her big brown eyes and the innocence laced in her irises then nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I got you, bruh."
"Don't tell-." Brandon started in a pleading voice.
"Don't tell her," Sharife chuckled, "I got it. I won't."
"Nah, for real though. She'd kill me." Brandon smiles and pats Sharife's shoulder.
"BJ! Your gate. Come on." Kylah called to him, waving him over with her hand.
Brandon walked back to her as the group stopped in front of the correct terminal.
"I still can't believe you're going." Kylah's mother said wiping at her eyes.
"Don't cry auntie, please," Brandon replied in a dry tone.
"I can't help it. My favorite nephew is leaving." She sighed.
Brandon snickered, "Aight, I gotta go. Ky," Brandon jerked his head to a spot a few feet away.
The two walked over there and began to speak in hushed tones.
"Kylah's kinda fine," Omar rejoined him and commented with a smirk.
Sharife gave his brother an amused look, "Bruh, what?"
"She's bad." Omar shrugged.
"I guess. Just don't let Brandon hear you say that." Sharife snickered.
"You don't think so?"
"I mean... Brandon and I are friends. I'd feel weird about trying to look at her in that way. It's like if he tried to get with Te'a or sumn." Sharife shrugged
"How mad do you think Brandon would be if I tried to get with her?" Omar pondered.
"Uh, he would be pissed," Sharife and Omar watched as Kylah began to visibly tear up at whatever Brandon was saying to her.
"That's basically his little sister, he would prolly try to kill you. Actually no, not prolly. He would kill you."
Omar rolled his eyes as Sharife tried to see what Omar saw in Kylah. Granted, she was very pretty but Sharife valued his friendship with her cousin too much to not respectfully keep his distance.
She's not memorable.
Not my type.
"I guess I can kinda see the appeal... But still nah. Don't cross that line." Sharife warns.
"Now boarding the 11:45 flight to Los Angeles, California." A flight attendant's voice sounded over the nearest loudspeaker.
Brandon and Kylah embraced one last time then Brandon began to walk through the terminal to his gate.
And he was gone.
Kylah's mother wrapped an arm around Kylah's shoulders as she wiped her daughter's cheeks.
"Eh, I'll take my chances." Omar grinned before jogging slightly to join Kylah and her mother.
Sharife rolled his eyes as he watched his brother try and flirt with Kylah.
Suddenly, Sharife could see exactly what Brandon meant when they had conversed about Kylah's innocence.
She didn't see Omar's lustful eyes or the way his hand was inching towards her backside.
A normal girl would've cursed Omar out already but Kylah was silent.
Maybe I should stay out of it.
Then Omar's hand continued to inch down and down.
Sharife quickened his step until he could slip in between them, subtly removing his brother's hand.
Omar shot him an evil glare which Sharife promptly ignored.
Sharife had made a promise to Brandon and he had every intention of keeping it.
