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THE BASS IN SHARIFE'S CAR WAS CAUSING THE INTERIOR TO TREMOR.
Dior by Pop Smoke was playing at full volume as Sharife drove home from dinner with the teammates on his basketball team.
He passed small businesses, restaurants, and pedestrians as he drove through the city of Atlanta.
The sun was setting, creating a tangerine and blueberry-like glow in the sky.
The navy blue duffle bag with Sharife's high school name printed on top with graphic letters was in the passenger seat of Sharife's car.
"When I walk in the spot, thirty on me, buy out the club, niggas know that I'm paid," Sharife rapped softly along to the song as his eyes dropped down to the gas gauge behind the steering wheel.
The arrow was now firmly pointing to the second bar away from the empty tank symbol.
A few miles behind him was a Shell gas station that Sharife regularly visited and Sharife quickly made the U-Turn to pull up to a mustard yellow-colored gas pump.
Sharife got out and put the gas pump into the entrance of his car's fuel tank when the sound of someone slamming their car door shut boisterously caught his attention.
When he looked over, Sharife spotted Kylah sitting by a red Kia Optima, her hand on her forehead, a telltale sign that she was stressed. Sharife immediately forgot about the gas pump and walked over to Kylah who was dressed in a simple black hoodie, ripped jeans, and her box braids covered by an olive green bandana.
"You okay?" Sharife asked as he sat next to her on the stoop.
Kylah looked over to him, an expression of misery etched on her skull, her eyes red from crying. Her hands were now attached to the backpack near her feet.
All Sharife wanted to do was embrace Kylah, wipe her tears, and do whatever he needed to do to make her feel better.
But he reined himself in and settled for simply listening.
"My car broke down and my phone is about to die," Kylah rubbed her left eye, "I was gonna call Brandon but then I realized he's not here, and then I... I just kinda got overwhelmed. I don't know who to call with this stuff anymore. I'm so used to running to him with everything."
"What about your friend? Uh, Nylah?"
"Nyree? She doesn't have a car. And now my phone is dead." Kylah pressed the power button on her iPhone to show a dead battery symbol.
