Black Queenz

Ch. 5-Fireworks

***Ra***

I'd always been scared of fireworks. In the summer when I was little, I'd convince myself that every pop was a firework and not a gunshot. But I'd wake up some mornings and find a neighbor dead. The lights from the cops would shine into my room red and blue, but I wanted to believe that they were just fireworks. I hated the Fourth of July.

"Rashaa, me and Tanya are gonna go to the store to pick up things for the cookout today," my dad told me. I was happy he was finally off work and he could spend some time with me for once, but the idea of a cookout didn't excite me. Everybody died in July.

"Fine," I replied from the safety of my room. I listened for the door to shut and the car to start and drive away. Once it did, I texted Osiris to come over. We'd only been official about two weeks since our first date, but we'd been spending even more time together. I was always at her place or she was at mine, and we were always kissing. She was so good at it that I'd wanna do more, but we were trying to go slow.

When Osiris rang the doorbell, I jumped out of my bed to let her in. I closed the door behind us and we kissed. She felt soft against me when we hugged and I noticed that her hair was getting long.

"You should let me braid you up," I suggested. She shrugged and held my hand as we went up to my room. "If you're tender-headed, I'll try to be gentle."

"I'm not a punk, Ra."

"I know you're not, so you should let me." When she sat on my bed, she pulled me down with her and wrapped her arms around me. She batted her long eyelashes to make me soften up, but I wasn't gonna budge just because my queen was so pretty. "So, will you let me or nah?"

She laughed and laid back on my bed. "If you want, then we can do that tomorrow."

"Today. I have a cookout I don't wanna go to and you can stay in with me."

"Sounds good," she muttered. Her eyes were closing and she had her hand tucked in the waistband of her basketball shorts.

"Are you falling asleep on me, Osiris?"

She yawned and pulled my purple blanket over herself even though my room felt like it was a thousand degrees and it was the middle of the summer.

"I'm not feeling good, Ra. I'm on my period and my head hurts. I came over cuz you asked and Dewan and them is smoking so it's hurting my head. Jus lemme sleep for like fifteen minutes."

"You want me to get you something?"

"Nah, I'mma jus close my eyes for a few minutes. Thanks, beautiful." She turned over and I kissed her cheek. After a few minutes, she was asleep and I stayed there beside her, watching TV.

"Rashaa, we're home, sweetie!" I heard Tanya call through the house. I must've fallen asleep with Osiris because I hadn't even heard them come in.

I gently shook Osiris, and she blinked her eyes sleepily. "What's wrong, Ra?"

"My parents are home, I don't know what to do."

"I'll sneak out," she said, starting to crawl over me. She was almost to the door, but I stopped her.

"Don't go, Osiris. I don't want you to."

"Then how are you gonna explain this away?"

I thought for a minute, but Osiris was still at my door, ready to sprint out as stealthily as she could. Tanya had called me again, and I could hear her footsteps approaching my room. The panic in both me and Osiris' eyes still hadn't lessened. As my door handle started to turn, Osiris gave up and sat on my bed beside me.