Cilia was happy that Peyton had texted her that night when she had did her first kill with Allele. So finally, a few days later Cilia had taken her up on her offer to hang out with the girls. Cilia had been avoiding Allele, Iris and Breeze like the plague the last couple of days. It was nothing against any of them, but she just wanted to be left alone for a while.
In the apartment she stayed in her room not really coming out to mingle with Iris, and sometimes even when she knocked Cilia stayed quiet, pretending like she wasn't there. When she saw Allele in the house she barely looked at him. She did she text Breeze like normal so he wouldn't notice anything up with her behavior. But she low key turned him down whenever he asked her to go somewhere always coming up with an excuse of being too busy.
Cilia was dressed in a black Nike cap which belonged to Allele with the white checkmark that sat in the middle of the hat. She had on the matching black Nike sweatpants and Snow White Nike low tops sneakers. A black choker was around her neck and her brown shoulder length hair were in two pigtails. She had decent length hair but it looked shorter than it actually was because the style was usually meant for longer hair. Her entire outfit made her look way younger than she actually was.
"Where we going?" Cilia asked the group of women as they walked down the block. The weather was starting to turn okay, in the 60's for the week. But it wouldn't last for long and would go back down to the 50's the following week. So all the girls were trying to enjoy it.
Cilia, Peyton, Laura, and Nia all walked down the block in a residential area.
"We're going to pick up another friend," Nia said, a small light blue compact mirror in her hand as she lightly dabbed brown powder on her face.
Cilia was gonna start calling Nia 'Cash' because this girl clearly had money. She had on silver sparkly Red Bottoms, dark denim $300 dollar Bape jeans and a Burberry sweater that cost a couple hundred. She stayed dressed down even when it wasn't that serious. She even had newly installed weave that fell straight down to her back that clearly cost someone's rent. She either had good money or her husband did. Cilia had never really asked.
"Going to pick up somebody?" Cilia repeated, looking over her shoulder at Nia who was trailing behind, trying to keep up as she did her makeup. Her wedding band gleamed in the sun reminding everyone that she was a taken woman.
"Yeah, we gotta pick up one more and then we can find something to do." Nia mumbled, finally putting her makeup brush back in the slot of her compact to check her face.
"Yeah Lia, don't be lazy," Peyton said, draping an arm around Cilia. Peyton's thick curly hair fell down to her back and she had on a denim jean jacket and a long floral dress. She made sure to wear long black stockings so her legs wouldn't be cold. It wasn't Summer and she wasn't trying to catch a cold. On her feet were blue and white Vans.
Cilia rolled her eyes, "I'm not being lazy, I just don't know where we're going..." Cilia mumbled, also looking at Peyton's ring that gleamed in the light. Cilia was glad Laura was there to remind her she wasn't the only unmarried one. Iris would be perfect for this group. She thought.
Cilia wasn't really with the meeting new people. She still didn't know these girls like that and they were going to pick up someone else. Cilia hoped they weren't going anywhere too fancy, she only had fifty bucks on her today. Even though they had ten thousand dollars, it was for Iris' operation, so money couldn't be used out of it.
"Maybe we could go to a movie or something," Laura suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds cool." Cilia quickly cosigned, knowing it was something she could afford.
The girls walked past a group of men that started hollering things at them and all the girls ignored them.
"Nia's type of guys." Laura joked, wearing a pair of skin tight H&M jeans with a halter top. A thick sweater was on top of her shirt but she left it open. Her leather boots were knee high and had little heels at the bottom that clicked against the pavement as she walked.
"Bitch you wish, my man is my only type." She spoke confidently.
"Yeah we know, calm down." Laura joked, rolling her eyes.
"That's how you know that dick good!" Peyton said. "Got her feigning. She don't even look at other dudes when we go out."
"Hell yeah." Nia said, "I only got eyes for my baby."
Cilia lightly smiled. As they walked down the street she was starting to notice the familiarity of the place. They were around the same area she had ended up stabbing that teenage girl when she was fourteen.
"No seriously, where are we going?" Cilia asked. She actually knew how to get to that area from where they were. It was only a few blocks up.
The girls started laughing.
"See, she don't trust you hoes." Nia said.
The women stopped in front of an apartment complex making Cilia stop as well.
"Right here." Peyton said.
Cilia assumed they were waiting for the fifth party to show up, so she didn't ask why they stopped outside of an apartment complex. Nia's cellphone began ringing and she pulled it out her black leather oversized Gucci bag.
"Hey baby..." she answered, walking off.
Cilia assumed it was her husband from the title she answered the caller with. Nia kind of reminded her of Iris a bit. The type of female that stayed under her dude. She didn't know Nia to say if she had no other life besides her man but it seemed like that.
"So where are we going?" Peyton asked.
"Movies." Cilia said.
"I mean...it was just a suggestion, we don't have to go to the movies." Laura said.
"No, I want to." Cilia said. She was low key excited. She enjoyed that movie at Breeze's house the time she went and this time she was going to an actual theater.
"Alright," Laura sighed, "we're just waiting on this other diva."
The front door to the complex opened, and Ty'kerah stepped out greeting her girls. Ty'kerah had bone straight twenty two inch hair installed. Her hair looked just like Nia's, but Nia's was longer and much more expensive. Ty'kerah had on a red Nike sweatshirt with the big white check in the middle with the matching red Nike hat on her head also with the white checkmark. She had on gray sweatpants and black sneakers. She didn't wear makeup but she had on really shimmery lipgloss. Her and Cilia were dressed really similar except for the colors of their outfits and the choker Cilia wore.
Cilia slyly turned around like she was looking up the block in the opposite direction so nobody would see her roll her eyes. This bitch, she thought.
None of the girls had told Cilia they were coming to get Ty'kerah because they had sensed the tension at the restaurant last time. So they didn't want Cilia making something up about having something to do at home and run off if they mentioned the other person they came to get was Ty'kerah.
Ty'kerah greeted all her friends and blatantly ignored Cilia, just giving her a quick glance. It was clear from her facial expression she didn't know that she would be here either. Ty'kerah really didn't like this girl, there was something about her despite what Peyton thought. Ty'kerah wasn't stupid, she knew the girls thought she was jealous of Cilia because she was pretty; and Ty'kerah was insecure about her looks, she could admit that. But it was something way deeper about this girl she just couldn't put her finger on. Besides that, she was around her friends too much now. They didn't even know her like that.
"Where are we going?" Ty'kerah asked, only looking between her friends, ignoring Cilia.
All the girls gave each other a quick look and Peyton smirked in amusement. Ever since Ty'kerah got her face slashed when she was fifteen, she's been different ever since. Peyton and Ty'kerah have known each other since back then, but didn't go to the same school. Ty'kerah had her own set of troublemakers she use to hang out with.
Peyton and Ty'kerah met Laura and Nia two years later.
None of the girls were present for the situation Ty'kerah went through but they could imagine the toll it took on her. Especially since those same group of kids that she was there with, slowly stopped talking to her as she came out of the hospital. She still had contact with one of the people, but that didn't matter when most of them walked out on her.
Peyton did feel bad for her friend despite she bullied the girl. Ty'kerah told them the story and even though it was four against one, Peyton felt no fifteen year old should have had to walk around permanently scarred. Having to be subjected to staring, teasing, whispering, and pointing.
Ty'kerah was the hottest little thing on her block at one point, but ever since she got that scar, a lot of the same boys who tried to holler at her looked the other way or would literally hide when they saw her. It was torture for a girl that young. So when Ty'kerah was being a miserable bitch, the girls gave her a pass because they knew why.
"To the movies chica." Peyton announced.
Cilia was so irritated if the girls could tell she didn't even care. She knew Ty'kerah didn't like her and she was never in the business of trying to change someone's mind, so if Ty'kerah didn't like her, Cilia didn't like her either.
Ty'kerah nodded her head, the circle now awkwardly quiet. Her scar sat long and visible on her face, only partly covered by the flat hair that went down past her breasts.
The group began walking, this time with Cilia trailing in the back. Nia had finally gotten off her cellphone, but she was walking up ahead with the other girls. Cilia was not even feeling this shit anymore. She had no time for this broad and her eye rolls every time she looked at her. She would rather be anywhere else them to be here with this girl.
All that shit she was doing would be shit that would get her flipped in the pen and quick fast. Because that said you had a problem and that you wanted to fight, so all this little girl shit she was doing was extra.
Cilia had an inkling that this was the girl that she had slashed across the face when she was younger, but she couldn't tell. A lot of girls in the hood got slashed. Because a lot of them were in gangs or always trying to be tough and got rolled up on by people who were really about it. Just the other day she was on the train and saw a girl with a long keloid across her face and thought it was the same girl she had cut. Besides, Ty'kerah didn't seem to remember her. If she did, besides the little attitude she was pretty calm for someone who fucked her face up. Cilia knew if she remembered the person who cut her face open there would be way more problems then just eye rolling.
"I'm gonna meet you guys there," Cilia informed.
Peyton stopped and huffed loudly, rolling her brown eyes to the skies. "Cilia—"
"No I'm dead serious," She said truthfully, "my aunt lives around here and I wanted to say hi."
Cilia never told any of them that she was adopted and therefore didn't have any family, but they didn't need to know. It came in handy at times like this.
"I know where the theater is from here." Cilia said, she had seen it many times when she was a kid but obviously couldn't afford to go in.
Ty'kerah was already up the block with Laura. Nia shrugged and grabbed Peyton's arm as they walked up the block.
"See you there boo!" Peyton said behind her.
Cilia watched them walk for a while then turned in the opposite direction going up the block. She walked slowly, heading toward the place she had almost committed murder. Cilia could feel the lump in her throat as images of the blade entering the girl's flesh and blood flying everywhere came to her.
It was so vivid in her mind and she could remember it like it was yesterday. Cilia walked the few blocks, ignoring some of the men that looked at her as she walked by. She reached the block, looking up at the apartment her, Iris and Allele had been eating their snacks on when the group of kids had approached them. Even the stairs were still the same except for the little crack and brown stain on the last step, indicating it was rusting and turning old.
Cilia then looked at the spot police had slammed her on when they tackled her, but a car was parked in it. She looked up at it for a split second and saw it was a luxury vehicle. The hood was up and a man was working on the car with a few people on the block staring. The car was a 2016 Audi A6 and it was a shiny blue metallic color.
Cilia was close enough to hear the guy mumbling shit under his breath. He then pulled an earphone out his ear and readjusted it. He sucked his teeth, backing up from the car with his hands on his hips before he went back in the hood. He was either talking on the phone or to himself, frustrated that he couldn't find the problem with the car.
Cilia watched the car in awe as everyone else did. She would be lying if she said she was fascinated by it. She wasn't a gold digger, but she was intrigued by fancy things. She was human.
"Yo' what the fuck!" The dude suddenly yelled out in frustration, holding an old wrench in his hand.
Cilia giggled and so did another man she didn't notice before, posted up on a jeep that was parked in front of the Audi. She couldn't see his friend's face either because he was buried in his cellphone. "Nigga calm yo' stupid ass down."
Without turning around to look at his friend, the dude trying to fix the Audi kept going on. "Nigga you shut up. I'm really getting tired of this fucking car yo'. I shoulda stuck with the Corvette."
Cilia knew a lot about cars, she had learned about it in prison. She read magazines on it, news articles, and she studied car parts. But she didn't want to approach in case everyone watching would assume she was just trying to talk to him because of his car.
"It's not even the battery though...I checked the engine and the engine is leaking but the car is still working fine."
Cilia slowly walked up and pressed her hand on the battery. It was cool and she did a quick sweep of everything in the hood. She noticed the oil dipstick in the hood had a white milky substance around it. She nodded her head and walked around the car.
The two guys exchanged a look but none of them said anything as they watched the girl walk around the the back of the car. She bent down and saw a green liquid leaking from the engine. She raised back up "It's your head gasket." She said, when she looked at the two guys she nearly had a heart attack.
It was Tee and the guy with the brown curly hair from club Breeze. Cilia switched her eyes from the curly brown haired guy fixing his car to Tee who just stared back. Cilia didn't actually do anything that night, but she still felt her world spinning.
Tee suddenly smiled and slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Oohh! Lil' mama said it's the head gasket! Okay!" Tee said amped.
Cilia was slightly confused, does he know it's me? She said to herself. She did look super young. But the other guy was sure staring like he remembered.
He quickly snapped out of it, though. "It's my what?" He said looking at her like she was crazy.
Cilia cleared her throat and pointed, scratching the side of the cap on her head. "Your uh...your head gasket."
The guy walked around his car and approached her, and Cilia felt her breath drop. He was really tall. Six feet likely. It wasn't hot outside but she assumed he must have taken his real shirt off or something because he had on a black wife beater, black jeans and blue latex gloves that were covered in black oil. His brown curly top still managed to look perfect though.
"And how do you know that, you can't tell if a head gasket is fucked up from looking. A leak could be coming from anywhere." He spoke, amused by the girl.
Cilia bent down again and touched the engine and nearly broke her wrist how fast she pulled it back. "Well your engine is hot too, that's also a sign, and your oil is white. It had the same white substance around the oil stick in the hood."
She looked at him and he just stared back at her. Cilia cleared her throat and looked down at the ground but then turned back when she heard him speak.
"Your that girl from the club, right? The one that was with Tee." He was speaking really low, as if he didn't even want Tee to hear.
"Yeah...uh...does he remember me?" Cilia asked slickly, just to see if he was playing dumb.
"Nah, he was super drunk that night."
She nodded her head, "He just saw me downstairs about to get into a fight with some girl and he told me I could chill in upstairs with him. It was nothing more than that." She lied, waving the situation off with a hand. It wasn't really anything more, but she was hoping he wouldn't get the impression she was just a slut trying to finesse her way into V.I.P.
Cilia realized he didn't even give his name yet. And she was not pressed to know, so she didn't give her's either. Instead he just stared at her. His eyes were a hot chocolate brown and we're very tense. He licked his lips and she felt butterflies in her stomach.
"Can you get into your car?" She asked suddenly.
"My car?"
"Yeah, and turn your engine on."
Brown hair nodded his head and got inside, leaving the door open. He turned the ignition on and pressed his foot down on the gas.
"Harder." Cilia said backing away from behind the car.
He complied and cocaine white smoke came flying out of the exhaust.
"That's another sign of a blown head gasket! You need another one!" She yelled over the noise.
The guy took his foot off the gas and shut his engine off. Cilia felt her phone buzzing and pulled it out. She use to be embarrassed to take it out in front of people because it was an old Blackberry, but now she didn't really care. There were some people without a phone. She saw a message from Nia and opened it.
Nia - Girl the movie start in 15 mins! Tell your aunt bring her ass on too if she wanna come, shit!
Cilia smiled at the message and shook her head, putting her phone in her pocket. The guy looked at her curiously. "How old are you?"
"Twenty." She said.
He gave her an up and down look and even raised an eyebrow as if it was impossible. "Yeah, okay."
"What? I am." Cilia said, getting annoyed.
He looked at her and Cilia hastily pulled her lip in, bringing her tone down a notch. "Anyways, I gotta go." She said, my friends are—"
He nodded, sticking his hand out. "Nice to meet you."
Cilia took his hand and noticed a plain silver band on his middle finger. He was married. She didn't see him wearing it the night she saw him at the club. Or maybe he did have it on but she just didn't see it.
"Thanks for helping me with my car."
Cilia slowly nodded and pointed in the direction she came from. "A-alright, bye." She quickly scurried off and headed back in the direction she came in.
Cilia scoffed and rolled her eyes at herself, not even believing she had approached that guy in the first place. I need to go back to prison to learn how to be tough again, she thought. I'm getting too nice.