These are our People

Not About Blood, It's About Kin

Omar.

"Hey Julian... what's up with you and Kimmy?"

"I knew it!" He shouts turning on me.

"Who's Kimmy?"

"None of your business.." I say cutting Twinkie off from the back seat with a glare in the rear view mirror.

"Kim is the hot new girl that moved into Rosas old place." Julian explains still grinning. "Anyways your good bro. Kim is great but she has more of a little sister vibe than a shack her vibe for me. She's all yours."

"Hey! What if I want a chance?!" Twinki says the leaning forward between our seats.

"Twink don't make me hurt you." I say swatting at his head.

"There." Julian says leaning forward and pointing. "There's another one."

I look out and pull over. I cut the engine and step out, tossing the keys to Twinkie. He gets paint remover and the sponges from the trunk and then walk over. Another three red lines dripping paint are plastered on the back side of a stop sign, just like the one on the side of Chewy's school today.

"This makes 9 Omar. We gotta do something." Twinkie says as he drops the stuff next to us.

"We're taking it down Twink."

"No Omar! We need to confront them! We need to let them know that we ain't no punks!" He says getting in my face.

I grab him by the front of the shirt with two fists and lift him up a bit. "You want me to get our people killed?!" I shout at him and then throw him away from me. "No. We do this my way."

"Your way isn't working." Twinkie says and I send him a glare that says he needs to drop it.

After another hour of driving around and not finding anymore we make our way back to the apartments. I'm tired and it's almost midnight now. Chewy has got to be passed out. We turn through the gate to the quad area and a wave of relief runs through me as I see her. Kimmy is sitting on the top of the steps to the second floor looking down and waiting for us to get home. She's in a tank top and some small shorts and no shoes on, she's got to be freezing, but she's also never looked more beautiful.

She sees us and gasps a little as she launches herself down the steps and into Julian's arms. I scowl instantly.

"Are you ok?!" She says breaking away and looking him over.

"I'm fine Kim." He says with a smile and grabbing her shoulders to show her that he's fine. Then she's on me.

She tilts my head to the left and right and then runs her hands down my arms before grabbing the sides of my face. Her hands are freezing but feel great on the warming of my cheeks. For a second it's just us looking into each others eyes.

It feels weird.

A good weird.

Almost like.. home.

"Are you ok?" She asks me running her thumb over my cheeks.

"I'm fine Kimmy really." I say smiling at her slightly. She sighs and leans in to wrap her arms around my neck and I hold her close, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Are you sure?" She whispers into my neck. I just nod and kiss her neck lightly. I can feel her take a deep breath before her hands run through the hair at the bottom of my neck. "Promise?" She says.

I pull her away. "I promise. We're fine." I say holding her hands. Julian coughs with a smirk beside us and I watch as Kim blushes and pulls away from me. I send him a look and he backs off.