Through the Cracks - Cairo Sweet X Pip Fitz-Amobi

Chapter 4

POV: Cairo Sweet

Cairo wasn’t used to caring this much.

She was used to being detached, to keeping her distance and letting people come to her. But with Pippa, everything felt different. Every day, she found herself thinking about her more, wondering what Pippa was doing, whether she was still thinking about their conversation. Cairo had learned a lot about control over the years—how to manipulate situations, how to stay in the driver’s seat. But Pippa was unraveling all of that without even realizing it.

It was a few days later when Cairo finally decided to do something about it.

She had spent enough time lingering on the outskirts of Pippa's life, watching from the sidelines. It was time to take the next step, to push the boundaries just a little further.

The opportunity came one late afternoon as Cairo was walking across campus. The air was crisp with the early signs of autumn, leaves crunching under her feet as she strolled past the student common areas.

She wasn’t planning on running into Pippa, but the universe had a funny way of aligning things.

Pippa was sitting alone at one of the picnic tables near the library, her notebook open in front of her but her pen motionless. Her gaze was fixed on the pages, but Cairo could tell from the slight furrow in her brow that she wasn’t really focused on the words. She was somewhere else, lost in thought, perhaps still wrestling with the conversation they had shared a few days earlier.

Cairo hesitated for a moment, a rare flicker of uncertainty flashing through her mind. Was this the right time to approach her? Should she leave Pippa alone and give her space to figure things out?

But then again, Cairo had never been one for waiting.

With her usual confidence, she crossed the grassy area and dropped her bag onto the bench across from Pippa with a deliberate thud. Pippa’s head snapped up, her eyes narrowing the moment she saw Cairo.

“Do you mind?” Pippa asked, her tone cold and clipped.

“Not at all,” Cairo said smoothly, sitting down without waiting for an invitation.

Pippa sighed, clearly irritated. “I’m trying to work.”

“Doesn’t look like you’re getting much done,” Cairo remarked, glancing at the still-blank page in Pippa’s notebook.

Pippa’s hand tightened around her pen. “And what exactly do you want, Cairo?”

Cairo leaned back, her arms stretched out along the back of the bench, as if she had all the time in the world. “Maybe I’m just curious.”

Pippa’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she stared at Cairo for a long moment, as if trying to decide whether to engage or simply leave. In the end, it seemed her curiosity won out. She closed her notebook with a sharp snap and set her pen down.

“Curious about what?”

Cairo’s smirk softened into something more thoughtful, more serious. “You.”

Pippa’s eyes narrowed. “You keep saying that, but you don’t explain. What is it about me that has you so interested?”

Cairo shrugged, but there was a spark of something genuine behind her eyes. “Maybe I just think there’s more to you than you let on.”

Pippa frowned, clearly not expecting that answer. “Why do you care? You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

“You’re right,” Cairo said, her voice quieter now, less teasing. “I don’t know everything about you. But I know enough to see that you’re carrying something heavy. And I know what it’s like to carry that kind of weight.”