*comment for the next chapter
The brick buildings that made this little town what it was, was a blur as Jamie drove past them. Visit day, and she's still convinced that he's innocent. "why you so tense mami?" she asked with her thick accent. Pursing my lips I glanced at her a moment before sinking into the car seat. "...im not." i said, then there was an awkward silence. "I couldn't keep this in any longer," she said lowly catching my full attention. "you're nearly grown, and we're not related so I don't really care that much," she rambled for a moment making me more anxious. "what is it Jamie?" she glanced at me with a smirk, "you got yourself a little boyfriend!" Jamie looked at me briefly I could feel my face becoming heated, i didn't consider him my boyfriend yet. "yeah, he's not my boyfriend." i said quietly continuing to look out at the passing buildings. "...well i think so," Jamie started with a giggle "sev use to sneak into my house all the time! until it became an everyday thing and he didn't have to sneak anymore." she said so calmly, I could only think that she was trying to get the truth out of me. "he's cool, but when you start putting titles on things shit goes downhill." I tried to explain to her, but she only shook her head. "he's a cutie charls, and you smile when you're with him!" my face heated up as I thought about how I felt when he was around, but i didn't want to put a title on anything yet. "I'm afraid to say anything too lovey dovey around him because I'm scared it will scare him away from me you know?" i asked her while she seemed to agree with me, "like saying I love him or something, he might think I'm trying to rush things." I sighed looking down at my phone pretending to check the time. "rush things?" she bursted into laughter before fully glancing at me, "you can call me weird, but i know you two where closer in other areas, and you'll know what im talking about if you're catching what I'm throwing down Charlie." and I knew exactly what she meant, but I didn't want to get her into anymore stories. "yeah, but you can't tell Severy about any of this Jamie! he'll never trust me to be alone with a boy again." she again bursted into laughter, "you're soon to be 18 Charlie! literally next year girl!" she paused before stopping at a stoplight, "your seventeenth birthday is at the end of the month, and after that Sev can't tell you anything you don't want to hear." she turned the radio up before dancing to the first reggae song that played. She motioned me to dance with her, but I politely told her no. Slouching down in my seat I continued to stare at the passing buildings. Jamie was like an open book with me, and it made me feel warm inside sometimes, but I know that with her under my brothers belt loop I could never be extremely open with her.
"Are you staying in the car or?..." she trailed as we sat in the parking lot of the county's jail. I honestly didn't want to make conversation with Sev, but I knew that he would like to see me. I opened my door hoping that would answer her question. The light breeze made Jamie's hair hit my face as I walked behind her into the building, she had a small smile on her face opposite of me. "How much time do they give you to speak?" i asked her not looking her in the face. "...um, I'm sure it's like ten minutes or so, but I'm not that positive charls," she looked me in the face before opening the doors "I'm not forcing you to come in girl, I'll even give you the keys to the jeep so you can listen to music or whatever you do." the sun caused my eyes to squint slightly as looked at her, "or you could give me a few bucks so I can get a snack at the mart across the street." i slyly grinned at her. Jamie then let go of one of the double doors before pursing her lips at me, "here child," she sighed a bit before letting out a small giggle. "my purse is under the drivers seat, get the five dollar bill in my bill holder, but no more than that Charlie! money's tight." she laughed handing me the keys, "scream as loud as you can if anyone tries to fuck with you, just hurry up." she disappeared into the doors of the county jail leaving me there.
I took in a breath before stepping off sidewalk of the building heading to the car. The handle of the car door almost felt stuck as I turned the key. I then tried jiggling and rough pulling still nothing work fast enough. I was beginning to think this was a sign that I should be visiting my brother until finally the car door popped open. Relived I sat in the drivers seat searching Jamie's purse for the money that I honestly didn't even need I just wanted to get away from here.
I neatly folded the money placing it inside of my front jeans pocket. I grabbed my phone from the dashboard sliding it in my back pocket before finally heading to the mart. I could feel my nose turning cold from the harsh wind that hit my face. I picked up my pace to the mart in hopes that i would get warmer, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. As I entered the little mart the smell of fresh bread hit my nose instantly, the smell brought me to a warm place. "hey ma'am...are you okay?" a very petite lady asked me at with a very concerning look plastered across her face. I nodded my head throwing her a confused look before stepping off, I figured it was because I stood at the front of the mart smelling bread for awhile. there were so many things to choose from, that I went with anxiousness and grabbed the first thing I seen which was a very small bag of flaming fries, and a little buggie juice. "...that's not good for you." i snapped my head the way the voice came from to see a very tall, muscular white guy with tan skin. He flashed me a tiny grin before chuckling the silence away removing a strand of hair from his face, "sorry...I'm Severy's friend Gr-" he hushed as I quickly interrupted him, "good, my brothers in jail for whatever the fuck he was doing at the court, and I want no affiliation with that shit." i started to walk off to only to only be halted by his firm arm that was abruptly placed in front of me, "woah," he said his forehead wrinkled with obvious confusion, "you think I'm affiliated with that illegal shit that got your brother locked up, but I'm not... I'm too young to get caught up like that." he moved his arm glancing down at me briefly grabbing a tea from the marts fridge behind us. "...I guess I'm sorry, I just have to be careful y'know? it's easy to get caught up nowadays," I looked up at him awaiting a response, but he only nodded "so what...Sev got his boys checking up on me or something? how do you even know me?" I sucked in a breath of air trying to release some of my tense posture. "No, not checking up or anything just 'watching out' he talked about you all the time at the court, saying how good of a girl you were, but I know nobody my age is an angel." he grinned at me before running his fingers through the hair the fell in his face things still weren't adding up. "...but how did you know I was Charlie? like...does he show me off or something?" I asked feeling warm inside, he shook his head no at me "he just showed a picture of you to everyone at the court who seemed to be around your age like Titan, Kez...me too," he chuckled, "the rest of them dudes at the court don't care what relationship you have with Sev, they'll still say some very vulgar shit." he looked down slightly shaking his head as I raised my eyebrows completely understanding every word coming out of his mouth. "you are seventeen right?" he asked me curiously, "no, not yet, but at the end of the month I will be...I'm guessing you're seventeen though...right?" he nodded "yup, turned seventeen at the beginning of the year." I seen him glance out the window of the mart "this is a small town, and I've never met you." he nodded his head agreeing with me, "I know, I live with my dad around this part of town, you and Severy live further away from the busier parts of town closer to the court where my sister lives." "sister? you should stay with her sometimes! it's boring, and there's only one other person my age that lives in my nieghborhood." i giggled a little causing him to let out a small laugh, "yeah I will," he looked out of the window again before looking back down at me. "ok, now that we are familiar I'm Gray, but I have to get going my ride looks impatient, I'm suppose to be paying gas, and we're suppose to be dropping her boyfriend off or whatever." he chuckled "I'm suppose to be getting a snack, but..." I trailed hinting some sarcasm he briefly looked down at me chuckling before heading to the counter.
