Black Boys Bloom Thorns First: Volume 1 (A Black Panther FanFic)

Black Boys Bloom Thorns First (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3

"Gonna put the windows down

Cuz it's getting hot in here

Yeah, I know you feel it now..."

starRo & Kyle Dion—"Time Off"

Califia parked her motorcycle in the guest spot of Bakari's apartment building carport. The new graduate housing he lived in was pretty sweet. Walking up the steps to his second-floor spot, she kept an eye out for the specific potted cactus plant that a spare key was supposed to be hidden under. She found it with no problem and let herself into the apartment.

She was pleasantly surprised to see how neat and clean the livingroom appeared. Bakari had always been a slob, so Califia knew that this pristine abode was the work of N'Jobu for sure. The second thing that caught her eye in the room was the bookshelf near the front entrance. The dark mahogany wood shelves were stuffed with books on International Law, finance, and geography. There were a few bestselling non-fiction books and some popular commercial fare taking up shelf space too. The Donald Goines novels on the bottom shelf had to be Bakari's. She couldn't imagine N'Jobu being into street lit.

Califia walked out onto the balcony to sit on the overstuffed gray leather couch that Bakari had owned since his freshman year of college. She plopped herself on the couch, leaned back and allowed the warm sun to bake her legs. She was wearing her favorite pair of olive –colored "skorts", a polyester short and skirt combo that made her feel like a tennis player. She was rocking a classic "Black Star" Hip-Hop t-shirt that belonged to her father and she was feeling pretty hipster-ish in her black motorcycle boots.

Closing her eyes, she stroked her freshly braided cornrows and waited for Bakari to show up. Today they were going to practice capoeira together, taking turns playing the berimbau while the other worked on their Ginga moves and then they would spar off together play fighting until they were exhausted. Which usually meant they would play for an hour, and then kick back and toke on a spliff and listen to new FDM music online.

She also had intense practices scheduled for the following week with the theater director at her school to prep for their winter dance concert. Today was going to be a gift, a bit of free time to let off stress from school and spend time doing a bit of self-care with a friend. After today, the next five weeks would be spent watching what she ate, lifting weights in the school gym, rehearsals, finishing papers, studying for tests, and trying to keep dick appointments with her sort-of boyfriend Xavier.

Xavier was getting on her nerves lately, so she wasn't sure if they would make it to Christmas. He wanted her to come to New Orleans with him to stay with his family for the holidays, but she really wanted to visit her mother in New Jersey. It had been a year since she'd seen her mother. Their relationship was under great strain lately, and she really wanted to patch things up. Califia was hoping that at some point later in the day she could talk to Bakari about her mom.

The sun felt amazing on her legs, all toasty and warm, but the black t-shirt was roasting her upper body, so she stood up to take it off revealing a cute lime-green tank top underneath. She was folding the t-shirt when she saw N'Jobu running towards the apartment unit through the open parking lot. He was shirtless, a thin blue backpack hugging his shoulders, with wrap-around sunglasses covering his eyes. The blue and black knee-length running shorts he wore hugged his muscular thighs. Califia found herself feeling a little flushed in the face.