Falling For Mr. Sundae | ✔

01. Think Before You Tweet

I'd never witnessed a drug deal before. At least not in person. I've only ever seen them on tv and in movies. Seeing one happen now just a few feet away from me had me thanking the Lord above that my father managed to get out of a neighborhood like this before I came into the picture.

The only reason I was here now was because of Raquel. She just had to go out of her way to go to this particularly sketchy gas station on the east side of the freeway.

I try my best not to judge others, but with not so subtle drug exchanges, poorly hidden guns in waist bands and women dressed in revealing clothes walking up to stranger's cars, I couldn't help it.

I'd rather die than live in this part of town full of druggies and welfare moms. It was bad enough I had to go to school with their kids. I took to Twitter to express these feelings, if only to distract myself from the copious amount of illegal activity going on just outside the car window.

Speaking of illegal activity, Kells slid into the driver's seat with her newly purchased alcohol. At just eighteen she was a few years shy of being able to by the stuff legally. I didn't care to point that out because I was just glad we were leaving.

"Out of all the places." I released a sigh of relief, leaning back into my seat.

"I need to replace some of the bottles in my parents stash and Otis doesn't card me," she said, flicking her braids over her shoulder.

My brows raised as I shot her a look. "Otis? You know the cashier by name?"

This shouldn't have surprised me. Despite growing up on the west side of the freeway--the nicer side--Kells was well versed on how things worked in the lower part of town. Unlike me she was a lot better at the no judging thing. She clicked with everyone and just had one of those personalities that people were drawn to. It also helped that she was gorgeous. With a perfectly round face and rich brown skin that didn't go mad at the first sign of a menstrual cycle. She could get anything she wanted just by batting her individually placed lashes.

"Otis and I are like this--" she crossed her fingers "--and he gives me free Swishers."

Cue the eye roll. "Ew." I was the only one of our friend group that didn't get high. Adam used to, but quit due to his jobs random drug checks and my nagging. I preferred my boyfriend to be fully present when we talked.

"Why am I friends with your square ass?"

"Because I'm the only one willing to bail your dumbass out of jail if necessary," I retorted as she turned onto the busy freeway.

She nodded in agreement. "You right."

Her playful mood quickly dissipated when we got stuck behind a semi. A string of curses flooded from her mouth as her road rage set in.

I tried to hid my laughter by gazing out of the window. It was getting dark, the sky a mix of purple and orange. From where we were I could see most of the neighborhood we just left. It didn't look so bad from here, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"I need some new swimsuits," I said, trying to take her mind of the slow moving truck in front of her.

"You still haven't gone shopping?" She gasped, her eyes going wide. "We're supposed to leave in a few days."

I was well aware of when we left for Jamaica. Kells had family down there and the trip would serve as our last hurrah before we went our separate ways for college.

"I've been busy with Adam."

Her lips twitched up into a smirk. "Define busy."

"Can you not?" I playfully smacked her shoulder, unable to hold back my embarrassed laughter. "We haven't done that yet."