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liked by ayeyoitsayo, diorr, brandonboston & 189,966 others

sleepy gup

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oneinamillion !

drip always clean

rockstar shit

liked by jaygup, bronny, mikey & 22,331 others

overgrown

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she makes me want dreads lmao

the future Mrs James

- NO!

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she's only four." Joshua could hear Ayoluwa's vexation in her voice.

Joshua finished unwrapping the gauze on his foot then gazed at where she was standing on the deck through the window.

"Grandma agrees with me! It's two versus one! She likes the camp! She just said so!" Ayoluwa yelled to her phone.

"Jamal's mom's house is not better! Let her be a fucking kid! Me being gone shouldn't mean that it's a free for all." Ayoluwa's face and neck was flushed red from the exertion of yelling so loud.

"I have it handled! Just stay away from her!" Ayoluwa snapped then hung up.

Joshua rose to join her outside, "Are you okay, Palmer?"

Ayoluwa gave him an agitated glance, "Just my sister being her normal selfish self."

Joshua leaned his arms on the deck's ledge, "Care to elaborate?"

Ayoluwa started to hum a song that Joshua couldn't place, "It's such a long story. I don't even know where to begin."

"I mean... I have time." He shrugged.

Ayoluwa stopped humming, "That's... True. Okay, you know Imani, right?"

Joshua hesitated then nodded.

Truth be told, he hadn't had a lot of interactions with the older girl due to their age difference and Imani never being home.

"Her and Jamal, that's her boyfriend, refuse to act like they're parents. Lauryn, my niece-."

"Wait, the little girl I saw you carrying in a couple weeks ago?"

Ayoluwa nodded and Joshua furrowed his brows, "I thought that was your daughter."

Ayoluwa paused then burst out laughing, "You thought that...? You thought I got pregnant at fourteen?"

Joshua shrugged as Ayoluwa continued to giggle loudly.

"Whew, that's funny as hell. Don't you think you would've seen me pregnant in high school?"

Joshua mulled over her words, "I'm just so used to thinking the worst about you, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that..." Ayoluwa replied in a soft tone, "Um, anyway, Lauryn, she's four. I'm here and my grandma is busy running the restaurant, needs a place to stay during the day, right?"

Joshua nodded.

"My lovely sister," Ayoluwa rolled her eyes, "Thought it would be a good idea to threaten the camp counselor because Imani wasn't on the list of people I gave the camp that could pick her up. They're talking about possibly banning Lauryn because of it. And it's only the second day!"

Ayoluwa said something in a different language that made Joshua give her a strange expression, "What language is that?"

"Patois. I'm Caribbean," Ayoluwa explained.

"Wow, never would've guessed," Joshua said in a sarcastic tone as he playfully flicked two of her locs.

Ayoluwa chuckled, "I have to call the camp tomorrow and beg for them not to kick Lauryn out."

"I don't remember Imani being so..." Joshua trailed off, unable to find the right word.

"Rude? Spiteful? Irresponsible? That's because she wasn't before." Ayoluwa folded in her left arm towards her body, as the sunset gave them orange light.

"Then what happened? If you don't mind me asking."

Ayoluwa sighed, her eyes on the sky and the lake, "Well, you know how my mom passed eighth grade summer?"

Once again, Joshua nodded, prompting Ayoluwa to continue, "That's around the same time that Imani met Jamal, got pregnant and somehow I don't know, she picked up this mindset that the only thing that matters is him. Their daughter and everyone else be damned. So now I'm raising her."

"Have you tried talking to her about her behavior?"

Ayoluwa let out a dry chuckle, "Yeah, that ship sailed about four years ago. I'm not wasting my breath on it. I'm just gonna keep raising her."

"What about custody?" Joshua asked.

"My friend Quincy, his mom is a lawyer and she basically told me that I had little to zero chance of sole custody. Even gave me the percentage and everything. Anything you're about to list as a solution, guarantee that I've tried it."

The sky had turned a dusty pink and gold, only highlighting Ayoluwa's skin and her light brown locs.

Joshua coughed, "Maybe your dad could step in. Try and help out."

"He's in Barbados still, he doesn't like living in the states." Ayoluwa shrugged.

Neon green flashes of light came from a swarm of lightning bugs that were dispersed in the air.

"Ooh!" Ayoluwa ran off the deck, barefooted, onto the green grass.

She attempted to catch one with both hands, jumping up with no success.

Joshua shook his head with a playful smile then came down the deck stairs himself to the backyard.

A lightning bug flew by Joshua's ear and he quickly but gently clamped his hands around the insect.

"Palmer," Joshua gestured for Ayoluwa to come closer with his head.

Once she was close enough, Joshua opened his hands enough for her to peek inside.

Ayoluwa's face immediately grew a grin as she stared down at the shiny bug and Joshua couldn't help but to grin at her facial expression.

Then he shook the smile off of his face.

What the fuck am I doing?

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