Chapter 10: Wear Flowers in Your Hair

Cesar's POV:

"What's going on?"

Cesar quickly raked his eyes across CJ's sculpted chest and abs. He felt the heat of Pitbull's eyes upon him and winced at their burning rage. 'I'm not gonna get stuck between mi hermano and this thick-headed pendejo. Hasta luego. I'm going driving.' Without a word to either CJ or Pitbull, the racing king hopped into his Savanna, cranked it up, and drove down the main street of Angel Pine.

Six hours later, Cesar found himself at the Pay 'n' Spray in Dillimore. Without the option to go to Los Santos, the Hispanic drove to the one place he felt most comfortable, a detailing shop. An autumn sunset approached over the hills as the painters finished the last touches on the gold flames streaking down the cherry red side panels of the car. He sat on the concrete wall outside the detail shop, eating a sandwich as he waited.

His phone rang. "Cesar, it's me."

"'Sup, CJ?"

"Get Kendl and meet me at the garage on the waste grounds in Doherty."

Cesar's normally whirring mind suddenly went blank. It wasn't exactly the first conversation he expected to have with Carl after he stormed out. "Kendl?"

"Yeah, Ceese. My sister?" Carl let out a deep, throaty cough. "What the hell, Ceese? You high or somethin'?"

"No, hermano. It's just…." Carl snickered loudly, and Cesar heard a man's voice in the background mumble something. "Que pasa?"

"De nada….Whoa! I just spoke Spanish! What'd you put into this bud, Truth? I'm baked like a…like a…."

'CJ's high? A man always changes when he's high. Creo, Carl's never touched that stuff, so it's gonna be even stronger on him.' "Alright, homes. I'll get Kendl and meet you in Doherty. What about Pitbull?"

"What? Oh. Yeah. Him too, if he wants to come."

Cesar hung up the phone. His stomach had knotted with dread. 'I'm about to really fuck up some kinda way. Either this is gonna go really bad, seeing Kendl again, or she's gonna be really pissed when Pitbull comes to San Fierro with us. Gotta be a man about it, either way.'

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

'Kendl better be home. It's almost nine on a Thursday night.'

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

'It don't matter what she said. We ain't over. We ain't never gonna be over.'

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

'Why are all the lights out? Is she home? Where the fuck is she?'

Cesar heard the rustle of a paper bag behind him and watched, entranced, as Kendl entered the courtyard carrying a paper sack filled with groceries. Her lean biceps glistened in the street lights as she strained to hoist the bag to the stairs. The lights caressed her brown braids, kissed her mocha skin, and flattered her body in a blue halter top and denim jeans.

The Latino jogged down the stairs to meet Kendl and lifted the bag from her arms. "Oh, thank….Cesar, what are you doing here?"

"Didn't I always tell you to be aware of your surroundings?" His response was more bitter than he had intended, and Kendl's hands fastened to her hips as she prepared to launch into a tirade. "Sorry. I'm just protective of you, mi corazon."

"I don't need to be protected by you, Cesar." She started to take her groceries back, but Cesar wrapped his arms around the sack.

"No matter what you say, I'm still a man, and you still a woman. Mi madre would turn over in her grave if she knew I didn't carry a woman's groceries."

"Fine, whatever, I'm too tired to argue with you anyway." Kendl reached into her pink leather Bobo purse and took out her keys. "You can come in, but you ain't stayin'."

Cesar followed Kendl up the stairs and into the apartment. Kendl had decorated the limited space with lots of pink, blue, and green, which Cesar knew were her favorite colors. Pink curtains hung beneath a blue and green banner of Greenglass College. Her coffee table had a soft pink doily covering it, and the worn-out blue sofa had been improved with the addition of half a dozen pink pillows. The entire apartment possessed a spotlessness Cesar wished he could achieve in his home with CJ and Pitbull.

Kendl took the grocery bag from Cesar's hand and sauntered into the kitchen, which was separated from the living room by a heavy blue curtain. "Thank you for helping me with the groceries," Kendl said, returning with a cup of water and motioning for Cesar to sit down, "but what are you doing here, Cesar? I told you we were over."

"CJ wants us to meet him at a garage in Doherty."

"You mean something went down again? Out here, in the country?" Cesar nodded solemnly. "I cannot believe my big brother is such a screw-up!" Kendl threw her hands into the air in frustration and began pacing.

"Chill, mi corazon." Cesar stood up and placed a steadying hand on Kendl's shoulder. She gave it a dirty look, but her lack of resistance encouraged the Hispanic to pull her closer. "Your brother is a man, just like me. You gotta trust in what he's doing. He's trying to take care of business, keep you and Sweet safe."

Kendl rolled her eyes at him in feigned indignation. But Cesar's arms were around her, even though they weren't pressed closely together, and she did not pull away. "You right, Cesar. I gotta look out for that fool 'cause he's liable to get himself fucked up in a city like San Fierro. I just...hate all this moving around bullshi. I'm tryin' to get my life together, too."

"I know, I know, mi bonita." Cesar drew her closer, and when her head rested against his chest, Kendl rested there for a few seconds, a few hours, an eternity. Just the sensation of her head resting on his chest was succor for the bullet wound in his shoulder, for the unease he felt around Pitbull, and for his own apprehensions about fleeing to San Fierro.

Kendl pulled back, but there was no sign of regret or anger in her face. "Come on, Cesar. I'll make us some coffee for the road."

In the course of an hour together, they drank coffee, joked, laughed, and connected like the two old friends they were. Kendl packed some of her clothes into a suitcase, placed a phone call to her boss' office, and let Cesar store her suitcase in the trunk of his Savanna. She rode beside him to San Fierro, and even though they hadn't discussed it, Cesar felt confident that she was his girl once again. 'Just like old times,' he thought as he steered his way through the Panopticon.

He was so elated to be at her side once again that he forgot to call Pitbull before they reached San Fierro.

Author's Note: Alright! Enough with the slow-moving plot already! This story is about to get really heated, it's going down in San Fierro in the next eight chapters!