When The Sun Rises | ✔

31 | Black Cinderella

Chapter 31 | Black Cinderella

• • •

        "Girl, if we wasn't family and I wasn't straight as a laser, I would have to holla at you. Deadass."

        Xo stands behind me teasing my hair and pulling at my clothes. She adjusts the swathe of gold necklaces she insisted were necessary to accent the outfit and make it "pop." They scoop down the front of the plain white long-sleeve which she had paired with dark wash high-waisted skinny jeans.

        Looking myself over in the mirror mounted on the back of my closet door, I wiggle a finger into one of the small distressed patches moving along my thighs. The temperature had risen to the mid-sixties and given Xo a little leeway with my outfit.

        My hair is fluffed out around my face in wavy clumps – a product of three hours spent caged between Xo's thighs as she parted, blew out, and two-strand twisted my mane to perfection. Blinking at my reflection, I barely recognize the girl with curves and big hair and glossy lips grinning back at me.

        "Yo, I do not look like this on the regular. This is hella crazy." I bring a hand up to my forehead and push my hair back to marvel at the toothbrush voodoo she had performed on my edges, swooping and slicking them into their own language. "How you even get my edges to do all this? They neverrrr lay down like this when I try to do them."

        Coming up behind me, we lock eyes in the mirror as her eyebrows lift in a subtle wave. "YouTube, hoe. As much time as I spend on there, I'm a whole ass beautician in these streets. How you think I'm so nice with these wigs? Tuh."

        I give myself another once over, confidence rising as I drink in my appearance. But, the indulgence is cut short when Xo twirls me around by my shoulders and bends to grab the perfume bottle sticking out of her overnight bag.

        "Put your chin up."

        I do as she says and hold my hair back as she gives my neck a single spritz. She then takes a step back and sprays it in the air, grabbing my wrist to pull me through the falling mist. The scent filters through the room, flowery and with the faintest hint of strawberry.

        Dropping the bottle back into the bag, she drags her eyes from my head to my feet and snaps three times.

        "On mommas, I did that." She continues to look me up and down, a proud smirk on her lips. "I need to take a picture of this 'cause ba-bay this is a moment. You might not ever look this fine again."

        "Take a picture of this," I say, sticking up my middle finger. "You stay trying me."

        She ignores me, phone already plastered in front of her face as she snaps away, bending, and kneeling to find the right angle. Not satisfied with the lighting, she tugs on the string to open the blinds. The chime of the doorbell echoes through the house at the same moment that I notice the black truck parked in the driveway.

        A new kind of nerve bursts in my stomach when reality sets in that this thing is actually happening. Shaking my arms at my sides and reminding myself that it's just Vino, I step over to the door. Xo smacks my hand before it can make contact with the knob.

        "Aht aht. The hell you think you doing?"

        Reaching for a second time, I give her a confused look and mumble, "Going downstairs to open the door."