"And you do?"
"Better than you. Trust me. He wants her bad. It’s all over his face."
“Is it?” I studied Rin. The bored expression was fully intact. Arms still crossed. Eyes half-lidded like he might fall asleep standing up.
But his gaze hadn't moved.
He was still watching Deja.
Hmmm.
Deja clapped her hands. "Alright y'all, party's over. Let's get this girl's hair together."
Nika stepped forward and looked at my head. "Girl, what is going on with these braids?”
“I did them.”
“I know you haven't been walking around this island with those plaits looking like you just walked off a movie filming a slave plantation or something like that."
“Something is wrong with you.” I touched my braids self-consciously. "My man likes these little braids."
Deja put her hands on her hips. "He must love you because that looks a hot mess. I can't believe you. And you know this is my hair—as much as I've been working on this hair for years, making sure it looked good and together, and you ain't even representing us right."
Deja stood behind me and ran her fingers through my hair. "What you want to do? You want to have red hair, blonde hair? You want to stick with black or brown? Are we doing goddess braids? Are we doing knotless? Like what you want, girl? We gotto do something really nice. We're going to have you together. And while I'm doing it, you have to tell me all about your man."
I sighed. "I don't even know. I just want to make sure my hair looks good. I don't really care."
"What do you mean you don't care?" Deja started. "You have to tell me something—"
“You pick, Deja,” Zo interrupted. "She’s got a lot on her mind."
I looked at him. He was watching me carefully. Like he could see the stress written all over my face.
Zo took a puff of his joint and blew out smoke. "You know better than she knows what to do with her hair."
“Alright then.” Deja nodded. “We’ll have some fun.”
Zo handed me the joint.
This time I decided to take it. Perhaps, the weed would calm my nerves.
I took it and inhaled. The smoke filled my lungs, warm and earthy, and I felt some of the tension in my shoulders ease.
Zo let out a long breath. "We're going to enjoy the movie and have fun."
“I’m surprised you’re so calm. You’re usually a mess.”
“Hiroko gave me opium. I’m surprised I’m even up right now.”
“Opium?”
“Yeah. She didn’t want me being frantic around you. She wanted me to keep the both of us calm.”
I smiled.
Thank you, Hiroko.
He leaned closer and whispered, "Kenji and everyone else is going to be okay."
