“Y’all leave my man alone,” I defended.
“Oh, he’s your man now?” Rocky questioned.
“Shut up, Rocky,” I told him, rolling my eyes.
“He ain’t lying, though. Where y’all headed?” Rowdy asked.
Rocky and Russell looked alike, but Russell and Rowdy were damn near twins. The two of them only had the same father, and their mothers’ genes didn’t put up a fight at all.
“We’re headed toKustomize Your Kicksnow,” Russell told them.
“Noelani and I have been meaning to go back there. The first and only time we went, we got into an argument. It’s a good time, though,” Rowdy offered.
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Russell said as we headed toward his bike.
He gave me my helmet and made sure it was properly secured before putting on his. My father passed along his love for motorcycles to my sisters and me. Even though my parents were killed while out for a ride, it didn’t change my love for them.
Rue hated motorcycles for a long time after our parents’ death, and even seeing one on the road made her upset. Once she began dating Rocky, slowly but surely, her love for them returned.
I wrapped my arms around Russell’s torso as we rode through the streets of Onyx City. For the first time since I was fifteen, I felt genuine happiness deep in my soul. There were some things I continued to deal with and would soon seek professional help, but I was the happiest I’d been in a decade.
We arrived at our destination, and after getting off his bike, he helped me do the same. He secured our helmets, and we walked hand in hand into the establishment. I looked around and found it strange that it was completely empty, but I didn’t give it much thought.
“Hello. I’m Carmen, and I’ll be helping you with your experience today. You can place your things at this table, then I’ll take you to get your smock and choose your shoes and paint colors.”
“Thank you,” Russell and I said simultaneously.
We placed our things at the table she indicated in the center of the room, then followed her to get our supplies.
“I’m surprised this place is empty. It always looks busy when I drive by,” I whispered to Russell.
“There’s a lot going on in the city tonight,” he whispered back with a shrug.
We put on our smock, chose our shoes and paint supplies, and returned to our table. As we got settled, music began to play softly in the background. It was an R&B song from the nineties, and I hoped the music stayed in that era while we were here.
Carmen explained how the process worked, gave us different tools to assist us, showed us how to use them, then left us to it.
“Let’s make a bet,” Russell suggested.
“Okay.”
“If my shoes look better than yours, you have to sit on my face.”
I lifted my hands in surrender as I said, “You won, sir. That’s not a bet I want to win.”
“How about this? If your shoes look better than mine, you have to sit on my face. You can choose which bet you want to agree to.”
I nodded with a smile. “Those are some terms I can work with. You have a deal.”
We worked quietly for a while, focusing on customizing our shoes before he spoke again.
“We’ll have to give up our only extra bedroom if we are able to adopt Oaklyn.”
“I know. Eventually, we’ll need more room. Maybe we can add on to the suite.”
“That’s not a bad idea, but I was thinking we could do a little more than that.”
I was confused because what more could we do than add on to the suite?
