Victoria

Twenty five (part 1)

It's mid-November and Victoria and Kareem have been together for almost a year.

Kai and Kareem just had another birthday. Kai is 7, Kareem is 29.
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Victoria

"What time is your next one?"

Looking up from my phone where I was looking over my schedule for the next few days and to Vanessa, I squinted my eyes, wondering what she was up to.

She was dressed warm in a black, oversized Black by Popular Demand crewneck, some thick, black leggings since she was too uncomfortable to wear jeans, and some black Uggs. Surprisingly, Vanessa was wearing her real hair out after taking down all the damn braids that were in her head. I did a simple twist out to let her hair breathe for a little bit.

It was a cute and comfortable outfit, but she would probably have to wait almost a week to dress warm again. Houston weather is crazy as hell, meaning there was no definite way that the season would go. Just because we were freezing one day doesn't guarantee that we wouldn't be blasting the air conditioning the next day.

Back to the point.

Vanessa is never worried about what I want to eat, so I was curious as to why she was asking me what I wanted.

Getting up from my station chair, I gave her the side eye, "I was probably gonna go get some grilled tilapia from Pappadeaux or somethin."

"Oh ok," she replied, nodding with a crazy ass smile on her face.

"You buyin me lunch," I questioned causing her to tilt her head to the side and look at me like I'd told her she'd fucked up her contour.

"Girl, you funny," Vanessa spoke, typing away at her phone.

Laughing, I waved her off and started to clean and organize my station although there wasn't much to do.

The time was almost four and I'd just finished with a client who wanted her hair dyed burgundy and then a cute rod set. She was natural with some thick and long ass hair so I was running back and forth to the dryer, wondering when her hair was gonna be done. Luckily for the both of us, my client was one of the few who actually liked the dryer.

I didn't have my last one until a few hours after, and I was glad about that since I'd been at the shop since seven in the morning.

"How you feelin, love?" As I walked by her station, my little cousin Brynn spoke, causing me to grin.

As y'all probably already know, my family is a damn mess. If we're talking to each other, we are lucky enough to have a get together every so often before shit hits the fan again.

The constant on again-off again amongst the family, plus her own issues with her parents, caused Vanessa and me to lose contact with Brynn while she was finishing college in Michigan. It didn't help that she wasn't a fan of social media, giving us absolutely no way to contact her.

When she finally came back to Houston to get settled, Brynn needed a place to work, and she came to Victory Beauty Salon. We were happy to have her working with us.

"I'm good. What about you, Baby Brynn?"

"I'd be even better if y'all stopped calling me that. I'm 24, not 7 and a titty baby."