The Pride – page 14
“Look, I can’t help it if you’re tender-headed. Stop squirming and sit still or this braid is going to be all zigzag, and you ain’t Allen Iverson.” Regina put two fingers of each hand on either side of Xavari’s head and positioned it so she could finish the braid.
“What do you mean ‘what am I going to do’? What can I do?” Xavari squinted her eyes and hiked her shoulders up to her ears to try to lessen the pain of having her hair slowly pulled from her scalp into another cornrow.
“Quit squirming, Zee, or I’m going to leave your head half-done. Why do you do this every time? You’re the one who wants these tiny little cornrows, and you know what I have to do to make it look right. It wouldn’t hurt so bad if you let me make them a little bigger,” Regina said as she smiled behind Xavari’s back and pulled just a little harder to make Xavari squirm even more.
“Ow! I know you don’t have to pull that hard, girl! Regina, can we take a break? I feel like you’re going to pull my eyes into the back of my head,” Xavari asked with exasperation.
“Let me finish this one, and I’ll let you take a break.” Regina eased off the braid a bit. She finished it and put a faux cowry shell on the end.
“Whu! Cheese and crackers! How much more do you have to go?” Xavari felt around her head to see how much loose hair was left unbraided. She frowned when she realized Regina wasn’t even halfway done and her frown deepened when she looked over at the fan. It was just whirring away, making a lot of noise, but it wasn’t shooting out any cool air.
“Answer my question, little girl. I want to talk about this before your man gets home.” Regina spoke to Xavari over her shoulder as she washed the grease off her hands in the kitchen sink.
“Emmanuel doesn’t live here,” Xavari retorted.
“He has a key and you let him come and go as he pleases, so he lives here, even if it ain’t fulltime,” Regina shot back.
“Whatever. He didn’t say he was coming over, so I don’t expect to see him for a few days.” Xavari realized she was a little bitter about that.
“Girl, please, you don’t know when you’re going to see that man.” When Regina turned around from the sink, Xavari had her eyes closed and she was resting her head on her arms on the table. With excitement in her voice, Regina said, ”Oh, hey, Emmanuel.” Xavari whipped her head up from the table and looked behind her to view the empty door frame. Regina laughed.