Page 11 of Where There's Smoke…
My accessory needs were always satisfied thanks to the local jewelry shop, Harrison Jewels. I’d become one of the most loyal customers of the mother-daughter-owned business. All of the pieces were one of a kind and made in-house, and they were always worth the money I splurged.
“See you later tonight, Nori. Don’t eat all of your food at once,” I call out before exiting my apartment and locking the door behind me.
I jog down the stairs and slide into the driver’s seat of my truck. My phone started to ring as soon as I fastened my seatbelt, so I started the engine and answered it on the car’s speakers. Not even a few seconds later, my sister’s voice travels through the vehicle. If I weren’t fully awake, I would be now since she was always so damn loud, even at eight in the morning.
“Good morningggg, lovely sister of mine!” she sings, and I shake my head as I pull out onto the road.
“I know Lovey and Junior dread being woken up every morning by that loud voice of yours,” I say, referring to my niece and nephew. She cusses me out, and I laugh. “Not you cussin’ early in the morning.”
“You stay playing with me, Phee. I’m a changed woman, but you make me want to cut you every other day,” she replies, and I laugh harder.
“Changed woman my ass. You’re still the same wild ass Rae. Only difference is that you have kids now.”
“Are you calling me a hoe, Phoenix?”
`“You know that’s not what I meant with your annoying ass,” I huff, shaking my head. She laughs at my reaction. “Bruh, what do you want this early in the morning? And it better not be no shit about a blind date. I told you I’m done with all that.”
“Bitch, I get it!” she says. “Damn, you so ungrateful.” I roll my eyes but don’t reply. “Anyway, I called to let you know that I needed to reschedule your retwist appointment. Senior surprised me and is taking me and the kids on a week-long vacation to Disney for the twins’ birthday. I had no idea!”
“Aww, okay, I love that for y’all,” I smile as I cruise down the street that leads to the main highway. I was headed to the mall because I knew that I’d be able to find a bunch of stuff I needed. “I hope y’all have fun. My hair can wait another week. You know I ain’t the complaining type, especially because you do my shit for free.”
She laughs but agrees. My sister has always been talented when it came to doing hair and makeup. She’d built up a client list at the age of fourteen and even had most of the same ones all these years later. When she was old enough to go to school for her passion, she worked hard as hell and graduated with honors. She spent a few years working at some high-end shops in the city, but when she met Senior, he promised to do everything in his power to get her a shop of her own. He kept his word, and about five years ago, she openedRae’s Hair Salon. She was successful, and I was proud as hell of her.
“Well, let me get going. We have to leave in the next thirty minutes to get on the road to the airport,” she tells me. “I love you, big sis.”
“I love you, too, Rae. Have fun and kiss my niece and nephew for me,” I say. “Drive safe, be safe, and take pictures for me. Oh, and tell the twins I’ll have their gifts when they return.”
We say our goodbyes, and I disconnect the call before turning on my playlist of driving music. I had about 30 minutes before I got to my destination. This morning, I called Angel and told her that I would be out of town running errands. She was sad that she wouldn’t see me until later, but I promised her I had a surprise, and she quickly perked up.
After half an hour of driving, I pull into the mall's parking lot and make my way inside. It was pretty packed since it was a sunny summer Friday morning. There were a few stores that I needed to stop at, so I pulled out my phone and checked the list I’d pulled together. I wasn’t trying to spend more than an hour in this place because I hated how crowded it got around lunchtime.
“Excuse me,” I say after entering a popular shop that sells cute figurines and plushies. The teen in the store’s uniform looks at me with a smile. I showed her the picture on my phone. “Hi, um, I’m buying some things for my girlfriend. Well, I mean, she’s not technically my girlfriend yet, but I plan on officially asking her today. Anyway, do y’all have any of these little fruit bear figurines?”
She looks at the picture and nods. “Yep, we just got some in yesterday!” she replies and tells me to follow her. She leads me to a wall decorated with all the new releases. She points to the collection I waslooking for. “These are the ones. Do you know if she wanted a specific one?”
“Uh, no, I was just gonna get one of each,” I admit, and she looks at me with a surprised expression. She smiles again and nods. “She likes cute things and mentioned that this was a collection she was waiting to buy.”
“Wow, she’s lucky,” she chuckles as she places one of each of the six figurines in a small shopping basket. “These are like $40 each.”
“FORTY DOLLARS?!” I exclaim in mock surprise.
“Uh, yeah, did you want me to put a few back?” she asks nervously. I chuckle, shaking my head.
“Love, that price does not scare me,” I admit. She looks relieved as she nods. “You must be too young to get that reference. My bad.”
“Oh, yeah, I don’t know that one,” she chuckles before turning back to me. “Did you need anything else, or was this all?”
I look around the store and tap my chin before my eyes land on the ugliest fucking plushies I’ve ever seen in my life. I point at them. “What the hell are those?”
“Ah,” she giggles. “Those are Ugly Friends. They’re trending currently for being cute and ugly at the same time.”
“I just know Angel would love one of them stupid ass things,” I mumble to myself. I sigh, shaking my head. “Okay, I’ll take one and that’s it.”
“Any specific one?” she asks as we walk over to where they are. My face scrunches up as I look at them.
“Girl, I don’t know,” I groan. “Which one is the least popular one?”
“Theleastpopular?” she asks, confused. “Not themostpopular?”
