Hood Ornaments

Tori bounded down the attic steps expecting to see the boys camped out on the living room floor, but to her surprise, they weren’t there. She walked slowly into the kitchen and smiled softly before kissing Trudy on the cheek.

“Bout time you brought yoself downstairs. The boys came and left already,” Trudy said as she finished chopping up one of the left over hotlinks from the picnic.

Tori, confused, opened up the refrigerator to get orange juice and was stunned to see aluminum tins and plastic bowls full of food packed from top to bottom.

“Dag,” Tori said both amazed and disappointed. There is so much food left.”

Trudy chuckled, “Yeah and that was after I packed the cooler. I packed some of the salads, the fruit and veggies, water, crackers and cheese.”

“No meat?” Tori asked as she began looking for a juice to drink.

Trudy shook her head, “Unt uh. Well, I put a couple of links in there because I know you like em, but y’all don’t wanna eat cold burgers and barbeque chicken do y’all?

“Nah, you’re right Gram. But where did the boys go?”

“Malik and Tony went home to shower. Dell said something about getting the truck.”

“He’s borrowing Sticks’ truck?”

Trudy shrugged while she cracked open some eggs and whipped them in a bowl, “I dunno what that boy is doin. But he kept walkin in and out my kitchen talkin to somebody on the phone. Almost let one of those big green flies in. Sit down and eat these eggs and sausage so you’re not hungry on the way. Then you gotta go upstairs and pack.”

“Pack?”

“Yes, we went through this already. Plus you should take a couple of outfits in case you go somewhere after the beach.” Trudy said as she put the plate of food on the kitchen table.

“A couple of outfits? Grandma, we only goin for the day.”

“Yeah but I know how picky you are and how many times you change your clothes and hair before you even go to the store,” Trudy chuckled as she sat across from Tori to eat her breakfast.

Tori smiled to herself as she put the lavender ribbon in her hair. It matched her purple monochrome one-piece bathing suit and accented her sundress cover-up. She felt pretty and hopeful.

And this was another day to celebrate.

She heard the knock, the opening of her back door, and Dell talking to Trudy. She turned around swiftly and grabbed her beach bag, which was a little heavier thanks to Trudy’s advice. But upon turning back around, Tori heard Dell’s voice calling for her.

“C’mon girl, before traffic gets real bad!”

Then Tori caught her reflection in the mirror. She was smiling widely and her cheeks were rosy. She then felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

What was that about?

Before she ruined her day with her own thoughts, she again bounded down the stairs and saw Trudy handing Malik and Tony coolers before heading out.

The only thing whiter than that SUV was Dell’s smile when he saw Tori.

“You better had been gorgeous considering how long I had to wait for you to get back down the stairs.”

The butterflies were now swarming.

Tori pointed to the SUV in the driveway as Dell kissed her on her cheek. “Whose truck is?”

“Look I wasn’t down with taking the train. This way we can come and go as we want. Besides, Ms. Trudy kept adding more food to the coolers. Then she added another cooler”, Dell explained chuckling.

Trudy huffed. “Y’all will thank me when you get hungry on that beach.”

“Speaking of beach, can we go?” Dell said with his hand on the doorknob. Realizing his tone, he backed up and kissed Trudy on the cheek.

“Y’all have fun and be safe,” Trudy said while returning kisses from Dell and Tori.

He took Tori’s bag, opened the door for her, and Tori squealed as she went down the steps to hug Tony and Malik who were just then shutting the back of the truck.

That’s when she first noticed Tony wasn’t too receptive of her glee.

Dell opened the passenger side of the truck; Tori had to hold on to a handle bar to climb into the front seat. She then pressed the button to open the back doors for the crew.

Tori looked around the massive truck and felt dwarfed by it.

“Dell, where did you get this?”

“I rented it. I wanted to test drive it before buying one,” he answered as he carefully backed out of the driveway to head down the block.

“You’re thinkin bout buyin one of these Dell? What for? We live out here,” inquired Tony from the back seat.

“Yeah, but Tori is movin soon, and I wanted somethin to drive to go see her.”

“So you gonna buy a gas guzzlin SUV? You’d be better off just flyin with all the money you’d spend,” Tony said with a little more disdain in his voice than necessary.

This typically wouldn’t have bothered anyone until Tony added under his breath, “Stupid ass muthafucker.”

“Tone!” Tori turned around and glared at Tony.

“Yo Dell man, try out the stereo.” Malik spoke up trying to diffuse what could have been an uncomfortable situation.

“Nah, I wanna hear what Tone gotta say Leek.” Dell raised his eyebrow in the rearview mirror.

Tori put her hand on Dell’s knee, “Let it go,” she whispered.

“Yo, Tori. Why you always touchin on him?” Tony’s voice damn near squealed when he shouted that question.

“The fuck wrong with you Tone?” Malik asked.

“She supposed to be my woman. Ain’t that right Tori?” Tony asked is if he fully expected an answer.

“Yes, Tony.” Tori replied slightly exasperated, “But you need to stop. Everyone knows full and damn well what our roles are in this friendship.”

“If he did, you wouldn’t have gone through what you went through,” Tone mumbled.

“The fuck, Tone.” Malik said with disgust in his voice.

“So it’s my fault?” Dell yelled before he got on the on ramp to the highway.

“It was nobody’s fault,” Tori said without any emotion in her voice. The same tone of voice that she had the night she had the gun.

The night she was no longer a victim.

With that, Tori turned on the radio. Nobody by Keith Sweat filled the truck.

Except for the occasional shouts of approval for songs they all liked, Dell and Tony didn’t really say much to each other for most of the ride to the beach. It wasn’t until the first glimpses of the bay appeared that Tony spoke. He slapped the back of Tori’s seat.

“Babe, put down my window.”

She had a confused look on her face, “Why?”

“Because I want to smell the bay,” He answered emphatically.

“The bay?” Malik asked as Tori pressed the appropriate button to put down Tony’s window.

“Yeah man, when I was real little my grandmother would sometimes have an old friend of hers take us to the beach. He would roll down the window when he got to the bay and say, “Smell it? Smell it?”

“Tone,” Malik said quietly, “That wasn’t the bay you were smellin.”

“What was it then?” Tony asked sarcastically.

“The sewage system.”

“Get the fuck outta here, Leek.”

“I’m serious, Tone.”

“No shit?” Tony asked rhetorically.

“Actually, it was a whole buncha shit,” Malik said laughing, which caused everyone else to start laughing.

And everyone went back to normal by the time the ocean could be seen in the horizon sparkling in the sun.

For a little while anyway.