Hood Ornaments

The concrete seemed to glimmer in the sun, Tori was reminded of home. The way the streets were beaten by the elements cracking under winter’s pressure made potholes everywhere. It was also odd because of the glimmering specks in the street Tori once thought were jewels, she now realized they were fragments of glass.

Broken glass.

Probably from liquor bottles.

Liquid courage for a city that had no hope.

But when Tori looked closer at this concrete path, she noticed the stones within it were glimmering. She smiled softly and concluded in her mind that they were stepping stones.

Stones that ascended towards her future.

With that in mind she went to Algebra class, Art History, and then English. The two hours before English were like torture. She raced to get there only to be disappointed because Michael wasn’t. She sighed heavily and walked towards the studio expecting another disappointment. But he was in fact there painting on a huge canvas. Tori’s pulse quickened and she felt herself tremble.

What is happening to me?

Am I in my feelings?

Why?

It’s gotta be because we’re around each other so much.

I have to get this in check.

Her cell phone vibrated. Because the studio was wide and had high ceilings, the vibration was louder than it would have been if she were anywhere else. Michael heard it, smirked to himself but didn’t turn around.

He just kept painting. She went back outside to take the call. It was Trudy. Tori apologized over and over while explaining that she wasn’t ignoring calls. She was busy trying to get acclimated while finishing her assignments and trying to find time to paint. Trudy accepted those excuses as long as Tori promised to call or text her once a day to let her know she was still alive. Before she went back into the studio, she texted Dell to let him know she was thinking about him and also to apologize for not contacting him sooner. This time when she entered the studio, Michael turned around and looked at her with genuine concern,

“Is everything alright?” He asked before he went back to dabbing at the canvass with a brush.

“Yeah, it was just my grandma. She wanted to make sure I am okay. I feel bad because I have been…”

“Busy. They will get used to it eventually. Wait until they come out here for Parents’ Day.”

Tori became instantly flush with embarrassment, “Parents Day?”

Michael chuckled, “Yeah, parents the people who created you.”

Without thinking Tori blurted out, “My parents are dead.” Then she peeked at Michael’s canvass, but he was so stunned by what she said about her parents that he was unintentionally blocking her view.

“Victoria, what did you just say?”

“You heard me. They’re dead. They’ve been dead since I was a little girl. I’m okay about it, but I don’t want to talk about it. Let me see the canvass.”

Michael was too stunned to reply so he simply moved out of the way so Tori could see. She could tell it was supposed to be her. Both her hair and body were wrapped in white. She almost looked like a swaddled or cocooned baby. Tori tilted her head to the side as she noticed a lavender “V” on each side of her cocoon.

“It’s not finished,” he said, “And I didn’t want you to see it until it was.”

Tori was still stunned by it. The way he painted her face was flawless. She looked almost like almond colored porcelain. She was so amazed that Michael saw her that beautiful, “Is that supposed to be me?”

“Michael chuckled again, “um yeah.”

Tori shook her head, “No, you’re playing. She is way too…”

“Don’t you dare say it.” Michael turned her body to face him and kissed her on the forehead, “Because this painting doesn’t come close to what I see when I look at you.”

Tori inhaled a gasp and took a step back. She was overcome with emotions she couldn’t deal with at that moment.

Time to start getting this in check.

She peered up at his afro and asked him, “You ever had your hair braided?”

They walked back to Tori’s room. She rummaged through her dresser drawers and found a rat tail comb, rubber bands and some hair grease. Then she sat on the foot of her bed and smiled up at Michael who appeared to be hesitant.

“Chu worried about?” Tori asked playfully.

“Lookin weird.”

Tori took slight offense to that statement, “What you don’t think I can braid? Shoot I can braid my own hair and I typically don’t need a mirror. So sit yo ass down. With all the hair on yo head this is gonna take a while.”

Michael chuckled, “That ain’t it Victoria.”

Tori began sorting out the rubber bands on the bed, “You ain’t tender headed is you?”

Michael chuckled again, “Are you. And no.”

Tori sucked her teeth. “Don’t correct me. What’s the problem then?”

“I don’t wanna look like a girl.”

Tori erupted in laughter. “I’m not gonna put rainbow colored ball balls at the ends Michael. They gonna look good. You like basketball?”

Michael nodded and then finally sat in between Tori’s legs. She sighed and began separating his hair.

“Bulls fan for life.”

“Ugh, whatever.”

“Please what are you are Nets fan?” When is the last time they ever won anything?”

Tori yanked his hair a teasingly, “I don’t know cuz I’m a Sixers fan.”

“But you’re not from Philly.”

“I am a Sixers fan.”

She tugged at Michael’s hair again, “Got it?”

“Tell me about your parents?” She asked him.

“Ugh, they are so boring.” He chided.

“No seriously, what do they do?” She said separating another huge part of his hair.

“Well my mother is a pediatric heart surgeon and my father is into real estate so he owns quite a bit of property downtown.”

“Really?” Tori asked interested and confused.

“No. But don’t pull my hair again, please.” Michael begged wincing.

Tori sighed, “What do they really do?”

“I wasn’t kidding about my father he does own quite a bit of real estate downtown, but he acquired that from his living being an attorney.”

“Business law?”

Michael gently bounced his head from side to side so he didn’t disturb Tori’s braiding rhythm, “Sort of. He does criminal law too.”

Tori sighed, “Assuming he is a defense attorney that would kind of be the same thing.”

“That would be a safe assumption,” Michael replied.

Tori was still combing, separating, and braiding. She also kept asking questions. Some because she was interested. Some because she was trying to avoid answering questions about her parents. She knew enough about the situation that she knew she had to lie about it. But she honestly didn’t know what kind of lie she could tell.

“And your mother?”

Michael kind of chuckled again, “Mama is colorful.

“You have so much hair. I hope you don’t have anything to do?”

He turned his head to look up at her. “Besides take you to dinner, no.” He was smiling up at her, and she blushed but pushed his head back so she can continue to braid.

“You can’t go out with your head lookin like this!!” She spat through a chuckle.”

“I have hats.” Michael said adamantly.

Tori just shook her head, “Big ass berets?”

“Crocheted ones at that!!”

“We gonna look like a couple of hippies,” she replied her fingers moving faster.

“I don’t care if you don’t.”

Tori shrugged, “I guess that’s cool.”

“Good let me know when you are hungry.”

“Okay.”

“Good, now can you let me know about your parents?”

Tori exhaled hard, “I didn’t know much my mother, except she was pretty. My grandma said she had Spanish in her.”

“What kind?”

“Of Spanish? You know what, I am not really sure. I’m gonna say Puerto Rican because back then in my neighborhood there were nothing but Blacks and Puerto Ricans. Now, the Mexicans have taken over. It doesn’t matter to me though. I don’t speak Spanish no how.”

“How did she die?” Michael asked softly.

“Drugs. She overdosed.” It was the first time Tori said those words out loud.

“Damn, I’m sorry.” Michael said with compassion.

That softened Tori up a little bit, “It’s okay, really. I didn’t know her or her people.”

“So your Dad raised you?”

Tori shook her head. “Nah, he was around longer than my Mom, but he died shortly after that. So my grandma raised me”

“Drugs too?”

“Nah he got trapped in a house fire.”

The room became silent again, but Tori continued to braid Michael’s hair while she thought about what she just told him and if any of that was true.

“You know what we need?” Tori said as she popped up off of her bed.

“Water?” Michael said as he grabbed her hand.

Tori chuckled, “Well that too, but…” she clicked open her laptop, pressed a few buttons and an eloquent piano solo trickled out of its speakers. She smiled and swooned a little bit which made Michael smile.

“You like classical?”

Tori opened up the mini fridge she had under her desk, pulled out two waters and handed one to Michael, “Yeah there’s not too much I don’t like.”

“Country?”

Tori wrinkled her nose, “You know what? I would say no, but some of it isn’t that bad.”

Michael opened his water and took a sip of it, “Death metal?”

Tori was swallowing her water so his question took her off guard and she began coughing. That made Michael laugh, “Put your arms up!”

Through coughs Tori looked at him quizzically, “What? Why?”

Michael got up and took Tori’s wrists and held her arms up in the air. She, at that point, was frowning at him, “What are you doing?”

He chuckled and sat back down, “You’re not coughing anymore are you?

Again Tori looked confused, “Was that like the hiccup maneuver?”

This time Michael starting coughing and he immediately put his arms up. “The what?”

Grinning she answered him, “When someone is hiccupping tell him to or her to prove it. For whatever reason, the shock of that question changes breathing pattern which then stop the hiccups.

Michael put his arms down and smiled back at her, “I would say so. But that would be a mind over matter thing. The arm thing is a physiological thing.”

“Really how so?”

“My granny said so.” Michael said with mock emphatic- ness. That made Tori burst out laughing, “Was she a surgeon too?”

Michael pretended to be angry, “Don’t chu talk about Granny. You don’t know me like that.”

“You ain’t bout that life,” Tori said with a playful, twisted smirk.

“Whatever yo, chu know about it?”

This caused Tori to pause and then sigh, “I know you need to back down on this floor so I can get your head finished.”

“You right,” Michael agreed and Tori resumed thanking God that she didn’t have to answer any more questions about her life.

For now anyway.