28. Wyn
Wyn
I had the easiest time making girl friends as an addict. I was so surprised at how many girls did hard drugs. Like, no they don’t smoke, and only drink champagne. But they’re also doing lines in the bathroom. Poking holes between their toes to feel good.
One particular girl I kept seeing at the studio and in the club.
She was really short, barely coming to my height in stiletto heels.
But she kept a nasty heel on, whether we were in the studio, or even going to breakfast. She also kept long, colorful curved nails, and jet black hair styled with Detroit layers that covered one of her eyes and flowed just past her shoulders.
Pandora Jones. She never took Sheisty’s last name when they married.
As she unzips the garment bag in the bedroom of my suite, a blonde streak peaks out of her feathered curls.
Her denim halter top is backless, showing the black wings she got tatted a few years back.
I smile as the memory replays in my mind’s eye.
We were so shitfaced, and ended up in a tattoo parlor.
Sheisty loved to call her Demon Dori, so she decided on intricate black wings to embody her nickname.
“Aight,” Dori quacks, blowing an obscene bubble in her gum before popping it with her tongue.
“You look like you gained some weight, but the material stretches. And I got some fire kitten heels to go with this purse. The look is like… Y2K almost. I brought some wigs, too. I ain’t Frankie but I can do a lil’ sumn. ”
She lays the outfit onto the bed then turns toward me, lowering her shades. Another reason for her nickname is from her almond-shaped eyes. Her irises are nearly black, and together with her warm brown complexion, she looks otherworldly.
Maybe if she wasn’t batshit crazy, she’d resemble a fairy instead of a demon.
“Can you give us the room?” Dori turns toward YT, who is sitting cross-legged on the floor by her charger.
She tilts her head. “No.”
“She’s not paying attention to us, Dori. Plus Grime knows her, so she’s cool.”
Dori blows another huge bubble in her gum before she shrugs. Taking off her glasses, she hangs one temple inside her shirt. A smile spreads on her red stained lips as she takes me in.
“Your husband said he dragged you to rehab, too,” I smirk.
Dori’s face balls up immediately, making me laugh. It’s been so many years and they both act like they hate each other.
“‘Dragged’ is an exaggeration. That nigga threatened to cut me off and divorce me if I kept hanging with Catalina, and didn’t go, so I went.
I could stop at any time, but it was a vacation away from his ass.
Soon as I got back I played with my lighters.
You saw his hair?” She grins, her cute gap showing as she wiggles her eyebrows.
“Oh! You like fire, too?” YT asks, perking up.
Dori folds her arms. “I thought you weren’t paying attention.”
“I wasn’t. You seemed boring, especially when Wyn told me you were married to the one with the chin tattoo. But I stand corrected.” YT shrugs.
Dori smiles, a genuine one since she loves any type of compliment. “Well, I’ll tell you all about how I met my husband while I get this wig together. Which one, Wynter Snow?”
There’s a blonde and a black one on the bed, and a ruddy orange one dangling from her nail. As soon as my eyes snap to it, she shakes it and squeals.
“I knew I picked right! Try on the clothes. Come on, Tall Bae!”
YT grunts as she stands and rushes past me to go into the bathroom. They close the door, muffling Dori’s animated voice as she launches into her favorite story to tell.
I peel off the hotel robe and let it fall to the floor.
Dori thought of everything, all different kinds of body butters and oils and shimmers on the dresser of the bedroom.
Technically, she’s head of A the statement piece is the top, definitely.
I’ve been seeing the designs all over social media; someone out of the city making fashions using bandana print.
I don’t really understand why this has picked up, since it’s not exactly innovative, but Dori’s always on top of the latest trends.
The top is a powder blue, the bandana print outlined in metallic silver and raised on the fabric. Styled like a bandeau, there’s a knot in the middle, the straps sewn together on the back, so I just pull it from my feet up until the starched cups of the top sit on my titties perfectly.
The kitten heels on the floor match perfectly with the top. My white painted toes, courtesy of the hotel salon, glide into the thongs.
As I turn toward the mirror, the bathroom door opens, Dori’s head peeking out and nodding appreciatively. “Yeah, the ginger bob is gonna go great with the blue. Put on the robe and get that ass in here, hot mama!”
Dori isn’t my regular hairstylist but she can still slay some hair.
Unlike the other wives of important men in the First Nations, she comes from very humble beginnings, and learned to be resourceful from an early age, like me.
I would say our lives mirror each other, now that I think about it. Even down to the volatile relationship.
I braid my hair down into the neatest braids I can in a short amount of time. Rico calls me, but I ignore the call and quickly text him that I’ll talk to him later.
He hearted the message I sent earlier about getting a show, but we haven’t spoken much today.
An errant thought about who he’s been around tries to form, but I bat it away instantly.
I’ve never, never in my life, been that type of jealous bitch.
Even when I was going back and forth with Set, it was more of a game than anything.
Auty would always try me over how I was acting, but she didn’t know all the shit Set would do whenever he heard of a nigga getting too close to me.
Damn. I miss my dawg.
But anyway, I refuse to even let my blood pressure rise because of Rico. Even if he is a ho. He has a broken nose and two black eyes; surely he’d have enough sense to not be up in a bitch’s face, speaking Spanish to them.
Right?!
“You good, Wyn?” YT asks, leaning into the mirror as her eyes zero in on me.
That’s when I notice my face is balled up, and my hand is shaking as I clutch my phone.
“Oop; I know that look. Cochise tell you about his damu princess? I hate her for you off GP, but from what I heard, I’m prolly gonna hang with her when you’re not around.”
Dori blows another bubble as she takes a section from the front of my hair and lays the wand on the lace to mold it to her liking.
“Nope. That look isn’t for Cochise. Only Rico can get Wyn that mad. You won’t let me talk to Autumn; let me talk to him instead.”
I cut my eyes to a grinning YT, before shaking my head slightly. “No talking to anyone on my behalf! And me and Cochise already spoke. I’m happy for him.”
“You better than me,” Dori scoffs, bumping the ends of the bob.
“I was never gonna be queen of East Kenton,” I chuckle. “No, I just had a random thought. Um… YT… how do you know Reem isn’t–”
“Reemie Pooh would never play with his life like that.” YT shakes her head vehemently, before grabbing one of the beauty blenders and the blush off the counter. When she tried for the foundation, I told her I wasn’t covering my freckles, which almost made her emotional.
“My ex was a cheater. But Reemie is not my ex, and thankfully, Reemie is so perfect that he reassures me whenever my mind begins to play tricks on me. But, in your case… Rico is your ex. How is that gonna work?”
“He’s not my current either.”
“Which ex is this? You gon’ bring him around? Cochise finna be sparse after his album comes out. That’s the deal he has with Chief.”
“Seeing Rico and Grimey go head to head is something I’d pay to see!” YT cackles.
“Nah,” Dori giggles, “Tripp is the one who you wanna see press this new nigga. They’re all protective of their Freckles cuz, but Tripp do not play about her at all!
He kicked Coach’s cane when he found out they were messing around!
All them jokes go out the window if he feel like someone’s finna try her. ”
My phone lights up, and of course it’s my G$ groupchat. Tripp says they’ll be at my show, with all of them blue hearting the message. I heart it as well, and go back to my text thread with Rico.
“Everyone will be fine because I am single.”
Dori takes off the band of my lace and grabs the spray to melt it. “You sound just like me when some shit finna pop off,” she cackles, spraying some onto her finger. “He coming tonight?”
I just shrug, over the conversation. It’s not my girls; I figured YT and Dori would mesh well. It’s the images of Rico fucking other women swirling around in my brain over and over that’s fucking up the vibes. Usually, to get in the zone, I have a little help. Help that is now obsolete.
“YT, can you hand me that gum? And can we turn on some of my songs? I bomb this shit and Sheisty said I’m done.”
Dori puts pressure on my forehead with her finger as she dabs more spray onto my hairline. “I mean, I guess you should believe that so you kill it tonight, but you already know Shaka don’t know how to cut no one off. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
We giggle some more before the beginning notes of one of my earlier tracks begins to fill the bathroom.