“Who all did you say were coming again?” I asked Roxy as I hung upside-down on my bed with my legs folded in a pretzel position.
“Just you and some of my friends from school,” She responded into the receiver. “Don’t worry Fee, they’re all really cool.”
Roxy was attempting to convince me to come to a sleepover at her house with some of her friends tonight.
I sighed as I played with my curly ponytail. “I don’t know Roxy; I mean…I’m not that good with strangers.”
“But you were good with me!” She enthusiastically responded.
I chuckled. “That sounded a bit dirty-minded.”
I could practically feel her rolling her eyes at me through the phone. “It wasn’t meant to be; your mind is just always in the gutter.”
“Says the girl whose favorite pastime is to blab to me about how great sex is with Kyle,” I scoffed.
“In my defense, it’s too great to not to blab about it.”
My nose scrunched in disgust at her boldness on the topic. “Moving right along!”
“Yes, back to our original topic.” She said. “Please Fee, this will be our first sleepover! I’m only inviting three of my other friends who are all just like me.”
I thought hard about her statement. Well if they’re all like Roxy then maybe they won’t be that bad; I doubt Roxy is the type to make friends with bitches. But there was still one crucial problem.
“What about your brother?” I asked softly.
It had been about a week since my fateful encounter with Roman Knox. My chest still tightened when I thought of him. Stop being a drama queen Fee, he barely said five sentences to you!”
“Not a problem!” She reassured. “He doesn’t even live with us anymore! He’s got his own place and won’t have any reason to show up.”
I bit my bottom lip as I sat up on my bed. “Are you sure Roxy? He freaks me out a bit.”
“Don’t worry Fee, I got you!” She confidently stated. “It’s just going to be you, me, and the girls…and my parents of course.”
I sighed as I mulled over the idea one last time before I decided to agree. “Alright then, I’m in.”
“Yay!” She squealed. “You’re going to have such a great time Fi-Fi! We’ll watch scary movies, play Just Dance, talk about boys, do each other’s nails and hair, talk about boys, bake cupcakes, talk about boys!”
“When you say talk about boys, you mean talk about Kyle right?” I grinned.
“He’s the only boy I want to talk about,” She laughed. “We can even try to find you a man.”
“Oh please,” I rolled my eyes sky high. “Good luck with that!”
“I really don’t understand how you don’t realize just how fine you are girl!” She enthused. “If I wasn’t so in love with Kyle, I would totally try to date you.”
I laughed at her ever amusing brazenness. “Thanks Roxy, I really appreciate that. It’s nice to know that someone out there will.”
“Stop.” Her tone turned serious.
“Stop what?”
“Stop with all the negativity!” She exasperated. “You are a strong, intelligent, gorgeous woman with a banging body and a Beyoncé booty! Stop acting as if guys don’t want to date you because I’ve seen the looks you get when we go out honey, you don’t turn heads, you BREAK NECKS!”
I felt my face heat up at Roxy’s mini rant. “Beyoncé booty? Really?”
“Is that all you took from my speech?” She deadpanned. “And yes Beyoncé booty because your ass is pretty damn fat girl! You thicc!”
“Alright I’m done! I am done with this conversation Roxy,” I said quickly as I tried to get the attention off of me, or my ass I should say.
She laughed. “I’m serious though Fee, stop with the negative thinking or else I’ll whoop your ass!”
“Yeah, yeah I got it,” I rolled my eyes in playful annoyance.
“Good,” She chirped. “Oh and don’t forget to bring your ballet clothing and shoes when you come tonight!”
“What? Why?” My face scrunched in disgust.
“What do you mean why?” She questioned sarcastically. “So that we can practice Sunday morning!”
She has got to be kidding. I was staying at her house tonight, which is Saturday, she’ll probably have me up all night, then she expects me to wake up at the ass crack of dawn on Sunday to practice? She’s lost her damn mind.
“You seem to be confused.” I stated evenly. “I don’t do Sunday practices, it’s my free day. My one free day of the week Roxy! I’m not giving that up.”
“Practice makes perfect Fee,” She clipped back. “And if you want to get a part in Giselle then you should practice some more so that you’ll have a better chance.”
That’s the thing, I don’t care if I get a role or not in that stupid play.
“That’s not enough motivation for me.” I shrugged.
“Just pack your ballet clothes Fee.” She sighed.
“It’s a no from me.”
“Fee,” She said in a warning tone.
“I’m sorry, the cellular customer you have dialed has either turned off their cellphone or is out of range, if you hang up-”
“FEE!”
“I’M NOT BRINGNING MY DAMN BALLET CLOTHES!”
“YES YOU ARE!” She shot back.
“HELL NO I’M NOT!”
“Alright, fine” She serenely stated before I heard movement on the other end of the line. What was she doing? “I’m coming to pick you up right now and pack your ballet clothes for you!”
“You wouldn’t dare,” My left eyebrow twitched.
“Oh yeah?” She challenged as she dangled her keys near the receiver. “You hear that? That’s me, heading towards my car to come and pick you up.”
“You can pick me up but you aren’t bringing my ballet things! I won’t let you into my house.”
“Oh please,” She scoffed. “Who says I need you to open the door? Your grandmother loves me!”
Damn she’s right! Grandma had taking a liking to Roxy, always stating that she reminded her of herself when she was younger. Another thing she’s one upped me on.
“Roxy, I’m serious you better not-”
“I’m sorry, I cellular customer you’ve dialled is about to drive through a tunnel -PSHHH- She won’t able to –PSHHH- properly hear your –PSHHH- call!” She quickly said before hanging up.
Why that little! “Roxy!”
~
“Thanks so much Mr. G, I’ll have her home by tomorrow afternoon!” Roxy beamed at my father. “Just enough time for her to get ready for school Monday morning.”
Staying true to her word, Roxy had driven over to my home before I could’ve even finished packing and like she said, she literally held me down while she packed my ballet clothes into my bag. I didn’t even see which leotard she picked out!
“No problem Roxy,” My father smiled back at her. “Who else did you say were going to be there?”
“Oh, just three of my other friends from school,” She said nonchalantly. “Their won’t be any boys or anything, and my parents will be there so we’ll have adult supervision all night!”
Grandma wasn’t home when Roxy had arrived, but my father was and she’d used her “oh so magical” charm to convince my father to let me spend the night. At this point, I didn’t even try to stop her because I knew I couldn’t. What Roxy wants, Roxy gets.
After hearing that their won’t be any boys, plus parental supervision, my dad had no reason to deny her. “Well then I hope you girls have a fun time! But remember to go to bed at a reasonable time!”
“Will do Mr. G!”
“Bye Fi-Fi!” My father enthusiastically waved as Roxy and I made our way over to her Mercedes Benz. “I love you, have a good time! Oh, did you remember to pack toiletries? And extra clothing because you never know what could happen-”
“Dad it’s just a sleepover, please stop acting as if I’m enlisting in the Marines.” I cut off his monologue as I rolled my eyes at him.
“But this is your first sleepover since elementary school Sweetie! This is a big moment for you.”
My face flamed as he said that embarrassing statement. “Yeah, Dad I love you too! Bye!”
I quickly clamored into the car and shut the door as Roxy slowly climbed in afterwards while giggling to herself. She kept giving my sly looks from the corner of her eyes during the car ride and I knew she was going to comment on what my father had said.
“So…First sleepover since elementary huh?”
“Hush!”
~
“Wow Roxy, what the hell do your parents do?” I asked in awe as I took in the gorgeous home interior in front of me. Damn, and I thought my house was nicely decorated! This was place was amazing!
The first thing I noticed was a large golden chandelier dangling from the ceiling with a myriad of expensive looking painting that hung on the beige colored walls. A lavish looking vase was too my left that looked like something from the mythical Greek era. Let me not forget to mention that classical musical was also playing from a stereo which gave this place even more elegant ambiance. Was this a home or a palace?
“Uh they’re into you know.... real estate, and that kind of stuffed,” She waved it off nonchalantly.
Well damn do they sell palaces?
“Roxy, is that you?” A feminine voice said from the room ahead of us.
“Yeah it is!” She called back. “And I brought my friend with me!”
“The one from ballet?” The voice questioned. Is that what I was known as from around here? Roxy’s friend from ballet?
“Yep,” Roxy called as she tugged on my hand. “Come on, they’re my parents.”
I gulped. Oh boy, please don’t let me say anything stupid or embarrassing!
For some strange reason, I always envisioned Roxy’s mother to look like one of those supermodels from the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, because Roxy herself was so gorgeous; she had to get that beauty from somewhere. But as I walked into the glamorous kitchen I was a little shocked at the woman who came to greet me.
“Hello, you must be Africa!” She beamed. “I’m Roxy’s mom!”
Small! Was the first thought that came into my head as I stared at Roxy’s mother with wide eyes. She was a very, petite woman who only reached my shoulders; and I was 5’3 myself, so she had to be around 4’11. Don’t get me wrong, she was still very beautiful. Her wavy, neck length red hair, high cheek bones and big blue eyes gave her a youthful appearance. It’s hard to imagine a woman this tiny gave birth to Roxy and Roman who were both very tall.
“Um, yes ma’am I am,” I politely responded as I bowed my head a bit. “It’s nice to meet you.” She may be small, but for some reason I felt a potent aura from this woman that compelled me to bow my head in capitulation.
“And you’re so pretty! I love your eyes!”
I blushed intensely at her compliment. “Thank you, Ma’am.”
Her smile reminded me so much of Roxy’s. “Oh please enough with that ‘ma’am’, you can just call me Rose.”
I fidgeted with my fingers. “Alright Ro-”
“Rose, whose scent is that? I don’t recognize it?” An authoritative sounding voice cut me off as it rounded another corridor behind the kitchen. Scent? What the fuck? A large, burly man with gray eyes and salt and pepper hair stared at me with narrowed eyes as he slowly walked towards us. He must be Roxy’s father.
Roxy and her mother’s eyes widened as they stared at the man in shock. “No Dad, this is my friend Africa! Remember I told you we were having a sleep over with the girls tonight?”
His eyes widened in realization as he turned to me. “Oh! You meant your hum-”
“HER FRIEND from ballet dear!” Rose quickly interrupted as she put hard emphasis on the word “ballet”.
“Oh yes, right!” The man said quickly. “Forgive me Africa, I’m becoming an old man.” He apologized.
“It’s fine, Mr. Knox.” I politely responded. Geez, and I thought Roxy’s mom had an intimidating aura. I could feel the power rolling off of this man; and in a strange way…it reminded me of Roman.
I don’t know how to describe it but the same vibe I’m getting from Roxy’s dad is the same I feel from Roman, just on a lesser scale. With Roman it feels more…carnal, but with this man it feels like a stern parental authority.
“Mr. Knox is my father!” He laughed heartily. “You’re a friend of Roxy’s, so you can call me Damien or Pops if you want!”
Yeah, it’s a no from me on the “Pops”. “Alright…Damien.”
Mrs. Knox clapped her hands together in delight as she grinned at us. “So girls, what have you got planned for tonight?”
Roxy’s face lit up. “Well, first I want to start off with-”
But the loud knocking on the door interrupted whatever she was about to say. “Oh, that must be the girls!” She said before running over the door.
I heard a loud girlish sque; and laughter as the door shut. Ok here goes nothing Africa! Don’t be weird, Don’t be weird, Don’t be weird! I repeated this mantra over and over to myself as I heard footsteps come closer towards the kitchen.
“Girls!” Roxy started as she gripped my arm and pulled me over, my eyes staying glued to the floor. “This is Africa!”
“The one from ballet right?”
Here we go again with that “ballet” comment. Why does it seem like that’s my label here?
Reluctantly, I peeked my eyes up to see three unfamiliar smiling faces. The first one was a tall, wavy-haired brunette whose hair fell just past her shoulders, she had a pair of mischievous looking brown eyes, sun-kissed skin and a wide grin plastered on her face. The other two were blondes; albeit the one in the middle had platinum colored hair while the other was more of a strawberry blond and green eyes. They looked pretty similar, but not identical. Fraternal twins, maybe?
But one thing that was identical between all of them was that they were all very pretty. What, do only beautiful people live in this place? I haven’t come across an average looking person yet!
“Hello,” I whispered meekly as I tried to control my racing heart. I was not good with meeting new people, especially gorgeous ones.
"I love your hair," the tall brunette said ignoring my greeting as she practically ran over to play with my hair. "It's so curly and gorgeous!"
"I know right!" Roxy enthused as she came over to my other side and stretched out a curly tendril. "Look how long it is when you stretch it out! It's almost to her butt!"
"Oh wow, that is really long!" The blondes came over to observe again.
“Uh, umm-” I stammered as I began to get flustered from all of the attention. I hate being like this. Why can’t I come up with something witty to say instead of just squeaking like a fool all of the time!
“Oh I’m so sorry!” The brunette apologized as she released my tendril and it bounced like a spring. “It must be very strange for a random stranger to suddenly play with your hair.”
I shook my head as my face heated up again. “No, no it’s fine.”
She smiled softly at me before holding out her hand. “I’m Blair, nice to meet you!”
The name suits her.
“Nice to meet you as well,” I softly smiled back as I shook her hand.
“And I’m Kenzie!” The platinum blonde introduced as she also shook my hand. “That one over there is Ashley.” She referred to the other blonde who gave me a small wave.
“Are you guys twins?” I asked the yellow-haired duo.
“I wish,” Ashley stated. “We’re cousins. Our mothers were identical twins so that’s why we look so much alike.”
“Oh,” I squeaked before looking back down at my feet.
“So you’re the shy type huh?” Blair asked as with a smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“She too shy!” Roxy answered for me as she rolled her eyes. “But underneath that, she has a fun personality. She just needs to get to know you better first.”
Geez thanks for making it seem like I’m some kind of dog!
“Not a problem,” Blair grinned again as she reached for my hand. “We’ve got you for the whole night Sweetie, we’re going to break you out of your shell.”
I could only gulp in anticipation as the rest of the girls giggled enthusiastically.
This was going to be a long night.
ns 172.68.245.5da2
