When me and Neshia walked up to the register, we were greeted by the biggest, fakest blonde hair we had ever seen and that was just the cashier’s eyebrows, we couldn’t keep a straight faces long enough to get all the way up to the hair on the women’s head.

“what ya‘ll need”, the chick behind the counter snapped wit an extra heavy drawl.

“we paying boo”, I snapped, same drawl, did we all do that?

“yeah so just do us separate ok”, Neshia snapped, same snap, same drawl, guess so.

“ok ya’ll”, the cashier rolled off with some more drawl.

“thank you”, I retorted.

“ derrick, man looky here”, an empty voice called from by the cashier’s station.

“dang Ro, fineness all in the building”, a louder empty voice called from even closer.

“excuse me beautiful”, the second empty voice said looking to me, “can I get at you for a minute?”

“just did boo”, I answered stepping around loud mouth and his partner, Neshia following me.

“can I at least get ya name”, the loud mouth asked as I walked out the store cracking up wit my best friend.

I yelled back, “come on over here and get it”, as me and Neshia rounded the door way and went out of sight We expected that like all other dudes that didn’t get play right away Loud Mouth Boy and the Partner were gonna just leave us alone, no such luck.

Me and Neshia walked to the bus stop, not even thinking about Loud Mouth Boy or the Partner, when they ran up on us, literally running, full sprint, jumping over stuff running, and the bus wasn’t even coming.

“so”, Loud Mouth Boy said between trying to breathe and trying to stand up straight, “can we get them names?”

“yeah”, the Partner wheezed, “how bout them names?”

Right now is when I'll have to admit that me and Neshia wasn’t the finest sisters at the mall on any given Saturday, as a matter of fact, we wasn’t the finest sisters at the mall on any given Tuesday. Don’t get me wrong I’m five foot nine and a half and Neshia's like five three, I got dark chocolate all up the skin and real, real dark eyes and she’s a lil caramel sweetie with dark eyes but you know lighter than mine but anyway we just ain’t the sisters that dudes run through the mall trying to find, especially not fine dudes like this..

“ok”, Neshia laughed, full out laughing, in their faces, “ya’ll dun earned some sweet victory today so ima tell ya’ll. Her name is Deondra and I’m Zyneshia.”

“Dang”, Loud Mouth Boy started, “Deondra.”

“and Zyneshia”, the Partner added.

“Yeah like two ghetto goddesses huh Ro”, Loud Mouth Boy said giving the Partner a push.

“Ay man shouldn’t we introduce ourselves to the ladies”, the Partner said smiling at Neshia and making her laugh.

“You right Ro. ”. Loud Mouth Boy started but before he could finish the city bus rolled up.

“Look dudes this is our bus, if you know ya way back you can ride with us”, I said turning to the bus.

“You see that Ro”, Loud Mouth Boy asked his boy as he stepped on the bus step after me, “you act like a gentlemen, and the ladies allow you to escor them them on public transit.”

Now that made even me laugh which got to Loud Mouth Boy, like he was waiting for me to crack a smile and then he had me. “Ya know these seats ain’t big enough for four so how bout Deondra you sit wit one boy and I’ll sit wit the other”, this brilliant idea was from Neshia of course as she fell into the seat across from me with the Partner and I slid in on the inside of the seat I was gonna share with Loud Mouth Boy.

“So ya’ll boyfriends ain’t gone be mad about ya’ll ridin wit us”, the Partner said getting dap from his boy.

“please dude, if we had boys we wouldn‘t be riding the bus wit ya‘ll trust”, I retorted I knew I obviously had to keep these boys in check cause Neshia wasn‘t gonna be any help.

“ok, ok I see how it is, but riddle me this, what school ya‘ll go to”, Loud Mouth Boy.

“the only school worth going to homie, Independence”, me.

“well we will this year”, Neshia.

“aw yeah, that means you gone need some fine brothers to get ya‘ll through your year”, the Partner, another dap.

“we might but I can‘t vouch for how much. We go family thata back us boy.” me, snapping.

“so what ya‘ll fighting folks” Loud Mouth Boy, acting scared.

“nawl pimping we just saying don‘t try to get in the space too much”, Neshia, with all seriousness.

That set all of us laughing so for the rest of the ride we just sat cracking jokes and telling stories and riddling the meaning of life until me and Neshia’s bus stop. we almost passed the street too except I saw Neshia’s mama step out in the corner of my eye.

“Neshia” I called to her from around Loud Mouth Boy, I still hadn’t learned his name, “Neshia”, I pulled the string to stop the bus, “ Neshia”, she finally looked at me but she went back to her conversation, “Neshia. Neshia. Neshia!”

“what D? what could you possibly want?” Neshia’s snapped like I interrupted her finding out what came first, the chicken or the egg.

“Neshia your mother is outside the bus window, but I don’t want to interrupt you and … him so don‘t even worry about it”, I said adding neck and eye roll and dipping into some sarcasm thata make a nun wanna slap you.

“oh dang ‘scuse me. Dang D, let‘s go. Bye ya‘ll”, Neshia jumped over the Partner, still didn‘t know his name either, as she pushed toward the bus exit.

“yeah so now you wanna leave?”, I laughed teasing Neshia off her over protective mama, “Bye… people, see you when we see you.”

For the second time I walked off forgetting about them two. As soon as me and Neshia were off the bus though we saw them running after us again.

“What‘s up mama”, Neshia said to her mama ignoring the boys she didn’t even know the names of.

“yeah hey mama. How you doing”, I added trying to keep her eyes off the bus or more importantly the fools running from it.

“who are they”, Neshia’s mama asked pointing her extra long acrylic golden rhinestone nails at our friends from the bus, and the bus stop, and the mall who were walking our way.

“who, them ”, I started turning my head like I was looking at the boys but really sending Neshia visual what-we-gone-do signals.

Neshia sent me I-don’t-even-know signals as she turned back to her mama and said, “man, they ain’t nobody. We don‘t even know their names mama.”

Not entirely not true; they definitely were not nobodies looking extra good in their black hoodies, dark, baggy, denim jeans, and fresh air forces with rainbow laces, with their black stunna shades sitting on identical one half and zero fades ooh and, man, let me quit, like I was saying we didn’t know their names so it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“excuse us ma‘am”, Loud Mouth Boy and the Partner had reached us and left their gangster growls on hold.

“yes”, Neshia’s mama stared then down, cutting her eyes with her hands on the hips of her gold velvet sweat pants, one black waxed and tweezed eyebrow arched up and her electric pink lips in an off left angry pout, did she always wear so many colors.

“we had the pleasure of escorting your girls on the bus and noticed they left their purses and shopping bags on it when they exited”, Loud Mouth Boy of course did all the talking while extracting my stuff from behind his back, the Partner doing the same with Neshia‘s.

They handed us our stuff and reached over the hug me and Neshia each in his turn. When Loud Mouth Boy had me stuck in a bear trap of a hug he set his gangster back on.

“Holla back Deondra”, he whispered, “hit up ya boy derrick Adams when you get yourself together. Our offer for school still stands.”

With that they both pulled off across the street to another bus stop. I looked to find Neshia looking just like her mama: eyebrow raised, hands on hip, one knee popped, leaning back. You would think they were twins if Mrs. Johnson wasn’t a foot taller and two inches wider than her mini-me.

“so they ain‘t nobody huh”, Mrs. Johnson asked wit Neshia’s drawl and snap as she walked into her tiny Gold and Pearl Beauty Salon, no that’s the name not just the color scheme. Neshia followed her mama silently, head down, holding her bags and purse with a hidden smile on her face like she had heard good news she didn’t want anyone else to know I followed Neshia, head down, silently with my bags in tow.

During the summer me and Neshia worked in her mama’s beauty shop so we could feed our need for Tims and Baby Phat but since school starts in a couple days we were doing a lot more need feeding than floor sweeping and nail filling. When we came in the salon the door chimes sounded and most of the ladies looked up to see who was coming in. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Friday a lot of the women there were getting set up to go out to the clubs and they couldn’t afford a man coming and seeing them so far past their best. Mrs. Johnson didn’t look up however she was standing over somebody in one of the golden waiting chairs whispering as loudly as she could, “Yes Brenda, two gang bangers in black hoods and fat pants. Looked like they hadn’t had any real food in a year Brenda. All wearing them big sunglasses, hugging on our girls, faking all like they got manners but I saw straight through ‘em. I don’t know what them girls was thinking sitting with them on the bus. Brenda people we know could have seen our girls with gangsters. Oh my God, I am heart broken Brenda. Talk to your daughters, I can’t even look at them right now.” With that she turned and walked away to see to a perm she was setting.

Mrs. Johnson was the queen of drama when there was somebody around to hear her rant, today the lucky audience to the soap opera that was becoming my life was an entire beauty shop of people I was never gonna get away from or hear the end of this from.

“it is not as bad as it sounds mama”, Neshia whined to my mama as she slipped in the seat next to her. My mama is Neshia’s God mama and hers is mine that means if my mama and dada die I’m Neshia’s sister for real cause her parent would take me in and vice versa. That is the only reason we get away with calling both mamas our mama.

“yeah moms, Neshia’s right. Her mama is doing the absolute most right now. Derrick and, and…” I started.

“and Roland”, Neshia felt the need to cut me off and inserting the Partner’s name.

“and Roland was just riding with us. They was being funny with Auntie Trina you know we talked about school the whole bus ride, they go to Independence so you know we was just talking.”

“uh huh, well it better have just been talking. I don‘t need either of ya‘ll ending up like Trina did in high school”, my mama said.

When Mrs. Johnson a.k.a. Auntie Trina was in high school she fell hard for this football player and after a game he got her pregnant then told her he didn’t care a snot about her and she could do anything she wanted with the baby cause he wasn’t gone have nothing to do with it. My auntie had the baby and raised him and he is the best big brother to me and Neshia. the dude even tried to come back in to Auntie Trina’s life after he snapped his neck and could never play football again but she met Uncle Gary and really didn’t need him by that point, so it all worked out.

“so mama your not mad at us”, Neshia was a big old kiss up face.

“well that depends“, my mama said, “what did these boys look like?”

“lets see Derrick was super fine”, I started, “ he has these hazely eyes and oh my God these big old lips like dum dum-dum dum look at me. And he had this dimple right above his lip so you pretty much had to stare at them when ever he talked. And he was all milk chocolaty you know like daddy but lighter with this big old gold chain that I personally wouldn’t mind wearing and…”

“and he talks more than Deondra does so if they get together it’ll never be quiet around them”, Neshia said cutting me off again, we gone have to talk about that, “ his friend Roland though was all quiet and sweet and smart, you would never expect a dude who looked that hood to be that smart but he was really bright. Oh and he’s like six three and has dark brown eyes and he’s light like my mama’s color but it looks better on him than my mama for some reason. His clothes were fresh too and his shoes, I was in love.”

Now I have never heard Zyneshia Charlese Johnson talk this much about anything in the one, ten, fifteen years we had been friends. This dude was obviously something she wasn’t used to but boys in general were something neither of us was used to.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting the shop ready for the soon to be Saturday rush. There was always a morning rush of women getting the styles they got the night before re-done usually since they had just left their boyfriends’ houses and were about to go see their husbands and had to be clean. Then in the afternoon their was the partying and working girls who had to get ready for the parties or work they had that night and you know hair’ll make a girl. They knew they had to be out before the church ladies came with their husbands later in the night though cause the pastor would be there harassing them about their unforgiving sins and what not trying to get more offering in the basket. If Pastor Smyth caught anybody in the beauty shop on a Saturday that he hadn’t seen in the church in a while he would tell them to come and talk about them like a dog if they didn’t. you never wanted to be in the shop under the dryer with him around.

When we finally left and jumped in Mrs. Johnson’s H3 we were so ready to fall asleep we had just enough energy left to make and eat Caesar chicken salads when we got to the house.

The next morning we woke up but couldn’t remember what was what or where we were or why we were up so early, it was only 8:30 a.m.. We stretched from the crazy sprawled positions we fell asleep in and tried to shake the sleep out of our limbs. Falling asleep in an awkward position ended up with you in all kinds of pain and me and Neshia were the queens of uncomfortable sleeping. Last night it was me laying on the foot of the bed on my back feet stretched out touching the floor and my head on a pillow somewhere in the middle, my face smashed in. Neshia was no better she had her head in her hands her feet in an Indian cross while she laid hunched over them on top of a couple giant pillows.