Page 26 of Just Listen
Outside of the shop, Kema’s pretty, mocha complexioned, slim ass had become more like family to us, as we’d grown closer over the past couple of years. She was always hyping everybody up, and didn’t have a jealous bone in her body. I loved that about her, because that couldn’t be said about a lot of women. Especially when it comes to me.
One could probably argue that all the women in my family had their fair share of haters. Hell, we were Braxton’s, after all. Not to mention, we were all considered attractive, but my appearance was the most unconventional out of everybody.
My mama, Raven, was and still isthatgirl. She was known for her exotic brown skin, soft textured hair, gentle facial features, with a banging curvaceous body. Then my daddy wasthatnigga. He was reddish brown, extremely bowlegged, witha pretty boy’s mug. So, it wasn’t surprising that they’d created physically elite offspring. All of Raven’s daughters had nice shapes, including me…but then covid happened.
I was in high school when the world shut down for nearly a year. It was a weird time, where we all found ourselves at home more often. And that was when I developed an unhealthy relationship with food. It happened gradually, but I eventually gained about thirty pounds, making me thicker than all my sisters.
Since then, my weight would yoyo, but I never managed to go back to the size before covid. For a short while, the weight gain made me insecure, until my mama took notice. One thing Raven didn’t play about was her kids and husband. So, she was willing to do whatever to put a smile back on my face.
Not accepting excuses, my mama got me into fitness. We’d workout together. I got a nutritionist. The whole shebang. Eventually, I was toned, and my confidence was restored. Funnily, even as I got in shape, I realized that after a while, the weight wasn’t dropping, anymore. It was driving me crazy, because I didn’t like standing next to my sisters with their smaller frames. But that didn’t last long, because the moment Raven caught me comparing myself to anybody else, she nipped that right in the bud.
“Jaylah, we’re just gonna have to accept that you’re gonna be my biggest baby,” my mama told me one day. “And aint nothing wrong with that. As long as you don’t have any medical issues, then we’re not about to harp over your size. Especially when you’re built like this, along with that face. These other hoes could never. I need you to know that. Big or small, you the shit, baby girl. And I’m not just saying that because I’m your mama. You still got it, and these niggas will still be choosing. Now, youmight have some haters, thinking that they can poke at a weak spot. But you just remember…they’ll be mad, because they could fucking never.”
After a while, I realized that my mama was right. And for whatever reason, I’d meet different girls and the claws would immediately come out. I guess it was because of the shape and proportions. Yes, my sisters were all fine, but their weight was controlled. However, with me, the ass on me was more pronounced, especially when you considered how flat my stomach still was. At the end of the day, I just had great genes, and some women couldn’t help the bitterness. I was always accused of doing too much or dressing too provocatively. When in reality, clothes just looked different on me, and bitches were mad because their man was looking. Or theythoughtthat if their man was around, he’d look. Which was far from my fault.
So, after having more than my share of shade from women, I always relished when women outside of my family showed love. So, that’s why I really fucked with Kema.
“I see you aint playing,” I mentioned, as I watched Kema quickly braid down the client’s short hair.
“Oh, you already know,” she bragged, while I sat next to a chocolate beauty.
“Damn.” My nose twinkled. “Is that your perfume I’m smelling?” I asked the girl next to me.
She smiled. “It’s Vince Camuto and YSL. I layer my scents.”
“Okay, okay. I might need to try that combination.”
The young Kenya Moore’s doppelganger eyes ping ponged back and forth between me and Riah. “Hey, are you and Jahreiah sisters? Because y’all favor. A lot.”
“Yeah, that’s my big sister.”
“Oh, okay.” She nodded with her bottom lip poked out.
“You must be a new client,” I assumed.
“I am. I’ve been waiting for months to get in her chair.”
“Yeah, sis stays booked.”
“Yesss,” she concurred. “I’ve gotten my hair done by y’all Auntie Rye too. But just like Jahreiah, she’s hard to book.”
Listening closely, I figured that the girl must’ve followed most of my family, which wasn’t uncommon. My entire family had massive followings on social media, as people loved to keep up with our lives.
“Yeah, Rye barely does hair these days,” I revealed. “You’d do better trying to book one of the girls at her shop.”
“Nah, I need the direct connect,” she claimed. “Or it won’t hit the same.”
“True,” I couldn’t deny, as I checked out her long, thick hair. “How are you getting your hair today?”
Smiling, she ran her fingers through her hair. “I need some new tape-ins added, and then some cute curls.”
I nodded my head with approval. “That’ll definitely be fye with all the hair you have.”
“Yeah, I hope so. I need to go home and put something on that nigga’s mind. Do you hear me?”
I smirked. “Your man’s been tripping?”
“Girl,” she huffed out, sounding like she’d been waiting to vent to somebody. Hell, anybody. But I wasn’t judging. Shit, it be like that sometimes. “That nigga was acting like he could breathewithout me and shit. And now, I gotta show him that he fucking can’t.”
