Excerpt:
Her long braids fell across her face. Twinkling through several strands that landed on her nose, her dark brown eyes looked deeply at him, or more into him and pulled at strands of his essence. His eyes flicked up at her suspiciously. Nzing...
He looked nervous as he opened the door. She stood there waiting for the invitation to come in. His handsome face and tall strong body seemed incongruent to the emotions that reverberated in the small entranceway. It was a far cry from the bold, serious and annoyed student she had met during the day. Her presence there unnerved him.
"You smell like lavender and vanilla." His spoke in a cadence that aged him, a slight lilt rolled across the word 'vanilla'. Her face glistened in the overhead light, self consciously she wiped the moisture with her sleeve. He smirked at the flush in her cheeks. She grinned in response to his stare, "I just came from yoga and didn't have time to change." She smoothed a loose braid behind her ear before entering.
Nzinga walked toward the old leather couch in the center of the room taking a look around the warehouse apartment. The whole place was lacking the sort of atmosphere of any typical college student. Instead, there was a large TV, a lit fireplace, bare hardwood floors with exposed dark brick and large ceiling to floor windows. Surrounding her were shelves of books from every genre not particularly organized but clearly used and referenced often. In the background, smooth jazz crooned on a vintage record player.
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To her, the room smelled like scotch, fire and leather. As she sat, he came up behind her with his notebook, handing it to her over her shoulder. His thumb grazed her jaw bone, Nzinga felt his anxiety hitch causing her body to respond to the energy that filled the room. She turned around, and with a smile responded with a "Thank you". His face was stoic and his jaw clenched. Walking away he asked over his shoulder "Would you like a drink?
"Uh... I guess wine and yoga go together. You have some red?"
"I was thinking water, tea, lemonade..." sarcasm had returned to Badru.
She smirked, sensing his unease. It was everything to not laugh at the "always together" Badru becoming uncomfortable. Turning back around to look at the notes she purred, "Square! So serious. Can't hold your focus while drinking?"
He paused.
Had she gone too far? Nzinga looked back at him, allowing her Eye to catch a glimpse and see a deep crimson aura. "Water is fine" she muttered to deescalate the passionate moment.
He returned to the couch and handed her a large bowled red wine glass and she grins.
Old newspapers from Alabama covered his coffee table, "where are you from?" Nzinga asked
"You heard of Mobile?"
"Sure, some students from round that way."
"I'm from a little place north of there called Africatown."
"I feel like I read something about about there." Nzinga squinted her eyes trying to recall the stories.
"It's a town that was built by slaves from West Africa who came after 1860. Since they were relatively new to the country after the emancipation, they were able to maintain many of the customs and cultures of their homelands. In a way we kinda formed our own thing that was a mixture of everything."
