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【 𝓒𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐎 】
"I promise this place is legit."
"I'm not doubting your legitimacy, this just seems a little sus," I replied as I watched Ximena turn the corner, both hands on the wheel as she looked from left to right, ensuring that no one was coming our way.
I'd agreed to go with Ximena to this voodoo place she went on and on about since English, and since we had free time we decided to ride over there. I'd left my car at the school—it probably wasn't the smartest idea to go off with somebody I'd just met, but hell I was taking a risk. It was either I tried to go online and buy shit willy nilly with no knowledge, or I went with somebody that knew a lick of what they were doing.
"I've been here plenty of times before, hell, I shop here routinely." She brushed me off. I sighed and sat back in my seat, letting Ximena do what she would.
Eventually we ended up in front of a restaurant, one that just said "Riley's" on the storefront.
"What the hell are we doing here?" I asked and she quickly waved me off.
"This is the spot, just trust me!" She said with a cheeky smile, quickly hopping out of the car. I did the same, carefully closing her car door behind me as I followed her to the entrance of the restaurant. She opened the door for me, allowing me to step in first.
It looked like a regular restaurant, small rectangular tables peppered throughout the dining room floor with booths lining the walls. The color scheme was red, white and black, but the restaurant managed to pull it off in a way that wasn't tacky. Ximena gestured for me to follow her towards the back where the kitchen was, and when we reached the door we were stopped by someone in restaurant uniform, a chef's hat on their head.
"You can't be back here," he said, putting his hand up.
Ximena took a step forward and brought her lips to his ear, whispering something. After, she stepped back and the man opened the door for us.
Inside was the kitchen, where the cooks were busy slinging food. The man in the chef's head led us through the hectic kitchen until we reached another door. He opened it for us, planting his feet, as if telling us that was as far as he would go.
Ximena grabbed my wrist and walked into the strange smelling room with me in tow, the scent of multiple incense filling my senses. The smell made me wrinkle my nose, the mix of incense was definitely not a good one, they all clashed together in a repulsive way. Or at least, that's what I thought.
I was led through the large room, spotting candles, variations of crystals, masks, dolls, books and even some bottles that looked to be potions of some sort. I never knew what I'd expect a voodoo shop to look like. But now that we were in here, I couldn't say that I was exactly surprised by the assortment of items in here.
