Shy and timid, Onika lives in a dilapidated Detroit neighborhood with her abusive uncle. She is hopelessly in love with Marshall Mathers, a troubled young man that lives next door to her in their rough hood.
Marshall is rude, agressive and uncouth...
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"So... you are Onika, that dickhead's new girlfriend," this girl with long box braids says to me, pointing with her finger towards my man who scoffs then lightly chuckles,"I've heard a lot about you, girl. And I'm Sharonda, DeShaun's wife," she then continues and smiles warmly at me, despite her somewhat tough demeanor.
"Hi," I say somewhat shyly, slightly waving my hand at her awkwardly.
It's still hard for me to meet new people due to my soft demeanor and shy nature. I always feel so inadequate. Took me like a really long while to even get used to all of Marshall's homeboys, but now they all do feel like family to me though.
And I still don't even know how the crazy ass white boy had managed to get me to come out of my shell that one time he made me battle this other girl at The Hip-Hop Shop.
And now today, it's Marshall's best friend's DeShaun's birthday, so he's brought me along with him to this dude's house to celebrate.
And I was just slightly uncomfortable around Sharonda at first, because like I said before, meeting new people, I always get so shy. But then I quickly started getting along with her, and it's actually cool to hang out around another female sometimes. Like... Marshall and his boys are fun to be around and all, but certain things they are just too dense about, and it's sort of cool to have another girl arounf to speak on this stuff to.
"Girl, let me tell you something, I fucking love your hair!" Sharonda gushes to me once the two of us are cleaning dishes together in the kitchen after dinner. She didn't ask for my help on this, being a guest and all, but I had volunteered to help, since the dudes are all currently watching some dumb football game on TV.
I was never into sports like that, and apparently neither is Sharonda, which is why she chose to just go and start tidying up instead, so I went to help her, reluctantly climbing off of Marshall's lap. It was feeling really comfy on there after all, and I love how he always likes to have me sat there in front of other people. I like that he likes to show me off and don't hide his feelings for me in front of others.
"Girl, I really like your braids," I compliment Sharonda back sincerely. "I always be wanting to get some too, but I'm too impatient to sit in the chair for so long.
"Bitch please," Sharonda then giggles, rinsing the dish soap off of a plate and handing it for me to dry and place it on the rag. "Your shit is so long and thick. My hair is barely reaching my ears once I take these shits," she tugs at the end of her braids, "out. I've been trying everything to make it grow for the longest ever since I've big chopped, but nothing seems to work, ugh!" Sharonda complains to me, and I smile.
"Well see, for me I always find that the least I manipulate my hair, the more it like flourishes, so no offense, girl, but you maybe do too much to yours on the regular. If you leave it alone more and just let it do what it does.."
