A F F I L I A T E D

06. T H E H A I R S T Y L I S T

August 6, 2011.

Yacht Party. 10 miles from the Barbados shore.

5:17 pm

"Early in the morning when she's all alone. I'mma take my time, do it how we want it..."

Leandra jumped up pulling me off the couch to join her, in what would more than likely lead to a dance battle that I would more than likely lose, as the chorus to Big Sean's "Marvin and Chardonnay" came blasting through the speakers. I didn't mind though because it was starting to become my summer anthem..."my fucking anthem" to be politically correct.

Sean was becoming one of my new favorite rappers; it was something about the way he said "woah dere" and his beats were always hot. People can talk about Big Sean all they want but he makes catchy, dope songs with the right people. He's no Jay-Z but he's definitely no Soulja Boy either and for that you gotta give him credit. And it doesn't hurt that he was one of the nicest guys I have ever met. When his songs drop I'm always two seconds away from dropping it like it's hot. Had Lee not pulled me up I'm sure I would have been up on my feet by the end of the first verse.

Lee had been forcing me to dance with her for almost every song and as usual I entertained her. She was wild, crazy and free; the only other person who matched her was Robyn. Mel came in at second but I was definitely a dead ringer for last. Don't get me wrong, I have my crazy moments but those three were on another level. The only reason why I was being pulled to be the center of attention was because Rob was being connected at the hip with her ex and Mel disappeared sometime after she left.  But trust and believe "Marvin and Chardonnay" was the last one because my mind was set on grabbing another drink from the bar.

As the songs switched at the end of Kanye's verse I took that as my chance to escape, "I'm going to get a drink, you want me to bring you something?"

"Damn again?"

I rolled my eyes already knowing where this conversation was going to end up, "Yes, I'm just going for a long island though."

"Okay alcoholic; get caught up if you want to! Your ass is going to be over in the damn ocean somewhere."

"You're so extra!!

"And you're so drunk!"

"Oh my God, it's only my third drink mother."

"Well someone needs to be since you act like you don't have no damn sense. But go ahead and kill yourself," she said waving me off with her hand.

"Really Lee? I'll be back like I said."

She rolled her eyes, "Mmhmm."

How much I drank was always the topic of conversation amongst us. Lee was pretty much carefree about a lot but when it came to certain things she was very protective; alcohol was one of those things. She had her personal reasons, which I understood. Most times I listened to what she had to say because I knew how strongly she felt about it but I wasn't that person everyone tried to make me out to be.

For one, I didn't drink often because working as Rob's hairstylist wasn't really the average 9-5. Yeah we attended a lot of clubs and parties but for me it was work and I never wanted to put myself in a position where I couldn't get up in the morning. We had super early call times on a daily basis and most nights the only thing I wanted to do when I walked through a hotel door, tour bus door or any door for that matter was to get in bed and sleep. But when I did drink, she and everybody else swore that I couldn't stop. Which wasn't true, I stopped when I wanted too.

I really didn't think I was that bad when it came to drinking because it wasn't like I couldn't hold mines, and I was getting pretty good when it came to dealing with hangovers. I have seen people get wasted because they drank cup, after cup, after bottle, after cup, after bottle; but I wasn't like that. I knew my limits and I knew what I was dealing with before I took my first sip. I appreciated her concern and everyone else's but I was a big girl and I knew how to handle myself.