Page 25 of Girl, We Go Together
He smirked and then let a small smile creep onto his face before he spoke.
“Nah. I know the truth.”
He reached into his pocket, and his eyebrows furrowed at whatever was plastered across his phone.
“I gotta take this, beautiful,” he quickly said before exiting the room.
It was the look on his face as he stared at his phone that had me momentarily in my thoughts. I could see in his eyes a hint of surprise and anger all wrapped in one. I picked up one of the shoes out of the box and then put it up to my dress while looking in the mirror. The sparkles went so well with the color of the gown. That alone made this dress the perfect choice. That, and because Orion had already zipped me up, and I’ll be damned if I asked him to unzip me just for me to try on a different dress.
After finishing my hair, touching up my makeup, adding accessories, and then sitting on the ottoman at the foot of the bed to put on these shoes, I was ready to go. When Orion came back into the room to get me, his facial expression wasn’t the same as when he left. Whoever had called him had blown his mood, but I could tell that he wasn’t trying to show me that.
“You ready, beautiful?”
“Yup…” I was messing with the clasp on my Pandora charm bracelet.
He walked over and helped me. I gave him a small smile to thank him once it was securely on my wrist.
“You’re so damn pretty.”
His bold eyes were staring intensely into mine, and I swear he had a brown girl blushing.
“Boy, stop giving me compliments before we don’t even make it to your mother’s party.”
I stood from the bench and had to brace myself. He reached out and grabbed my arm, which helped me balance.
“Let me grab you some slides or something because I don’t know if you're going to last all night in these heels.”
He rushed over to my bags and grabbed a pair of Birkenstocks from one of them.
“Aight, let’s go.”
With his hand held out like how a parent would reach for a small child, I grabbed it. Whoever had called him to shift his mood, I wasn’t going to let it ruin our night. He seemed to be trying to push it behind him, so I was going to as well.
The silver straps snuggled my feet perfectly. With every step, my limp made me feel so out of place, but I wanted to own the moment anyway. My dress flowed just right, hugging curves I usually tried to hide, but tonight… I held my head higher. Orion’s hand was warm against my lower back as we stepped into the party hall. The room was lit low, and there were tables scattered around the large space. The bass of the music was so loud that I felt it in my chest. Dead smack in the middle of the room, there was a massive dance floor. The sound of laughter, clinking glasses, music, and family voices bounced off the walls.
I felt the shift the second we walked in. People’s eyes started darting, and conversations began to pause for a beat too long. Some people looked me up and down while others whispered behind their hands. My stomach tightened. I didn’t know if the shock of everyone was because of my weight or simply because Orion had brought a date to a family event. Whatever the reason, it had me feeling uncomfortable as fuck. Just when I was aboutto whisper to Orion that I wanted to go, OJ’s little voice cut through the air like a blessing.
“Caylaaa! Look at your shoes!”
He rushed over, sliding to a stop in front of me. He wore a wide grin as he pointed down.
“They sparkle like lights!”
The whole table closest to us chuckled, which caused the tension to ease just a little. I laughed too, placing one of his locs out of his face.
“Thank you, baby.”
That’s when a woman I recognized from some pictures in the house caught my attention. Orion’s mother stood, regal in her deep red dress, earrings catching the light. She gave me a slow once-over, her expression unreadable until it softened into a small smile.
“Did my grandson just say Cayla?” she asked. “You must be the one who is taking all my son’s time.”
My cheeks burned as Orion’s arm tightened around me, reminding me that I was supposed to be here. I was supposed to be right at his side.
“Yeah,” he said, pride lacing his voice. “This is her.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat and managed to smile. My heels glimmered beneath me as I stepped forward. Maybe I wasn’t what they expected, but tonight, I wasn’t going to worry about that. I was here because Orion had invited me, and that spoke volumes. For the past couple of weeks, I would randomly get this feeling that whatever we were starting was just a physical thing. Once we crossed that line, he hadn’t kept his hands off me. But tonight, we were crossing over another line. Territory that felt a little more stable. Being formally introduced to his family had to mean something, right? Orion walked me around the room, introducing me to aunts, uncles, and cousins. Once one ofhis uncles gave him theI see you, nephewsaying with a dap, I knew I was valid with his family.
When we finished circling the room, we took a seat at a long rectangular table. The smell of steak and shrimp was in the air. It reminded me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. After eating and having small talk, everyone branched out to either the dance floor or the bar. Orion’s mother was stunning. Her hair was cropped into a short, sharp cut that reminded me of Halle Berry. But instead of her hair being black, it was streaked silver in a way that only made her glow more. Every move she made carried grace, like she’d been born knowing how to command a room without ever raising her voice. She was a bad bitch right now in the moment, so I knew that back in the day, she was nothing to mess with.
