Cutting Loose (15 page)

“Yeah, it is. I’m, looking forward
seeing that dumb look on his face. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t go into
cardiac arrest when he sees me—the new me, that is.”

“Sounds good. But if you really want to
make his jaw drop, you should do something drastic with your image. You know,
spice it up a bit.”

Sabrina smiled. “You know what? I think
I know exactly what you mean.”

Sabrina decided to leave work early and
go home. She still hadn’t decided what she was going to do about her new image
that she had in the back of her mind. She wasn’t sure if she was doing it for
all the right reasons, even though it was nothing wrong with wanting to make an
ex look jealous at his own wedding.

It wasn’t until a couple days had passed
when she saw her favorite singer’s new video and the new short hairstyle she
was rocking. Short hair was all the rage and just about everybody on TV was
cutting their long locks and going for a short style. Sabrina didn’t think
short hairstyles looked right on everybody. Camille for example tried to cut
her hair like some female she saw in a hair salon magazine and not too long
afterwards she was looking like a man in a dress. The only thing that made her
look feminine was her fake breasts and big butt.

Sabrina loved her naturally-long hair, although
weave came in and picked up where she lacked. She always wanted long hair like
other females and tried every trick in the book to try to make her hair grow
but nothing ever worked and she was stuck with the realization that not everyone
is born with long hair.

Weave was her best friend. That she
couldn’t even deny. Sabrina was in love with her weave because she didn’t buy
the cheap stuff that some of the other girls she used to grow up with used to
wear.

Sabrina had no problem with her obsession.
Cosmetics were a major part of a woman’s life and she liked to look good, even
if she had top sacrifice some things. The good thing about wearing weave was
that it looked just like real hair and no one could tell it was naturally hers,
unless they were looking too hard and saw the weave tracks.

She never had a problem with guys and
her hair and was always sure to tie it up so it wouldn’t get in the way during
the middle of lovemaking. Seldom did she ever have to tell a guy to keep his
hands out of her hair because her hair was “delicate” and couldn’t take pulling
and being touched on all night.

Once she got home she took a shower and
sat in her bed with a novel under her nose until Brett called her out of the
blue and asked if he could come over. Of course she obliged to the idea and
found herself straightening up her bedroom and fixing her hair a little bit.

When he came over he brought a bottle of
wine with him and a large pizza.

“Pizza and wine—how romantic,” Sabrina
said sarcastically. “Must be every girl’s dream to find this at their
doorstep.”

Brett cracked a smile. “You’re mean.”

“Bite me.”

“Just say where.”

Sabrina chuckled. “Bring your sexy self
in here and I’ll tell you exactly where.” Sabrina stepped aside and allowed
Brett to come inside.

She directed him to the kitchen and
grabbed wine glasses and plates out of the cabinet. She damn near dropped the
plates when he snuck up behind her, grabbed her around her waist and began
sucking on her neck.

“Baby, you smell so good,” he said and
went back to sucking on her neck like a vampire.

Sabrina closed her eyes and groaned,
“Gosh that feels amazing…oh man.”

In the back of Sabrina’s mind, she knew
there were only a matter of seconds away from fucking and if she didn’t have a
better mind she would have let him fuck her right there in the kitchen. She
restrained herself and pushed the thoughts aside just as Brett pulled back.

“There. All done,” he said, smiling from
ear to ear.

Sabrina smiled as she grabbed the plates
and walked them over to the dining room table.

After they sat down Sabrina grabbed the
first piece and bit off a large piece.

Brett chuckled. “Damn, baby. When was
the last time you ate? Two years ago?”

Sabrina had to put her slice of pizza
down and wipe her mouth. Feeling some embarrassment for eating sloppy, she
avoided his gaze and replied, “Sorry. I didn’t eat lunch today.”

“I’m just messing with you, Sabrina. You
can eat however you want around me.”

“Um, okay,” Sabrina said quietly.

An awkward silence fell between them.

More silence.

Sabrina finished her second and last
piece of pizza and asked Brett, “Uh, thanks for dinner.”

“No problem. Thanks for the company.”

“Dido,” Sabrina said as she got to her
feet and started collecting the dishes and hauled them to the kitchen and
dumped them into the sink.

“Need any help with the dishes?”

“No, thanks. I think I can handle two
measly dishes.”

“Okay.”

 Brett poured some wine into the glasses
on the table and offered one to Sabrina once she was finished washing the
dishes.

 “So, what’s for dinner this weekend?”
Brett asked as they sat on the sofa and sipped wine.

“Is that a trick question?”

“Not really,” Brett said coolly. “It
depends on what your answer is.”

She waited a beat and said, “You know I
suck at cooking.”

Brett chuckled at the look Sabrina gave
him. Then he said, “I know, I know.” He sat his glass of wine on a coaster on
the nearby table and said, “I was thinking that maybe you could come over to my
place for once and let me cook dinner for you.”

She giggled at the romantic gesture and
asked, “You want to cook for me?”

Brett’s eyes lit up. “Yes, I do.”

“How sweet of you,” Sabrina said and
kissed him square on the lips. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

He kissed her on her neck and said,
“Sure does.”

Seconds later Sabrina was on top of
Brett, kissing the hell out of him. They went at it non-stop for at least ten
minutes with no problem until Brett’s roaming fingers continuously found
themselves in her hair—which was a big no-no as far as she was concerned.

She tried to let it slide and pretend it
wasn’t bothering her for the first few minutes but after that it became
annoying and she had to put an end to it. So she gently grabbed his hands and
pushed them aside from her hair, thinking he would take the hint and leave her
hair alone. But no. He kept on doing it.

Sabrina pulled away from him and said,
“Um, Brett, I have a favor to ask.”

“What’s that?”

“Can you please keep your hands out of
my hair?”

He stared at her for a quick second.
Then he smiled and said, “Sure.”

That said, they went back to smooching,
which inevitably led them to end up in Sabrina’s bed making love that was
anything but quiet. It was beyond wild and once it was over they cuddled up in
silence. Then the problem came with Brett and his damn fingers.

“You hair is so soft,” he said as he
tunneled her wavy hair between his fingers and lifting a handful to his nose
for a sniff.

“I thought we had a talk about this
earlier,” Sabrina said, trying to keep her cool. She moved his hands from her
hair and sat up to face him.

 “Yeah, we did,” said Brett as he sat up
as well. “I just don’t see the big deal.”

She glared at him and said, “I can see
this is going to be a problem for you.”

“What? The fact that I’m not allowed to
touch your hair during sex?”

“Not just during sex but period.”

Brett was taken aback for a moment. He
never ever dated a woman with any issues about having their hair touched during
sex, or at any point. However, he did know that some women were very sensitive
about their hair for whatever reason. But still, he was not about to step down
without a fight.

He said, “I don’t get it. I mean, are
you afraid your hair is going to fall out or something.”

Sabrina continued to glare at him for a
few moments. Then she said, “If you haven’t noticed, a lot of black women like
myself who weren’t lucky enough to be born with long hair flowing down our
backs have to resort to other means, such as wearing weave, also known as
extensions to y’all white folks who also wear fake hair.”

 Brett looked at her hair and said, “In
that case, I really don’t see the point in wasting money trying to look a
certain way. Me personally, I like a woman with natural hair. I mean, it
doesn’t have to be touching all the way down to her ass, but you know, you get
the point, right?”

Sabrina considered his words for a
moment or so.

She said, “You’re not a woman, so you
wouldn’t understand the attachment we have to our hair, just like how some guys
are attached to having flat abs and big arms.”

Brett still didn’t understand the need
women felt to look a certain way and waste money, in his opinion, on something
so materialistic. He wasn’t like most guys who only dated women based on
appearances or preference. If he liked what he saw on the outside, he was
pretty sure he was going to feel the same way about the inside. And in
Sabrina’s case, he definitely liked everything about her.

He turned to face Sabrina and said, “I
guess that makes some sense. But if it makes you happy to wear weave, then I’m
happy.”

Sabrina could sense the sarcasm in his
voice and wanted to lash out at him but she decided against it.

She said, “Whatever on that.”

A couple of days passed without much
excitement and she was in no mood to deal with Carl and his bullshit when she
went to his wedding on Saturday, in which Sabrina still wasn’t as prepared as
she wanted to be. She didn’t want to be the same woman he broke up with months
ago looking the same as she did. She figured it was time to treat herself to
something new and get rid of the old heartbroken Sabrina she once knew who
mopped around the house for weeks and months wondering what it was that lead
Carl to be with another woman. And to this day, she still didn’t have the
answer.

She had the whole day to herself to do
whatever she wanted. She could have spent it with Brett but she decided to keep
a little distance between them so she could get a chance to miss him and give
him space to breathe.

 Sabrina pulled away from her thoughts
as she watched TV and played around with her hair. She took a detour to her
bedroom and was alarmed at the sight of her frizzy hair. She wanted to wash it
but didn’t really feel like doing it because it required more energy than she
was willing to put out. As she contemplated her next move she had a flashback
of her talk with Brett and what he had said about a natural look. Then she
thought about all the money she paid to have her weave put in just a few days
ago and how annoying it was that she tried just about every possible hairstyle
to do with it and not one appealed to her.

A moment or so later, she got into her
car and drove to her usual spot where she frequently got her hair done at and
walked inside. She didn’t know exactly what had led her to the conclusion to
come here, but she was sure by the time she left she was going to have a new look.

“Hey, Rina! How are you?” asked the
receptionist standing behind the counter.

“I’m good. Is Jennie booked today?”

“Kind of. It’s been crazy all week.” She
looked at a book in front of her for a moment before turning to Sabrina. “You
don’t have another appointment until the eighteenth, next week.”

“Yeah, but I was wondering if you could
squeeze me in today. I’m having a hair emergency.”

“What kind?”

Sabrina took off the hat she was wearing
and let her frizzy hair do all the talking for her.

“Damn, Rina. What happened?”

“All this damn humidly and I kind of
sweated it out.”

The receptionist chuckled and said,
“Girl, I’ve been there, done that. I’ll get Jennie for you.”

 Moments later Jennie swaggered over
with her tall, lean frame, to the counter and immediately saw Sabrina’s hair.

“What the hell happened to your hair,
girl?” Jennie asked curiously.

“A lot,” Sabrina snapped hotly. “Can you
squeeze me in today? I have to go to this stupid wedding this weekend and I
cannot go looking like this.”

Jennie chuckled. “Damn.” She looked at
her watch and said, “Lucky for you my three-thirty just cancelled at the last
minute.”

“Perfect.”

Moments later Sabrina was looking
through a hair magazine trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her
hair as Jennie went to work and began shampooing Sabrina’s hair.

The usual chatter of woman began to
erupt when they got into a heavy debate about why some black men were leaving
women for white women as if it was a new trend.

“It makes me sick to my stomach,” a
loud-mouthed woman sitting a few feet away from Sabrina blurted out. “I can’t
stand seeing a fine ass black guy with a skinny ass white bitch.”