Chapter 5: The Fam

I was hanging out in the living room watching each of my new roommates go about their everyday lives and realized that these sickingly beautiful demigods were as human as my own family. They accepted me with open arms and I was surprised at how quickly I became comfortable around them. They were funny as hell, the way they interacted with one another, the expressions they used when speaking. It was like one big circus and Roman was the ring master, he kept the order. 

JQ when he wasn't being abused by the girls or annoying them, he was in the kitchen cooking up grub or making sure the apartment was flawless. He was an artist, he did more than the graffiti or abstracts that decorated the walls. His easel and rolls of completed work occupied one side of the office. His musical instruments stood in one side of the living room, a complete band set. He wrote a lot of popular songs but refused to say which ones. 

Dom was the narcissist, she lived in the powder room, always primping, she was also the laziest person in the house, the diva, and surprisingly no one minded taking care of her many needs. Her job profile: porn star extraordinaire! Award winner and nominee for her bedroom antics. She was very down to earth, just your ordinary twenty-something year old woman, not at all what I expected a porn star to be. 

Coco had a huge afro and an amazing athletic body, her skin is the color of my favorite Snickers chocolate. She lived in the gym or in front of the television working out using Wii Sports. Coco managed one of Braxton's clubs, one of the 'titty bars' that my cousin had mentioned. She said there was a lot more to Kandy Shoppe the bar than topless women. When she wasn't working out she was in the office managing her events. A stripper gone businesswoman. When she retired from working for Braxton, Coco wanted to start her own events management company.

Kitty Kat is a Japanese girl with long blue hair, she has a Bachelors degree in Psychology and was working toward her Masters degree. The way she slid up and down a pole was poetic. She petite frame that practically begged to be protected, yet that was something absolutely savage about her sex appeal. 

Scarlet was the silent observer, she didn't say much but she was the one person JQ didn't dare to mouth off to. Scarlet was more than just a stripper, she was an escort too but apparently she called the shots on her dates. Ms. Scarlet in the kitchen with a candle holder. Her body art was absolutely divine, it looked like JQ painted her olive skin with his oils and brushes.  Like I said before, she didn't talk much so I had no idea what her goals for the future were, but I could see her settling down one day, being the best wife and mother any man could want.

And then there was me, the awkward girl who had been sheltered her entire life, the girl who was now out of her element in a city that never slept, in a penthouse apartment with the most beautiful, confident people on this earth. People whose jobs are taboo, whose jobs prove that sex does indeed sell, enough to make one man a billionaire with enough money left over that these six could sit easy for the rest of their lives. 

Tonight Kandy Shoppe the company was hosting one of its biggest events at Coco's club and my roommates thought that it would be best for me to see what this job of mine was all about as soon as possible. I would see event planning and execution in action, I would also get to see my roommates be dirty, dirty boys and girls. 

"It'll help you get over your bathroom jitters." Dom chuckled. She was referring to the single bathroom and the roommates being so comfortable with being naked in the same room. At least there was a door and a wall separating the toilet from the rest of the bathroom so I could pee without somebody's body in my face. Truth is, I've never been comfortable in my childish body, it was embarrassing when people mistook me for being younger than I am. Being in a house with all of these gorgeous people and their gorgeous bodies made me feel about ten times worse, although they seemed to be completely oblivious to my discomfort, or at least the reason for it. 

Even now Dom was sitting sprawled on the couch in only a very thin, lacy, thong and I was seeing more of her than I would have liked. I tried to keep the blush out of my annoyingly light skinned face by keeping my eyes on the TV. I never thought having people herded to the bathroom would ever give me any kind of pleasure, but when Roman came downstairs and ordered the roommates to head to get cleaned up, I swear it was better than Christmas. While they were showering I had some time to myself to make some sense of my situation. To me it was still one big dream but I was coming to grips with it bit by bit. 

I got my chance in the bathroom an hour and a half later. The beautiful bathroom with the Jacuzzi tub that was connected to a shower large enough that everyone in the apartment could fit inside at the same time. I avoided the tub, I was pretty sure that my roommates hooked up with each other and I could only imagine what took place in that tub, if not with someone else in this apartment, with some outsider who had God knows what. I let the warm water wash over my body and breathed in the steam to clear my sinuses. I scrubbed my body well, making sure that I smelled like Dove soap instead of sweat. When I was done showering, I wrapped the fluffy pink towel that Roman had given me around my body, dried quickly and dressed in another graffiti shirt and jeans that should have been skinny but nothing fit my toothpick legs.

When I got back to my room, Roman was wearing a pair of tight, sparkly man-thongs and JQ was smearing baby oil on his back. I had never met men who were so affectionate with each other, all of the men I knew were homophobic, scared that their own skeletons would come tumbling out of the closet if they pushed the boundaries. None of the men I knew would rub baby oil on their boys, it was obvious that Roman and JQ had a wonderful relationship. 

"There you go papi." JQ said and hopped off the bed, my eyes zeroed in on his groin. He wore a pair of black briefs that were tight enough that they showed just how blessed he was but slack enough that everything could dance around when he moved. 

"You're making him nervous." JQ chuckled and cupped his balls, Roman laughed and fist bumped him. JQ saved me any more embarrassment by stepping into a pair of black pants, Roman did the same. The rest of their police officer costumes went into duffle bags. The boys primped as much of the girls, by the time they were done brushing their hair, smoothing their beards, putting in earrings and slapping on cologne I was sleepy. 

"Let's roll brothas!" Coco shouted stepping into the room, she frowned at me. "What the hell are you wearing?"

I looked down at my clothes and shrugged, I thought I was dressed up. 

Coco flung her hands in the air, "And your hair darling, your hair! Come with Mama Coco."  She grabbed me by the wrist and led me downstairs to the powder room that connected to the half bath. Dom was still seated there smearing on more blush and changing her contacts from green to gray, Kitty and Scarlet were nearly ready. 

"Park her right here, I've been plotting on her since she walked her teeny ass in here this afternoon."  Dom said. The powder room was a large area with a low island style counter that held four seats, two sides separated by a lighted mirror. Low stools were set up in front of the mirrors. Coco sat me beside Dom. 

"What are you?" Dom asked. 

I swallowed my smart-assed answer. I'm human, just like everyone else, I hated when people wanted to get into the whole race thing. "My daddy is native Indian and black if that's what you mean." 

"You have beautiful skin so you won't need much. Close your eyes."  It wasn't long before I felt Dom dabbing a brush on my eyelids.

"Don't over do it now." One of the girls said. "I call hair."

"I wish she could fit my dress, I have an aqua dress that would look amazing on her."

"It won't be long before JQ's cooking puts some meat on her bones."

Somebody started messing with my hair while Dom continued to poke at my face. The girls continued their conversation as if I weren't even in the room. I blushed as they gushed about my cheekbones and my hair. When they were done Dom spun the stool around so I was looking in the mirror.

"Woah..." I murmured and leaned in to get a better look at myself. The girl in the mirror looked like a living breathing version of my Gramma Jane in her youth. Dom had applied a light golden shadow to my eye lids, and a very light pink gloss to my lips. I assume it was Scarlet who had done my hair, she had pulled out the scrunchie added a but of moisturizer and sheen and some kind of oil for body and my curls had come to life. 

"We should go shopping on Saturday!" Kitty Kat squealed and clapped her hands together. 

"Yeah, we can get you some new threads for work."  Coco grinned. 

"Our treat." Scarlet put in. 

"Sure." I heard myself say. 

"Ladies, let's head out." Roman came in tapping his watch. "Baby Doll are you riding with me?"

"Yeah."

And we were off, nothing could prepare my innocent mind and eyes for what I was about to experience. I guess this first night with my roommates, this first night where I could completely unwind, I guess this when I started to become, well, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn I was born to be, instead of the perfectly sculpted child that my mother had raised me to be, the person who feared change, who was afraid to grow and explore. I didn't just climbed into Roman's car that night, I put one foot in the door to my future.