house and sighed.
“Come on, Nikki. What’s taking you so long?”
“You forgot Trevor’s gift in the back seat. I’ll get it for you.”
Afrika grabbed Trevor’s gift, closed the car door, and walked to the front of the car where Asia stood. Asia put her arm through Afrika’s. “Okay, girl, let’s meet the folks.”
For most of Afrika’s life, she had lived in one military housing area or another. Although their quarters were befitting the officer that her father was, nothing had prepped her for the gorgeous, upscale dwelling that Asia and her family resided in. And according to Asia, her mother, Dr. Brenda Christianson, was doing quite well for herself and was often asked to provide retrospective insight on some subject related to her profession and some current economic crisis on a local news show.
The house was tri-level with wall-to-wall hardwood flooring covered with expensive Chinese rugs. The rooms were painted in light pastels to give it an airy feeling. The living room opened up to a cathedral ceiling with a balcony that connected some of the second-story rooms to the other. A large, spacious kitchen tiled in black and white sat in the center of the house and contained modern stainless steel appliances to include a state of the art industrial oven, a huge pantry, and more cabinet space than one could imagine. A long black and white granite counter that could serve as a table ran the length of the kitchen. The dining room mirrored the colors in the kitchen, with a table that sat ten and a china cabinet finished in highly polished black lacquer. A long hallway led from one side of the kitchen to a cabana that contained a large stainless steel grill and miniature fridge, and swank patio furniture in colors of orange and yellow that connected to a hot tub with stairs that dropped down to the swimming pool. On the lower level of the house was a large game room that housed a professional size pool table, jukebox, and popcorn machine that sat right outside of the theater room that housed thirteen velvet high-back seats and a large retractable screen and a projector.
Afrika’s lip was still on the ground after her tour. The uneasiness she first felt had long since vanished; she felt right at home. And Trevor was just as crazy as Asia said he was; especially after he recovered from seeing his sister in double. Even the cat, Afrika hated cats, didn’t understand what the fuss was all about and retreated to an undisclosed portion of the house.
“Where are Mom and Dad?” Asia asked Trevor. “I’m sure Mom baked a cake for your seventeenth birthday.”
“Asia, please. I’m too old for birthday cake and ice cream. But I’ll gladly accept that package over there that looks like my birthday present.” Trevor walked to the table where Afrika had dropped his present and picked it up. He shook it this way and then that. “Sis, I hope this is my favorite pair of sneaks that I’ve been talking about all summer.”
“You’ll have to open it up and find out.”
Trevor tore the paper from the oblong box. “Yeah, Mom and Dad went to some symposium at Duke that had to do with something Mom was working on.”
“Oh,” Asia said, with disappointment written all over her face.
After a second pause and a quick pull of the lid, a pair of Jordan sneakers fell out of the box. “I love you, Sis!” Trevor hollered, jumping around like he was a Mexican jumping bean. “You sho’ hooked a brother up!”
“I aim to please,” Asia said, while Afrika looked on. “Well, Nikki, why don’t we watch a movie and then head back to campus?”
“Works for me,” Afrika said.
“Dang, I can’t get over how much you two look alike,” Trevor said, his eyes steadily shifting between Asia and Afrika. “You two look more alike than me and Asia.”
“It’s not that big of deal, Trevor,” Asia said. “Everybody has a twin somewhere in this world. And, Nikki does look like you.”
“No way,” Trevor said. They laughed.
“Put a movie on, nut head,” Asia said. The girls laughed again. “And turn off the lights.”
Afrika felt even more at-ease. She settled back in the high-back chair and watched Friday with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker for the umpteenth time. Asia slapped her leg when the credits rolled onto the screen a couple of hours later.
“Let’s go, girl. You can meet my parents another time.”
Before Afrika could respond, the lights flicked on. Almost falling off