AN- I had to cut the story in a weird place, sorry!
Victoria felt like she had barely closed her eyes when she was woken by the weight of her sister dropping down on her sofa sleeper. Had the night really already gone by? It seemed so because morning light was filling the room. She put her arm over her face.
'Let me sleep', she mumbled groggily.
'No, you have to wake up', said Doris. 'It is hair wash day.'
'Can't we do that tonight?', said Tori but it was too late now, she was already awake.
'I hate you', she told Doris as she sat upright in in the bed, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
'Love you too', replied Doris grinning, completely unimpressed.
'Why are we awake at eight in the morning on a Sunday?', Tori asked her sister after she had seen the clock. No wonder she felt so tired, she had come home from the bar after three in the morning. She was surprised, because Doris was not usually an early riser in the weekends.
'I want you to do my hair now, so I have nice braids when we go to Lena's.', said Doris. Victoria was tired so it took her a while to comprehend this statement.
It was Sunday and Stef had invited her to come over and meet the family, she remembered. More than a week had passed since they had last seen Stef and Lena but Doris had talked about the two ladies a lot, now she thought about it, Doris had talked a about Lena a lot.
'Why do you want your hair to look nice for Lena?', asked Tori, a bit surprised.
'Because last time she told me that I had pretty hair.', told her little sister.
'I tell you that you have pretty hair all the time', replied Tori.
'Yeah but you have to', came the reply. Tori gave her sister a long questioning look, probing her to tell more.
Doris caved under the look. 'You are my big sister, you have to tell me that I'm pretty, but nobody else thinks my hair is pretty…'
Tori's heart sunk. Doris was very touchy about her hair. It was very unique, but Tori could honestly say that it was beautiful. It was red and very curly and it made Doris stand out.
Tori grabbed Doris' hands. 'Did they say anything at school again?', she asked.
Doris looked down. 'They call me a clown all the time', she confessed softly.
Tori took a deep breath and counted to five. She hated those kids and she really wanted to scream at them, like she had done when they were younger. But -she had to tell herself- that was not a mature response. She was now an adult and she could not solve problems with violence. She was so damn tired of doing the right thing. She just wanted to hurt everyone who hurt her sister.
She took another deep breath.
'They are just jealous', she told her little sister. 'Because you are smart and kind and talented and so so so very beautiful'. She looked Doris long in the eyes, willing her to believe her. Doris just looked back with brown sad eyes. Tori kissed her forehead.
Then she sighed. 'You win, I'll do your hair before we go to Stef and Lena's.' She yawned. 'But please put the coffee machine on?', she asked her sister.
Tori had been staring at her closet for over five minutes now. Her head throbbed a little and she felt like crying just over the fact that she did not have anything nice to wear. She felt a little off. Was she about to have her period or something?
Doris came out of her room, looking adorable in the outfit she had chosen for herself. Tori watched her hair with pride, she had really outdone herself with this intricate twisting and bun thing. She had to admit to herself that she was actually looking forward to showing Doris' hair to Lena almost as much as Doris was.
She wanted to show Lena that even though she was not black that she did respect Doris' heritage and that she was trying really hard to make Doris feel like she belonged.
'What are you doing?', asked Doris.
'I don't know what to wear.', replied Tori.
Doris just walked over to her closet and pulled out a yellow turtleneck croptop and black high-waisted skinny jeans, threw it at Tori and walked over to the kitchen bar. 'Can I have the last pancake?', she asked, eyeing the breakfast leftovers.
Tori chuckled at her sister's antics. The outfit was good indeed. 'Don't spoil your appetite, we are having late lunch.', she warned her sister but Doris had already shoved half the pancake in her mouth.
'Did you grab a book to read in the bus?', Tori asked, while she poured herself some coffee to go, at the same time also buttoning her jeans.
Doris just nodded, unable to talk with her mouth full of pancake.
'
OK. Let's go!'
'Shouldn't Jesus be home already?', asked Stef leaning over Lena's shoulder and smelling the pan on the stove. 'Smells amazing love.'
'He can be home any minute', replied her wife and while she said that Stef heard the front door open.
'I'm home!', yelled her son.
'You are amazing', she told her wife. 'How did you know he'd be home?'
'O, I'm a witch', Lena replied casually.
'A very sexy witch', said Stef, kissing Lena lightly on her neck.
'Stef, I'm cooking'.
Stef kissed a bit higher.
'O gross.', came the voice of Mariana. Stef heard Jude chuckle. She turned around.
'Look who is awake!', she grinned at her youngest son.
'Surely it can't be Jude', her wife joined the teasing. 'It is barely past noon.'
'Ha ha, very funny', replied Jude, sitting down at the table. 'When is your sister coming?'
'Victoria and Doris will be here soon.', said Stef.
'And please don't pry too much. We are a big family and that can be intimidating', Lena warned the kids.
'Who is intimidating?', Callie walked in the kitchen.
'Apparently mama thinks we are scary', said Mariana in mock hurt voice.
'That's not what I said', huffed Lena. But before Mariana could respond, the doorbell rang.
Stef walked to the door, followed by all her kids, and opened the door.
