The Opium Room by Charisma Kendrick

“Okay,” Karrigan finally said. “Where you want me to pick you up?”
    “For a second there, I thought you forgot about me.”
    Lea heard a horn blow, followed by “Mother fucker !”
    “Everything all right?” Lea asked.
    “Yeah, I almost backed into a car. Whew, that was a close one. I’m turning out of the parking lot. Where am I headed?”
    “Well, I’m staying at the Sedgewick, but I can just meet you somewhere.”
    “I’ll come and get you. It’d be easier because we have more than one stop to make. See you in a minute.”
    Lea had just enough time to get in a safety prayer before Karrigan rang her back. “I’m downstairs. Red BMW right outside the door.”
    “Be right there.”
    Lea grabbed her purse and ran downstairs. Karrigan had parked in front of the hotel entrance. Lea opened the passenger’s side door and sat, carefully. The new–looking car from the outside had a whole other thing going on inside. The floorboard was strewn with soda cans and fast food wrappers. Smelled like Taco Bell.
    Lea plugged in her seatbelt and braced herself. When the car didn’t move she looked at Karrigan who was studying her intently. “What?”
    “I’m trying to figure out what we need to do first.” She chewed the side of her mouth as she surveyed Lea. “Hair and makeup.”
    Lea’s brows bunched together. “Hair and makeup?”
    “We could do makeup first, then hair,” Karrigan said.
    “No, that’s not what I meant. I just wanted you to help me pick out an outfit.”
    “Honey,” Karrigan said, “we need to spruce up this whole package to make you Fox–worthy. Get it… Foxworth.” She laughed at her own joke, and Lea couldn’t help but laugh with her. Karrigan’s laugh was infectious, much like her carefree nature.
    “Karri,” Lea said, “if that’s what you think I need to do, I say, let’s go for it.”
    “Good girl.” Karrigan put the car in drive and took off.
    The ride along I–20 with Karrigan was just as Lea had expected it would be: crazy, life–threatening, and more illegal maneuvering than lawful. It’d taken twenty minutes to get to the mall and when Karrigan put the car in park, Lea let out the lungful of air she’d been holding in. She got out and contemplated kissing the ground.
    Instead, she just smiled and said to Karrigan, “I’m your clay. Mold me.”
    “Yes!” Karrigan did a fist pump. “This is going to be so much fun!” She grabbed Lea’s hand and led the way through the parking lot.
    The first store they went to was Sephora. Right past the entrance was a huge display of fragrances. Karrigan leaned in and sniffed Lea. You smell pepperminty. What is that?”
    “Essential oils. I don’t like something that smells real strong, so I just take the easy route and make my own.”
    Karrigan raised one eyebrow. “You do what? Big no–no. We need to get you smelling better than minty. You want to smell… seductive.” She grasped Lea around the wrist and sprayed it with a tester. “Wait a minute, then sniff.”
    Lea took a whiff and almost fell over. “Whoa. That is way too strong.”
    Karrigan sniffed Lea’s wrist. “Sorry, you’re my clay. I’m doing the molding.” She tossed a bottle of the perfume into her plastic shopping tray. “Now, let’s move on to makeup.”
    She steadied Lea’s face in between her hands. “You have pretty eyes.”
    “Thanks, so do you.” Dark, mysterious ones, just like her older brother.
    “Curly eyelashes,” Karrigan continued. “But why don’t you wear mascara?”
    “I do wear mascara. Clear. Black tends to run.” More like she tends to rub her eyes when she’s awake all hours of the day and night.
    “That just won’t do.” Karrigan held a package in front of her and read aloud. “Fourteen times more volume, seventy percent more lash lift, big, bold brush, in blackest black. Lea. Lea. Lea.” She tossed that in, too.
    The rest of their shopping at Sephora went along the same lines. Karrigan made all the