I got lost a few times on the way to Cashmere’s home. It was in a part of Austere I had never been to before, and it took longer than usual because the bus route didn’t regularly run there.

When I got off the bus, I felt like something was different in this neighborhood. It wasn’t clean but it wasn’t dirty either. There were people out and about, talking to their neighbors, kids playing in the street, and for a few seconds I felt like I was in Edelweiss again.

Where everyone knew everyone, and everything wasn’t so fast.

Everyone in this neighborhood knew each other, except for me, so a lot of them stared at me, even glared when I walked by. When I got to the house that was Cashmere’s address I saw an older man on the cracked doorstep. He wore shorts and a sports jersey while drinking soda and smoking…. something that was not a cigarette.

“Who are you,” he asked me.

“I’m here to see Cashmere,” I said quietly. “Who are you?”

“Mind your business.”

I feel a blood vessel about to pop from how quick his reply was. Without acknowledging me he gets up, opens the screen door, and goes inside. From outside I can hear yelling.

“Cash, some white girl is here to see you!”

I don’t hear her.

“Girl, get out here,” he yelled.

“I’m coming you piece of dust, give me some time!”

I awkwardly stand outside until Cashmere peeks her head outside and grins.

“Did that old man scare you? Don’t mind my uncle, get in here,” she said.

Her neighborhood was a whole new world, and her house is as well.

I ain’t never seen a house with red carpet and beads instead of doors. There’s a painting of Jesus right next to the entrance when we enter but he’s colored. Music plays and people are smoking…something that is not a cigarette while sitting on the couch and watching a movie.

When I enter the living room one of the men immediately sits up straight and a bright light shone in his eyes.

“Cash where did you kidnap this woman? She’s too pretty to be around you,” he said.

“This is my cousin, Denzel,” Cashmere said monotously. “Next to Denzel is his sister, Asia.”

“I’m single,” he said.

“He also unemployed, broke, ugly,” Asia said.

She takes a huge puff and starts laughing and choking through the smoke. The others on the couch start laughing too and Denzel starts to argue with them. Cashmere takes me with her towards the back of the house, opened a door, and inside is a tiny salon.

“Oh my gosh this amazing,” I said.

“Thanks, I try,” Cashmere said. “You got anything in mind?”

“I don’t know. I just want something that will set me apart from the other girls at the next audition.”

Cashmere nods, takes a step closer to me, and inspects my face. I feel like a dog at a dog show the way she inspects my hair, face and nails. She mutters a few words to herself and has become a different person inside the salon, much more serious.

“I got you,” she said. “Get in my chair, girl.”

She starts by detangling my hair, sectioning it into little parts. I don’t remember the last time I’ve gotten my hair done proper, and I feel so special. Even though it’s a small room inside her house, it feels like she put work into it.

“I’m sorry about my family,” Cashmere said. “They’re just dumb sometimes.”

“It’s not so bad. But your cousin made me feel more nervous than a nine-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

Cashmere stops washing my hair, and I open my eyes. I look up at her and she’s trying to hold back laughter.

“You really are a cowboy, oh my god,” she said.

“I ain’t a cowboy!”

She pokes fun at my accent while opening a window. Next, she put on some gloves and mixed some chemical concoction together.

“What’s inside that bottle,” I asked.

“A new you.”

She used a brush to carefully apply it to every part of my hair. After she was done, she wrapped my hair in some weird plastic and set a timer. I don’t know why but it makes me even more anxious of what the new me is supposed to be.

Once the timer goes off, she washes whatever is left in my hair, and does it all over again with another weird mixture and washes it out again.

“Don’t worry, we almost there,” Cashmere promised me.

I take a few steps and get into another chair, but this one dries my hair. She does my nails while I sit underneath the dryer, and I tell her all about how different Edelweiss is from Austere.

When my hair is dry, she does my makeup, and suddenly I am no longer a cowboy.

I look into the large mirror hung up on the wall and fall in love with myself.

“I’m blonde,” I giggled.

“You dig it?”

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“Oh my gosh, I love it!”

Cashmere takes me downstairs to show me off and somehow the group has grown since we last left. My face burns as she turns me around talks about the new techniques she used.

“Guess who got their hair did,” Cashmere said.

“Definitely not you,” Denzel said.

Cashmere took a tooth comb out of her back pocket and threw it at Denzel. I ain’t never seen a man dodge something that fast. She must throw stuff at him all the time.

“Cash don’t waste your time on this fool. It’s time for dinner,” Asia said.

“Can I stay,” I asked.

“Bestie, of course you can.”

In the backyard, Cashmere’s grumpy uncle makes the best hotdogs I have ever had. There are apparently moves to a lot of different songs I’ve never heard of, like The Cupid Shuffle. People who earlier in the neighborhood glared at me are now in the backyard wanting to get to know me since I now have the Cashmere Seal of Approval.

I forgot to call Nick that night because I was having too much fun.