Can I braid your hair?

May 12, 2025

When I was fifteen
and I was done with my chemistry lab before class was finished
--yes, including the discussion problems for homework--
my lab partner would let me braid her hair.

She had lucious, smooth black hair
thick and luxurious
all the way
to
her
waist.

I would sit for minutes
(I could have sat for hours)
endlessly combing my fingers through it,
twisting strands into french braids and fishtails
until the bell would ring.

"Can I braid your hair?" I'd ask her.
Not every day,
but often enough.

I'm not sure where she is now,
all these years later,
but I hope if she remembers,
she enjoyed it
as much as I did.