Aisha's birthday party was alive in a way I hadn't expected-music pulsing through the loft, fairy lights strung across exposed brick, laughter cutting through the bass. Tables groaned under platters of jollof rice (spicy, smoky, nothing like anything I'd tasted before), grilled chicken with crisp edges and tender meat, puff-puff dusted with sugar, and bowls of peppered stew that made my eyes water just looking at them. Drinks flowed-cocktails in bright colors, palm wine in clay cups, bottles of chilled Hennessy passed hand to hand. Games broke out in corners: charades, a loud round of "Never Have I Ever" that had people shrieking and drinking.

I stayed on the edges....