I turned off my phone to avoid any more calls or texts from Logan. I knew it would piss some people off not being able to get a hold of me, but I didn’t care. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and watching TV.
The next morning when I got up, I turned my phone back on. Three missed calls from Peyton yelling at me for not calling her back and one message from Logan asking me to please call him. I put my phone back on my nightstand and got in the shower to get ready for work. I stood in the shower for several minutes letting the hot water soak in and the steam fill the bathroom.
When I finally stepped out of the shower I wiped the fog from the mirror and stared at my reflection, examining the cuts on my cheek and lip. They looked a lot better already. My lip wasn’t swollen anymore. It only had a small trace of a cut and my cheek was still a little puffy, but not as bad as I thought. I didn’t want to take any chances so I rubbed some Neosporin on it to help with any potential scarring.
When I arrived at work, before I even got inside, Peyton was attacking me. “What the hell bitch? Why haven’t you called me back?”
“I turned my phone off.”
“I could have been dying and that could have been the last time you were able to hear my wonderful voice,” she said referring to her voicemails.
“Stop being so over dramatic,” I said rolling my eyes. “Logan wouldn’t stop calling so I turned it off.”
“Oh, well you could have told me that last night I would of…”
“Peyton, just please be quiet, you’re giving me a headache.” She looked at me utterly insulted, but kept her mouth shut.
I went over to my station and saw it was overflowing with flowers and candy. “Okay whose crap is on my station?” I asked. Nobody ever sends me flowers. I automatically assumed they weren’t mine.
“They’re yours,” Peyton said.
“Huh?”
“They’re for you retard.”
“Who are they from?” I asked puzzled.
“I don’t know, but I’m dying to find out.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already looked yourself,” I said raising one eyebrow at Peyton.
“Trust me, I was tempted, but I thought I be nice just this once.”
I looked at the overabundance of floral arrangements. They varied from roses, to daises, to lilies, with chocolates and a stuffed pig. I started with the roses. Obviously from someone who doesn’t know me very well, if they did, they know I hate roses.
I opened up the card and it said:
I’m sorry, call me
-Logan
I laughed out loud. “This has got to be a joke,” I thought to myself.
“The chocolates came with the roses,” Peyton said pointing to the tacky gold and red heart shaped box. I picked up the roses and the chocolates and handed them to Peyton.
“Here, I don’t want these.” Peyton gave me a funny look. “They’re from Logan.” Peyton shrugged and took them. She loved roses.
I was scared to open the other cards, but with a sigh I did. The Lilies and stuffed pig was from Landon. There was no card, it didn’t need one. We both knew when I saw the pig I’d know who it was from. Landon knew me all too well. He knew lilies were my favorite flower and the stuffed pig was a reminder of one of our first dates. He spent over fifty dollars trying to win me a giant stuffed teddy bear at one of the local carnivals. He didn’t even come close. The carnival guy felt bad and gave him a little stuffed pig for his effort.
Landon knew the flowers would make me smile and the pig would make me laugh. He always did stuff like this to make me feel better and it always worked.
When Peyton came back from putting the roses and chocolates on her station she asked who the lilies were from. I flashed the pig and said Landon.
”What a waste,” she said.
“What are you talking about?”
“You and Landon. You guys practically act like a couple. He knows everything about you. He’s charming, good-looking, a great guy, but no, you guys are just friends.”
“And?”
“Why not just be with Landon?”
“I love Landon, but I’m not in love with him, and he knows that and feels the same way. Can’t force something that’s not there.”
“I guess, so who the daises from?”
“I don’t know.” I looked around not seeing a card. Then I caught a glimpse of a small folded piece of paper in the mirror. The card had fallen behind the flowers. I carefully reached behind the daises and opened up the card.
Looking forward to our date this Friday
-Cole
I shook my head and handed Peyton the card.
“What? Who they from?” She took the card from my hand, read it, and with wide eyes practically yelled, “I knew it! You slept with him, you slut!”
I ripped the card from her hand. “No I didn’t.”
“Oh, why not?” Now she looked and sounded disappointed.
“Cause I don’t like him.”
She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, “Never stopped you before.”
“Shut up!”
“Hey, I’m just saying, and if you don’t like him then why are you going on a date with him?”
“Well…because…” I started to say before Kayla another stylist interrupted me.
“Whose are those?” Kayla asked with a jealous attitude.
“They’re mine, why?” I said glaring back at her.
“Who the hell would send you flowers?”
“Your dad, thanking me for satisfying him better than your mom ever could,” I replied with a smirk. Peyton started laughing which pissed Kayla off more.
“Whatever, go fuck yourself,” Kayla said walking away.
“I will when I’m done with your dad.”
Peyton almost fell out of her chair bending over with laughter.
Kayla was one of the stylists here no one got along with. She had a mean and jealous nature to her. She was six foot, kind of stalky, brown eyes, and straight black hair that fell just above her shoulders. She had a very manly physique and a big mouth. She never shut up and she thought she knew everything. If you would try to correct her when she was wrong, she would argue with you saying you were wrong even though clearly she was. She would run her mouth about everything, especially stuff she knew nothing about, but acted like she did. And she tattled on everyone. Sometimes we would refer to her as ‘The Mouth’. She’s the bully of the salon. We tried to get her to quit several times, but had no such luck. So we learned to tolerate her, for the most part.
Kayla was almost on the other side of the salon when Tommy, Cole’s friend, walked in. When she caught a glimpse of him she quickly made her way over to the desk.
“Can I help you?” Kayla asked in her best attempt to be sweet and sexy, which was nearly impossible, because she was the meanest and ugliest bitch I knew.
“Thanks, but I’m here to see Tatum,” Tommy said as he passed right by her. The look on Kayla’s face was priceless; I wish I had a camera.
“Hi Tommy.”
“Hey Tatum,” he said as he spotted me.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“I need a haircut, have time?”
“Sure, just give me a minute to set up.”
I set up all my stuff on my station and signaled for Tommy to have a seat in my chair. “So what are we doing?”
“Just shape up the sides and back and trim up the top,” he said.
I caped him, got out my clippers, and went to work.
“Quick question, how’d you know where I worked?” I asked.
“Cole told me.”
That was weird. I didn’t remember telling Cole where I worked. Come to think of it, how’d he know where to send the flowers? I didn’t press the subject and continued cutting Tommy’s hair.
“Somebody must really like you,” Tommy said bumping me out of my daze.
“Huh?”
“The flowers,” he said pointing at the collection on my station
.
“Oh, yeah the lilies are from a friend and the daisies are from Cole.”
“I should’ve guessed,” he said referring to the daises.
“I’m to assume this is something he’s does often?”
“No, not really.”
“Uh huh,” I said smiling seeing Tommy now a little uncomfortable and wishing he kept his mouth shut.
“No, I mean daisies are Cole’s trademark.”
“That’s not helping your case.”
“He only sends girls he really likes flowers and he chooses to send daisies. He thinks roses are too much of a cliché.” I’d have to agree on that one.
“Did he send you here to spy and see how I felt?”
“No, he doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Yeah right.”
“I’m serious, he only told me you worked here. I was in the area so I thought I’d stop by and see if you had any openings.” It was hard for me not to believe him. He did look like he was telling the truth.
I walked him back to one of the shampoo bowls to wash his hair. When we were out of sight of the front desk he leaned into me and asked, “What’s up with that girl at the front desk?”
“Who, Kayla? Please don’t tell me you’re interested in her?” I tried not to look too disgusted.
“Eww no! She just won’t stop starring at us.”
“Yeah she does that. We don’t get along and I’m pretty sure it pissed her off that when you came in here, you were looking for me.”
“Hmm…” Tommy said rubbing his chin with a devilish look on his face. “I have an idea to really make her mad if you’re interested.”
“Anything to piss her off,” I said. I was really starting to like Tommy now.
“Just follow my lead when were done,” he said winking at me.
I finished up Tommy’s haircut and walked him over to the front desk to ring him out. Kayla was still there, staring. Tommy started flirting with me shamelessly. I walked around the desk and flirted back touching his arm, giggling, and playfully shoving him. All the while I knew Kayla’s face was turning bright red.
Tommy then reached for my hands and held them saying, “Thank you for the most wonderful evening of my life last night.” Then he turned to Kayla and said, “This girl is the most incredible girl I’ve ever met, you’re so lucky to be friends with her.” I tried hard not to gag.
“She is amazing, I know I’m lucky to be her friend,” Kayla said smiling.
“That’s funny considering you wanted to rip my head off about twenty minutes ago when I told you how much your dad loves me.” I smiled and waited for the smoke to come out of her ears, but she was better than I thought. I could tell she was trying hard not to jump right over the desk and rip me to shreds.
“Oh Tatum, don’t be silly I was just messing around,” she said through gritted teeth.
Tommy turned back to me smiling, as if to signal me to get ready to put the final nail in her coffin. He put his arms around my waist, smiled and winked so only I could see. “Thank you again,” he said as he leaned down to hug me and then he planted a big, fat, kiss on my lips.
That was all Kayla could take and she left the room.
Tommy was still kissing me even after she was gone and I found it hard to stop myself. If Peyton wasn’t standing behind us and clearing her throat I don’t think we would have stopped.
Embarrassed, I pulled myself back feeling my cheeks flush bright pink. “Thanks,” I said timidly.
“You think it worked?” he asked just as we heard a crash. I heard the distinct sound of a roller cart that was slammed into the floor sending perm rods and rollers everywhere.
“Uh, I’d say it worked.” We all laughed.
“If this is how you treat all your clients, I might have to get my haircut more often,” said another voice from behind Tommy.
I looked over to see Cole was now standing behind Tommy. I wasn’t sure how long he had been there, I assume long enough to see Tommy and I kiss.
Tommy turned around to greet Cole. “Hey, thanks for suggesting here. Not only did I get a good haircut, but I got to make out with my stylist too,” Tommy said to Cole joking around. I knew by now my face had to be bright red.
“I can see that. Quite a service you got here,” Cole said leaning casually on the front desk.
I couldn’t find the words to speak.
“If you like that you should see what I can do,” Peyton purred at Cole.
Okay this was going too far. “Is there a reason you’re here?” I asked Cole.
“I wanted to see if you’d like to join me for lunch.”
“I thought you said Friday?”
“Friday is dinner, today is lunch.”
Not wanting to go I tried to think of an excuse to get out of it. “Sorry I can’t, my next client should be here soon.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you she canceled,” Peyton said.
“What? When?” I ran over to check the book.
“When you had your tongue down Tommy’s throat,” she said and I blushed again. “Now you have two hours free.”
“Good, that should give us plenty of time,” Cole smiled, happy that I was free.
“Well look at that, Peyton’s open too, how about all four of us go to lunch?” I asked figuring with Tommy and Peyton there it would be better than being alone with Cole. Cole didn’t seem to mind me inviting them to come along.
“Where would you like to go?” Cole asked me.
“There’s a pizza shop down the street.” I looked around to see what everyone thought. They all nodded in agreement on the pizza shop and we headed out. It was a nice day and it wasn’t far—only about two blocks or so—we decided to walk there.
Cole and I walked ahead, although I had a feeling Peyton and Tommy lagged behind on purpose.
I didn’t say much at lunch, I wasn’t in the mood to talk. Peyton filled Tommy in on what he missed Saturday night. I sat there silently and nodded every once in a while. After about twenty minutes I stopped paying attention and floated off into my own little world.
Lunch seemed to go on forever and I was not in a sociable mood. Luckily for me Peyton knew how to talk enough for the both of us. Finally we got our check and headed back to the salon.
“Thanks for the haircut Tatum,” Tommy said as he leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“No problem, and thank you,” I said winking at him.
“Anytime. See ya at home,” he told Cole as he left.
Peyton waved goodbye and went into the salon leaving Cole and I alone.
“Thanks for lunch,” I said not sure what else to say. “And the flowers.”
Cole didn’t say anything right away. I could tell he was struggling with what to say. “Look we don’t have to do the dinner on Friday, or any of the others, we can just call it even.” He looked upset.
I didn’t want to go to dinner on Friday, but when I looked into his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, I knew there was something more to Cole. No matter how bad I didn’t want to go I couldn’t tell him no.
“No, its fine, I just… I just need some time.” I wasn’t lying. I needed some time to get my head straight and figure out what the hell I was doing.
“Take all the time you need, I’ll be here when you’re ready,” Cole said giving me a very forced half smile. Then he walked away.
I let out a sigh and walked back into work.
I needed to get away bad and take a break from all this. I wish I could go to Arizona to see my dad and sister, but they were coming here in two weeks for a visit. I thought of the next best thing, Lulu.
Lulu was a good friend of mine who I went to high school with. She moved to Philadelphia a few years later, but we still keep in touch. Whenever I have a problem or need to get away she’s the first person I call.
I checked my schedule for the next two days and I was open. I marked myself out of the book and went to the back to tell my boss I was taking the next two days off. “Hey Teresa,
my books clear, so I’m taking off tomorrow and Wednesday,” I told her.
She looked at me and said, “Okay, just mark yourself out and put my initials next to it.”
“Already did,” I said smiling.
“Does this have anything to do with the fact you look like you got into a fight this weekend?” she asked. I did a good job covering up my cheek with makeup, but there was no hiding the cuts and bruises on my arms. I sighed and nodded. “And how’d you know I’d say yes?”
“Cause you can never say no to me,” I replied as I walked out the back door.
Teresa knew she couldn’t say no to me. I was one of the top stylists, always on time, never complained—well not a lot—and I did what I was told. She pretty much let me do what I wanted making her an easy boss to work for. She was tiny and petite, which made it hard for her to be intimidating. Her hair was short and spiky—like a pixie cut—and her color was dark auburn with a few black streaks. She was very laid back and easy going, but wasn’t afraid to put her foot down when the need came for it.
Right away I called Lulu, “Hey I need to get away,” I said not even giving her a chance to say hello as she answered her phone.
“Showboat or Harrah’s?” she asked.
“Hmm well, Showboat has the outside pool and is on the boardwalk.”
“What so I can pay six bucks for a can of Lager?” she complained.
“Okay, well Harrah’s has the indoor pool with Jacuzzis and rooftop deck.”
“Okay Harrah’s it is, when?” she asked.
“Tomorrow.”
“Damn, don’t give me much time. I do have a job you know.”
“Don’t you have off this week?” I said recalling when I talked to her last.
“So, I could have plans, I do have other friends you know.”
“Really?” I said.
“Whatever, I’ll call and make a reservation.”
“Okay good see you tomorrow.”
“Wait are you gonna tell me what this is all about?” she said quickly.
The Hairdresser Diaries Page 9