The Hairdresser Diaries (16 page)

“Tommy’s lucky to have a friend who cares,” I said to Cole.

He turned to me and I saw his lips curve up slightly at the corners of his mouth.

“How about you? I noticed you didn’t mention your mom.”

I knew this would come up sooner or later. I let out a deep breath and told Cole the whole story. He didn’t say anything right away and I couldn’t look at him. He reached out and took my hand. That was better than any words he could have said.

I squeezed his hand and let out a breath. We stood there for a moment, taking in the comfort of the silence. Then Cole tugged at my hand and led me back to the blanket.

We spent the rest of the evening talking about our favorite movies, books, and the kind of music we like to listen to. We also talked about our childhood, growing up, and our different friends. When it started to get dark, we packed everything up and headed back to the car.

“How come you didn’t say anything last night?” I finally asked.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he countered.

“Because you didn’t,” I said with more attitude than I intended.

Cole sensing my anger, bowed his head, and opened the trunk to put the cooler and blanket away.

“I didn’t plan on it,” he started. “When I noticed you weren’t going to talk, I decided not to either.”

He closed the trunk and walked over to the driver side. His eyes examined me from over the roof of the car.

“I didn’t think you would actually go all night without saying anything. I was impressed,” he said with a sarcastic smile.

“What’s that supposed to mean,” I said offended as he got into the car.

He didn’t respond. He just leaned over and unlocked my car door. I refused to get in at first. He started the car and waited patiently knowing I’d eventually get in—which I did.

“I must say, you are really cute when you get angry,” Cole said teasingly.

I glowered at him, with my arms crossed. “Is that why you keep pissing me off, because you think it makes me look cute?”

He wrinkled his forehead and rubbed the back of his neck. I was starting to learn this was something he did when he was uncomfortable.

“I didn’t know I pissed you off.”

“And I thought I was supposed to buy dinner?” I said ignoring him, still perturbed.

“I said five dates, I never said you had to pay,” he tried to clarify. “I was actually kind of surprised you accepted.”

“Well, I figured it was the only way I could get rid of you,” I spat the words back at him and turned to look out the window.

“Still want to get rid of me?” he asked quietly.

“We’ll see,” I said more calmly now. I sneaked a peek over at him and he was smiling as he put the car into drive.

When we got to my house he opened my car door for me and walked me to the porch.

“Thank you, I had an…interesting time,” I said to him thinking that was the best way to describe tonight. “I guess I’ll see you?”

He didn’t respond so I turned to unlock my door when he grabbed my wrist, causing me to turn back around. He pulled me closer to him. With his other hand, he reached up and placed his palm just below my jaw line, while his thumb rested on my cheek. I started to get nervous. I knew what he was about to do, but I had no plans to stop him.

“You’re not going to get sick are you?” he asked me.

I started laughing. “No, I’m good.”

He smiled slightly, then leaned in, and kissed me. It was so gentle and tender. Then the hand that was holding my wrist moved to my lower back, pulling me in tighter, closing the distance between us. Our bodies were now pressed against each other’s and our kiss was getting more intense. His lips were so warm and moist. I felt my whole body tingling with heat.

Too soon he pulled away. His eyes sparkled with euphoria. “Sweet dreams Tatum,” he whispered softly as his warm breath brushed across my skin.

I opened my eyes and he was already walking to his car. Not satisfied and wanting more, I called out to him, “Cole!”

He stopped and turned around. I walked down the side walk, grabbed his face, and pulled his lips to mine. I kissed him with so much force I could feel the heat building between us. Knowing I had to stop this before it went any further. I managed to pull myself away. I said, “Goodnight,” spun around, and walked back to the porch.

When I turned to close my door, Cole was still standing there with a stunned look on his face. I giggled and waved goodbye.

He managed to pull himself together enough to walk to his car and leave.

I dreaded getting out of bed. I knew I had a lot of cleaning to do and was not in the mood to do it. The only reason I had to clean the house was because my dad and sister were coming to visit for a week and would be here Saturday. Today was the only day I had time to get it done.

I rolled out of bed, threw on shorts and a beater, pulled my hair into a ponytail and got to work. Peyton told me yesterday she’d come over and help, but I wasn’t holding my breath. Peyton didn’t do manual labor. If she did show up, she’d more or less just sit and watch.

I figured I’d start from the top and work my way down. I turned my music on in my room and cranked it up so I could hear it down the hall. There were two other bedrooms, one was my parent’s and the other was Tyler’s old room. Trina and I used to share a room. Now they were guest rooms when friends needed a place to crash or when family from out of town came to visit.

I dusted and vacuumed each room and put clean sheets and blankets on the beds. Once I was finished with the upstairs, I turned off my stereo, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. I flicked on my little CD player and started with the dishes. I was halfway through when Peyton showed up. The music was so loud I didn’t even hear her come in—not to mention I was too busy singing and dancing to notice.

When I turned around, I jumped. I was startled and a little embarrassed when I noticed Cole was standing next to Peyton.

“Hi,” Peyton said laughing. “Look who I found hovering outside your door.”

I looked at Cole trying not to look totally mortified and mumbled, “Um, hey.”

“So when do we get to catch the next act?” Cole asked.

“Never,” I said as I walked over to turn the music down.

“What the hell are you listening to?” Peyton asked.

“Elvis.”

“I’ll never understand your taste in music.”

“That’s because you don’t know what good taste is.”

“I like Elvis,” Cole said smiling at me.

I blushed and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I told you I was coming over,” Peyton said.

“Not you, Cole.”

“Oh, um, I wanted to see if you would like to go with me to the lake today.”

“Sorry, I can’t. I have too much cleaning to do.”

“Maybe, I could help?” Cole offered.

“You want to help me clean?” I asked skeptically.

“Sure, with my help and Peyton’s help, I’m sure we can get this done in no time.”

“Ha! Peyton won’t be much help. If anything she’ll cause us to do twice as much work.”

“Hey!” Peyton whined. I looked at her. “Okay, true,” she admitted.

“Well maybe if we all pitch in,” Cole glanced at Peyton. “We can get done faster and still have time to go to the lake. Landon said he’d be there all day.”

“Wait, Landon?” I looked at Cole confused.

“Yeah, he called me and said everyone was heading to the lake today and he invited me to come along. When I asked if you’d be there he said you were too busy, so I thought I swing by to see if I could maybe help.”

“Did Landon call you?” I turned the question towards Peyton.

“Yeah, I told him I was helping you clean, that’s probably why he didn’t call you.” I was a little irritated Landon didn’t call me, but Peyton was right. He knew my dad and sister were coming next weekend so he knew I’d say no. Still, he could have asked anyway.

“Alright, let’s get to work. Who wants to help me finish the dishes?” Peyton looked down at her fingernails pretending she didn’t hear me.

“I’ll help,” Cole volunteered.

“Peyton, there’s a list on the fridge with what still has to be done. Pick something and get to it.” With a groan, she walked over to the fridge and tried to pick the easiest thing. Cole helped me finish up the dishes, and then we moved on to the vacuuming and dusting. It only took us about two hours to get everything done. Alone, it would have taken me half the day.

“Thanks for helping me, well, thank you Cole.”

“Hey, I helped,” Peyton complained.

“Uh huh,” I said. If you count straightening the magazines after she was done reading them helping.

“Now you have the rest of the day to relax and have some fun,” Cole said.

“Just give me a few minutes to change and get ready.”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” Peyton said.

“Come on, you can borrow something of mine,” I said as I motioned for her to follow.

“Oh, I like your clothes better anyways,” Peyton replied and jumped off the chair.

We headed upstairs to my bedroom while Cole waited in the living room.

“I take it things went well on your date,” Peyton said as she plopped down on my bed.

“Um, it was nice,” I said not wanting to go into much detail.

She picked up one of my magazines from my night stand and said, “Well regardless, however it was, you must of did something right, cause that boy is in love.”

“Please, stop exaggerating.”

“I’m not. You should have seen him. When I walked up to the house he was standing there scratching the back of his neck, almost like he was practicing what to say.”

I flushed at the thought of watching Cole like that. I liked when he did that, I thought it was cute. I tried to hide my smile, but Peyton caught it.

She looked up from the magazine, “You slept with him, I knew it!” she yelled.

“God Peyton, no I didn’t. And if I do, I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

“You like him don’t you.” She used her devilish tone.

“I’m just having some fun.”

“Uh-huh,” she said and went back to pretending to read the magazine.

“Shut up, here.” I threw one of my bathing suits at her.

After we changed, I put some towels, sun-block, and everything else I needed in a bag and headed back downstairs. When we got in the car Cole turned to me and asked, “I have to pick up Tommy, do you mind?”

“No, that’s cool.” I didn’t have to turn around to know Peyton was grinning ear to ear.

When we got Tommy I offered him the front seat, but he said he was fine sitting in the back. I more or less offered it to save him from Peyton, but she seemed to be on her best behavior.

Once we arrived at the lake, I spotted my friends, and marched right over to Landon.

“Hey Tay, Ow! What the…” Landon said rubbing his shoulder after I hit him.

“Thanks for calling me,” I said in a huff.

“Peyton said you guys were going to be cleaning all day.”

“Well, we were, but Cole came over and helped, so we got done early.”

“How was I supposed to know?” he asked defensively.

“You still could have called,” I protested.

“I’m sorry. I promise next time, even if I know you’re busy, I’ll still call,” Landon said in an exaggerated voice.

“That’s better.” I gave him a kiss and put my stuff underneath a nearby tree. Then I went to say hi to the rest of my friends.

Alex, Kelly, Nate, and Jessie were sitting at a table with Landon’s roommates Jaxson and Billy. There were some girls with them I didn’t know and automatically my defenses went up.

“Hey guys!”

“Te te, what’s up?” Jaxson said as he got up from the table and gave me a hug and a kiss.

“Jax, you know I hate it when you call me that,” I said especially since it almost sounds like he’s calling me ‘titty’.

“I know,” he winked at me.

I bent down and gave Billy a kiss on the cheek. “Hey Tatum, long time no see.” Billy traveled a lot for his job so I didn’t see him much.

“How you been Billy?”

“Good.”

I turned towards the girls I didn’t know and asked, “Who are your friends,” as Cole and Tommy walked up.

“Tatum, this is Krystal, Kallie, and JoJo.”

I greeted them and introduced Tommy and Cole. Jessie walked over and pretended to clear her throat.

“Oh yeah, Tommy you remember Jessie.”

“Hey,” Tommy said to Jessie flashing his sexiest smile.

Once the introductions were done Landon came over and started cooking some burgers and dogs on the grill. I was happy. I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast, so I was pretty hungry.

While we waited for the food to be done, I thought I’d take a dip in the water. It was just past two and the sun was getting hot. I took off my shorts and shirt and got out my sun-block. Cole offered to help me put some sun-block on my shoulders and back. I did not decline his offer.

I really liked the way his hands felt on my shoulders. It was a sensual touch. I had to remind myself we were in public to keep from wanting to attack him with my mouth.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you got bored, a lot,” Cole said.

Most of my tattoos were hidden, but when I wore a bathing suit they were out in the open for all to see.

“What, you don’t like?” I asked innocently looking at him from over my shoulder.

“No I do, actually, I think they’re very…sexy,” he said in a low voice while trailing his finger down the middle of my back, stopping at my bikini bottom.

My whole body started to tingle. I bit my lip to keep from shaking.

“Hey you guys coming?” Alex yelled, snapping me out of it.

I jumped and took a step forward. “Yeah, coming,” I yelled back. I turned around to Cole, told him thanks, and quickly walked away. I stopped just short of the water, and stared out into the clearing. I was trying to forget about what just happened with me and Cole. Forget about the fact that every time he touches me I want to crumble to pieces; forget the closeness of him and how it makes me lose my breath and forget his eyes that make me want to get lost in them.

“Hello, Tatum, are you listening?” I was so caught in my thoughts I didn’t realize Kelly was trying to talk to me.