The Hairdresser Diaries (19 page)

Caught off-guard all I managed was, “Hi.”

“Hey,” he said with his shoulders slumped. He didn’t look like his usual chipper self. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Uh yeah, Peyton I’ll meet you over there.”Peyton nodded and left for the restaurant.

I waited for Cole to say something. He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.

“So, um…did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I just thought you were mad at me or something since you won’t text me back.”

I could see the worry in his eyes. “No, I’m sorry I’ve just been really busy.”

I knew he could tell it was a lie. The last thing I wanted to do is hurt him, but spending time with him makes it harder for me to not want to be with him. I know it sounds silly, but I’m not that girl who falls in love and I don’t want to be. I thought we could just keep things casual. At least until I can find a way to let him down easy, but every time I looked into his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, it made saying no that much harder.

I gave in a little. “Look, how about tonight we go see a movie. I get off around five.”

“Alright, I’ll call you,” he said perking up slightly. I gave him a smile and said goodbye, then went to meet Peyton.

“Hey you alright?” Peyton asked right away.

“Yeah fine, why?” She didn’t answer. She just looked at me strange and went back to looking at her menu. We ate lunch and headed back to the salon. I finished up my work day and went home to check out what movies were in.

Great, nothing but romantic comedies. There was one scary movie in, and that, I was not interested in seeing, but it seemed better than the other choices. I called Cole and suggested the scary movie. He seemed fine with it and said he’d pick me up at six so I got ready and waited for Cole.

As soon as he picked me up I felt like it was our first date all over again. Neither of us seemed sure what to say, like there was some tension between us. We didn’t talk until we arrived at the theater.

“What did you do today?” I asked Cole.

“Just hung around.” He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk. I could tell he was upset by something, but was afraid to ask. I had a feeling it was me and didn’t want to have to confess anything.

We didn’t talk the rest of the night. It was awkward, and uncomfortable. When the movie was over Cole dropped me off and we said goodbye. I didn’t know what to say to him. I was starting to feel bad, wishing I never met him only because that would make this easier. I felt selfish and I wanted to text and tell him something. Something that would help, but there was nothing I could say now. Not when I was trying to keep my distance.

Before I knew it, the weekend was here and I had to pick up my dad and sister from the airport. The drive to the airport wasn’t too bad. I only hit a little traffic. After I parked in the designated pick-up area, I went into the airport to wait for their plane to arrive. I had about forty-five minutes to kill and was glad I brought a book.

I sat down in a row of empty chairs and pulled out my book to start reading. I hardly got started when an elderly man sat next to me. I wanted to say to him, “There are five other empty seats and you had to sit next to me.” But then I reminded myself to stop being an ass and I remembered my manners.

The elderly man smiled at me politely as he got comfortable and I smiled back.

“Love is a funny thing, isn’t it?” said the elderly man.

I marked my page with a finger, “Excuse me?”

“Young love is always easy to see. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Oh, I’m not in love,” I said going back to my book.

“You shouldn’t be afraid to love. Never finding love is a greater loss than losing someone you love,” he said.

Okay seriously, how did I get stuck with the crazy old man? I put my book down seeing he wasn’t going to let me read it.

“Are you like cupid or something?” I asked sarcastically, hoping to offend him so he would leave me alone.

He just laughed, amused by my comment. “You’re a skeptic, I see.”

Great now this guy was claiming to be cupid.

I looked around for security guards, just in case.

“No worries, my dear, no I’m not cupid. I just know how to spot someone in love.” I tried to tell him again that I wasn’t, but he continued talking. “You should never deny what the heart wants. To have loved and lost is better than never to have loved at all.”

Like I haven’t heard that before.

“Tatum!” I heard my dad call my name. I put my book away and got up to greet him.

“Hi dad!” I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a big hug. I looked around and didn’t see my sister. “Where’s Trina?”

He gestured behind him. “She hasn’t stop texting since we got off the plane.”

I looked and saw her walking up the terminal with her head down fixated on her cell phone. She was oblivious to the fact that she was forcing busy travelers to detour around her; they didn’t hide their sneers as they passed. I let it go for now though, I was too happy to see them to care.

“So how was your flight?” I asked turning back to my father.

“Come on, I’ll tell you on the drive,” he said.

“That bad? Oh, hey,” I was about to relate my narrow escape from the old man, “I just had the strangest conversation with…” I turned to point him out, but he was gone. Puzzled, I stood there for a moment.

“Tatum, you okay?” my dad asked.

“Yeah, sorry, never mind,” I said turning back around.

When Trina reached us she didn’t even look up from her phone. “Hi Trina, nice to see you too.”

“Uh, yeah, hi,” she mumbled.

“Trina, you are not going to spend the week on your phone. Give it to me now,” my dad scolded.

“I’ll be done in a minute. Katie’s telling me why Bobby and Jill broke up. Besides the fact she’s a total slut and Dylan…Hey!”

My dad yanked the phone out of her hands. “I don’t care Trina. You’ll get your phone back when you can learn some manners.”

“But…”

“But nothing, now say hi to your sister.”

She eyed me up and down, with her arms crossed, and said, “Nice outfit, what you trade clothes with a bum.”I looked down at what I was wearing. I had on cut-off jean shorts and a blue tank top. I thought I looked fine.

“Trina!” my dad yelled.

I sighed. “Dad, it’s fine, let her go.”

“Can I have my phone back now,” Trina whined.

“Absolutely not.”

“UUUAAHH!” she screamed. Threw her hands down and stomped off.

“Sound familiar?” my dad asked as we both watched her walk away.

I turned to him. “I was not that bad.” He wrinkled his brow at me and his eyes narrowed a little, “It’s a phase, she’ll get over it.”

“I hope so. I don’t think I can deal with this much longer.”

“I’ll talk to her. No promises it will help though.”

He gave me a smile. “Thanks honey.”

I put their luggage in the trunk of my car and we headed home.

“How’s Landon? You guys still together?” my dad asked not wasting any time.

“Dad, Landon was never my boyfriend and yes he’s fine.”

“Will he be at the cookout on Sunday?”

“Yes.”

“You know he’s a great guy with a promising future. You should reconsider getting back together.”

My dad loved Landon. He basically planned out our whole future together the first day he met him.

“Dad, for the last time. Landon and I are just friends and we only want to be just friends, end of story.”

“I just don’t want you to be alone.”

“I’m not alone.”

“And I want you to find someone who makes you happy.”

Knowing he wouldn’t let this go, I decided to lie and make up a fake boyfriend.

“Since you mention it, I uh, did find someone.”

“Why am I only hearing about this now?”

“Cause we haven’t been dating long.”

“How long have you been seeing this boy?” It was the skeptical father tone.

“A couple of weeks.” I hated lying to my dad, but I did not want to give him a chance to try and hook me up with someone.

“What’s his name?”

“Cole.” Crap, why did I say Cole.

“When do I get to meet him?”

“He’ll be at the cook out Sunday.” Crap, crap, crap. Another reason I don’t like lying, I tend to dig myself holes I can’t get out of.

If Cole’s not mad at me this might work. Although he hasn’t tried to contact me all week, which is very unlike Cole.

“He’s probably some brain dead loser. Those are the only kind of guys who would be attracted to you,” Trina said from the back seat.

I just ignored her.

“Good, I want to meet him,” My dad said, also ignoring Trina’s comment.

I moved on to other topics so I wouldn’t have to make up any more stories about my pretend boyfriend. I filled them in on work and how Tyler was doing. Trina sat in the back pouting, because she didn’t have her phone, so she decided not to talk at all. She probably would only respond through text anyway.

Once we got to the house my dad hesitated in the doorway. He let out a breath and stepped in. He continued his way through the house slowly taking in his surroundings. I know it still hurt my dad to come back here, to a house filled with so many memories of my mom. I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled. He smiled back and I felt him relax a little.

“Trina, you’re staying in Tyler’s old room,” I said.

“Gross, I hope you disinfected it first.”

I rolled my eyes and ignored her…again.

“Dad you can stay in your old room unless you feel better…” I hesitated.

“No honey, it’s fine,” he said squeezing my shoulder and giving me a kiss on top of the head like he used to do when I was little.

This was the first time they came to visit since they moved. I knew coming here would be hard on my dad, but he insisted it was time for them to visit Tyler and me for once.

“I’m tired. I think I’m going to lay down for a bit,” my dad said. “Here,” he pulled money out of his wallet and handed it to me.

“Why don’t you and Trina go shopping while I rest?”

“Dad, I don’t need money.” I tried to protest before Trina leapt from the couch and swiped the money from his hand.

“No, it’s fine. You two go out and have some fun on me.” He turned and continued on through the house like he was about to face something we couldn’t quite understand.

Once my dad was out of sight, I ripped the money from Trina’s hand.

“Hey!” she yelled.

“Like I’m gonna let you have all that money,” I said to her.

“What’s your deal? Why are you such a bitch?”

I grabbed her by the arm and said as restrained as I could, “Look, you need to stop acting like a brat and give dad a break.”

“You’re hurting me.”

“Good.” I let go.

“I’m gonna call Tyler and go hang with him.”

“Nice try, but he’s working and you don’t have a phone.”

“I hate you!” she screamed and plopped down on the couch crossing her arms and pouting…again.

I could see this was going to be fun. I grabbed my purse and headed for the door. “I’ll be in the car waiting when you’re done with your hissy fit.” I closed the door behind me, got in my car and took a deep breath to prepare myself for the next couple of hours.

It didn’t take her long to join me in the car. “You’re not going to change first?” she said giving me a disgusted look.

Seriously, what the hell was wrong with my outfit? I simply told her no and started the car. She kept her mouth shut the entire ride to the mall, but once we got inside she lightened up a bit. Shopping cheers anyone up.

We strolled along checking out different stores until Trina found one she liked. She dropped the attitude some when we started trying on clothes. We found some cute stuff at American Eagle and Body Central, but had better luck when we hit Wet Seal. I bought a couple of cute tops, shorts, and some dresses. Trina bought some accessories and a couple of cute outfits, only after I approved, of course. She didn’t argue with me when I said no. Despite the fact she didn’t like my outfit, she still valued my opinion.

Shortly after we left Wet Seal we ran into Tommy and Jessie.

“Hey guys!” I said surprised to see them.

“Hey Tatum.”

“This is my sister Trina. Trina this is Tommy and Jessie.” I think for the first time Trina was speechless, not by choice. She just stared at Tommy.

“You coming to the cookout tomorrow?” I asked Jessie.

“I’ll be there,” Jessie said.

“Tommy, you’re more than welcome to come too.”

“Free food. I’m there,” he smiled. Running in to them and talking about the cookout reminded me I had to call Cole, hoping he wasn’t mad at me.

“Okay great, see ya guys tomorrow then,” I said goodbye and started to walk away when I noticed Trina wasn’t next to me. I turned around and saw her standing there with a stunned look on her face. I shook my head walked back and pulled her along.

“Come on,” I said.

Since we had more than enough outfits, the next best thing was to find shoes to go with them. We hit the shoe stores and if I had my way I would have cleaned them out.

Trina was back to her old self once we started trying on shoes. She updated me on the latest gossip on the people in her school.

She told me everything about the drama of being a teenager. God, I did not miss high school.

After we paid for our shoes I reminded myself I had to call Cole before it got too late. I handed Trina some money and told her to head into the one department store while I stepped outside and made a phone call.

“Don’t buy anything I wouldn’t approve of,” I warned her. She waved me off and headed in to the store. Once outside, I lit up a cigarette and called Cole.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Tatum.”

“What’s up?”

I decided I was just going to get right to it.

“I need a favor…” I also thought telling him the truth was the best way to go. “I kinda told my dad I have a boyfriend and that he would be at the cookout tomorrow…would you pretend to be my boyfriend for a day?”

I held my breath. He didn’t respond right away and I was getting nervous.

“What time tomorrow?” he asked.