as you get to your apartment. Just… relax, okay? You shouldn’t receive much attention at the event, but if you do, I’ll make sure to steer the conversation in a different direction.” As he assured me, he rubbed my back in a soothing motion.
I blushed at the gesture and at the fact that he knew why my behaviour was the way it has been throughout the day. I cleared my throat. “Thank you.” I murmured. “I’ll see you soon.” I gave him a small smile, before heading home.
***
“Are you Emily?” A blonde piped up, peering down at me as I ascended the stairs that led to the door of my apartment.
I smiled as I reached the last step. “Yes, you must be…Rita? Hello, thank you so much for coming. I’m sorry if I’m taking from your personal time.” I frowned, remembering that it was past 6PM.
“Nonsense!” she said, waving off my apology. “I love what I do, and I’m especially going to love working on your hair! It’s really healthy for blonde! What do you do to it?” She waited for my reply a she watched me unlock my apartment door.
I laughed, blushing slightly. “Uh… Shampoo and conditioner?” I replied uncertainly, my blush deepening.
She laughed and pinched my cheeks. “You’re too cute! Well then, I’m going to love having your hair to work with! Let’s get started. Adrian told me you needed to be at the office by 7:45 PM,” she squinted at her watch, “and it’s almost 6:30!”
I let out a squeak of surprise. “Already? Um, would you like anything to drink? I just want to have a quick shower before we start. Or not,” I bit my lip. “That is, if you can’t do my hair when it’s wet?”
Rita raised an eyebrow at me and put a hand on her hip. “Honey; I’m the best of the best. If you were bald, I’d still make your head work. I’ll just have a cold glass of water. Do you mind if I set my things up in your room?”
“Of course not! Be my guest.” I grinned at her, before going into the kitchen and pouring her a glass of water and dropping a few ice cubes in. Then I followed Rita to my room, where she had already begun putting her products onto my vanity. I placed the water in front of her, before blindly grabbing a pair of underwear and going into the bathroom for my shower.
As soon as I returned to the room, Rita ushered me over to the chair in front of the vanity. “Okay, sit down, we need to get started right away,” she said, forcing me to sit by pressing my body down by my shoulders. I barely got to settle in or say a word before I felt a copious amounts of some sort of crème being lathered onto my slightly damp hair. The loud whoosh of the blow dryer muted any conversation that could have arisen.
Once she turned it off, she leaned over and grabbed a blue bottle before I felt more cool liquid being applied to my hair. “I’m going to try and finish by 7PM,” Rita said as she lowered the blue bottle and picked up a curling wand. “Is that enough for you to do your makeup and travel time to get back to the office?”
“Yes, thank you.” I smiled, growing fond of her. We chatted effortlessly about random things. How she met Adrian, her two children and husband at home, the first and only boyfriend I had during college, and funny things that have happened to us. The time had flown due to the easy conversation but Rita managed to keep her promise, finishing my hair just 3 minutes after 7PM.
“Okay, now you can look.” She laughed, handing me a mirror as she referred back to my whining stage of not being able to see my hair in the conversation.
I looked at the hair in the reflection and my eyes widened. “Wow, you really are the best,” I murmured, my hand unconsciously going to touch the style.
Rita slapped my hand away before snatching the mirror from me and spraying a curl once more with hairspray. “Don’t touch your hair unless it’s an accident, okay?! Now, I really have to rush off. Send me a picture of the final product! Actually, I’ll just get it off the internet.” She winked as she gathered her things and shoved them into her bag.