the car. I barely heard Adrian’s sigh as the car roared to life, and he sped down the road in an instant, leaving my embarrassed thoughts behind at the office as I squealed in excitement.
I loved my job.
Chapter Eight
“Honey, at the rate you’re shaking, I’m pretty sure I can classify that as a seizure.”
Rita grabbed hold of my hands as she sat me down in the same chair I was in the last time she worked on my hair.
“Calm down! It won’t be as bad as you’re thinking it will be. Plus, I’m only putting your hair in a simple side style, so you don’t attract a lot of attention!” I relaxed a little. Maybe she’s right, maybe I’m just overthinking things…
“Which will still happen,” she said, “– because you’re just beautiful, hairstyle or not.” She caught my expression transform from relief to pain, as if someone had put a dagger through my heart. “But that’s not the point,” she amended quickly.
“Em, come on!” Amy barked through the phone, “Stop stressing about this. Mr. Sexy Pants will take care of it!” I heard the ruffle of a bag of chips pierce through the speaker of my phone, punctuating her stern reminder. If there was one thing I was absolutely certain about in life – it was the fact that Amy ate like a pig on her period.
I took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. I’m overreacting. I’m just really nervous. Thank you guys.” I let out a tight smile, glancing at Rita, who returned the gesture.
“That’s what we’re here for, bitch,” Amy declared, before I heard her crunching into the speaker.
I groaned as Rita let out a short laugh. “Ames, shut up. You sound like a horse munching on carrots.”
“HEY! THAT’S REALLY INSULTING! And I-” Amy’s voice got cut off by a beep, and both Rita and I glanced over to my iPhone to find Adrian’s name flashing on the screen.
“Ames, Adrian is calling,” I told her, grimacing as I waited for her reaction.
“I’m sorry, who?” she said, “I only know someone named Mr. Sexy Pants.” She burst out in laughter at her own joke. I rolled my eyes and pressed ‘Answer’ to Adrian’s call – abruptly ending Amy’s howls. I was about to take the phone off speaker and put it against my ear but Rita slapped my wrist away, glaring.
“No phones near the working area,” she scolded, spreading her fingers over my head and covering my ears to indicate the place that was forbidden.
“Sorry,” I mumbled sheepishly, before looking back over to the phone. “Mr. Kingston, is everything okay?” I asked nervously, biting my lip.
“How long do you need to be ready and over here? You’re driving Suzie mad. All the volunteers are here but yourself. You have an hour.” I noticed he was using his business tone – implying that he was either around important people, or he was pissed off at me for some reason. I mentally raked through yesterday’s lunch in my mind to look for any signs of me pissing him off, and came up with nothing – indicating that he was around other people.
“Yes sir,” I responded. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I apologise for the inconvenience.” I adopted his professional tone, and heard Rita mutter a swear word under her breath. She began to smoothen out a soft crème in my hair in a rush, and I winced slightly as she pulled a little tighter than usual. “Is there anything else?” I asked after recomposing myself.
“That’s all.” He ended the call.
“ONE HOUR?” Rita exclaimed. “THIS MAN GIVES YOU NO TIME TO PREPARE YOURSELF!” She began to straighten my semi-blow-dried hair, which I had done before she arrived to make her job easier.
“It’s okay!” I tried to calm her. “Luckily, I already have most of my makeup done and my dress is already on! Take your time.”
She looked over to my reflection in the mirror and I watched as her eyes scanned my attire briefly, before she sighed in relief.
“Okay. That’s good. You’re okay with the simple soft waves to the side, right?” she asked, giving me a curious look as she finished straightening the last few strands of my naturally wavy hair carefully.
“Yep!” I confirmed with a nod. “Anything that will make me look like a piece of cardboard next to the others.”
She instantly began working on pinning my hair to the side securely and working on the waves on the side. We chatted aimlessly like last time,