He winks at me but I can see the disappointment in his eyes, so I take it a different route. “Of course I like you! I wouldn’t have invited you up if I didn’t,” I say, pretending like I’m not trying to throw him off course.
He sighs and leans his elbows on his knees. “Please don’t treat me like I’m stupid. I think you know I like you, Keeley, but this vibe you’ve got going on is throwing off all sorts of signals. If you like me, great, and if you don’t, that’s fine too. I’d rather have you as a friend than nothing at all because underneath all of what you’ve got going on, you’re a great person. But I’d rather just know now so we can get past the awkward ‘oh my god, he likes me’ stage.” He takes a breath and just when I think he’s finished he adds in, “And get to the ‘we’re a guy and a girl and we’re friends and that’s okay’ stage because I think we could both use one right now, a friend that is.”
I can’t work out where this great guy came from. “You’re right.”
He waits on me to expand but I don’t know what to say. “Right about what? We both need a friend? Or... you don’t see me that way?”
His eyes dance between each of mine.
“Both,” I say on bated breath.
I flinch at the hurt look in his eyes, but he smiles. “So now that that’s over with, can we just move on? You can stop pretending like I’m going to set you on fire if you accidentally touch me now.”
His smirk makes me laugh and I’m instantly put at ease. Whoever ends up with this man will be so damn lucky, I just wish I could feel differently about him.
My cell blares out and I jump to get it off my nightstand, only to be thrown off onto the floor in the process.
“Ouch,” I croak and rub my ass.
“Shit sorry, Keeley,” a voice says.
Lewis? It takes me a minute but I realize we must’ve fell asleep on the sofa. He helps me up and I move to answer my phone.
“Hello?” I yawn in my sleepy state and start to get irritated when there’s no answer. “Helllooo?”
Whoever is on the other end hangs up, must’ve been a wrong number. Lewis is stretching when I turn back to him and say it out loud. “Wrong number.”
“Yeah, must’ve been. Listen, I’ve got to get back, sorry for throwing you onto the floor,” he says sheepishly.
I laugh. “I’ve had worse.”
He eyes me before giving me a tight smile. “Alright then, well I’ll… see you around? If you get bored while Sam’s away, give me a text and I’ll sort for a nurse to be with my mom.”
I nod and follow him down the stairs to lock up after him. By the time I flop into bed, it’s three in the morning and I’m already dreading the day ahead of me.
Morning sunshine, you’re probably super busy so I’ll be quick before you hunt me down for talking too much in the morning. I’m setting off on the last part of my journey now, wish me luck x
She’s right, with the crappy sleep I got last night and today’s early morning, I’m sitting here with a birds nest on my head sipping coffee before calling the first of Sam’s clients. It occurs to me that I should’ve done this yesterday, but nobody’s perfect, right? I send her a quick text back and punch the first number onto the touch screen.
“Hello?” The voice at the other end says.
“Hi, is that Mrs Wheeler?” I say into the phone, trying to sound anything but disinterested.
“It is.”
“Great, it’s Keeley from S & K Cuts. Sam has had to go away unexpectedly and has asked me to rearrange all her appointments for the week, I know you’re not booked in until this afternoon but I was-”
“She won’t be back all week?” She asks, impatiently.
“We’re not one-hundred percent how long she’ll have to be away for, so we’re arranging all her appointments this week just in case. So as I was saying-”
“Well that’s very short notice,” she admonishes.
I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from snapping at her. “I appreciate that, Mrs Wheeler, but it was very unexpected and I’m sure she’d be here if she could. Now as I was saying, I’m rearranging her appointments and wondered if you could come in at eleven with myself?”
The line is silent for a moment. “No, that just won’t do. Tell Sam to call me when she gets back from her… trip.”
I grit my teeth. “I have eleven free today instead of waiting for Sam to get back, as I said, I don’t know when that will be.”
“And as I said, have her call me when she gets back.”
Before I can scream down the phone, I hang up. If we lose a customer so be it, I know people like their own hairdresser but this isn’t the case at all, it’s a lady with a stick shoved so far up her ass she can’t see straight.
I jump in the shower to try and calm myself down before drying off and throwing on some old cut offs and a black tank with the phrase ‘Me? Sarcastic? Never.’ on the front. It’s one of my favorites and I smile at it as I dry off my hair, scrunching it as I go to give it beachy waves.