The Hairdresser Diaries (10 page)

“Five huh.”

“Five, and then we’ll be even. You’ll never have to see me again, if you don’t want to.” I don’t know what it was, but something in that moment reminded me of him lying to me about Tommy being gay.

“You know, I just remembered something. Tommy and I had the most interesting conversation the other night.”

“Oh yeah, what about?” he said looking a little nervous.

“About how he’s not gay and that you lied?”

“Oh, yeah, um,” he said rubbing the back of his neck and looking uncomfortable.

“I’m gonna tell you right now I hate liars. So don’t bullshit me. I want the truth. Why did you tell me he was gay?” I stood with my arms crossed waiting for him to say something.

He couldn’t even look at me. He just stood there and shuffled his feet before he answered. “I was a little jealous,” he said not quite willing to face me. I could tell he was embarrassed. “I saw the way you looked at Tommy and thought I’d lost my chance, so I told you he was gay.” I tried not to smile. I have to admit, it takes a big man to admit being jealous. “I’m sorry I don’t normally do that.”

“Lie or tell people Tommy’s gay?” I was impressed by his honesty but I wasn’t letting him off that easy.

“Both.”

I didn’t say anything, I watched him as he stuffed his hands in his pockets while wrestling with the guilt of lying.

“What can I do to make it up to you?” he eventually said.

He genuinely looked sorry, but I didn’t take lying lightly.

I smiled at him sweetly, “I hope you like to swim.” I didn’t give a chance to react and I quickly shoved his ass into the pool.

Boy did I feel better.

When he popped his head above water, he swam over and sat on the edge and shook his head at me, I laughed. He got up and I thought he was going to walk away, but he turned quick to stand behind me. He was so close I could barely move without falling in myself. I stood with him behind me for a second unsure or unwilling to move away from him. I was able to turn around enough to see the devilish grin on his face.

Then in one swift movement, he picked me up, and jumped into the pool with me in his arms. I yelped.

I was above the water just in time to see everyone else run and jump into the pool fully clothed. I turned to Cole smiling and gave him a playful shove.

Landon came up behind me and pulled me into him. He then picked me up over his head and I squealed. “Oh my god, Landon, don’t.” He was going to throw me, but changed his mind and put me down. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and gave him a squeeze.

Kelly, Alex, and Nate decided to team up and try to take us down. They were successful at first and I unwrapped myself from Landon so he could retaliate.

I decided I had enough beatings for one night and swam over to Cole, who was leaning against the edge of the pool. He seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. I stood next to him on his right with my elbows resting on the edge. “Enjoying yourself?” I asked him.

He moved to stand in front of me with both arms stretched out on each side. He was so close, I froze, not sure what to expect. He tilted his head slightly, reached up with his hand, and grazed my cheek lightly. I closed my eyes at the softness of his touch, inhaling his sweet scent.

“You should clean this up and bandage it.”

“Huh?” was my response as I opened my eyes.

“The cut on your cheek, it’s bleeding again.”

I touched my cheek and felt the cut gently with my fingertips. “Um yeah, I guess I should.”

“C’mon, I’ll help you.” Cole got out of the pool first and then he helped pull me out.

We started to make our way inside until Landon yelled, “Hey where you guys going?”

“To fix my face.” I called back.

“Can you bring some towels out when you’re done?” I nodded and Cole and I walked into the house, upstairs, and into the bathroom in Landon’s room.

“There’s a first aid kit under the sink.”

“Here, sit on the counter.” Cole pulled out the kit and started cleaning up my cut.

“You seem to know what you’re doing.” I observed.

“I took a first aid class once.”

“Why?”

“I knew someday I’d meet a girl like you in need of my assistance.” I couldn’t help, but smile and roll my eyes.

He finished cleaning up my cut and went to grab a band aid, but stopped. He held up the box of band aids. “Sponge Bob?”

I laughed. “I bought them for Landon to keep here for me. I get hurt a lot. What, you don’t like Sponge Bob?”

“No, Sponge Bob’s cool. I just figured you more for the Rainbow Bright type.”

“I tried, but Landon wouldn’t go for it.”

He smiled, unwrapped the band aid, and gently pressed it on my cheek. He was standing between my legs and watching me with those hypnotic blue eyes. He placed his hand on the side of my face, cupping it lightly.

I started getting nervous. A nauseous feeling flip-flopped in my stomach. Cole moved slightly and with the sweetest touch he kissed the bandage on my cheek. Then he moved back just enough to look into my eyes before he kissed me on the lips.

The nauseous feeling hit me like a tidal wave and I realized it wasn’t my nerves that was making me feel this way. It was the tequila finally catching up to me. I shoved Cole out of the way and hopped off the sink in time to make it to the toilet.

Cole automatically came to my side to help, but I pushed him away. “Get out!” I yelled. Cole stood there not sure what to do.

“Please, go, now!” I pleaded.

He left the bathroom, but stayed right outside the door. “Do you want me to get someone?” he asked.

“No! Just shut the door!” I could tell he hated not being able to help me, but I didn’t like getting sick, let alone someone watching me. “And don’t hover by the door either.” I could tell he was there, I could see his shoes under the door.

I heard another voice in the room outside the door. It was Landon. “I came to see what was taking you guys so long.”

“Um, Tatum got sick.”

“She threw you out.” I knew it wasn’t a question, Landon knew better, but Cole answered anyways.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t take any offense to it. Tatum doesn’t like people around when she gets sick. She prefers to puke in private.”

“Good to Know.”

I heard a knock on the door. “Tay, it’s me.” Landon slowly opened the door and peeked in. By now I was just holding the toilet for support. “You done puking?”

“I think so,” I whispered. The room was spinning and I was feeling drunk all over again.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Landon picked me up and cradled me in his arms as he carried me over to the bed.

“Hey Cole, can you do me a favor? Can you go downstairs and get a ginger ale?”

“And a cup of ice, don’t forget the ice,” I added mumbling into Landon’s shoulder.

“And a cup of ice,” Landon said.

“Yeah, no problem.” And with that Cole was gone.

Landon looked back at me shaking his head. “What!” I said.

“Nothing, let’s get you out of these wet clothes.” Landon walked over to his dresser to get me some dry clothes while I struggled to get undressed and tried not fall over in the process. I managed, barely, to get all my clothes off including my bra and underwear.

Landon handed me a t-shirt and shorts and told me to put them on. I waved them away saying I was fine and I’d sleep naked.

“Tay you know I don’t care, but I don’t think you want Cole to see you naked and he’ll be back up here any second.”

“Fine,” I groaned. “Help me,” I said holding my arms up like a little kid.

Landon has seen me at my worst and naked several times due to his crazy parties and our one attempt at hooking up that just ended up being really awkward, so neither of us was embarrassed at me lying there naked. We had been friends for over ten years.

There wasn’t anything we haven’t done in front of each other or nothing we haven’t told each other.

Landon helped me get dressed with patience and understanding. He knew what it was like. I had to do the same thing to him once or twice. I watched Landon as he dressed me, smiling, and thinking I wished Landon and I could be more than friends. He was the perfect guy. He was always patient, kind, understanding, and always willing to help others without judgment. He was good looking, loving, smart, but we both knew it would never work between us. We tried it once before.

On the first date we knew we could never be more than friends. We still tried, but we didn’t feel that way about each other. It was a sister/brother like love, just wanting to look out for one another. You can’t force something that’s not there.

I just stared at Landon, with what I’m pretty sure was a dorkish grin on my face.

“What…why are you looking at me like that?”

I sighed and said, “Nothing, I love you.”

He just smiled, cupped the sides of my face, and gave me a kiss on my forehead. “I love you too.”

I lay back down on the bed just as Cole walked back in. He handed Landon the cup of ice and a can of ginger ale.

“Here Tay, drink some of this.” Landon handed me the cup of ice with some ginger ale he just poured in and set the can aside.

Then he got up to go into the bathroom.

Cole just stood by the end of the bed hovering, not sure what to do.

“I’m not contagious, you can come closer.”

“Wasn’t sure if you were going to yell at me again,” he said.

“Sorry I just...”

“It’s ok, Landon explained it to me.” He sat down on the bed next to me just as Landon walked out of the bathroom with a damp wash cloth and some aspirin.

“Here, take these and put this on your head.” I took the pills from Landon, swallowed them and then took the washcloth and placed it on my forehead as I laid my head back on the pillow. Landon left to go back downstairs with everyone else.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” Cole asked.

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“I wasn’t implying you did, just thought you want someone to stay with you till you fell asleep. I guess I was wrong.” Cole got up and went to leave the room.

“No wait! You can stay.” He came back over and sat on the bed. I took another sip of ginger ale and looked at Cole. “I don’t get you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why are you still here? I only met you yesterday, made it clear or so I thought, that I wasn’t interested. You witnessed me get arrested, ball my eyes out, and puke my guts up. Most guys would have run by now.”

“I’m not like most guys. It would take a lot for me to run and I don’t give up easily.”

“So I noticed.”

“Besides you still owe me dinner, so you won’t be able to get rid of me yet.” I laughed lightly and closed my eyes knowing the sleepiness would soon take over me. I felt Cole brush the hair off my face and graze his lips tenderly across my temple. It wasn’t long after that I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I rolled over to see Landon sleeping next to me. I was a little confused on why I was in Landon’s bed and why I was wearing his clothes. I shrugged it off figuring it was just another crazy night. I pulled the covers off and stood up stretching my arms above my head. “Ow”, why was I so sore?

I looked down seeing the cuts and bruises on my arms and legs, and then I touched my cheek and squinted at the pain. The whole night came flooding back to me. I had hoped it was just a bad dream, but the pain let me know it wasn’t.

Reeling from the previous night, I decided I wasn’t ready to face today yet. I crawled back into bed carefully and snuggled up to Landon. He rolled over to face me and wrapped his arm around me.

“Good morning,” I whispered.

“Tay, your breath smells like vomit.”

I laughed and covered my mouth. “Sorry, I guess I should go brush my teeth.”

“Please do.”

I shoved him getting back out of bed and headed to the bathroom. “Hey where are the toothbrushes?”

“I must be out, check Jaxson’s room.”

I walked out and headed quietly down the hall to the second bedroom. Jaxson was a dental assistant, so they always had a huge supply of spare toothbrushes. I opened the door and tiptoed my way to the bathroom trying not to wake Jaxson. I got into the bathroom and found the toothbrushes, thankfully, and brushed my teeth. As I was brushing my teeth, I remembered Landon telling me Jaxson was out of town this weekend. So who was in his bed? I shrugged figuring he came back early and finished brushing my teeth.

When I was done, I quietly opened the door and tip toed my way back out only to stop half way when I saw the bed was now empty. Confused, I turned toward the French doors that led out to the balcony and stared at the man who stood outside with his back to me. His golden brown hair, tousled slightly, was glowing in the sun. My eyes moved slowly down to his bare back, he had skin that looked like silk. His arms were toned and tight, and he had a cute little butt that his jeans hugged just right. I spent a little too much time staring at his butt before I realized it wasn’t Jaxson. It was Cole. I quickly turned and tried to make my way out the door before he noticed, but he caught me.

“Tatum?”

Crap.

I turned around a little flushed. His chiseled chest was glistening in the sunlight. He looked like an angel. I stood there speechless, caught off guard. I never realized how truly gorgeous he was, I mean I thought he was good looking, but nothing like I was seeing him now. I didn’t know what to say. I felt like a kid who just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Cole just smiled at me crossing his arms. “Good morning Tatum, how are you feeling?”

“I w-was just brushing my teeth,” I stammered, feeling like a moron because I knew that wasn’t what he asked, but it was the first thing that popped out of my mouth. He seemed amused.

“I’m glad to know you practice good oral hygiene,” he said sarcastically, “but correct me if I’m wrong, doesn’t Landon have a bathroom in his room?”

“Oh…Um…Yeah…He was out of toothbrushes.” I tried to sound as serious as I could standing there flushed with toothpaste in my mouth.

“Huh…I just figured you were trying to catch a glimpse of me naked,” he said smiling at me.

I scoffed. “Hardly, I didn’t even know you were in here,” I said holding the toothbrush in my mouth and putting my hands on my hips.