When I'm With You (Little Hollow #2)

by Danielle Dickson

  “Fancy pizza?” He asks, interrupting my thoughts, and my stomach grumbles at the thought. “I’ll take that as a yes then,” he chuckles.

  He orders a pepperoni pizza and screws his nose up at my choice.

  “What? It’s a perfectly acceptable pizza topping,” I say, rifling through mine and Sam’s extensive DVD collection.

  “You just don’t put pineapple on top of pizza, it’s sacrilege,” he says, feigning disgust, or perhaps it’s real disgust.

  “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it!” I quip back.

  He kneels down next to me and picks up one of Sam’s romantic comedies and I give him a knowing look, it says ‘yeah I know what you’re up to buddy’ and he raises his shoulders at me.

  “What? So I like a chick flick every now and again, who doesn’t?” He says, amusement plastered across his face.

  “Me. Give me action over mushy shit any day.”

  I make a grab for one of my favorites and he concedes and settles down into the sofa.

  I have a moral dilemma as I turn around and freeze. Where do I sit? If I sit in the armchair, then he’ll think I’m scared to sit next to him. But if I sit next to him. then will he try to get touchy feely with me? I can’t have him do that, I just… I just don’t see him like he wants me to. God, I wish I could, but I don’t.

  I choose the friendlier of the options and take a seat on the sofa next to him, but I angle my body away from him, curling my feet under me so he doesn’t get the wrong idea. He eyes me quizzically, but I keep my eyes focused on the screen.

  I’m so engrossed in the movie that half an hour later I jump as the buzzer sounds again, my heart pounds in my chest and I must look frantic because Lewis squeezes my shoulder. “Jeez, Keeley, you nearly gave me a heart attack the way you just jumped out your seat. I’ll get it, you stay here.”

  I don’t even argue with him, I need to stop being such a, dare I say it, girl. He’s back in a little under three minutes and I start to calm as I eat the delicious pizza in silence, well almost. I notice Lewis staring at me and mid mouthful I turn to him. “What!” I snap, because he’s putting me off enjoying my meal.

  He snorts. “Well one, I’m just amazed at how you can eat warm pineapple, it makes me feel a little sick thinking about it. And two, damn you can put it away.”

  I don’t know whether to feel offended at his statement or impressed with myself at being able to eat as much as he has, so I just shrug.

  “I like my food, and I’ve already said, don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

  I shove a piece in his direction and he turns up his nose. “No, thanks. I think I’d rather live in ignorance for that one.”

  I stick out my tongue. “Suit yourself, more for me then.”

  And I take a big bite.

  The movie finishes and we both sit there in uncomfortable silence, until he clears his throat.

  “Do you want to watch another?” He asks, clearly not wanting to leave just yet.

  “Sure, I’ll let you pick this time. Just no girly shit,” I say back with a wink.

  He gets up and peruses the DVD collection, it hasn’t been updated in a little while so we’ve both probably seen every movie there at least ten times over, at least I have.

  It takes him a little while but he finally picks one and comes and sits back down next to me.

  As the beginning credits are on, he picks at invisible lint on his sweatpants, clearly wanting to say something. “I was thinking…” Oh hell, nothing good seems to come after that line. “…can I cash in that raincheck to take you out on my bike tomorrow?”

  Here we go. “I’ve got work tomorrow, I’ve got to juggle around Sam’s clients now too, I don’t know when I’d be done by. Maybe another day?”

  He scratches the back of his neck. “You don’t like me, do you?”

  Wow, straight to the point there. He’s floored me and I don’t know what to say.

  “It’s okay, Keeley, I can take it like a man.”

  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 Whe
eler, 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.

  The rest of the day goes pretty much the same as I ring around her clients and I rub at my temple, wondering what Sam is doing. Before I know it, it’s four in the afternoon and I’m exhausted. I have no more clients left for today so I start to tidy up when the bell on the salon door chimes.

  I smile in greeting at the familiar woman and her two little girls, although I only remember her having one.

  “Hey there, Katy,” I say, as the four year old runs up to me.

  “Hi, my sister is here too. Her name’s Adi,” she says innocently, pointing at the older looking girl.

  She gives me a tentative smile and I smile back. “Hi, Adi.” I look at their mom, Faith. “What can I do for you?”

  “Sorry to barge in like this, you’re probably not free, but I thought I’d try anyway. Me and Adi both need a trim,” she says, looking hopeful.

  I brush away my tiredness because something about this woman makes me want to befriend her.

  “You’re actually in luck, it just so happens that I’m free for the both of you. Faith, right?”

  “Yeah,” she says, tucking a lock of mousey brown hair behind her ear.

  “Adi, you go first, sweetie.” She tells her daughter.

  I point to the chair and Adi, who can’t be much older than ten, eyes it warily before walking over to it. She’s completely different to her spunky little sister that it throws me, but I’ve never been one to turn down a challenge, I’ll get her to smile before she leaves here.

  The two girls look so much like their mom apart from their hair. Katy’s is a vibrant blonde to suit her personality and Adi’s is almost a chocolate brown, but looks as if it has light running through it. It’s all natural and such an unusual color, but it’s beautiful.

  “So what we doing for you today then, Adi?” I say, looking at her in the mirror.

  She keeps her head down and doesn’t look up, she just shrugs and her mom walks over to me. “She doesn’t talk much, I normally cut her hair so this is a treat for us both,” she says cautiously.

  “That’s cool, would you mind if I suggested something Adi?”

  I make sure to direct my question at her so it doesn’t seem like she isn’t involved in the decision with her own hair. She nods and I ask her to lift her head up so I can show her what I mean. She lifts her head cautiously.

  “Well, your hairs already so pretty so I thought if we just take enough off the ends so it’s nice and healthy again, then we could cut some little layers around the front here to frame your face. How does that sound?”

  She nods and for the first time, she looks me in eyes through the mirror and my heart clenches at the sadness in them.

  What’s going on with this girl?

  I don’t voice anything on it and start dry cutting her hair. She really is a beautiful little girl, in fact, they all are with their matching blue eyes and freckles dotting their noses. They look like a clean cut wholesome family, so why are Faith and Adi’s eyes conveying a different story?

  When I’m done with her hair, she finally looks into the mirror and a small smile pulls at her lips.

  “Do you like it?” I ask.

  Her head bobs up and down, yes, and I call Faith over from the window seat where she’s playing I-spy with Katy. She swaps places with Adi, and for the first time since she walked in here, I can see that she’s nervous.

  “Is everything okay? You do like her hair don’t you?” I say as I start to question myself.

  She nods her head and smiles nervously at me. “Yes of course, you did an awesome job, thank you. I just… well it’s a little embarrassing but I banged my neck getting out from under the table the other day just to let you know, no biggie, it doesn’t hurt so go about working your magic.”

  I know a fake smile when I see one, I’ve had to plaster them on enough to recognize even the tiniest of them all. But I smile at her back, ever the professional, and ask her what she wants done to her hair. The way it is right now, brittle at the ends and falling to her mid back, I can already tell it needs at least three inches off and would look beautiful with a little balayage, brightened up with a chocolatey-brown color and layers put in, but I let her talk before putting in my two cent.

  “Just a trim, thanks,” she squeaks, messing around with her hands like she can’t keep still.

  I tell her what I think, like I always do with every client, but she shakes her head. “I can’t afford anything more than a trim right now.”

  She gives me another nervous smile and I don’t even need to think about it before I’m walking into the back to mix up some color. To hell with that, if anyone needs a little bit of special treatment right now, it’s this woman.

  Hell, she’s probably only a year or two older than me, but looks like she has as much of a story to tell as I do. I sympathize with her and what’s better than that, she doesn’t look at me, treat me, or talk to me any different than she would anybody else, and damn if that isn’t refreshing.

  “Sorry, I think you must’ve misheard me. I said I couldn’t afford that right now.”

  She shifts in her chair like she’s going to flee having been made to say it a second time.

  “No, I heard you right, I just think everybody deserves a little kindness every now and then, it’s on me.”

  If I’m not mistaken, I could swear she’s about to cry, now that I’m not good at dealing with, so I busy myself getting a gown on her and pulling some foils out to give her a minute.

  I was right, the caramel-blond color running through the chocolatey-brown color I’ve colored her hair with, and the long layers I’ve put in has made her look young and alive. It brings a warmth to her face and her eyes stand out big and blue like sapphires.

  Katy and Adi come over to their mom, their wow’s sing out in unison, but Faith doesn’t take her eyes off herself in the mirror.

  “I… I don’t know what to say. I look like a completely different person,” she stammers out.

  I start to feel a little anxious at the thought of not pleasing her which is so unlike me, I chalk it down to the tiredness. But all of the anxiousness isn’t worth it as she turns with tears in her eyes, oh hell, here we go. But they’re not the all-consuming kind of tears, they’re just happy ones as she pulls me in for a hug.

  “Thank you,” she whispers in my ear.

  I pull back and smile at all three of them. “Don’t sweat it, you’re welcome here anytime.”

  I give her a wink as we settle up their cuts and as they walk out, my eyes dart to where I know the hand shaped bruise sits at the back of her collar. I’ve been around plenty of violence in my life so far to know that it isn’t a bruise from hitting it off something, finger marks were imprinted clear as day across her neck.

  My hands scrunch up at the thought of someone treating Faith that way. What coward lays their hands on such a sweet woman? If I ever find out who it is, I’ll have a little something to say to them.

  I disinfect the salon and all of the tools, making sure to wipe
down all the bottles of peroxide, the same as Sam does each night. It’s a tedious job but I find the monotony of it starts to relax me and by eight, I’m more than ready to heat up the rest of my pizza from last night and binge watch car crash TV.

  Around ten, my buzzer sounds and I pick the phone up with a yawn. “Yellooow?”

  Nothing. While I’m still holding the phone in my hand the buzzer goes again. “Look, if you’re going to come and do this every single night, I’m just going to one-up you and disconnect my buzzer.”

  When no one replies and the buzzer stays quiet, I chance a look out the window but I can’t see anybody, they must’ve ran off. I shrug and replace the phone to the wall, but jump as a tapping noise catches my attention, and my body goes rigid as I realize it’s coming from my apartment door. I stay as still as possible thinking it might’ve just been my imagination but when the three taps sound again, I know there’s someone there.

  How did they get inside? I know I locked that door!

  I tiptoe across the wooden floors into my kitchen.

  “Just a second,” I shout, trying to keep my voice sounding normal.

  I reach and pull out a knife from the carving block and make my way over to the door, pressing my body against the wall beside it.

  “Who is it?” I ask.

  No answer, my hands are shaking and I steel myself to look through the peephole we have in the door.

  I swear to God if there’s a masked murderer standing there when I look through here, my ass is going out the window!

  I take a deep breath and squint to see, there’s no one there and I laugh at myself, maybe it’s all in my head? I have been really jumpy lately.

  I return the knife back to the block and head for a shower, all the adrenaline has woken me up and I need to feel the hot water running down my skin, easing the tension.

  I ready myself for the cold air to hit my skin as I turn the shower off and I freeze as I hear a bang coming from my apartment, now that I didn’t imagine. I tug on my tank and cut offs and look around for anything I can use as a weapon. Sam wouldn’t be back already, would she? No, that’s impossible, she would’ve text me first.