Cyberspace Romance

Zoey groaned as she heard the loud beeping sound of her alarm clock fill the room. She rolled over and turned the alarm clock off and then tossed the covers off her feet. Part of her was excited for today. While another part of her was worn out from making sure everything was in the right order. Slowly she made her way into the bathroom and prepared her self for the day, by taking a relaxing warm shower.

She buttoned up her stripped top and then glanced at her self in the full length mirror. She was wearing a flattering red and black stripped top, a pair of jeans, and her converse. Her long hair was down in loose curls, and her make-up looked perfect. She added a touch of her favorite perfume and then walked into the kitchen. She grabbed two pieces of bread and popped them in the toaster. Once they were brown enough for her liking, she placed a thin layer of butter on them and then poured herself a glass of orange juice. She sit at her kitchen table as she ate her toast. She wondered about how the day would go.

After she finished breakfast, she left the house. She arrived at the shop about twenty minutes before nine, which was opening time. She parked her car and then stepped out, and walked up to the shop door and opened it. She walked inside and looked around smiling as she flipped on the lights-- which brought the place to life. The salon looked amazing, and she couldn't believe they had managed to pull things together so quickly.

She walked over to the counter and booted up the computer so it would be ready when Kay walked in. She then walked over to her station and placed her scissors neatly on the top of her shelf for easy and quick access for a cut. She turned around hearing the ding of the door and smiled seeing Eva and Kay walk in together.

"Hey girls." Zoey said greeting the women.
"Hey." Both said.

Zoey took Kay over and showed her where she would be working; she would be taking the calls and booking appointments in the front of the shop area-- and if there was office work or anything needed then she could work in the office with Zoey. Kay was familiar with how to work the computer so there wasn't much that needed to be taught.

"Okay. You can choose either of these four stations." Zoey said to Eva.

She was only going to put five stations in business right now-- the other three were going to be vacant unless they became really busy or she hired more cosmetologist. There was no need to dirty up more stations than necessary.

"I'll take the one next to yours." Eva said smiling. Zoey smiled, and nodded her head as Eva sit up her station.

Zoey glanced up at the clock when she noticed another ding. Phelicia was walking in with a bright smile on her face; she was five minutes early.

"Sorry, i'm late. Claire was being a handful." Phelicia said.
"You're early." Zoey said giggling.

Phelicia chuckled and then took over one of the other three stations. The girls all started chatting about what they had been up to over the last two weeks. Zoey could really see herself getting along good with these girls. Each of them brought something different to the salon. Jenna walked in and apologized for not being there earlier, she blamed her dog. Zoey told her not to worry about it-- she really wasn't late, she had actually arrived right on time. Jenna took the station next to Phelicia. Zoey glanced up at the clock yet again when a few minutes had passed. It was five after nine, and still no show of Amanda.

"Did you hire the blond?" Jenna ask.
"Yeah. . . But I guess--" Before Zoey could finish her sentence the bell rung again, in walked Amanda with her coffee, "Oh, you girls are here!" Amanda said with a smile.
"We open at nine." Zoey said, "Yeah-- but we have no customers yet. So, it doesn't matter." Amanda said.

Who the hell did she think she was talking to? Zoey would not tolerate any of her employees treating her with disrespect. She decided to allow that slip up to ride off her shoulders. Everyone was entitled to a bad day, and a snappy remark every so often. But her tardiness would not be tolerated if she kept it up.

The first customer came in around 9:30, Eva stepped up to the plate and wanted the first one. Zoey smiled and watched as she talked to the elderly woman and made her feel right at home. Before Zoey realized it, each of the girls, including herself had a client working on them. She was placing color on a woman's grey, while Eva and Phelicia were doing cuts, Jenna a color, and Amanda a perm, which she threw a fit about, claiming that she shouldn't have to do perms. Zoey was not liking her at all, and knew if she continued to act the way that she did, that she wouldn't last a week working under her.

"So, are we going to order lunch?" Jenna ask around one in the day.
"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." Zoey said.

The girls phoned in lunch, and finished up there current clients. Everything was going quiet, the soft sounds of the radio were in the background.

"Oh! Zoey-- Bam and I talked a lot the other night at the bar." Amanda said.

Zoey turned around and looked at her, stopping whatever she was doing. She and Bam had talked at the bar? He hadn't mentioned talking to Amanda.

"Oh?" Zoey ask, returning back to her station.
"Yeah, he was so nice. We had a lot of fun." Amanda added.

Zoey wondered why Bam didn't tell her they ran into each other. It didn't bother her-- she just wished he would have told her. Amanda didn't talk much more as the day carried out. Zoey spent the day talking to Eva and Jenna who she could tell were on the road to being some of her best friends. Kay was also very talkative and sweet, Zoey liked her a lot as well. Phelicia, was quiet and kept to herself, although friendly and helpful to the girls. She had a very motherly nature to her, while Amanda tried to talk to everyone-- but no one seemed to be interested.

"So. . . Last night I went and tried on this size 2, and my god! It fell off!" Amanda bragged.
"No one cares." Jenna mumbled under her breath.

Zoey looked over at Eva and could tell she was about to strangle Amanda. She was right next to Eva, and had been trying to have conversation with her all day. Eva was nice enough to nod her head along as Amanda talked, but Zoey could tell she was on the verge of ramming her hot curling iron down her throat. Amanda excused herself to the bathroom.

"Does she ever SHUT UP?" Jenna ask.
"I think she has a problem. . ." Eva said shaking her head.
Zoey chuckled, "I agree with the problem thing." Zoey said.

She felt kind of shady for talking about Amanda behind her back-- but she just couldn't help it. The girl never shut up, and talked about everything that you SHOULDN'T talk about. The girls all knew her life history just by working with her for one day.

Zoey smiled when four o'clock rolled around. She turned off all the lights and waited for the girls to gather their things and leave. Amanda and Phelicia were the first two to leave.

"If I accidentally drown her in the washing bowls, you won't fire me, right?" Jenna ask.
"I got first dibs on her death." Eva added.
"What about me? Can't I strangle her or something?" Zoey said giggling.
"I'll be your alibi." Kay said laughing.

Zoey told each of the girls goodbye and watched as they left the shop. She smiled as she walked over to her station and put her things away; there was no need to pack her things in a bag like she had at Jessica's salon, she owned this one and could leave her things. She turned around hearing the door bell.

"We're closed, but we'll be open tomorrow morning at nine." She said, without looking at who it was.

Bam laughed. Zoey smiled when she realized it was him, she slowly walked over and pulled him in a hug. She hadn't been away from him this long since she had arrived to West Chester. He pulled her close into the hug.

"I slept awful." He said.

Bam and Zoey decided to sleep at their own houses last night due to her having to get up early for work.

"Aw, you big baby." She teased.
"Seriously. I'm staying over tonight, or you're coming over." Bam said.

Zoey giggled and then walked over and grabbed her purse from behind the counter. She looked back up and remembered the conversation she had with Amanda.

"Did you see Amanda the other night at the bar?" She questioned him.
"Who?" He ask, confused.
"The blond that works for me." Zoey said.

Bam scrunched her eyebrows up and stroked his chin as he pondered. Then he remembered how she had tapped him on the shoulder. He had every intention on telling Zoey about her-- but to be honest, he forgot, it wasn't important enough to remember.

"Yeah-- she introduced herself." Bam said.
"She said you two talked a lot." Zoey said walking towards the door.
"We hardly talked at all." Bam said.

Zoey just nodded her head-- clearly somewhere there was a misunderstanding. She knew Amanda never shut the hell up when she was at work today, so she wondered if Bam was lying to her for some reason. But why would he lie? She had no problem with him talking to other women-- as long as he didn't get physical with them then she was fine with it.

Bam followed Zoey to her house and watched as she cooked dinner. Ryder walked out of his bedroom and took a seat next to Bam. Ryder questioned Zoey on her opening day. He was glad his sister was happy and had finally made one of her dreams come true.

They ate dinner, and then Bam and Zoey decided to watch a movie together. Zoey pushed all the thoughts of Amanda out of her head-- Bam wouldn't cheat on her. So what if he talked to her? He probably couldn't get her to shut up! Zoey wasn't about to dwell on Bam not telling her about something so minor, she knew things slipped her mind all the time, so she couldn't blame him for forgetting something so minor.