Love and Conspiracy

“Wanna help me out?” Billie asked me.

“Are you sure that you want to go blonde again?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, I’m tired of having to re-dye it red all the time,” he answered as I started to mix the bleach.

“Luce! You know what this means?! You can finally dye your hair red now!” Jess said excitedly.

“You wanna dye your hair?” Mike asked. I shrugged.

“I don’t know it was just sort of an idea, I guess,” I said, nonchalantly.

“No, no, no. We are doing this now. I’m running to the store to get some dye,” Jess interrupted. She was out the door before anyone could protest.

“I could see you as a red head,” Mike said, examining me.

“Yeah, well let’s focus on Billie’s hair first,” I replied, “Sit here.” Billie did as he was told and sat in the chair in front of me. We had grown distant ever since the whole dream incident, so I was surprised that he actually asked me to help him out.

As I started to apply the bleach throughout his hair, it felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend, even though we didn’t say a thing to each other. I missed being close with him, but I knew that couldn’t happen anymore since I feared that I was going to gain unwanted feelings for him. Rubbing the bleach in, I fell into a sort of daze without even realizing it. I must have been distracted for awhile since Billie had to knock me out of it.

“I’m pretty sure the bleach has soaked in by now,” he said. I abruptly stopped and pulled my hands away from his head. Mike and Chris were no longer in the room. Was I really distracted for that long? I thought to myself.

“I wish you rubbed my head like that,” Tre said from the other side of the table. Billie chuckled.

“Shut up, Tre,” I replied, giving him a dirty look before smiling. We were quickly interrupted by Jess bursting into the kitchen.

“Are you ready for your transformation?” Jess asked, getting the dye ready.

“I suppose I have no other choice,” I said with a sigh.

“Nope!” she said excitedly, “Tre get up so she can sit there.”

I could feel all eyes focus on me as she started to brush in the dye, causing me to feel uncomfortable under all the attention.

“Don’t you think we should make it a surprise for everyone?” I asked Jess.

“I didn’t even think of that! Yeah, let’s go in the other room,” she agreed.

“Good luck,” Mike said with a smile as we walked out of the kitchen.

~~~

The next forty-five minutes seemed to pass by painfully slow as I waited for the color to set in my hair. I was relieved to hear the buzzer go off finally. Taking a deep breath, I entered the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. A feeling of regret washed over me as I immediately hated how it looked. However, there was no changing it, so I just sucked it up and took a shower.

It took me another fifteen minutes after the shower before I completely dried it with my hair blower. I looked at my reflection and observed my new look. I am a redhead. The red was so vibrant, that it seemed to be screaming in my face. It would have to take a lot of getting used to, but I finally accepted it.

I opened the door of the bathroom and called Jess over, so she could be the first to give her opinion on it. Her jaw dropped when she saw me.

“My god, Luce! It looks fucking amazing!” she said, grabbing a piece to get a better look at it.

“You think so?” I asked insecurely.

“Yes, of course! Don’t you like it?” she asked. I glanced at myself again.

“Eh, I guess so,” I answered unenthusiastically.

“Come on, we gotta show the guys!” she said, pulling me behind her into the living room. Everyone was sitting around listening to music. Tre was the first to notice me.

“Look at this babe!” Tre said, “What’d you do with Lucy?” I could start to feel myself blush as the rest of the room looked at me. Mike grinned, patting the place next to him on couch so I could sit by him.

“I love it,” Mike said, kissing my cheek.

“Looking good, Luce,” Chris said from across the room.

“Thanks,” I said with a small laugh.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Billie staring at me. He was expressionless. Even when I looked over at him, his face remained blank; however, there was something different in the way he was looking at me. After a moment of searching what was wrong, I looked away, breaking our eye contact.

“Shit, I gotta go to work,” Mike said, “Hey Bill, can you give Luce a ride home when you leave?”

“Yeah, sure,” he answered, without looking over at us.

“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Mike winked, before placing a gentle kiss on my lips. I smiled at him.

“Bye,” I simply said as he got up and left.

~~~

It was no longer than an hour by the time we decided to head home. Billie and I were quiet for a good part of the drive.

“I like your hair, by the way,” I pathetically tried to make small talk with him. He slightly chuckled.

“Thanks,” he said, “I like yours, too.” I smiled at him.

“Sorry if I’m kind of stealing your look,” I admitted.

“Seems like you didn’t really have a choice,” he joked, but I stayed silent. He looked over at me and said more seriously, “I’m teasing you, Luce. The red seems to suit you better anyways.” Silence immediately filled the car, once again. Luckily, we had arrived to the apartment.

The awkwardness between us continued to last. As soon as we got inside, Billie went straight to his room and closed the door. We usually weren’t left alone since him and Mike generally worked at the same time, however, he didn’t have to go in that day. I turned on the TV and sat on the couch, patiently waiting for Mike to come home just like I always did.

About half an hour later, Billie came out from his room and sat next to me on the couch. The smell of weed lingered on him.

“Mind sharing?” I asked him boldly. His red, tired eyes glanced over at me.

“Really?” he mumbled. I bit my lip and slowly nodded.

“If that’s alright with you?” I said uneasily.

“Yeah… no, lemme go get it. Hold on,” he said, obviously taken by surprise. He was back in less than a minute with a pipe and a plastic baggy. He handed it to me, “It’s all yours.”

~~~

It didn’t take long before I was completely stoned. We hadn’t said anything to each other in the meantime.

“You know, this reminds me of that first night we really talked,” he said with a smile on his face. I slightly laughed.

“Yeah… to tell you the truth, I kind of figured you hated me back then,” I said.

“I kind of did,” he answered blankly.

“Pfft, well thanks!” I joked, “It’s okay, I wasn’t really too fond of you either.”

“What was your reason?” he said in a slightly rude tone.

“Are you kidding? You were so rude to me! Do you think I liked you treating me like crap?” I replied, more irritated.

“Calm down, princess. I’m just fucking around with you,” he said, chuckling.

“Ugh, I hated that most of all,” I grumbled. I could feel him look over at me.

“What. Princess?” he questioned.

“Shh!” I shot him an evil look.

“Why don’t we talk like this anymore?” he asked, changing the subject.

“You want us to be arguing all the time?” I said not thinking about what he said.

“No,” he shook his head, “I mean, why aren’t we close like we used to be?” I looked away from him.

“We aren’t supposed to be close in the first place,” I said flatly. He didn’t say anything. When I glanced at him again, he looked almost as if he were offended. “I’m sorry; I just don’t think that we should be like that. Not when I’m with Mike.” He abruptly glared at me.

“You make it seem like we did something terrible,” he said incredulously. I bit my lip nervously.

In my mind, we did.