Punks Don't Wear Prada

I arrived at my hair appointment just in time.
My hair stylist, Maranda, greeted me with a hug and a look of surprise.
"Danielle, I love your outfit! I've never seen you so relaxed before!"
I smiled happily.
"Thank you Maranda! I decided to try something new, and I think I'm liking it so far."

Maranda grinned, "does that mean you'll let me do something new with your hair?" She exclaimed.

I laughed softly before saying, "Maranda, you know I'll never do anything crazy with my hair, it's my security blanket!"

Maranda sighed exaggeratedly.
"What if we kept the length but changed the color tone a bit?"
I thought for a second.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked, hesitantly.

Maranda smirked a little.
"I'm thinking maybe a few layers and some light, light brown undertones?" Maranda reached to touch a section of my hair between my forehead and ear. She snatched her hand back and let out a startled noise, "Danielle! What on earth happened to your forehead?!" She cried.
I smiled sheepishly.
"I got a little drunk the other night and I guess I slipped and hit my head on a toilet while I was throwing up," my voice sounded a little squeaky.
Maranda raised her eyebrow questionly but just said, "you should be more careful Danielle, senior pictures are coming up soon!"
I smiled and rolled my eyes. Last month all I could talk about was how excited I was to have my senior pictures taken. Now I didn't think I should care about them. Or, at least, not as much as I used to.

"So, you ready?" Maranda asked. I nodded, and she led me from the entrance of her hair salon to the right where a bunch of shiny chairs sat. Her salon was so aesthetically pleasing, she had huge, oversized mirrors alternating between the hair stations and high ceilings painted gold. The walls were a cool, shimmery white color. Everything was sterile snd shiny, right down to her scissors. In each corner of the walls there were huge, over-sized pink carnations that spread in pretty swirls.

She sat me down and drifted a cape over me and began cutting and foiling, chatting away about her niece, Amy.
Apparently Amy was working really hard on a new article that was so top-secret even Maranda didn't know the topic.

About two hours later, she was done. She spun me around to face the mirror and stared at our reflections with her eyes glittering mischievously.
My eyes grew as big as saucers when I realized she not only dyed my hair a softer blonde, she also chopped some straight across bangs that screamed Cher circa 1960.
I gasped and touched my hair, I couldn't believe what she had done.

Watching my expression, her face slowly melted into worry.

"Oh my God, you don't like it, do you..."

I caught her eyes in the mirror and grinned.
"Maranda, you're a genius! I love it! I mean, it's not what I've expected, like, at all, and it's certainly not what I asked for, but you did amazing! I can't believe I like it!" I spewed out, and started racking my fingers through my hair excitedly. I picked up a lock and looked at it, I could see the soft brown lowlights she had mentioned, and it surprisingly blended very well.

Maranda smiled so happily I thought she would burst.

"Well I'm so glad you like it, even if it comes a surprise to you," she chuckled, "I knew you would never do this on your own and it's a stylist's dream to surprise a client and actually have them happy about it."
I couldn't stop grinning as I said thank you and paid her, giving her a very generous tip.

When I was back in my car, I decided to take a selfie and post it on my Instagram. Within five minutes, I had 200 likes and fifteen comments, everyone else seemed to love my change, too.
While I was checking my twitter, Merc texted me.
"Hmm.... As I recall, I had a reason for waking up so early...." I grinned and checked the time. Holy shit! It was eleven thirty; I told Merc I'd meet up with him at eleven!
I quickly replied saying that I'd be there soon, I just had to drop something off at my boyfriend's.

Ten minutes later, I pulled into Josh's drive way and retrieved his cleats from my trunk. His big house always looked a little demeaning to me, like I wasn't good enough to be there.
I walked up to his door and knocked.
He quickly answered, shirtless and sweaty.

"Woah, Danielle? What the hell did you do to your hair?!" He stared at me, shocked etched on his handsome face.

I tried to smile, "Um, I just decided to try something new, do you like it?" I asked while stretching on my tip-toes to kiss him.

He furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side.
"Why?!" he demanded.

I searched his eyes for the usual warmth in them and felt my face flush hot.
Before I could say something he sputtered out,
"And what the hell are you wearing? Why do your pants reach up to your bellybutton?!"

I looked down, I forgot I was wearing clothes I didn't typically wear.

"They're called high-waisted, they're supposed to reach my bellybutton..." I muttered and then looked down at my feet. Suddenly my gladiator sandals looked pretty silly.

He just looked me up and down with a confused expression before he noticed his cleats in my hands.
He reached out for them and our fingers touched briefly before he awkwardly pulled away.

"Josh, is something wrong?" I could feel my eyes watering. Now was definitely not the time to cry, I thought to myself.

Whatever was wrong with him disappeared.
"No, Dani, nothing's wrong. I promise," a smile etched across his face. He bent down and kissed my lips.

"I love you. I'm just surprised you look different, that's all."

I finally smiled before someone came out from behind him.

"Josh, is someone else here?" I tried to look past him but he quickly stepped into the landing and slammed his front door behind him.
I gave him a quizzical look before he shook his head, grinning now, and said, "that's just our cleaning lady, you know how messy I get and without my mom around anymore..." He feigned a sad expression.

I instantly melted and reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes.
"I love you, don't worry, I believe you. But I've got to go now, I left my shirt at-" I paused, "uh, at Emma's."

Josh looked at me funny.
"Emma told me you two weren't talking anymore?"
Shit, caught in a lie.

"Uh, we're not, but I still want my shirt back!" I tried to sound angry.

He grinned and rolled his eyes.
"Dani you two will be friends all over again in like two days. But I need to go back in, I need to exercise."
He kissed me goodbye and went back inside.
As I was walking to my car, I noticed there was another car in the drive way.
Funny, he usually had employees park in the back or allowed them to park in his barn-sized garage.

I shrugged it off and allowed myself to get excited about seeing Merc. Or, I mean, getting my shirt back....yeah....