The Past is Only the Future with the Lights On

As I entered the small, bright store, the smell of hair products and hair dye entered my nostrils.

"Can I help you, hon?" a sweet, female voice asked, my head darting in that direction to see a thin, middle-aged woman standing behind a desk in the middle of the room. Her jet black hair had been tied in a neat bun in the back of her head, loose strands falling over her left eye and acting as bangs.

"Yeah, I need a haircut," I said dumbly, mentally slapping myself at how stupid I must have sounded.

She let out a light, girly laugh before stepping out from behind the counter and motioning for me to follow her to a chair near the back corner.

"What would you like me to do to it?" she asked as I sat down in the raised chair, almost immediately having an apron-like piece of plastic thrown over me to protect my clothes.

I explained to the woman exactly how I wanted it, from the bangs to the color and she instantly started working her magic to fulfill my wants.

"All done," said the woman, whom I learned was named Bridget, with a proud smile. She turned my chair so I could look into the mirror and see my new "do."

Everything was perfect - and just the way I described it to her.

Bright red fringe was covering my right eye, coming down just to my ear. Then, she had layered the rest, dying the top layer an electric blonde and the bottom layer the same shade of red as my bangs. A pleased smile instantly filled my lips as she just chuckled at my expression.

"I love it! Thank you so much, Bridget," I said, pulling the turquoise apron off of me as I rose to my feet, placing the apron in the chair.

"Anytime, doll," she said as I brushed my clothes off to rid of any hair that could have found it's way onto me. "Ooh. I think your boyfriend's spotted you."

My head immediately flew up and towards the front of the store where she was nodding her head at. There, stood a beaming Frank, bags from various stores in the mall being held by each of his marketed hands.

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," I said as Frank somehow remembered how to walk ad started shuffling his now white Etnie covered feet towards me.

"Girl, do you see the way he's looking at you?" she said in a hushed whisper as Frank finally reached us.

"Wow," was all that just managed to come out of him.

"You like it?" I asked, biting my bottom lip anxiously.

"Kelly - I love it. It works for you," he nodded in satisfaction, my heart rate decreasing slightly in sheer relief that Frank liked my hair.

"What happened to meeting at the fountain?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the still beaming Frank, noticing Bridget leave us and start to make her way towards the desk she was standing at when I first came in.

"I finished early and figured I'd wait until you did, too, but it seems you already have," he said, nodding his head towards my hair as his eyes looked over it again. "You ready to go, then? I figured we could grab something to eat before we headed home."

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror one last time before Frank and I walked towards the desk.

"Sounds good. I'll just meet you outside after I pay for my haircut," I told Frank, seeing him nod out of the corner of my eye as he walked out of the hair salon.

"You sure he's not you boyfriend?" Bridget's familiar, girly voice entered my ears and I looked at her, stood behind the counter with a knowing smile on her full, pink lips, her right eyebrow raised at me.

"Positive. Frank and I are just friends." Just friends. My voice was a bit scratchy and there was a noticeable break in my words, but I tried my best to keep my posture cool.

She just shook her head and sighed, not buying my answer, as her perfectly painted black fingers started pushing buttons on the cash register for my hair cut.