It's Not A Question But A Lesson Learned In Time

“Francesca! You’d better be awake!” I heard Hannah yell through my door at almost exactly half eleven the next morning. I opened my door, already up, changed, and ready to go. “Oh…”
“Ready then?”
She nodded and walked back downstairs. I grabbed my hoodie from the bed and followed her down.
She gave Ben a quick kiss goodbye and then we left.

“So where are we going?” I asked as Hannah drove towards the tube station.
“We’re heading back to Oxford Street. But this time, without the guys, so we can actually shop.” She grinned. I laughed at her enthusiasm; she loves to shop, which is the complete opposite to me. I only shop if I need to; she goes just for the hell of it.

We sat on the tube talking about random stuff, just like we always did, and then we started talking about my hair again.
“So what do you think about getting dreads?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know. I guess they’d look pretty cool. My dad would kill me though...”
“You actually care?”
I laughed and shook my head.
“No not really. Do you know anywhere that does them?”
“Of course! I went when Justin got his done. And then when Lee got his.”
“Ok fine. I’ll get them.” I laughed. She was even more excited about this than she was about just generally going shopping.

When we got to Oxford Street we went to find something for lunch. I’m ashamed to admit, we ended up in Subway. Hannah got her usual Veggie Delight, she’s been a vegetarian for as long as I’ve known her, she tried to convince me to become one when she lived back in Cali… It lasted for about two days before I caved. So I stuck with a chicken sub.

“So where do you want to go first, when we’ve finished here?” I asked her.
“Err… Well, there’s H&M… Or umm…”
“You want me to go get my hair done don’t you?”
She grinned and nodded.
“Ok fine.” I sighed and then laughed. I pulled out my iPod and flicked through the pictures. “Do you think this one will be good enough to explain what I want?” I asked, showing her a picture of my mom.
“Yeah definitely.” There was silence for a minute, “Are you ready to get going?” she asked. I nodded and we both stood up.

She directed me back down Oxford Street in the direction we had come from originally, but before we had got to the underground station Hannah turned right down another road.
It seemed like we had been walking for hours, just talking about the usual stuff and walking along various different roads, I didn’t even think Hannah was paying enough attention to know where she was going, but sure enough, a while later she stopped us outside a hair salon.

“Ta da!” she pointed at it grinning at me. I laughed at her as she pushed the door open and stood back for me to go in first.
“Hannah! Long time no see!” A girl sitting behind the desk exclaimed.
“Hey Emma!” Hannah waved back. “Emma this is my friend Frankie. Frankie this is my sister Emma. I’m not sure you’d remember her, she moved out here a while before the rest of us...” She re-introduced us. No wonder she knows this place so well, her sister works here!
“You’ve got an appointment haven’t you?” Emma checked with Hannah.
“Yup. Frankie Armstrong.” She booked an appointment? Clearly she knew I was going to say yes eventually.
“If you just take a seat over there, someone will be over to sort you out in a few.” She told me.

Me and Hannah both sat down in two black leather armchairs by the front window. We sat talking to each other, and occasionally to Emma for about twenty minutes, until another woman finally came over.
“Ok. I’m just going to wash your hair and get it dried then we can get you started.” She smiled at me.
“Jess. Make sure you remember to use the residue free stuff. It’ll be a nightmare if you don’t.” Emma suddenly reminded the woman.
“You got it.” She nodded.

Another thirty minutes later I was sitting, looking into a mirror with clean dry hair, waiting for someone to come over and start on my hair. I was looking at my normal, slightly curly hair, for what would be the last time in a while. My dad really is going to kill me when he finds out about this!
“Ok then dude.” Emma finally came over and put her hands on my shoulders. “Dreads right?”
“Yup.” I nodded.
“Right. Do you have any idea how you want them?” she asked.
“Oh yeah. I’ve got a picture.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my iPod again. I handed it to her. “Like that. Just without the blonde.”
“I can do that. So you just want it left black yeah?”
“That’s right.” I grinned. She grabbed some stuff from the counter behind her and got straight to work.
 
*Several hours later*
“So that’s £230. But as you’re a good friend of the family…” Emma trailed off, adding in her head. “£190?”
“Really? You sure?” I asked
“Absolutely. It’s my shop, I can charge what I like.” She grinned, taking my card off me. “Will we be seeing you for dinner on Sunday Han?”
“Yep. I’ll be over after my shift at work.”
“Cool. What about you Frankie?”
“Err…” I was caught off guard.
“Yeah. She’ll be there. I’ll ring mom and tell her later.” Hannah answered for me. Emma nodded and laughed.
“I’ll see you guys on Sunday then. Oh, Frankie, if you take this. It will give you instructions on how to maintain those, like how to wash them properly and stuff. You’ll get the hang of it after a couple of weeks.” She reassured me.
“Thanks a lot.” I took the booklet from her.
“See you later Em.” Hannah called behind us. “So…?” she asked as we were walking back down the street.
“Ok. I love them.” I laughed. “I think they look pretty cool.”
“Pretty cool? They look awesome!”
I laughed again.