Here With Me

February 4th, Sunday

"Amelia!" I grinned as Hudson and I came into the salon. She turned around and started screaming, startling the clients in the room. "Avery!" She ran and nearly tackled me over with a hug.

"I've missed you so much!" She gushed, with tears in her eyes.

I laughed and held her at arms length, "I've missed you too."

"Oh Hudson, I'm sorry. I've missed you too." She laughed, giving him a quick hug. "When did you two get back?"

"Last night. We were pretty jet-lagged, so we went straight to bed. We also brought you a little souvenir from Italia." I giggled, lifting up a gift bag. She gasped and quickly took it, tossing the tissue paper away and gasping yet again. "A Versace purse!" She screamed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She pulled us both into a hug.

"You're welcome. But we also came to get our hair done." I smiled, "He needs a haircut and I need a change."

"Oh of course, it's on the house. Come, please sit down and tell me all about the honeymoon!" She pulled us over to her station. Hudson went first, asking for his usual short-do, the way I like it.

"So, how's married life?" She grinned as she began cutting his hair.

I smiled at her in the mirror, I sat in a chair next to them as she worked. "It's great, I'm still getting used to going by Avery Hudson. And it's gonna take some getting used to regarding work, a month is a while to be away from the office and the restaurant."

"Yeah it is, Jann was okay with you taking off for that long?" She asked.

I nodded, "Yeah I got Jann wrapped around my finger." I giggled, "I also did a bit of work on the honeymoon too, during the long flights or when Hudson would go into town to check out the local farmer's markets. You know, food stuff."

We told Amelia about the honeymoon, and the manor in England and everything in between. It made me miss Italy and England even more. After Hudson was finished, he offered to get us some coffee from Starbucks down the block, so after we gave him our order, he left and Amelia began doing my hair.

"So have you seen Christian yet?" She asked, draping the cape over me.

I shook my head, "Uh, no, not since Christmas Eve..."

"Seriously? Oh yeah, he wasn't even at the wedding...well wait, you must have seen him at the office though, after Christmas?" She furrowed her brow.

"No, he wasn't at the office either..." I cleared my throat, "Have you seen him?"

"Yeah a few times, each time he was with a different chick. They looked cheap." She rolled her eyes, I could tell she still had a thing for him.

I chuckled, "Yeah, it's been awhile since I've seen him."

"You know, that's really weird of him. I mean, you and Hudson gave him an invitation in person, you invited him over to spend Christmas Eve with us, Hudson even gave him a priceless bottle of scotch. I wonder why he was a no-show at the wedding."

I shrugged my shoulders, "I have no idea, maybe he had other plans for New Years Eve or something."

"Yeah, maybe with one of those floozies." Again she rolled her eyes, making me laugh. "So what were you thinking of getting done?" She asked, now talking about my hair.

"I want it lighter. No more black. I want it as close to my natural as possible, though it'll probably take a couple appointments to get it very light." I chuckled.

"Blonde is pretty light, but you look absolutely gorgeous in that colour. I'll start the lightening process now." She grinned.

Later when Hudson came back with the coffee, he gave us a weird look when he saw Amelia putting foils in my hair. "What are you getting done?" He lightly laughed, handing me my iced coffee.

"I'm going back to my natural." I replied.

"Or at least, as close as possible." Amelia laughed.

He sat next to me and leaned back in his seat. "I feel like a terrible husband already, but what is your natural hair colour?"

I smiled sweetly at him, "Strawberry blonde."

He smiled back, "Really? You as a blonde...that's a nice thought." He leaned forward and gave me a small kiss.

"Aww, I wanna get married. You guys are so cute." Amelia sighed.

We both laughed at her. "You'll get married someday, you're still young. I'm sort of a cradle-robber, snatching up this little girl." Hudson smiled.

"Yeah you are, old man." She laughed. "I should've still been dating a certain someone right now, but no, I'm not his type. He's into someone else."

Hudson laughed, "Are you talking about Christian?"

She sighed and nodded.

"Why are you still sore about that? That was like, in November." He chuckled.

"Because." She pouted, acting like a little girl. She's definitely not mature enough to handle marriage.

"So he has a crush, you say? Wonder who the lady is? Must be someone special, isn't he a ladies man or something?" Hudson asked, sipping his coffee. I shrugged my shoulders, also sipping my coffee, knowing that I was the woman. Flashbacks of that last time I spoke to Christian filled my mind.

"Yeah, well whoever she is and if ever we meet, I'm gonna kill her right then and there." Amelia smirked.

"Fatal attraction, much?" I coughed. "So what if he has a crush? It probably doesn't mean anything now."

"What do you mean now?" She chuckled.

"Well, you two ended things in November. It's February now, and you said you've seen him with other girls. He's obviously not with his crush, or maybe he is, who knows?" I sipped at my coffee.

They both laughed at me, "Okay, okay, let's change the subject. Amelia did you want to join us for dinner later?"

"Oh I'd love to."

"Can we go to McGees? I have a hankering for a burger." I smiled at Hudson.

He chuckled and gave me another kiss, "Yes, we can go to McGees."

I looked at Amelia in the mirror, "Don't I have a great husband?"