Love Is a ***

“Dahvie, it’s not coming out the right shade!” I whined to my boss, who was my mentor as I strived to become a professional hair stylist.

“Well what shade are you trying to get?” he asked, a small smile on his lips as he looked at my white-blonde hair.

“Not too dark, but not too light either,” I complained, looking at the wrong shade of purple dominating the bottom layer of my hair.

Dahvie laughed at that and patted a chair. “Honey, dye can only come out light or dark, there is no in between to it,” he said as I sat and he began to work on what I had already. “So like this?” he asked, holding out a beautiful purple card for me to see.

I nodded. “Yes, my dear mentor that would be the color I’m striving for today,” I said softly and let him get to work on it.

A half hour later and much styling later, my hair was finally the right purple on the bottom layer. “Do you feel better now?” he asked, fluffing my hair a little more.

“Oh, Dahvie, it’s perfect!” I said, and then pressed a kiss to his cheek, leaving a smear of pink lipstick. “Oops,” I giggled, and tried to rub it off. It only smeared more.

I watched as he frowned in the mirror. “Great, Anabel,” he said in mock anger. “You’ve ruined my makeup!”

“Sorry, Dahvie,” I said, biting my lip to hide a smile.

“Oh, don’t play with me Anabel Hunter; I know why you did it!” Dahvie said, wagging his finger at me playfully.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“You just can’t stand working with a man that is prettier than you,” he said with his hands propped on his hips.

I burst out laughing. “You got me,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender.

Dahvie cracked a smile, rubbing at his cheek with a tissue now. “Geez Anabel, what lipstick do you wear? It won’t come off my skin,” he pouted slightly, looking in the mirror.

I snatched the tissue away from him, and then dampened it in one of the sinks. “I don’t know, it doesn’t have a label,” I said, giving the lipstick to him to examine while I tried to scrub the pink smear off his cheek. I only succeeded in making his skin red; the lipstick stayed stubbornly where it was.

Dahvie glanced at the lipstick, and then tossed it directly into the nearest trashcan.

“Hey!” I said in protest.

Dahvie held up a finger. “Honey, anything that is that hard to get off needs to be recycled,” he said seriously.

I pouted at him. “I really liked that lipstick and so does Andy… some days,” I giggled softly.

“Oh, only on the days it actually comes off his penis without him scrubbing it off?” he said sarcastically, and then grabbed my wrist to make me stop scrubbing his face. “Okay, that’s enough, sweetie. If you don’t stop, I won’t have a cheek to put makeup on!”

I gasped. “No! I don’t wear that one at those times, I wear a different color and it’s by Blackheart Beauty.”

“TMI, Anabel! However, I do hope that it comes off…”

I swatted at him, missing by a mile. “Shut the hell up, Mr. Vanity!” I said, just before the bell attached to the salon door dinged, signaling a customer had walked in.

A girl with bubble gum pink hair walked through the door. “Morning, Anabel and Dahvie, I’m here for my weekly haircut,” she smiled brightly.

“Good morning, Amy. Anabel, will you take her appointment this morning. I need to run an errand real quick,” Dahvie commented, gesturing to the book with appointments and certain customers’ usual haircuts.

“Sure, Dahvie,” I said with a smile. This show of confidence in me was flattering.

“I know that makes you happy, but please, don’t kiss me again!” he said with a laugh.

“Oh, get on out of here, you asswipe,” I said, shooing him away.

“Am I getting kicked out of my own salon?” he asked Amy.

She shrugged. “You gave her the reins, so I think she can do that.”

I laughed at Dahvie’s stunned expression. “You can come back after your errand is done. I think that’s reasonable.”

He shook his head at me. “Women!”

I giggled, shooing him all the way to the salon door. “Go on, get. The sooner you’re done, the sooner you can have control back over your salon,” I said smugly.

“I’m going to dock your pay for this!” he yelled, although since he was on the other side of the glass door, the sound was muffled. Several people on the sidewalk turned to look at him oddly.

I laughed at him and made a face at him; his response was to flip me the bird.

I turned to Amy. “Come on, sweetie; let’s get your hair washed.”

I looked at the book again real quick about her style, and then lead her to the washing basins. “Sit here, dear and lean back,” I said, turning the water on and warming it up.

I guided her head back and started drenching her hair down with water. “So it’s just a trim today?” I asked, putting shampoo into my hands and then scrubbing her hair.

“Yes,” she said, closing her eyes as I continued massaging her scalp with my fingertips. As I washed, I allowed my mind to drift to my boyfriend, Andy Sixx. We were still a fairly new couple, but I really liked him. We’d met here in Dahvie’s salon, and Dahvie claimed that he’d nearly gone blind from all the sparks flying between Andy and me.

But there was another man in my life, one I tried to hide from Andy, but it was hard when they were in the same band and close friends. Jinxx was something else all together though; different from Andy in a way, but how I wasn’t completely sure. The salon bell dinged again and I looked up to see Jayy walk in. “Hey Jayy, he’s not in at the moment. He’s running an errand,” I told him before he could ask.

“That’s okay, I’ll wait for him,” he said softly before taking a seat by the window, staring out of it.

“No problem,” I said, and went back to Amy’s hair. I rinsed it clean of shampoo and ran a conditioner through her pink strands. It smelled of mint and made my nose tingle.

Once I’d rinsed the conditioner out, I towel dried her hair and led her to a chair, then pumped the foot piece until her head was at a good height for me.

I looked to Jayy again and noticed his eyebrows were creased. “Is something bothering you, Jayy?” I asked as I combed Amy’s pink strands out with a comb, and grabbed a pair of scissors, beginning on Amy’s trim.

Jayy looked my way and watched for a second before moving his eyes back to the window. “It’s nothing, Anabel. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine after I talk to Dahvie,” he muttered, his fingers finding a loose thread on his clothing and started twisting it.

Jayy’s down-in-the-dumps expression worried me- I’d known him for some time now and this wasn’t his style. Biting my lip, I worried that he and my brother, Angel, were having problems. However, my curiosity would have to take a backseat to my work ethic- now was not the time to question him about his private life.

I finished Amy’s haircut and cleaned her up before lowering the styling chair and let her out. The salon bell dinged again and I smiled shyly as Jinxx walked in. “Hey Jinxx,” I smiled brightly and he smiled too.

I took Amy’s money, and told her that I’d see her next week, as usual. When she left, I turned to Jinxx. “What are you doing here?”

Jinxx looked around the shop curiously. “Where is your ever colorful mentor?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Oh... umm Andy sent me.” He glanced at Jayy. “And I figured I’d go ahead and get a trim while I’m here.”

“Did you want me to style it too while I’m at it?” I asked lightly, leading him to the washing basins, sneakily stealing a kiss that Jayy wouldn’t have noticed.

Jinxx smiled as I kissed him. “Yes, you can style it as well, dear Anabel. I would love for you too,” he replied as he sat in the chair and I began to wash his hair.

I intentionally leaned over him in a position that put my boobs close to his face. I flinched when I felt him bite me, accidentally spraying water everywhere. I giggled when I noticed the water had made a puddle on the crotch of his pants.

“Uh, they make adult diapers, you know,” I said laughing.

He stood up, his hair dripping everywhere, and grabbed the sprayer, showering me in ice cold water. I shrieked loudly, causing Jayy to look up in alarm. The bell sounded again, and I winced, and then turned around. I blushed as I realized there was no remedy for my now see-through white shirt and my poor choice of a black bra to go under it. Crossing my arms over my chest, I scanned the room for the customer. My eyes landed on a beautiful girl who was standing there with a startled expression on her face. “Jinxx?” she said curiously.

My eyebrows creased. “You know her?” I asked him, a little bite in my words.

Jinxx looked just as surprised as the girl. “Sammi?” he said, and then looked back to me, the sprayer in his hand lowering as his eyes went back to the girl. “Yeah… I do know her…” I looked at Jinxx questioningly, waiting for his answer. “Sammi… what are you doing here?” he asked.

“I might ask you the same thing,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

“Uh, Andy sent me to tell Anabel here that he wants her to meet him at Fiesta when she gets off work. And I decided to get a haircut while I was here and she wasn’t busy?” His reply sounded more like a question than a straight answer. Sammi was incredibly naive if she believed that load of bull.

“Jinxx, maybe you should introduce the two of us?” I asked sweetly.

Jinxx swallowed hard, looking from the girl to me and back again. "Wow this is awkward," he muttered softly. "Anabel, my girlfriend, Sammi Doll; Sammi, my friend and Andy’s girlfriend, Anabel Hunter," he finally introduced us, his eyes settling on the ground instead of on either of us.

I smiled insincerely, and stuck my hand out. "It's nice to meet you, Jinxx hasn't told me a thing about you, although I can see why… I bet he just wants to keep you all to himself!" I said with a laugh.

Sammi mustered a small smile. "Charmed," she said quietly. "I've been coming here for a few years now and I've never seen you before, Anabel. I'm good friends with Dahvie, but he hasn't mentioned you."

I narrowed my eyes at her slightly. Girls could be so catty. "Funny that he hasn't mentioned me seeing as he left me in charge while he's running errands."

Jinxx looked back and forth between us, unsure of what to do. His head jerked toward the door when the bell went off again. "I'm back, Anabel-" Dahvie started, and then trailed off as he took in the condition of the sink area and Jinxx. "Anabel, dearest, what did you do to this poor man? Did you try to drown him?"

I smiled weakly and tried not to laugh. "I would never, Dahvie!"

Dahvie lifted an eyebrow at me, and I noticed my pink lipstick was still visible on his cheek. "Well, bibbidy boppidy boo, get to mopping up that mess, sweetie. Jinxx, Sammi, Jayy, good to see you all here."

I was glad to leave the awkward situation, and almost smiled as I got the mop from the closet where the cleaning supplies were kept. As I walked back to clean up Jinxx's and my mess, I heard his girlfriend say. "Come on, Jinxx, let's get out of here."

I watched him look torn and then reluctantly nodded. "Okay. We'll finish my hair another time, Anabel," he called to me and waved as they left.

I flipped them both the bird, hoping they'd both seen it, and went back to my mopping. Dahvie looked at Jayy, then back to me and said, "What the fuck was all that about?"

Jayy put down the magazine he'd been reading. "Oh, not much, just that Anabel's seeing Jinxx behind Andy's back and didn't know that he was dating Sammi."

I looked at Jayy, stunned that he knew this, and then looked at Dahvie, whose mouth was wide open. I looked back to Jayy and cocked an eyebrow. "How do you know about Jinxx and me?" I asked him suspiciously, because I knew he couldn't have picked that all up from just now.

He shrugged. "Angel told me."

I stared at him. "Angel? Angel knows? How does Angel know?!"

Jayy rolled his eyes. "You don't give your twin much credit, do you?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "Anyone else would’ve picked up on it, you know, especially if they'd witnessed that scene between you two just now," he said matter-of-factly.

Dahvie finally closed his mouth. "Anabel, you have some seriously fucked up drama going on here!"

Jayy stood finally and started walking to Dahvie's office that was in the back. "Dahvie, I need to talk to you for a moment in private," he said, his face betraying that something was bothering him still.

"Yeah sure, Jayy. I want all this water cleaned up before I come out of that office, missy," Dahvie instructed, heading towards his office as well.

I clicked my heels together mockingly and saluted. "Sir, yes, sir!" Before returning to my mopping, I texted Jinxx quickly, realizing he hadn't told me what time to meet Andy. What time am I suppose to meet Andy?