A Beautiful Forever (5 page)

“Well I don’t want that!” she says as I hand her the bag
full of products she’s just purchased.

“That will all help it stay in good condition until your
next appointment,” I say before bidding her farewell.

As I watch her walk out the door, I have to force myself to
look over at Elliot, I don’t know why, but it’s really freaking me out that
he’s standing in front of me, smiling like we’re long lost friends.

“Long time no see,” he says to me.

“If you call yesterday morning a long time ago,” I deadpan.
“Are you here for a haircut or are you just passing through?”

He looks around and sees the other customers sitting on the
chairs waiting, “Um, yeah; I want a haircut. Can you fit me in?”

“Ah,” I cut my eyes to the clock upon the wall while I
think, “it could take a good hour - I have two clients ahead of you.” 

Drumming his hands on the counter he nods. “That’s fine.
I'll wait.”

A small blonde girl walks up behind him and touches his
shoulder, “Um, what are you doing?” she asks, looking slightly irritated.

He inclines his head to me slightly, “I’m getting a
haircut,” he tells her as a matter of fact.

I stop listening and call my next client, a chubby redhead
named ‘Christine’, leaving Elliot to deal with his friend.  As I shake out the
black cloak to drape over her, I glance at Andrea, who raises her eyebrows at
me and mouths,
He’s gorgeous! Do you know him?
Nodding I make the ‘sort
of’ sign with my hand. She glances at him again and nods appreciatively,
practically licking him with her eyes. Laughing at her, I shake my head and
turn to focus on my client.  

“You don’t have to wait for me,” I tell Naomi, who is
standing next to me with her arms crossed over her chest. “I can find my way
back on my own.”

“It’s fine. I can wait,” she says.

“Naomi, I’m fine. Go home.”

“Oh, um… ok,” she says hesitating a little before starting
to leave, regret rises within me as I start to feel bad for dismissing her so
rudely.

“Listen, thanks for joining me today Naomi. It ended up
being nice having someone to sight see with,” I tell her. She smiles brightly,
happy with my acknowledgement and tells me she’ll see me at home.

Nodding, I look over at Paige, who is pinning up a woman’s
hair so she can cut underneath. She cuts with great concentration and skill,
only speaking when she needs to. I’m impressed she’s functioning so well, right
now I feel like I could pass out.

“You know that guy you don’t really know?” Andrea says
behind me as I blow dry my current client’s hair. I nod in response, still
focusing on curling the brush to create enough volume.

“Well… he’s asleep.”

“What?!" I laugh incredulously, turning my head
slightly to spot him in a chair with his head slumped forward on his chest.

When I finish up with my client, I walk her to the counter,
quickly offering her some product, but not caring if she takes any. I can’t
seem to stop my eyes from flitting constantly to the sleeping figure in the
waiting area.

The moment she leaves, I walk over to Elliot and stand in
front of him as I contemplate how best to wake him.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Andrea calls out in one of those
whispers that might as well be a yell, as she dashes towards me. “I want to
witness this!” She stands beside me and adjusts her shirt as she prepares
herself.

“What are you doing?” I ask her. She looks like she’s
getting ready to catch a ball or something.

“I don’t know,” she shrugs, laughing a little. “Just wake
him.”

I jerk my head up as a loud clapping sound startles me
awake. Slowly, my eyes focus and I’m met by the sight of Paige and her
co-worker standing in front of me smiling their arses off.

“Jetlag can be a bit of a bitch huh?” Paige comments. “You
still want that haircut?”

I scratch my head and stand up, stretching to try to bring
myself fully awake. “Yeah, I still want that haircut,” I reply through a yawn.

Paige inclines her head towards the wash basins, and I
follow her over taking the seat she points to. She places a towel around my
neck and gets me to lean back against the hard porcelain.

As she turns the water on and tests the temperature on the
back of her hand she says, “Try not to fall asleep on me, I don’t want to have
to pull your hair to wake you up.”

I laugh, “I’ll do my best, but no promises.”

God, I love getting my hair washed by a hair dresser. It's
freaking awesome. The way they massage your head is brilliant, and I have to
say, the fact that it’s Paige doing the massaging is making it that much
better.

“Alright, sit up,” she instructs as she throws a towel over
my head and starts to dry it off. Once finished, she walks me over to a chair
and drapes a waterproof cape over my clothes, securing it around my neck.

“Just a trim, or you going for a whole new style?” she asks.

“I have no idea, what do you think?”

She smiles to herself, and I think I catch a bit of an eye
roll. “Well, if it were up to me, I’d shave it off - I like very short hair on
guys,” she replies, her eyes on me via the mirror.

“How short are we talking?” I ask, suddenly worried she
might try and shave my head bald.

“A number four,” she tells me, and I can see the challenge
in her eye.

I look at my hair in the mirror. It's gotten long to the
point that it gets in my eyes and almost touches my shoulders. “Number four it
is,” I say seriously, holding her eyes in the mirror.

She raises her eyebrows slightly and nods, preparing the
clippers to buzz all of my hair off. I’m a little nervous, but hair grows back…
right?

I really didn’t think he’d go for it, so I’m a little
surprised right now, and impressed. Truthfully, I do truthfully like guys with
super short hair. I love the way it feels when you run your hand over the
spikes. I just didn’t think an Adonis like Elliot would contemplate cutting off
his locks on a whim.

As I lift the clippers towards his hair, I look at him in
the mirror. “Are you sure?” I ask. He looks at me and nods confidently, so I
take the strip of hair away straight down the middle of his head.

“Can’t change your mind now,” I tease.

He laughs, “I don’t want to.”

I run the clippers slowly through his hair, watching as his
locks cascade over his shoulders and slide down the cape towards the floor.

“Where are you staying?” he asks.

“Heathrow, near the airport. I’m there for a couple of weeks
until I find a share house. First stop was a job though.”

“You got a job in a day?”

“I got a trial in a day.”

“She got a job in a day,” Andrea interrupts. “As long as she
wants it of course.”

I pause and smile at Andrea, “Really? Thank you Andrea.”

“Well, you’re good and I need help. It’s a win win.” She
winks at me and carries some wet towels into the back room.

“Congratulations,” Elliot says to me smiling.

“Thank you,” I can’t help but smile back. I am so glad the
job part is sorted out now.

“Can I take you to dinner to celebrate?”

“Oh… I don’t know about that,” I hesitate as I finish
neatening his hair and put the clippers down. I reach for a soft powdered brush
to flick away the excess hair on his neck. Gliding my hand over the short
spikes, a delicious chill runs through me as I touch him, perhaps a little more
than I should. I take a deep breath, knowing I need to put a stop to this.
“Listen, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea here Elliot. I can see the way
you look at me, and I can’t give you what you want. You’re a great-looking guy.
I'd be a fool not to notice that, but I need to be clear - I’m not the girl for
you.”

He sits up and spins his chair so he’s facing me now,
“Paige, while I’m flattered that you think I’m so great-looking – you’ve got
the wrong idea yourself. I think it would be pointless to start anything with
anyone. Especially with you, I only have three months, and you are here
indefinitely. However, you’re the first girl I’ve met in a long time that
doesn’t giggle every time I speak, so I like you, I’d like to get to know you…
if you’ll let me - as friends.”

I narrow my eyes slightly at him, not sure that I believe
him, but I have to admit that there is logic in his reasoning…, and I am
hungry.  “Alright, fine. We can have dinner.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I say. “I’ll take you to the flat I’m
staying in, and we can see what everyone else is doing, it can’t possibly be a
date that way. Plus, you’ll get to meet some new people.”

I can see the wheels turning in her head as she considers my
proposal, “Where are you staying?”

“About a five-minute walk from here.”

“Ok, fine, just give me time to finish up, and I’ll meet you
outside.” She walks me to the register, and I pay for my haircut. I can’t stop
running my hand back and forward over my head. It feels strange and awesome all
at the same time.

She’s smiling as she watches me do it, “See, feels good huh?”

“It does,” I admit. “I’ll see you when you’re through.” She
nods, and I walk out the door as she flips the sign to ‘closed’ behind me. I’m
waiting maybe ten minutes before she comes out with her bag.

“That was fast,” I point out.

“I got let off early for being such a good worker.”

“Lucky you.”

“No, lucky you. You would have been waiting for a good 30
minutes otherwise.”

“I didn’t mind. Listen, don’t take this as flirting, but I
like your hair this way… it’s pretty. I mean, I like it curly; I like it both
ways actually… maybe I just like your hair.” I laugh nervously, tripping over
my words and sounding kind of dopey.

She laughs back, “Normally I would definitely take that as
flirting, but since you were so clear that it wasn’t I will take it simply as
it is – you like my hair. Although I’ll admit, now that your hair is short, I
like yours too.” She reaches her hand up and rubs it over the fuzz that is
currently covering my head.

“You didn’t like it longer?”

She shakes her head vigorously and scrunches up her face.

“It was that bad?” I ask, surprised.

“No, it wasn’t that bad. I just don’t like long hair on
guys.”

“Why not? Did you date a guy with long hair who broke your
heart or something?” I ask as a joke.

“Or something,” she replies.

“Oh I’m sorry, that was a dick of a thing to say,” I
apologise, kicking myself for saying the wrong thing.

She laughs a little, “It’s fine, Elliot. Nothing happened
with a long-haired  guy – short hair is simply my personal preference.”

“Really? Well, that was kind of mean – making me think I
took you to a bad place. Not cool Paige, not cool,” I tease light-heartedly.

When she smiles at me again, I’ve found my new addiction.
Paige seems to have some sort of sadness emanating out of her, so when she
smiles, it feels special.

Approaching the block of flats, I point ahead and dig for my
keys in my pocket.

“That’s it, the white one?” she asks.

“Sure is,” I tell her.

“What’s it like inside?”

“Cramped, but nice – you’ll see.”

Elliot leads me up a few flights of stairs until we reach a
cream coloured door with a brass ‘12’ attached to it above a peephole. Using
his manners, he opens the door for me, and I smile as I step inside, I’m really
not used to spending time around courteous men.

Loud voices and laughter can be heard coming from the living
area. I move to the side and let Elliot go ahead of me, so he can make the
introductions – I don’t want to look like some random from off the street.

“Hey everyone, what’s happening?” he says as he enters the
room.

“Hey man, oh my god! You shaved your head,” one guy points
out, before moving straight on. “We’re just deciding what to do tonight, no one
wants to cook so we’re thinking of heading down to the pub for something easy.”

“OR” another guy interrupts, “we’re thinking of getting
Indian, there’s a debate over what’s best. We are a house divided.” He tilts
his head as he looks from Elliot to me, “Oh hello, I’m Gavin.”

“Paige,” I say, nodding at him.

Elliot does a quick introduction around the room, “We are
only missing one person, Naomi. She's the one that was with me today.”

I nod my understanding and listen as the discussion over
food continues. Eventually, it’s decided that everyone just goes to the closest
pub, which is also the place that their other roommate works.

“So Paige,” Gavin asks as we walk towards the pub as a
group. “How do you know Elliot?”

“Oh…I wouldn’t really say I know him. We met on the plane
and just kind of bumped into each other again.”

“You met on the plane? Are you a Sydney girl too?”

“Kind of, not Sydney city, but not too far out. What about
you? I’m going to peg you for a Brisbane boy.”

He raises his eyebrows, an impressed look on his face. “Very
close Paige, I’m from the Goldcoast, Nerang to be exact. How did you know?”

“I’m a hairdresser; I meet a lot of people, so I’ve learned
how to pick the different accents.”

“That’s a good skill to have,” he says thoughtfully as Petra
moves in beside him and links arms.

“What’s a good skill?” she asks.

“Oh Paige can tell where you’re from in Australia based on
your accent.”

“Really? Where am I from?” she asks.

“Melbourne,” I tell her without hesitation.

“Correct,” she smiles.

“Here we are,” Brian says as we come to a stop outside a pub
called The Hole in the Wall, it’s aptly named because there's what looks like a
storm pipe coming through the wall near the roof. I wonder if it was always
there and inspired the name or whether they added it to justify the name.