“Can you make it look less like someone tossed dye on me?” Celia asked softly, her shoulders slumped with the news.
“Of course, honey. I can use some really gentle toners to give it a better color and add a few darker shades to the splotches to make it look even if you want me to. The good news is your hair is so light, most of it will wash it out in a few weeks. You’ll still have the damage to this part though.” Natalie waved her hands in several places and Celia shook her head.
“Whatever she needs, Natalie. I’m paying.”
“As you wish, Gr--”
“Keith!” I interrupted, panicked. “I’m Keith.”
She knew which one I was, fuck! How could I have forgotten that? She was the one that had always cut our hair. It had always been a mystery how could she tell us apart and one I’d forgotten about until she started to call me by my real name.
“Okay, Keith.” She turned her head so Celia couldn’t see me and narrowed her eyes. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she walks out of here with her head held high.”
“How do you feel about having pink hair for a while longer, baby?” I asked Celia and our eyes met in the mirror.
“Not bad actually. I’ve already had to cut off most of it, why not have a little fun with it while it’s this short anyway?”
“That’s the spirit,” Natalie said gustily, her eyes shining with laughter. “Don’t let the bastards get you down!”
“Not today, anyway,” Celia said, but I knew she wasn’t convinced.
She was being adventurous though, living a little while she could and I wasn’t about to say a thing to stop her. Besides, I liked the pink in her hair. It was a little wild to look at, but then I think it suited the new woman she was becoming and I hoped it was a sign that she would be open to the fact that she’d been in a relationship with three identical men over the last week. Fuck, how I hoped.
Natalie worked her magic with shampoos and conditioners, some kind of oil treatment, and then she began to mix together something out of a chemist’s daydream. She had several different bowls and a lot of foil, but two hours later, Celia’s hair was glossy, perfect, and a rather incredible shade of red. True red, not ginger, but cherry red with pink highlights. It was rather sexy I thought as I looked at her.
“Wow, that’s so… so fucking sexy!” I finally breathed when she turned around in her seat and stood up.
“You like, sir?” Natalie asked with a smirk and a wink.
Cheeky, I thought, and then looked at Celia. “It sounded hideous at first, but now, I really love it.”
I wasn’t sure staid, boring Colin would, but I knew Keith would for the same reason I did. Watching that head go down on us would be incredible to behold.
She walked up closer to the mirror, her face uncertain but as she brushed at strands and looked at the way Natalie styled it, she began to smile. She had a full-fledged grin by the time she turned back to me.
“I look so different,” she breathed happily. I think she was shocked at how different she looked. “So… grown up.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Natalie said, her own face wreathed in a happy smile. She’d worked for a few hours to produce the sultry look, and I was more than happy to pay whatever she asked.
“I love it, actually,” Celia said, and I could see a new confidence in her eyes. “I would have never dreamed of doing something like this, but now I can’t stop looking at it.”
I felt pleased that something good had come out of this, at last. The poor girl had come all this way after she’d been treated badly and she’d come out of it looking like a punk rock beauty queen. I think that might have been the moment I started to really fall in love with Celia.
I just stared at her as this emotion stirred to life in my chest. Something familiar but so different from anything I’d known before. I couldn’t say anything. I was speechless as she turned to me and kissed me with a shout of laughter.
“This is insane, but I love it. Thank you, Keith. Thank you so much!” She planted her mouth more firmly on mine, and I forgot we weren’t alone for a moment.
“Ahem. I need to get cleaned up for my next customer, Keith.” Natalie interrupted our love fest and tottered over to her cash register. She totaled up everything and I knew she left most of it off, but it was still a good chunk of change. I didn’t mind. Especially, if it put the smile back on Celia’s face, so be it.
I loved that smile.
In fact, it wasn’t just the smile that I was in love with but the woman too and everything about her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Celia
I went to the campus police station after I left Keith at his class. He’d been worried about me walking around on my own, but I wasn’t. Let Rachel and her ‘sisters’ play their stupid games. The law was on my side.
I filed a formal complaint against her, the sorority, and the owner of the car. Keith’s security cameras had caught the whole thing and recorded it. I gave the police a copy of the file for their records and walked out of the station happier and feeling lighter for doing it. The school didn’t want to do anything, fine. I’d go to the police. If the campus police didn’t want to do anything, I’d go to the sheriff, or whoever it was that was next on the list. Something had to be done about these stupid rituals they had in place.
Because that’s all I could think that this was. Rachel wanted to be in the mean girls’ club, and this was her way of doing it. Or, the sorority had put her up to it as a hazing initiation or some bullshit like that. I didn’t know anything for sure, but I’d decided that enough was enough.
I headed to my class with my head held high, and when I got a few appreciative stares, I couldn’t help but beam with pride. Imagine, plain, little old Celia from Iowa had pink and red hair and a boyfriend that would do anything for her.
Well, I think he’s my boyfriend. We live together, although that was supposed to only be temporary. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be, though. He was so attentive, so loving, even if he was distant sometimes. Other times, he was boisterous, romantic, and sometimes just plain dirty. He wouldn’t be all those things and yet be so kind and generous if he just wanted to fuck, would he?
He was rich some nagging voice in the back of my brain said. Maybe it’s some kind of game for him. After all, I thought as a forgotten piece of information floated back into my head, he’d gotten my number from Rachel. Technically, she’d put him up to calling me. He’d expected a fuck from what he’d said. A good time. How low-class of them both.