Surprise? No, surprise doesn't describe what I was feeling. It was more of a I’ve never been so confused and happy at the same time feeling. The loser kept his promise.

I stood with wide eyes, mouth slightly gaped, as a pair of tickets were waved around in my face. Not just any tickets, but CONCERT tickets, to a band that I may or may not be slightly obsessed with. Sure, there are phases that everyone goes through where they drool over a specific celebrity or whatever, but this wasn’t one of those phases. I had loved The Neighbourhood for an extremely long fucking time; their music just makes me melt. And the other day when I had told Harry that I wanted tickets to them, I was happy that he agreed. Yet I didn’t actually expect him to do this for me.

“I--I wasn’t actually serious about the tickets….. I would’ve come back to Alek one way or another.” I stuttered as the situation was still being processed in my mind.

Harry shrugged, “It’s not a big deal, I owe you.”

My mom would soooo disapprove of me right now, but I still couldn’t help the smirk tugging at my lips.

I snatched the tickets from his hands, a little too eagerly, and held them close to my face, taking in every damned detail. The concert was going to be this weekend, which means I actually have something to look forward to for once in my life. Pathetic? Maybe, but only a little bit.


He scratched the back of his head, “Right, well my dad has an important meeting in regards to the future of the business, and I have to go. It’s only going to be you and Alek in the house today.”

I nodded my head, still smiling at the tickets.

Before he left he said, “Don’t forget about Alek’s appointment.”

My head snapped up. Oh crap.

It was currently 11 in the morning, and his appointment for a haircut was at 9. Great, how could I have allowed that to slip my mind?

I quickly ran up to my room and put the tickets into my purse, I then practically tripped back down the stairs as I interrupted Alek and Andrew having a nice glass of milk.

“Morning Andrew, lovely day?” the words rushed out of my mouth as I scooped Alek up into my arms and continued my race out of the house, not waiting for a response from the poor butler.

Alek giggled, enjoying the ‘ride’ I was giving him to the black jeep parked out front. I bribed the driver that worked for Carmen’s family with a fifty-dollar bill, there was no way I was going to let a chauffeur drive us around when I could do the same thing just twice as fast.

We got to our destination in record time. Too bad that didn’t matter at all. There was only one person inside, and it wasn’t Pablo the hairdresser. When I talked to the person that was cleaning up, they said that Pablo closed the shop early because of a celebrity hair crisis he had to attend to. I couldn’t help the disappointment painted on my face as we got back into the car. I don’t understand why his father insisted on Alek going to an overpriced celebrity stylist when there was a perfectly good saloon at the mall.

Wait---- I’m such an idiot!

“Hey Alek, what do you say we go to the mall?” I smiled as I looked at Alek through the rearview mirror. He smiled back, “Okay”

I was supposed to go shopping later on with Rae for the event that Alek’s father was holding. But I guess I could do it now with Alek. It was a fancy business party, and everyone, including the workers, had to look nice. I personally didn’t even want to go to the party, but since Alek was forced to attend then that meant that I had to go as well.

When we got to the saloon at the mall I was greeted with many hugs. I knew all the workers there, considering the fact that I’ve been going there for over four years. The stylist that always attended my hair was a guy named Bennie. He was legit the best, screw all the other celebrity stylists. When he saw me he gasped and engulfed me in a hug, “Finally!!” he shouted, “Finally you’re getting a haircut, after all these months!” It had been at least 6 months since I last came, but it was only because I was too lazy to make the effort to come here.

I laughed, “Actually I came for my little man, “ I said as I scruffed up Alek’s hair, “ he needs a new look.”

Bennie eyed me carefully, tapping his fingers on the counter he was now leaning on, “Alright,”

I guided Alek to one of the chairs and then I went back to the counter, taking out my wallet to pay.

Bennie shook his head, “This one is free of charge,”

My eyes widened, “Seriously?” I questioned.
He never did that.
A wicked smile covered his face, “If you let me do your hair.”

Of course there was a catch; there’s always a catch.

I outweighed my options. I liked my hair, but how could I pass an opportunity of all of this being free! He NEVER did that before. Plus, maybe I needed a little change.

“Fine.” I exhaled. Bennie practically jumped with joy. He called another worker to do Aleks hair while he took on the task of taming mine. Ever since I had started going to this saloon he had been dying to have his way with my hair, but I never let him. I usually asked for a trim, that way I could keep the length but get rid of the split ends. And that was the reason he always called me Mrs. Joykill.

We spent an hour in the saloon. My hair took the longest.

The entire time I was at the edge of my seat, my nerves were eating me alive. Bennie had turned my back to long wall of mirrors, so that when he was done I could have the full effect of the hair change. Everything started out okay, until I felt my head get light, too light. “Done!” My stylist cheered as he took a step back and admired his work. He then placed his hands over my eyes and had me spin around towards the mirrors. As soon as he moved his hands from my line of sight, my mouth dropped. My long hair was gone and it was replaced with a short, edgy hairstyle. The locks of hair reached just above my shoulder, grazing it, ever so lightly. I ran my hand through my hair, this was definitely going to take some adjusting to. Alek gave me a hug, “I think it’s really pretty”

I smiled down at him, “Thanks babe, you look handsome too, but that’s nothing new for you.”

I then turned to Bennie and hugged him, “Thank you. I’m actually starting to like it.”

“I knew you would.” He said as he stood at the door, waving goodbye to us.
Afterwards all I had to do was find the perfect dress, and I’m glad to tell you that I did. It was exactly what I was looking for; black, classy, and edgy.


Back at the beach house, Alek and I watched TV and sat on the couch. He was half asleep on my lap when the rest of the ‘house guests’ returned from the business meeting. That was one hell of a long meeting , I thought to myself. The sound of doors slamming made me flinch.

I turned the volume on the TV up so that Alek wouldn’t be awakened from the shouting or the slamming.

A good ten minutes passed before I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, someone was staring at me. I turned my head to the door and saw a figure standing by it. With arms folded across his chest and a look of defeat, he approached the couch and sat next to us.

“Hey,” Harry whispered as he looked from Alek to me.

“I’m guessing things didn’t go so smoothly?”

He sighed, leaning back into the cushion, “You could say that,” he then squinted his eyes at me, leaning in close, “Did you cut your hair?” he half grinned as he pulled on a few strands.

I swatted his hand away, and noticed something different about him. He had a preppy button down shirt with a pair of slim fit chinos, but what scared me the most was the fact that he took his gauges out and that his hair actually wasn’t a mess this time.

“Who are you and what have you done with my Harry?” I said as I eyed his attire. I could feel my cheeks start to redden as I realized that I said the word ‘my’. Since when did I start calling him that? I was surely out of my mind.

He let out a laugh, but he sounded exhausted, “Your Harry is still here, under all of this crap.” He said as he motioned to his outfit. My blush deepened, he just had to say your Harry. This kid knew what he was doing to me, and he did it well.

I turned my attention back to the show that was playing,“Well--I don’t like it.”. It was true, I really didn’t like the fact that he looked preppy, I missed seeing his endless tattoos and his gauges and even the black jeans.

From the corner of my eye I could see him holding back a smile, “I’m surprised you cut your hair.”

“Why?” I questioned, “Are you not a fan of short hair?”

He took a moment to think about it, “It’s different than what I’m used to. All my ex’s had long dark hair.”

I chose to ignore the comment and focus on the TV. Sometimes I tend to lose focus on my priorities and I get carried away with things. By that I mean that sometimes I forget that what I really want is to ignore Harry but sometimes I can’t help it. What a sad little excuse for a human I am.

He stood up from the couch and headed towards the door, “Oh, the business event is this saturday so make sure you and Alek are prepared for it.”

I nodded my head, “Okay.”

He was halfway through the door when he nonchalantly added, “I like different.”

My body went tense.

Did he seriously just say that? Man, was this guy confusing. I still haven’t gotten over the conversation between him and Oliver that I overheard. All these mixed signals were giving me a headache. I gently rubbed Aleks head, he was still sound asleep on my lap. My nerves were starting to get to me again, I really didn’t want to hear about the new business plan at the party this saturday. It most likely meant I was going to be seeing more of Carmen. And God knows how much I would hate that. These next few days leading up to the event are going to be hell. I’m not good with anticipation.

Notes

It's not perfect----I know.

But I feel like filler in chapters are necessary. They slow the story down a bit, and that's what I needed in this one. I feel like a few places were too rushed, and I wanted to show their everyday conversations and how confusing their feelings are.

<3 For now ....