Behind The Scenes

[Chapter Ten]

Chapter 10

"Are you sure about this?"

Emily was currently sitting in a plush chair at the hair salon, and from where I was standing behind her, I could see her hands clenching the arm rests firmly, the tips of her fingers turning white as she did so.

She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath before releasing it slowly. "I'm sure."

A few days ago I had mentioned to Emily that I was planning to get a haircut soon, as I was in desperate need of a short trim, and asked if she knew any good hair salons. It turned out that not only did she not know of any hair salons, she had also made the split second decision to dye her naturally brown hair a rich, deep purple.

I was shocked at first, but after being shown numerous pictures of the hairstyle that she wanted, I conceded, that although it was out of the box, the style actually fit her creative personality.

The next thing I knew the two of us were scouring the Internet for the closest hair salon, which happened to be on the top floor of the local mall, and booking our appointments.

I had already had my hair trimmed and was quite happy with the way it'd turned out. The hair stylist hadn't done much, only taken a few inches off the ends, but it already looked a lot healthier than it had been.

"I can't believe you're actually doing it," Colette noted, bouncing Abbie up and down on her knee as they sat on one of the free chairs. Her parents had given her the weekend off, and I thought it wouldn't hurt inviting her along on our 'girls days out'. "If I ever have the urge to dye my hair, I always wimp out at the last minute."

"Not helping," Emily said tightly, her teeth clenched as her shoulders tensed.

"Sorry," Colette apologized sheepishly, turning her attention to Abbie as she held out her phone, introducing the three year old to a few games to pass the time.

Turning back to Emily, I put my hands on her shoulders to ease some of the tension. "You know you don't have to do this right?"

"But I want to," she replied softly, wringing her hands together in front of her, "My nerves are just all over the place."

Before I could ask her anything further the hair stylist returned from the back, looking happy to see Emily seated in her chair. "So," she started, looking down at Emily with a kind smile on her face, "Are we ready to get started?"

Awaiting her reply, I saw Emily nod her head slightly, taking a deep breath as she replied. "Let's do this."

Twenty minutes later her hair was washed and trimmed as the stylist mixed the hair dye in a small jar. Pulling on a pair of gloves, the hair stylist dipped the end of her brush in the dye, picking up a small chunk of Emily's hair before lathering it from root to tip in the purplish substance.

"Well, there's no going back now," I stated, offering her an encouraging smile as I sat next to Colette and Abbie, watching and waiting for Emily's hair to be finished.

Emily smiled tentatively back at me through the mirror, breathing calmly as another piece of her brown hair was covered in dye.

"Don't worry darling," the hair stylist said encouragingly, "This colour is going to look absolutely gorgeous on you, just you wait."

"Let's hope so," Emily muttered, "But how about you guys try to get my mind off it."

"Umm... okay," I replied hesitantly, glancing to see if Colette had any ideas. With a shake of her head, I tried to scrounge up anything that I could. "How's your job going at the art gallery? Anything exciting happening?"