all mine | ft. michael clifford

two;

I stood back a little and waited until he'd handed some cash over the counter and left.

"Now, job openings," she said, turning to me. Her name badge read 'Olivia'. "At the moment we're not really looking for anything, did you have a CV you wanted to hand in or anything?"

I shook my head. "No, that's okay," I said, shooting her a smile and turning for the door. "Thanks anyway."

"Hey, now wait a second."

I paused, hand on the glass and turned back towards her. Her lips were curved upwards and parted slightly. "Did you colour your own hair that pink?"

"Yeah, it was supposed to be brighter than this but I fucked up," I laughed slightly.

"You call that a fuck up? Mine turned out white," she said, pointing to her own hair.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "At least yours suits you."

"Yours suits you too," she replied, leaning forward against the counter. "I'm Olivia, by the way. I can't give you a job but maybe you could dye my hair for me sometime?"

Yours suits you too. Which me did it suit though? The real me? Charlotte Slater? Or Mali Cross?

I laughed and nodded at her question. "I guess I could, but you'll have to sign some kind of waiver."

She waved her hand in a 'come-here' kind of gesture and I walked towards her.

"Do you have time now?" She asked me, already walking towards the back of the small shop.

I didn't have anywhere to be. As out of the blue and random as this seemed, it was good to be talking to someone that wasn't an elderly man – as nice as Eddie was. She seemed friendly enough and I could use all the LA friends I could get right then. Besides, I had the whole day to go job hunting. The morning was still relatively young.

"Sure," I said, confusion lacing my tone. "Um, what colour?"

"Pale pink, just like yours," she said, pulling some dye out of a set of drawers and handing me a bowl to mix. "Don't fuck it up."

I laughed and took it from her, gaze drifting towards the other girl who'd just finished up with her customer. He was just leaving when she turned to me and introduced herself.

Like Olivia, she was incredibly pretty. Long brown ombréd hair and perfect tanned skin. She wore black too and I figured it must have been the dress code.

"I'm Melissa," she said, holding her hand out. "Olivia's always like this, getting favours from strangers."

There was tenderness to her voice. I could tell that the two of them were close. I admired that.

"Hey, if strangers are willing to do things for me then that's up to them," Olivia shot back, passing me a bottle of conditioner and a packet of branded pink dye before sliding down into a chair.

I stood behind her, mixing the dye with the conditioner until it looked somewhat like mine did when I'd dyed my hair a month or so ago. It wasn't the same kind as the box mix I'd bought but the concept remained the same.

Olivia pulled her hair from the ponytail she had it in and let it free down her back. It was only just shorter than mine and much easier to brush.

"Your accent is different," she told me as I dabbed the dye into her roots first. "You aren't from here."

"Australia," I told her. "I got here yesterday."

Melissa whistled low. "Always wanted to go there, so many hot men."