Adore You [H.S]

39 // That's Very...Feminine

"Oh my God." I face-palm. "You can't use your own song!"

"Watch me," he says cheekily. And with that—and a quick kiss on my clammy forehead—he leaves my room to retrieve the painkiller and glass of water.

I thought I was supposed to be the one showing the hospitality here.

* * *

Of course, with the help of two ibuprofen and some downtime, I was feeling better in no time.

Harry and I arrive at the salon and we park in the very back parking lot of the building. That is, out near all the employee's parking spots.

If I'm being honest here, no one but my manager Linda is technically allowed to enter the building through the back. That was a rule Linda made up forever ago, and I always obeyed it, not quite sure why she made such a dumb rule like that. But today, I was willing to bend the rules a little for Harry and his privacy.

"This is it," I announce as soon as we step through the door from the back break room, entering the customer service area of the salon.

"Wow," Harry says, looking around and taking in every aspect of the salon displayed before him.

"What do you think?" I ask nervously, silently hoping he liked it. My bottom lip sunk between my teeth.

"To be honest, I've only been in a few salons in my lifetime. So I may not have the most experienced judgement," he admits, still looking around the large room. "But compared to all of the ones I've been in, this one is by far the most aesthetically pleasing of the bunch."

"Everything's so organized and clean," he continues. "Plus everything matches so perfectly together."

He looks over at me and realizes he's rambling, chuckling and looking down at the ground, his cheeks turning a pale shade of pink.

"My point is," he says after a moment, "I like it here. A lot."

"I'm glad." I smile brightly, pleased with his approval.

I lead Harry over to my work station and set my bag down on my chair.

"Hey Lili," one of my coworkers, Allie, greets me as she puts tinfoil in her client's hair to put dye on it. "I didn't know you were coming in today."

"We're just popping in for a second," I explain, turning on all my lights and everything on my desk. "We'll only be here for like half an hour."

The only person in today was Allie. Most of my coworkers take weekends off, including Linda. So that's why I was surprised when I heard her voice saying my name from across the large salon.

"Liliana," she says in an intimidating voice.

It was at this very moment that I realized I totally spaced calling and checking with her to make sure it was okay that Harry and I came in to do his nails.

"Shit," I mutter under my breath.

"What is it?" Harry asks worriedly.

"Um... nothing," I lie, worried to keep Linda waiting any longer, "you can just take a seat there. I'll be right back."

Nervously, I turn around to make my way toward Linda, who was standing near the hair washing stations on the back wall with her arms crossed.

"Hey Linda," I greet her anxiously, already mentally preparing for her to yell at me.

"I wasn't aware that you were coming in today," she says, a fake smile plastered on her face, "I thought you were taking the week off for your family vacation. But I see you've made your way back to this continent." She looks me up and down, her smile now turning into more of a smirk than anything.

"Yeah, I got back the other day," I inform, refusing to lie to her. "We actually just came in to-"

"We?" she asks, looking past me at Harry, who was innocently admiring the artwork on the walls, completely oblivious to the whole conversation that was going on over here. "Is that your boyfriend over there?"

The look on her face told me exactly why she asked. She wasn't just curious, that's not how Linda works. If I were to say Harry was my boyfriend, if he actually was in the first place, she would proceed to give me a lecture of not just bringing my boyfriend into the workplace for no reason, without even giving me the chance to explain myself.

"No, actually," I say shaking my head and looking down, not wanting to make eye contact with her.

"Then what's he doing here?" Linda questions in a sweet voice. It was not a sincere sweet though. I knew sincere sweet, and that was definitely not it.

"I'm actually just going to do his nails, and then we'll leave," I explain.

"Do his nails, huh?" She raises an eyebrow, looking over at him once again. "Who's his boyfriend then?"

I choke.

Excuse me, bitch?

"I'm sorry?" I say, my eyes widening.

"Well, you said you were doing his nails," she says.

"What exactly are you implying here, Linda?" My blood begins to boil within my veins, my body burning with anger.

"He's gay, isn't he?" she asks as if it was obvious.

"No," I say through gritted teeth, "he is not."

"Well, I just thought since-"

"You know what, Linda," I snapped, cutting her off. "He is my boyfriend. And I don't really appreciate you making assumptions on his sexuality based on his decisions to support his girlfriend's career."

Okay, I know I know, Harry isn't my boyfriend. But no matter what he's labeled as in my life, he still meant something to me and I wasn't about to let Linda of all people talk about him like that.

"I just find it funny that you let your boyfriend paint his nails," she sasses me, folding her arms again. "It's just very...feminine, that's all."

"And I find it funny that you care so much," I say back. "This doesn't concern you, Linda. So I would very much appreciate it if you would allow me to get back to my work so I can enjoy the rest of my day off."

Never in my multiple years of working here have I ever stood up to Linda as I did just now. The look of surprise on her face was priceless. Allie's jaw was practically on the floor as well.

Everyone who worked here feared Linda. Or to be more exact, feared losing their job because of Linda.

But I was tired of being pushed around by her. Ever since I started working here, she seemed to pick on me the most, even though I almost never did anything wrong. I show up on time every day and hardly ever call in sick. This was why I was so surprised that she quite literally got mad at me for taking time off to go to London as if I don't work enough.

The color in Linda's face went blank as she was at a loss for words. She inhaled deeply, her chest puffing out.

"Just...hurry up," She looks me up and down, "Salon closes at 5. If you're not done by then, you're closing."

And before I even got the chance to respond, she was already walking away to the back break room.

I couldn't help but feel a slight feeling of victory after standing up for myself (and Harry) in front of Linda. Smirking to my self while mentally patting myself on the back, I return to my workstation and Harry, who was still sitting patiently in the chair.

"Sorry about that," I apologize to Harry, moving my purse off my chair and taking a seat to begin my work on Harry's nails.

"It's alright, love," he shrugs, "what was the issue?"

"Nothing." I smile, rubbing in a squirt of hand sanitizer, just as I do before beginning on all of my other clients.

* * *
a/n: soo what do you think of Linda???😁😁😁