Chapter Eleven
“Remind me again why I’m doing this?” Laney asked her mom as she waited for her stylist to come back with her equipment.
Laney was sitting Indian-style in a chair facing a huge round mirror in a trendy LA salon. Her hair was back to its usual straightness since she had just had it shampooed and conditioned a few minutes before. She sat there as a few droplets found their way down her neck and soaked through her tank top.
Her mom was seated a few feet from her, magazine in one hand, glass of champagne in the other. It was apparent to Laney that she was planning on relaxing a little bit earlier than was planned.
“Because, of all the great genes I passed on to you Laney dear, style apparently wasn’t one of them,” Mrs. Herman said trying to imitate the agent.
Her mom brought the glass to her lips as Laney’s stylist walked back over to her station.
“Well, hello Laney,” the perky redhead exclaimed, staring at her reflection in the mirror while she talked. “My name is Casey and I’m going to be giving you a new do today. Do you have an idea of what you want?”
She had no clue what she wanted, but knew it was something different than who she was right then. Laney shook her head.
“My hair is in your hands,” Laney said before she could chicken out.
Her mother raised her eyebrows at her.
“But don’t go too crazy,” her mom added to Casey. “I still want her to look like my 14-year-old daughter.”
Casey smiled sweetly and nodded as if she knew exactly what Mrs. Herman meant. “No problemo.”
Casey handed Laney a few teen magazines and then started snipping away. Laney kept glancing up to check out her hair, and finally Casey had to turn her chair away from the mirror. “Uh, uh, uh,” she said wagging her perfectly manicured finger. “It’s gonna be a surprise.”
Twenty minutes later, Casey put down her scissors and clapped her hands together happily.
“We’re done already?” Laney asked surprised at how quick it had been.
Casey laughed.
“No way, girlie,” she said, checking the length of her hair on both sides of her face. “This is just phase one.”
“Oh,” Laney said, allowing herself to be dragged off to another part of the salon.
She watched as Casey added together a bunch of powders and liquids in a plastic bowl. Suddenly, a horrible smell reached Laney’s nostrils and she plugged her nose to keep from gagging.
“Oh god,” Laney exclaimed. “What reeks?”
“It’s the bleach,” Casey explained as she stirred the purplish mixture. “I’ve been working here so long, I guess I don’t even notice the smell anymore.”
“It’s nie to doe somebody doesn’t,” Laney said, her fingers up her nose to mask the smell.
After a half-hour of Casey applying the stinky stuff to her hair and covering it with squares of tinfoil, Laney thought she’d have some time to sit around. But that’s when phase three started.
“Laney, this is Helga,” Casey said, standing next to an older blonde woman. “Helga is going to shape up those eyebrows of yours, while we’re waiting for the dye to take.”
Waving goodbye, Casey left Laney alone with the woman.
“Hi,” Laney said as Helga sat down in front of her and examined her face.
Helga didn’t answer, and instead pulled out her silver tweezers and started picking at Laney’s face. She had already pulled out more than a dozen hairs before the pain had begun to register.
“Ow,” Laney said, pulling her head out of Helga’s reach.
“Don’t move,” Helga said sternly and pulled Laney’s face back toward her.
I can’t believe people pay to have her use those silver pain dispensers on them, Laney thought wincing each time Helga caught a piece of her skin instead of hair.
And just like that, she was finished. Helga put her tweezers back in their case and stood up.
“Your eyebrows look good now,” she said, still not smiling, and then walked away.
“Thanks,” Laney said after her, rubbing her tender skin to make the throbbing stop.
Casey appeared again out of the back room and nodded at her as she walked up.
“Man, Helga always does such good work,” she said, admiring Laney’s brows. She shook her head. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.”
She sat Laney down at the sink and began to pull out the foil.
* * * * *
“It’s so…,” her mother started, trying to find the words to describe Laney’s new look.
She looked at her mom expectantly.
“Blonde,” her mom finished, and focused her attention back on the road.
Laney cocked her head to the side and looked out her window. “It’s still brown,” Laney said. “Well, at least parts of it anyway. It’s more like brown and blonde.”
When Casey had finally whipped her around in the chair and allowed her to see herself in the mirror, she had been amazed at the transformation. Casey had put chunky blonde streaks in her hair, the most severe of the blonde framing her face. At first she had been worried it might be a bit too drastic a change, but the more she looked at her new hairstyle, the more it grew on her.
Casey had also cut layers in Laney’s hair so it would have more body. Before she had left, she had warned Laney that if she didn’t have a curling iron before, she would need one now in order to re-create the hairstyle she had given her.
And the eyebrows. Laney had no idea how much a good plucking could completely change the look of a person’s face. Now, all she had to do was train herself to ignore the pain as she plucked the little hairs out of her face every week and she’d be one hot tamale.
All in all, the makeover was a success in her book. In fact, she not only looked good, but she felt good! And the fact that she was headed to her very own photo shoot was just icing on the cake.
Sunset Winters, eat your heart out.
“Well, I love it,” Laney said looking back over at her mom. A huge grin spread across her face. “Man, Kat is gonna freak!”
“I think it’s your dad who’s going to freak actually,” her mom said, turning into a parking lot.
“Dad thinks I’m beautiful no matter what I look like,” Laney said sweetly, although she knew she was in for a long lecture when she got home.
“Yeah, yeah,” her mom said smiling at her daughter and turning off the engine.
They looked around the lot until they found the photography studio a few doors down from where they had parked.
“Don’t forget your outfits,” her mom said, popping the trunk for her.
Laney put her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun as she stared at her mom.
“Do you really think we’re going to need them all?” she asked picking up the hangers. “I mean, don’t they usually have clothes at these things?”
“Lane, this isn’t a fashion shoot, they’re your headshots. Your headshots are supposed to be representative of you, not who dressed you,” her mom said hitching her purse higher up on her shoulder.
“If it’s supposed to be my style, then why did you pick out my clothes for me?” Laney asked. She knew she was being difficult, but she was sort of in the mood to have some fun with her mom.
“Because Mr. Hyperman said to bring solid dark and light colors since they photograph better,” Laney’s mom said, locking the car with her keychain. “Ready?”
“Ready for my close-up,” Laney said in her most sexy voice as she struck a pose for her mom. Except, her sexy voice came out sounding huskier than she intended and the pose sort of made her look like she had to pee.
“Promise me you won’t do that in there,” her mom said, holding back a giggle and pointing at the studio door.
“Oh, that was just phase one mom,” Laney said copying what Casey had said to her earlier. She raised an eyebrow at Mrs. Herman and started walking away.
“Oh yeah?” her mom asked and then swatted her on the butt as she ran the rest of the way to the studio door.