13. Nova
13
nova
My lips still tingled from Theodore’s kiss a week later. It was life-altering. I didn't know kissing was supposed to feel like that. He kissed me like I was his. The possessiveness was intoxicating, mesmerizing and I loved it. Never in a million years did I imagine he would kiss like that, and jealousy burned in me that we would never kiss again.
I had avoided them at all costs, even when Theodore came to the house the day after we had kissed. We couldn’t be alone together, it couldn’t happen again and the guilt I felt was eating me alive. This was no way to say thank you to Atlas and Colt. I had no idea what Theo had told them, or if he was going to tell them at all.
Sol asked to go over, and more guilt hit me when I had to make up an excuse. I could only hold her off for so long, since she would want to go see her pig, and now I regretted letting them give her one. It was only a matter of time before I would have to go over, it made me wonder if this was their plan all along with the pig.
In an effort to forget the kiss, I finally messaged back the guys I matched with on a dating app. The guy was kind of new to the area, moving to Monroe last year. He worked in tech and worked from home, but he hadn't had a chance to explore the area. He was an extremely attractive man, younger than me, but it seemed that didn’t matter to him, and he seemed like he had his life together. We matched before my fall, and I finally got back to him explaining what had happened. He was more than happy to go on a date tomorrow in town. I needed this. I need to forget that Theodore was off limits and needed to focus on single men.
Thankfully, my physical therapist let me come back to work at the salon half a day with breaks between clients. This was a test to see how my arm was doing and so far, I felt great. Clients with long hair were the toughest to get through with all the blow drying, but I felt stronger every day. Today I had one client with the possibility of two more who had yet to confirm.
I was finishing Betty’s roller set hearing her gossiping with Gladis about her grandson’s promiscuousness and how he needed to finally settle down because he was in his thirties and he wasn’t getting any younger.
“Oh, Nova, you are single, right?” Gladis asked me.
“Nope, I’m not going to date anyone’s grandson,” I said immediately.
There was nothing worse than trying to be set up by these women. I made that mistake once and I wouldn’t do it again.
“Oh, come on, he has a job—” Betty said, but stopped talking mid-sentence.
“If that is all he’s got going for him then, no thanks.” I shook my head. “Plus, he has to be ok with kids, and I highly doubt he would be.”
“Well, maybe he meets you and you change him,” Gladis added.
“Nope, I have no time to change men. I need them potty trained already.” I teased my last section before combining everything into a bowl just how she liked it.
“Girl, you are too picky. Next thing you know, you will be a single mom forever,” Betty said, shaking her head.
“I would rather be single forever than have to deal with men who don’t add anything to my life. Why waste my time with someone for companionship just because I don’t want to be alone?” I shrugged my shoulders. “That sounds like it would be awful and I’d rather it just be me and Sol. Plus, I have a date tonight so, who knows.”
“Oh, do we know him?” Betty’s eyes grew wide like she just got a hit from her favorite drug.
“Nope,” I said, grateful he did not live here.
“When is it, this date?” Gladis looked excited.
“Tomorrow,” I said, regretting saying it immediately.
I didn’t trust them not to go to the place we were going, with popcorn ready, to comment on the entire date.
“Where at?” Betty asked sweetly.
“Oh no, we are not discussing that.” I shook my head at her.
“Oh, come on, give these old ladies a little excitement,” Betty pleaded.
“Nope, you can hear about it next time,” I said, grabbing the hairspray. “Alright, cover your eyes and mouth.”
I sprayed Betty’s hair ensuring it lasted till next week. That shit wasn’t moving an inch. After the cloud of spray dissipated. Betty checked herself in the mirror and gave me her nod of approval.
“Nova, you have a men's haircut next,” Michelle, our front desk girl, said.
My heart stopped when the possibility of seeing Theodore hit me. I wasn’t ready to see him, it was too soon.
“Alright, darling, thank you so much for squeezing me in.” Betty air kissed me.
“Need me to go up with you?” I asked, praying she said no.
“Oh, no honey, go ahead and get ready for your next client,” she said, and then said goodbye to Gladis.
“Bye!” I yelled way too loudly.
I took my time cleaning my station, giving me time to come up with an excuse. I wanted to use my shoulder as an excuse, but I didn’t need people hovering over me or telling me to take an extra week off. When I had nothing else to clean, I sucked it up and walked out the front.
It wasn’t Theodore, it was worse. Colt was sitting on the sofa looking around. My heart hammered in my chest so hard I thought I might pass out. Did he know? He wouldn’t say anything here, right?
Colt looked at me before I could call his name. We stared at each other until I finally found my voice.
“Ready?” I asked, waving him over.
He nodded, getting up and following me to my chair, sat down, and looked at me expectantly.
“What would you like?” I tried to keep my voice even and act as normal as possible.
What if Theodore hadn’t told them? Oh god, what if I blurted it out? I was going to be sick.
“I like this,” he said, holding out his phone with a picture of some famous actor.
“Ok.” I took the phone from him, zoomed in and easing into my stylist role.
I asked him a few questions, until I knew what he wanted. If I kept my professionalism, then I could get through this haircut, no problem. The entire time I felt his eyes on me, his gaze never faltering and a few times it looked like he wanted to say something,
By the end of the haircut, I was ready to deny anything and everything he accused me of. I took Colt to get his hair shampooed and the moment I started washing his hair he struck.
“Nova.” His timber aroused goosebumps along my arms.
I hummed, not knowing what to say, and too afraid to say anything for fear I might just blurt out everything that had happened.
“I just want to say sorry,” he said softly. “I had no right to treat you like I did.”
“Ok…” I didn’t know what to say since I was not expecting this.
If I was being honest, I forgot I was mad at him, it was trivial compared to the fact that I had kissed his boyfriend and once he found out, there would be no nice Colt.
“My mom was a single mom, and I wished she had been half the mother you are to Sol,” he said as he looked up at me. “I was upset for the wrong things. I took it out on you. You do what you can, and I have no right to judge anything you do. I’m sorry.”
His words were sincere, he looked remorseful, and I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear him say this.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “Why does it feel like you hate me?”
Colt shook his head. “I don’t hate you, this is a me problem not you, even though it doesn’t help that you antagonize me.”
‘Well, it doesn’t help that you are an ass,” I quipped back,
“Ok, I’ll own up to being an ass,” he chuckled.
I immediately liked this side of Colt, but guilt had me feeling even more awful.
“Ok, sounds good,” I said, continuing to wash his hair.
He studied me as I tried not to look at him too often because I swear he would be able to see the guilt on my face. I towel-dried his hair, cleaning up quickly, then headed back to my station. I styled his hair, feeling his gaze boring into me.
“Have a great date tomorrow, Nova!” Gladis yelled from across the salon.
My cheeks grew red as I waved at her, feeling not just Colt’s eyes on me, but most of the people in the salon.
Fucking Gladis.
I willed my cheeks to lose their color before I looked at Colt who had no emotion on his face.
“A date with who?” he asked.
“Some guy from a town over.” I looked away.
“First date?” he clipped.
I nodded, taken aback by the hostility in his voice. What was going on?
“Do you like your hair?” I asked, ready for him to leave.
“Looks great,” he said getting up, not even looking at the haircut. “Thank you.”
He pulled out his wallet, handing me a fifty.
“Colt, I can’t take this,” I said, as my guilt hit me like a tsunami.
“Have a good day, Nova,” he mumbled as he left.
I didn’t know what to say or what to do. Kissing Theo was a mistake, but it didn’t feel like one.