Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Sam
As I exit the doors of the cosmetology school building for the last time, I take an enormous breath, pulling oxygen into the deepest corners of my lungs.
I did it. I really did it.
My giant duffel bag filled with the mannequin head, instructional books, and random hair products weighs down my shoulder as I press against the door. When I step onto the sidewalk, I’m hit with a handful of confetti.
“What the . . . ?” I exclaim as I register Jason, Danae, Griffin, and Alice all standing there smiling at me. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Happy graduation!” Jason yells as he bounds over to hug me.
The duffel slips from my shoulder to my elbow with the impact of his embrace, and Griffin strides forward to take the bag off my arm. He wraps his other arm around my shoulders in a side hug and says, “Congrats, sis! You’re a real hair person now!”
“Stylist,” Danae corrects him. “Hair stylist. And Samantha is going to be the best one ever.” She hugs me next as soon as Jason lets go, followed by Alice.
“You guys are the sweetest! I wasn’t expecting such a grand exit!” I say.
“This is just the beginning! At Griffin’s house we have more—” Jason is cut off with a hard glare, and he changes course. “I mean, at Griffin’s house we, uh, we have food.”
“Well, good thing I like food,” I tell Jason, my heart dancing. “We’d better get over there.”
Danae bends to the ground scooping up shreds of confetti. “Let’s clean this up real quick, Jason. We don’t want to leave the mess and get Sammi in trouble.”
I laugh as I crouch down to help. “I don’t think I’ll get in trouble, but we can clean it up anyway.
” After throwing away the bits of paper, we make a plan to get to Griffin’s house.
Danae offers to give me a ride back here to get my car when she and Jason go home, so I ride with Alice to show her the way.
“How does it feel?” she asks. “First, you start dating the man of every woman’s dreams. Then, you graduate top of the class from cosmetology school. You’re riding high.”
Scoffing, I tell her there’s no such thing as top of the class at cosmetology school. "It’s not even really a ‘class’ since everyone gets the hours done at different paces. But yes, my extremely thoughtful boyfriend is the man of every woman’s dreams, so I’m definitely living my best life.”
“First of all, you were clearly the best stylist in there. Every time I came in to have you color my hair, all the other students were either sneaking glances or staring at your every move,” Alice says.
“Secondly, when will Adrian be back in town? It’s kinda terrible that you declare feelings for each other only to have him leave. ”
“He gets back late Sunday night. We’re spending Monday together because they have a rare day off,” I say.
“But we texted every day this week while he’s gone.
And we were able to video call twice. So it’s not like we haven’t talked.
” Alice glances over with a look. I admit, “Okay, yeah, it’s been torture not seeing him in person since that first night.
I wake up every morning panicked that I made it all up and have to read back through our message history to remind myself that he really likes me. ”
“There’s also the infamous photo you told me about. I’m sure you could look at that any time you’re tempted to doubt reality,” Alice says.
I bite back a grin as I say, “Yeaaah, I might have set that as my home screen image.”
“Let me see it!” Alice exclaims. “Right now!”
Laughing, I say, “Not while you’re driving! Pay attention to the road.”
I fend off Alice’s grabby hands at every red light as she tries to steal my phone from me. When we pull into Griffin’s driveway, I finally surrender and allow her to view the now-infamous photo.
“Okaaay, Sam!” she drawls out. “I mean, you described dancing with him the night you were unloading your feelings, but seeing it is a different thing entirely. That man is head over heels in love with you already.”
“Alice. Quit. You can’t say things like that—we talked about this,” I chide.
She grimaces. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t. To make up for that, I will now ask you three intrusive questions. One: are you maintaining your own responsibilities?”
Snorting a laugh, I say, “Well, he’s been physically out of town all week, but, yes, I did continue attending my clinical hours and successfully completed cosmetology school.”
“Two: have you made meaningful effort to maintain relationships outside of you and Adrian?” Alice asks sincerely.
Although I roll my eyes, I’m deeply grateful for her taking her charge seriously, even in the first week of my relationship. “In addition to tonight’s festivities, I went out to dinner with Lynsey from school earlier this week, and I called my parents and Ian on separate occasions.”
Alice’s eyes bore into mine as she asks, “Have you tried your hardest not to mentally jump ahead in your relationship with Adrian?”
Sputtering a breath, I confess, “That one’s been harder.
I think that’s going to be the hard one.
Because I really like him. I don’t just like being in a relationship or the feeling of being wanted.
I like him. So it’s very difficult to not jump ahead to the future.
” Alice looks at me with empathy, and I add, “But I am trying to distract my thoughts when I start thinking about our future too much. I’m trying. ”
Alice leans across the console to hug me. “Well, you made my job easy. I was supposed to delay you for approximately five minutes before we go inside, and I think we’ve about hit the five-minute mark.”
With a laugh, I open the door and step out of the car.
When we walk through the front door and into the living room that’s covered with balloons and streamers, there’s another loud chorus of “Congratulations!” screams. Not only are Griffin, Danae, and Jason standing there clapping, there’s a group video call on the giant TV featuring all of my family’s smiling faces.
“Oh my gosh!” I exclaim, my eyes filling with tears. “This is too much! You didn’t have to do all of this. Today is not that big of a deal!”
“It’s a huge deal,” my mom’s voice yells from the screen.
Everyone else on video cringes at her volume.
I hear my dad quietly tell her she doesn’t have to talk so loudly, and she smacks him on the arm.
“Y’all can cover your ears because I’m gonna yell as loud as I want.
My baby girl finished cosmetology school, and I’m gonna shout about it! ”
I walk closer to the TV screen but realize that Danae is holding the phone that’s projecting my face to everyone on the call. I take it from her and blow a kiss to the camera. “Thank you for coordinating the group call! I feel so loved.”
“You are so loved,” my older sister, Miranda, says. “We love you to pieces. And we fully expect special hair treatments next time you come home to Tulsa.”
“I promise,” I say. “Free hair treatments for everyone.”
“I didn’t say anything about free!” Miranda says. “I’ll be a happily paying customer. When are you going to open up your own salon?”
“That’s not exactly how that works,” I reply.
“I’ll be renting a chair in an existing salon for the foreseeable future while I build up a loyal client base.
One of my friends from school, Lynsey, and I are going to split the cost of a rental and build our hours around each other while we’re both getting started.
That will give me plenty of time to focus on Griff and Danae’s wedding too. ”
“I knew I shouldn’t have asked you to help plan it!” Danae groans. “You’re not allowed to put off your own dreams to help with the wedding!”
I give her a sweet smile. “I’m not putting anything off. It will take some time to work my way up to a full-time load of clients. Having the next month to split time on wedding planning is perfect.”
After a few more minutes of conversation, we hang up the video call and head to the covered back deck.
Griffin grills steaks while Jason tosses a baseball at the rebounder net.
Danae, Alice, and I sit and discuss the end of my clinical hours, the beginning of my professional career, and updates on wedding plans.
“How are things with Adrian?” Danae asks when there’s a lull in conversation.
Griffin groans. “Do I want to be here for this conversation?”
“Better get used to it, big bro!” I tease. “You’re going to be hearing a lot more about him.”
He glares at me over his shoulder, but it’s too dramatic to be genuine. Still, there’s an edge of concern in his eyes, which I do my best to lay to rest.
“We’ve talked on and off while he’s been out of town this week.
I’ll get to see him on Monday. But I’m trying not to spend every available minute in our schedules talking to each other,” I tell Danae, watching Griffin absorb the information out of the corner of my eye. His tensed shoulders relax a little.
“Steaks are done,” he announces as he turns off the grill. “Hey, Fireball! Come up and wash your hands so we can eat!”
Jason scampers up the stairs to the deck where we’re seated. Danae follows him inside to bring out the pasta salad and fruit platter she was keeping cold in the fridge. Alice and I move to the patio table and set plates around five seats.
There’s one empty chair at the table that I sorely wish was filled by a certain man. I start to feel my heart dipping beneath the sadness, but I shake myself out of it.
It’s okay. It’s good that he’s not here. It’s good to have special times with other people. We’ll have time together on Monday.
We’re wading, not diving. And that’s good.
I take a seat and enjoy the evening being celebrated by people who love me.
Although I’m spending far less time on my hair and makeup than the night of the gala, I’m feeling far more nervous getting ready for my date with Adrian today.
Because it’s a date. Our first real date. My first date in a long while. I’m desperate to not screw things up.