No Rain, No Flowers

Chapter 4 Three Years Later

Three Years Later

I stood in front of my mirror and fluffed my hair up spraying hairspray over it to keep it in place. It was my sixteenth birthday which meant it was an entire four days before Christmas as well. I was waiting for Cleo to come pick me up, so she could keep me away from the house for several hours while my parents set up my surprise birthday party. No one was admitting I had a surprise party, but I knew. Both my parents took the entire day off work yet all we were doing was going to get dinner? No. I knew. I heard my parents talking animatedly outside my window. I was shocked that no one had busted in my room to wish me a Happy 16th Birthday yet. I paired faded blue jeans with a loose cropped cream-colored sweater and brown high heeled boots that hit just below the knee. I took one last look at my makeup and short red spiky hair. My dark smokey eye was blended to perfection and my winged liner was as sharp as my tongue. I was in my first year of Cosmetology school and it was amazing how my looks had come together just since the beginning of the year. All the cosmetology students looked like models. Perfect hair, perfect makeup all the time. I was far from perfect, but I was happy with how I looked. I was tall and curvy. I was 5'10 barefoot and happy as could be. I was dating a guy named John who I met at school. He was in auto body and once a week he would come and get my teacher's car to detail it.

The day I met him was the first day he came in to pick up my teacher's car to detail it. It was an open salon day, so we had customers coming in and out and I was by the register checking in the guests. John came sauntering slowly in. We said hello and he sat down in the chairs across from us. I went in to let my teacher know he was there, and she had me let him know to stay there for a few minutes while she showed us a demonstration. We were all gathered around the teacher while she taught us what we were supposed to practice on our mannequins and suddenly, she yelled for John to come on back. As he walked in, every girl in the room stopped to stare at him. He WAS very handsome. Tall, caramel colored skin, brown eyes and black hair. Some of my friends started making cat calls to him. I rolled my eyes and shook my head embarrassed for them. He looked at me as I did this. I diverted my eyes quickly and looked back at my teacher. He left with her keys and we went back to working. At the end of the day, he walked back in and past my friend Ashley and I at the front. When he came back out, he got to the door and looked back. "Can I call you sometime?" he asked. I looked at Ashley and she looked back at me.

"Who?" she asked him. There was no way in the world that he was talking about me. Of all the girls in that room, I could not be the one he wanted to call. "What's your name?" he asked. "I am Ashley, and this is Michelle." Ashley told him. "Michelle." He said walking over. I was shocked. I wrote my pager number down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. "Thank you..." he said smiling. He walked out the door and paged me just two hours later.

I was so excited to spend my birthday with him and Cleo. She was picking me up first and then we were going to get him on our way to the mall. I ran downstairs, grabbed my coat, and headed out the front door to wait for my ride. As I walked down the steps to the street, I saw my parents talking with Hank. I stopped short at the site of a fourth person standing there. Tall, muscular, and freshly buzzed head and neatly trimmed goatee. Jeans, chucks, and a long sleeve shirt covered by a hoodie. I don't know how he managed to do it, but every single time I saw him, he looked amazing. It had been so long since I'd seen him. Almost three years. Christian was put into a part of my heart that I was unwilling to open. I wasn't mad at him for kissing me and leaving without a goodbye. I wasn't mad at him for never speaking to me and ignoring the letters and phone calls. But there was one thing I was going to try like hell to avoid, that ever happening again. I pushed out some air and joined the group. "Hey! Happy birthday! Birthday Girl!!" The group said in a scattered unison. I smiled sarcastically. "Thanks!" I said dryly. "Cleo is going to be here any minute." I said.