No Rain, No Flowers

Chapter 9 Euphoria

Euphoria

About a year and a half back, I had started working at a salon called Euphoria. The way the stations were set up was cool. They were "pods" or rooms that held up to three stations. When I was hired on, I was put in a room with another stylist named Amber. She was my first real friend in Las Vegas, as sad as that sounds. I had been putting every moment of myself and my time into Lizzy and Christian that I never even noticed that I had no friends. She and I had a little bit of a rough patch in the beginning. Nothing crazy, no fights or anything like that. We just had no idea how much we had in common nor how much we enjoyed each other's company. After a month or so of friendly small talk that led nowhere, she started talking about how she liked the married men because there was no attachment. My eyes got wide and I started blushing. "I know, I am a terrible person, aren't I?" she said. I couldn't bring myself to say anything about my situation until she said her next statement. "It's not that I purposely go for married guys... I just have a fear of commitment and for some reason, that's what I always attract. They hide the fact that they're married just long enough to hook me and then I am left with a broken heart because I have fallen for someone, I can't have..." I nodded. "I know exactly what you mean..." I told her a little bit about Christian and our daughter... She sat there with her mouth open in shock. "Ok, first of all... He is yours. That bitch Kelly needs to kick rocks..." I laughed. "Do you believe 'Once a cheater, always a cheater?'" she asked me.

"I guess.... Kinda. I don't really know." I told her honestly. "My ex, Jack, he was a cheater. He cheated on every one of his girlfriends, including me... Then he meets the girl he is with now, and I don't know, he's grown up and is completely faithful to her. It's crazy. I never thought someone could grow out of cheating until I saw him with his new girlfriend. He is my best friend now, well, the three of us are. We do everything together." I thought about what she was saying and tried applying it to Christian, Kelly, and I.

We'd both been in his life forever. So, who did he owe his loyalty to? I was guessing he thought neither of us since he'd been cheating on the both of us for years with each other. Over the years, Amber talked about Jack a lot. They were best friends, after all, but Amber and I grew very close as well. I never did get to meet Jack, but one day all of that changed. I was dying to meet him. I had seen pictures of him and his girlfriend, Candie, on Amber's social media. I really wanted to become a part of their little group. Based on everything Amber had told me about them, they both seemed like amazing people.

It was October and I was sitting in my chair doing some math with my numbers for the week. I was way ahead of budget so the fact that my client before lunch rescheduled didn't bother me at all. Amber got up and walked out after setting up her station for a client like she always did and when she came back in, she was laughing.

I was overwhelmed with the amount of beauty that entered the room when she came back. Amber was the "steal the show" kind of person as it was. She had long blonde hair that was perfectly styled no matter what she did with it. She had gorgeous brown eyes, her makeup was always flawless, and she had the body every girl wanted despite the fact that she was always complaining about being fat. Every time she said that I looked down at myself and thought if she thinks she's fat, she must think I'm huge. I wasn't big by any means, but I was still holding on to some of the baby weight even though Lizzy was almost 3. Behind Amber's perfection, walked in a man that looked oddly familiar to me but that I had never seen. He was tall, about 6'0, and very stocky and muscular. Even with my elevated baby weight, he made me feel tiny and petite. He had very short hair and a neatly trimmed goatee that framed his mouth. His skin was a perfectly toned mocha color and he had the kindest brown eyes I had ever seen. He was smiling and laughing and almost sounded a little bit like Eddie Murphy but with a deeper voice. All of a sudden, my recollection hit me. "Serm, this is Jack..." she said. Serm was a nickname we had for each other. Jack reached out and shook my hand firmly. "It's about time I met you..." he said looking into my eyes. I was starstruck. I don't know why but something had me in a trance. "Hi... Nice to meet you..." I managed to get out. Jack sat down in Amber's chair and they started talking away. They weren't talking directly to me, but I knew I was included in the conversation.