That Time I Dated a Thief

CHAPTER 4: NOPE, BETTER THAN NORMAL

LUKE O'REILLY

I notice her as soon as I walk into the hair salon, but she's just another cute girl and this city is overflowing with them so I turn my attention to Ashley, the hairdresser and 'business associate' I've come here to see.

My plan is to only be here for ten minutes (if it was up to me I'd have stayed at the shop to see this Ava Burns turn up, but Sean has insisted he'll do that), but Ashley makes me wait in the little TV/loungeroom off the hair salon. She's one of these people who loves the limelight and I'm sure she insists I stay partly so she'll have a bigger audience for this funny story she's in the middle of telling.

I'm not sure why exactly I like Ashley. She's absolutely full of shit and this drivel about her dad being unkillable even though he's got cirrhosis of the liver is hard to listen to.

I find myself focusing on the cute girl who's having her hair done instead. She's asking loads about Ashley's dad. I can tell she thinks she's smarter than Ash and is asking partly to amuse herself, which is kind of evil. But she doesn't look the evil type.

Over the beer Ash's given me, I take sneaky looks at her. She looks young, maybe eighteen, and preppy and put together, the type who irons all her clothes and lays them out on the bed before she puts them on, making sure everything matches.

Considering it's summer, you'd expect her to be in a skirt or something, but she's showing no bare skin other than the skin on her feet. I look at them for a bit, thinking that they look cute in the sandals she's wearing, and then feel like a weirdo with a foot fetish so check out her face instead.

She's not wearing any make up, her skin is a bit tanned like someone who gets out in the sun, although you'd never guess it by her clothes. Her eyes are big and hazelly coloured, and she's got a nice shaped mouth and nose. But she looks prim and sounds even primmer. Probably plays netball and hates guys and spends her time having coffees and bitching about them. And she hasn't smiled once.

"Luke?" Ashley's at the door. "We're having a whiskey and you're gonna join us."

I realise I've been tunnel-vision staring at this girl like a creep, and seeing her suddenly come through the door temporarily throws me. I nod yes to the whiskey and Ashley fills the silence by introducing me as her mate Luke. Only Ashley would suggest Jack Daniels at 4pm but maybe that's part of her appeal. She's like a cowboy from a Western movie only in a female Canadian body. She's even got this swaggering walk, and you feel like any minute she'll holler 'let's have us a hog-killin time!' Problems like giant corporations taking over the globe never even enter her stratosphere.

I stay on the couch while she pours neat whiskey into glasses and uses tongs to add ice. I try not to look at Sandal Girl, who I now know is called Kate. She's perched on the couch next to me, legs crossed.

"Nice haircut," I say.

"I didn't have a cut," she says, then turns her face towards Ashley.

Jesus. Now I'm wishing I hadn't said yes to the drink.

Lucky we're here with Ash. Ash is an expert at getting everyone pissed.

An hour later I'm steaming, and so is Sandal Girl, I mean Kate, and wow has she transformed in an hour. She's gone from someone who looked like she'd tell you off in the street for littering, to laughing at everything I say and talking almost more than Ashley. I hadn't seen her smile before and now I'm pulling out all stops to make her laugh again. As cheesy as it sounds, she's got one of those smiles that light up her whole face.

I've completely forgotten about the fact that I came here to pick up my money. I've completely forgotten about the prototype. I'm completely into this girl and even Ashley is starting to cotton on and gets on her phone to invite other people over.

With Ashley across the room and occupied, I suddenly feel awkward. I've no idea what we've been talking about, only that I've been being a smart arse and she's been laughing. But we haven't actually shared much else.

"So you live around here?" I say.

She shakes her head. "The Hague."

I nod and pick up my vape just for something to do.

"I know," she says. "How about we just talk shit and not ask a single ''getting to know you" type question."

"Okay," I say. I feel like I've just gone from readying myself for the end of the ride to realising that there's another loop to go on the rollercoaster.

I decide to one-up her. "You're very cute. How's that."

The look on her face is amazing. A mix of shocked, thrilled, and mortified.

"No not like that," she says, as though there are rules to this game she just made up.

"You said to talk to shit. So you do think you're cute."

She turns and looks at me and she looks appalled and delighted. She wants this conversation to be one big game. And I'm liking this girl so much at this particular moment that I'm losing track of my thoughts.

"I thought," she says, pausing to pick at the vinyl on Ashley's uncle's couch. "That you were pulling out a classic chat up line. And I think that you think you're cute."

"Bollocks," I say.

"I bet you spend your life pulling girls."

"I do alright."

"How many girls have you slept with?"

Now I'm shocked. What a question! "Loads," I say, just to wind her up.

"Uggh." She wrinkles her nose. "And I bet you take them home and boot them out the next day and never see them again."

"The next day?" I make a snort of laughter. "They're booted out the door straight after."

Her mouth falls open and I'm glued to her face, amazed by how alive it is. I've just never seen such an expressive face. I feel like I can see every emotion passing through it.

She still hasn't said anything so I laugh and add, "Why would you want them hangin' around wanting cuddles or wanting to talk?"

Ashley's still on the phone and if it were possible my own mouth would fall open at what happens next, because this incredible girl who's just come out of nowhere leans over and kisses me full on the mouth.