Her Escape

Chapter 16

The World Isn't Fair

"I know this transformation is painful, but you're not falling apart, you're just falling into something different, with a new capacity to be beautiful." – William C. Hannan

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"Are you almost done?" I asked as I attempted to twist around, only to have Scarlett pinch my arm.

"Sit still!" She scolded, shooting me a sharp glare through the bathroom mirror.

"It doesn't have to be perfect." I rolled my eyes. "Just touch up the roots."

"It may not have to be perfect," It was Scarlett's turn to roll her eyes. "But we also can't have you looking like a clown."

"You're so dramatic." I laughed just as she finished and stepped back to admire her handywork.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I set the timer for twenty minutes and stood up to help clean up. After my last disastrous attempt at touching up my own roots, I swallowed my pride and asked Scarlett to help me.

"You know," She said, hands on her hips. "I've known Chase for years now, and I've never been up here."

I shrugged, wiping down the sink with a wet wipe. While Scarlett may be a perfectionist, she was a messy perfectionist. There was red dye all over the sink, and I'm pretty sure if Mr. Control Freak came home right now he'd have a heart attack and Scarlett and I would both be banned from up here.  "I don't know, he's weird."

"That's one way of putting it." She flashed me a knowing smirk.

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes again as I pushed her in the direction of the front door. Scarlett was convinced I could do no wrong in Chase's eyes. "You have a class starting in like 10 minutes."

"Are you sure you don't want to try out your luck with being a yoga instructor?" Scarlett flashed me a hopeful glance as she skipped down the stairs. "It's good money."

"And let you miss out on all the snarky housewives who have nothing better to do on a Wednesday afternoon?" I playfully mocked. "Never!"

"Ha-ha." She pinned me with a glare, reaching for a water bottle from the mini-fridge. "Very funny."

Shortly after, Scarlett went to teach her afternoon class and I lazily sat behind the reception desk waiting for the time to pass. With the holidays quickly approaching, traffic had died down and only the regulars still came in. While it was a nice change of pace, time seemed to pass by painfully slow.

When the front door chimed, my head snapped up but my excitement quickly faltered when I saw it was just Chase.

"Why not?" Olivia trailed behind him, practically stomping her foot. Her face was scrunched up in annoyance as she glared daggers at Chase's back.

"I don't need to give you an explanation." His eyes found their way to mine and he was doing that thing again where he would just stare at me strangely – not saying anything before just storming off.

"You never let me do anything fun!" Olivia's voice went up an octave as she narrowed her eyes in slits.

"Give me a break, Olivia." Chase slipped behind me and began rummaging through one of the drawers. "You're six – your life revolves around watching TV and what outfit you're going to dress your favorite doll in next."

"As fun as it is to watch you argue with a six year old, you're causing a scene." I quickly interrupted, twisting in my chair to face him. "What are you looking for anyway?"