Disguised In Lavender

Part 18

Umbrella forgotten at the lost and found in the cafe, Ann huffed the curled locks of hair out of her face, cursing the humidity under her breath. "Perks of having short hair." Lauren smirked, flashing her dorm pass to the secretary who didn't even look up from her novel before waving them inside. Ann wasn't technically supposed to be allowed into the dorms since the pass expired and it showed in her tense fists hanging by her side. "The thing is though, dying it myself is the hassle of a lifetime." Lauren tried to break the awkward silence as she dug through her pocket to find the dorm keys, shaking her head at the thought. "I have an idea." Zack wasn't home, Lauren registered that fact even before she heard Ann's chirping reply.

The trainer stepped closer to her, lifting a hand to wrap a strand of thick, whitish hair around her index finger. Her starry eyes bounced from the curled lock to Lauren's eyes, a mischievous smile playing at the edges of her lips. "Dyes in the bathroom." Catching on quickly, Lauren pointed to the cabinet below the sink and tried to hide her enthrallment. It wasn't every day that she got to dye her hair, let alone do it the way she'd read about in books all her life. Ann didn't say a word as she dashed for the cabinet and gestured for a drink, Lauren obliging instantly. The only thing in the mini bar under her bed though was hard lemon seltzer but when she flashed it at Ann, the trainer simply nodded excitedly.

A plain white tee and black sweatpants that curled at the top of her ankles replaced Lauren's past jeans and jacket. Even though a black covering that felt more like a trash bag protected her clothes, Ann thought it was best not to risk it. Both faced each other and locked their arms in a curled motion, taking the first chug of alcohol. "Oh hell yeah!" Lauren coughed at the strength, raising the can slightly over her head and squeezing her eyes shut. "Zack can't ever be sober." Ann agreed, drawing her tongue along her teeth with her nose scrunched before setting the drink on the side of the shower. She set the three bottles of dye she'd chosen beside her and stood in the shower with the curtain pulled aside.

"I've got some sort of cyan, a metallic magenta, and some red." Reading the labels carefully, Ann showed each one to Lauren and then held them against the back of her head for reference. "If we're going for it we may as well pull some bright ass metallic." The rider grinned, tilting her head slightly to see Ann bounce with excitement through the mirror. Without a second of calculation, she squirted a blob of shimmering purple into her gloved palm and ran her fingers through Lauren's hair. "Oh we're doing the whole thing." Her eyes widened but she couldn't fully assess the damage as Ann giggled and handed her her drink for consolation. She tipped her head back slightly to let the stinging liquid splash against the back of her throat, already seeing blurry.

Feeling Ann's carefully fingers massage along her scalp and then pull gently at the ends of her platinum hair almost put Lauren to sleep. A pile of half crushed cans had begun to stack up in the trash can but both decided to blame Zack the next morning. Fair enough, they were both at least slightly too intoxicated to have passed a sobriety test. Ann finished with a final flick of her hands and took a step back to admire her work, stepping around Lauren to see the front. They'd put vaseline along the rider's forehead to keep it from being dyed but that wasn't where Ann's eyes fluttered. Lauren glanced up, suddenly unable to breath due to how close the younger leaned to sweep a lock of newly purple hair from her face.

Yet when Ann had tucked it behind Lauren's ears she didn't move, her hand slowly falling to behind her ear. Hands stained in a patchy purple, the trainer peeled off her gloves and let her eyes flutter shut. Lauren felt her lips move onto Ann's before Ann made the first move, her heart hammering as she felt the hand on her head stiffen. Neither moved away, both responding to the kiss with Ann's head slightly tilted to get as close as she could to Lauren.

Slowly, as if by magnetic force, both pulled away and let their eyes blink open again with shaking pupils. "I don't want to just be your friend, Lauren, I'm sorry. I don't," tears showed in Ann's eyes at her confession and she took a steadying breath. "I'm so stupidly in love with you and I don't know how to make it stop." Lauren gazed through her without saying a word, the feeling of the lavender garden floating over her again. It was fear, striking fear that made her throat tighten as she stared at the girl she realized was more than her best friend. She couldn't, a man's strong brown eyes and tanned hand rose in her mind's eye and fear overtook her.

"I-I'm not crazy." Ann muttered in a low voice as she took a step back and stared down at her dyed hands, swallowing the lump in her throat. Lauren was still staring at her with a deadpan expression, trying to tangle her thoughts back under control. "Rinse the dye out, I'll go back to my dorm. I can be the one to quit to Mr. Terence in the morning." She didn't even say goodnight before hurrying out the door and closing it with a creaking slam. Lauren didn't move, the man in her memories forcing her to the cold tile floor until she glanced back into the mirror.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she hastily whipped them away, blowing out a breath. Warm water poured around her as she carefully washed the excess dye out of her no longer platinum hair. Drying it with the tan towel hanging from the door she examined her hair closely in the mirror, it was perfect. Not a single strand wasn't stained with the sparkling magenta and to be honest, it suited her gorgeously. "Ann." She whispered to herself, letting the towel drop from her hand as she glanced through the cracked door at the dorm entrance.

As intoxicated as she may have been, the hot shower had cleared her thinking slightly. The big man was no longer in her mind's eye and now all she felt was an ache in her stomach and pang in her soul. The night in the lavender and the feeling at the library even that day hadn't been a hallucination, she felt so much for the young freshman that it nearly killed her. But she couldn't bring herself to chase after Ann, she was too afraid of being rejected when she'd just figured everything out. Lauren's legs wobbled as she flung herself into her bed with her hair still slightly damp, face against the pillow in frustration. The idea of losing Ann hadn't come out to be because of Zack or Dalla, it was because of her, all her fault.