Just a Hair Stylist - Chris Evans story \\✔️

Chapter five

Home is where all your shit is. And it was good to be home. Gone almost three months, there was

a thin layer of dust begging for your attention, an empty fridge, and a list of other chores and

necessities waiting for you to address. The first night home, the only business you needed to attend

to was picking up your soulmate and absolute BFF, Archie, from the dog sitter. The 3 year old

black lab was thrilled to have you in his sights again, twisting and jumping in excited circles and

his tail threatening to come unhinged. After you and Archie were back in your apartment, all was

right in the world again. You ordered pizza to live on for a day until you could muster the will to

go to the grocery and curled up on the couch with your loyal companion stretched along the couch

on the floor beside you. It was good to be home, but tomorrow it was back to finding another job.

You made do with some odd jobs for a couple weeks. Styling models for a weekend at a fashion

school design show here and a couple wedding bookings there, before a part time chair opened up

at the salon that gave you your first break in LA helped pay rent. You weren't hurting. You've

always been smart with your money and your gig for Marvel had paid well. If worse ever got to

worst, you had family who had always offered you a hand that you never took. Back into a routine

for work, you dropped résumés for more studio productions and even some theater jobs. The rest of

the time you spent getting back into the swing of LA life with your friends, taking Archie for jogs,

and spending a few afternoons in the surf. You literally had nothing to complain about. Everything

was back on track and you were ready to move on from that embarrassing display of schoolgirl

weakness in Atlanta last month.

That is, until you blindly answered your phone on your way through your apartment door from a

long day at the salon. Pushing the door closed behind you and reaching down to rustle Archie's

ears, you hadn't quite made out the owner of the "hi" that answered your "hello". You dropped your

keys on the small table by the door and begged their pardon.

"I'm sorry," you said, stepping around Archie and sorting the mail. "Who's this?"

"It's Chris...You forget me already?"

The name and the chuckle that followed made you stop in your tracks. Suddenly, you were

speechless and Archie looked up at you like he recognized the stupid in you. You took a fast look

at your phone and saw the caller ID- Flip Cup Hero. Holy shit. It was him. You weren't sure how

long time had stopped, but it was long enough for him to ask if you were still there.

"Yeah," you answered quickly. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Thought maybe we had a bad connection," he suggested.

No. Actually, for a moment back in Atlanta you thought you actually had a good connection. Now,

you were reduced to awkward concerns over cellular signal strength instead of moments in parking

lots. Where had everything gone wrong?