Tough Girl // Theo James

Chapter 42

Violet's POV -

I look down the dark alley, and notice that at the very end, a faint light glows. Sophie steps in front of me and begins to walk into the darkness, focusing on the light ahead. "You sure this is safe?" I ask uncertainly. "Of course! My friend works down here, so it's perfectly fine." Sophie answers, grabbing my arm and pulling me along. I let her drag me, and eventually we find ourselves at the end of the alley, in front of an old building. "What the hell are you getting me into?" I whisper, feeling like talking might violate the silence. "Just trust me, okay? The building is creepy, but inside is basically the opposite." She explains, pulling the door open. I sigh in return, and walk into the grey, old building.

I'm suddenly surrounded in a vintage looking store, with cute flower wallpaper and a few comfortable looking sofas. A coffee table sits in the middle of the sofas, and in the back of the room are manicure tables, pedicure seats and massage beds. Finally, in the corner of the room, a white single bed sits, with a sign above it reading 'Piercings'. The back wall has a large cursive sign that says 'Charlsey's Salon'. I'm completely shocked by the difference between the outside and inside of the building. The outside is gloomy and sad, while the inside is homy and sweet. I'm suddenly taken away from my thoughts when a new voice speaks. "Hey Sophie, it's great to see you!" A girl exclaims, giving Sophie a quick hug. "It's so good to see you. I haven't come by in months." Sophie answers, giving the girl a tight smile. The two continue to have a short conversation about meeting up, when suddenly the girl turns her attention to me. "Hi, I'm Charlsey." She says politely, as I offer a hand. Instead of shaking my hand, she pulls me into a hug. I gasp slightly, and finally we pull away, and I give her a happy smile. I liked this girl already. "I'm Violet." I tell her. "Wait. V-Violet? Really?" She asks, a huge grin covering her face. "Um, yeah." I reply shyly, looking down. Why were people so shocked that my name was Violet? Charlsey looks over to Sophie and gives her a questionable look, before turning back to me. "So, what can I help you with?" She asks us. "We'll start with a mani and a pedi, please." Sophie replies. "Of course. Right this way." Charlsey says, motioning to the manicure tables.

Sophie and I sit at separate tables, and wait for Charsley to set up the nail polish and tubs of warm water. "Valentine! Could you come in here? We have some customers." Charlsey calls out, and immediately a short girl with platinum blonde hair, comes through the back door and makes her way towards us. "Valentine will do your nails, Sophie. And I'll do Violet's." Charsley says, before sitting in the seat opposite to me, and Valentine does the same to Sophie. "So, what colour?" Charlsey asks, pointing to the range of colours. "Can I have this blue?" I ask, pointing to a bottle, which strangely looked the same colour as my hair. "Yup." Charsley replies, popping the 'p'. While she gets to work, I take my time looking at her appearance.

Charsley had long dark hair and dark eyes, with rosy cheeks and is tall. She's wearing a cute dress, and a soft shade of pink coats her lips. She looks around 18 or 19, and also seems to have a nice, cheerful personality. As Charlsey paints my nails, I look over to Sophie and see the colour she's going for. "Pink? I thought you hated pink?" I ask, giggling slightly. "Hey, I wanted it to match my new hair!" Sophie replies, pouting slightly. "Okay, okay." I chuckle.

Once our nails are successfully painted, we move on to the pedicures, and I choose dark blue while Sophie chooses orange. We chat to Valentine and Charsley, and although Valentine is shy, she gets involved in the conversation. At the moment, we were debating who was hotter, Channing Tatum or Luke Hemmings. "Luke Hemmings, obviously! I mean, have you seen his lip ring? Or his dimples?" Charlsey exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air. "No way, Channing Tatum is way better. He's got loads of muscle, you can't forget about the muscle." Valentine disagrees, a goofy smile displayed on her lips. "I'm with Val on this one. I prefer muscle to lip ring." Sophie says cheerfully. Suddenly, everyone turns to me. "What about you Violet?" Charlsey asks me. "I don't know. I don't really like either of them. But I do have a different celebrity crush." I say, gaining three interested looks. "Who? Who?" Valentine asks eagerly. "Ashton Irwin. I mean, come on. His hair, his dimples, his bandana, his glasses? He's just adorable." I say, cheesily sighing at the end. "Aw! Violet has a crush!" Charlsey squeals, finishing off the the last toe. I blush deeply, and let out a chuckle, causing Charlsey to squeal even louder.

Once we're done obsessing over male celebrities, Sophie stands up, and points to the single bed in the corner of the room. "We're also getting piercings." Sophie says cheekily, smirking at me. So this is what she wanted me to do. I think to myself. "You have to get six piercings Vi." Sophie tells me. "SIX?" I exclaim, making Valentine cover her ears with her hands. "Sorry." I mutter. "Yes, six. You said you'd do it." Sophie tells me. I sigh heavily. "Fine. Are you getting any?" I ask her. "Nope. You're on your own with this one." She says.

I glare at her, but make my way towards the bed and sit down. Charsley comes and sits next to me. "Right, let's get started. Where are you having them?" She asks. I think for a moment before answering. "Two here." I say, pointing to my earlobes. "Two here." I say next, pointing a little way up on each ear. "And one here." I say, pointing to my left ear, on the cartilage. "That's only five." Sophie warns, and eyebrow raised. I sigh again before answering. "And...a belly button ring." I mutter under my breath. "Okay, so two on the right ear, three on the left and a belly button. That can be done." Charlsey replies, getting out two ear piercing guns.

"Valentine will do your left ear, and I'll do your right. And then I'll do your belly button." She tells me, getting the guns set up. She hands one to Val and they both stand by my sides. "3...2...1..." They both press in the button and I feel a slight sting his both my ears. "3...2...1..." Charlsey says again, before I feel another sting in both ears, but higher up. "Okay, this one with hurt more because it's on the cartilage." Charsley explains. Val lifts the gun up to my cartilage and I wince at the piercing is made. "And lastly, the belly button." Charsley says, motioning for me to lay down. I make myself comfortable on the bed, and lift up my top a little. Before I know it, my belly button piercing is done as well, and I finally have six piercings. "It wasn't too bad, was it?" Sophie says with a smug grin. "No, it was fine." I reply. "Okay, well. We better get going. It was so good to see you again!" Sophie says enthusiastically to Val and Charlsey, giving them a wave. "You too." They smile, and we give each other hugs. "Hey, um. Violet. Do you mind if I speak to Sophie in private really quick?" Charsley asks. "Yeah, of course. I'll wait for you outside." I tell Sophie. When I'm outside, I look through the window curiously, and see Sophie nodding as well as Val and Charsley chatting excitedly. I wonder what they're talking about.

Sophie eventually comes out of the salon, and starts to walk down the alley. "What were you guys talking about?" I ask her. "Um... She was just asking about how I was holding up. You know, with my brother and all." She replies, but I have a feeling she isn't telling the truth. I shrug of the feeling though, as we hop into the car. "I actually had fun you know." I tell her. "Good. See, you should trust me more." Sophie chuckles. I smile back, and touch my cartilage piercing. "I like Valentine and Charlsey. We should see them again." I tell her. "We most likely will." Sophie replies, leaving me slightly confused but happy nonetheless.

Heya, hope you're enjoying. New characters guys! Charlsey is rowanch123 . Thank you for commenting on my "get creative" page!

Not very much happened apart from new characters, but I hope you liked it anyways. :)

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