After Happily Ever After (On Hold)

Part 2

Rowena spent the next few hours washing, cutting, and styling customer's hair. She loved it, but she had been starting to feel like something wasn't quite right. Like she was meant to be doing something else.
After her lunch break, she went to the computer at the front desk to see who was next. When she saw the name her heart skipped a beat.
"John Armel." she called.
A handsome man looked up from the car magazine he had been reading and gave her a smile that made her go weak in the knees. He stood stood up and walked over to her. Rowena walked him back to her chair where he sat down. She put the cape around his neck and situated it on his shoulders.
"So, what are we-" Her voice cracked nervously, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "So, what are we doing today?"
"Oh, just a trim on my neck would be great."
"Alrighty!" Rowena grabbed her electric clippers and turned them on. As she began trimming the little hairs on the back and sides of his neck, she noticed that they weren't very long, and she wondered why he had come in here to get them trimmed when he easily could have done it himself.
"You know," she said. "you could have done this yourself at home and saved some money."
"I know, but I couldn't wait to see you again."
Her stomach filled with butterflies and she had to fight the urge to smile like an absolute idiot.
"Oh?" she asked, a smile breaking through anyway.
"Yes." John smiled. "I had a really great time with you last night."
"I had fun, too." Rowena admitted.
"And I was wondering if you wanted to do it again sometime?" he asked, sounding hopeful.
"You came to my workplace to ask me out on a second date? I gave you my number, remember? You could have just texted me." she giggled.
"Well, yeah, but I wanted to do it in person. So what do you say?"
Rowena turned off the clippers and set them back on her desk under the mirror.
"Sure." she replied with a smile as she unsnapped the cape from around his neck. "I'm free toni-" She was cut off by Amber loudly clearing her throat. She looked in Amber's direction and saw her shaking her head. That's right! Tonight was their Girl's Night In! How could she have forgotten.
"I mean tomorrow night." Rowena corrected herself. "Six?"
"Sounds good!" John replied as he stood up. "See you then." He bent down and gently kissed her cheek, making her insides melt like butter. His tiny whiskers tickled. Then they walked up to the front so that he could pay.
There was no one else waiting, so Rowena went to the back to get a broom to sweep the floor. On her way to the back, Amber made kissy faces at Rowena.
"Oh, stop it, will ya!" she said with a laugh. Amber laughed too. "Told you."

🔸🔸🔸🔸

That evening, Rowena rushed to her apartment door when the doorbell rang.
Amber stood on the other side with two large bags of sour gummy worms and a six-pack of Coke in bottles.
"Ready to party?" Amber asked excitedly.
And what she meant by party was getting a bunch of junk food, pigging out on it, and watching movies until they fell asleep.
"Definitely!" Rowena replied. "I just put the popcorn in the microwave."
Amber walked inside and set the snacks down on the kitchen table. She closed her eyes and inhaled. "Mmmmmmm, I love popcorn!"
"What movies are we gonna watch?" Rowena asked as she pulled the bag of popcorn out of the microwave.
"Well, I brought a bunch of
chick-flicks." Amber said.
Rowena rolled her eyes. "You know I don't like those."
"Fine. What did you have in mind, then?"
"I don't know. What about. . .Star Wars?"
"Yes!" Amber clapped her hands. "A Star Wars marathon! Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because I'm the brains of this relationship." Rowena joked.
"Haha, funny." Amber said sarcastically. "So, you have another date tomorrow, huh?" she continued with a smirk.
"Yeah. And?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that this morning, you didn't sound so sure about him." She cocked an eyebrow as she hopped up and sat on the counter next to the fresh popcorn bowl and popped some in her mouth.
"Well, I changed my mind. I never thought he'd come in to work to see me."
"See? I told you you were just over-thinking again!"
"Yes, and you were right. Now get your butt off of my counter. That's just gross!"
"Fine." Amber said as she stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth. "I'll go put the movie in."
"Yeah, go do something useful for once." Rowena joked.
"Hurtful!" Amber said, giving Rowena puppy-eyes.
"Just go do it. I'll put in another bag of popcorn and open up two Cokes."
"Okay." Amber marched into the living room.
Rowena put in a second bag of popcorn and opened up two of the Coke bottles and took them to the living room. She handed one to Amber as she took a drink of her own.
"Thanks!" Amber said. "How are we gonna watch these? In the order they came out, or in the order they go?"
"In the order they go."
"Gotcha."
The microwave beeped.
"Be right back." Rowena said.
"Kay." Amber replied, putting the DVD in the player.
Rowena walked back into the kitchen and put the new popcorn into another bowl. Then she opened up one of the bags of sour gummy worms and put half into each bowl. Then she walked back into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Amber sat on the other side of the couch. In between them, the middle of the couch opened up and there were cup-holders. They set their drinks there and their bowls of goodies in their laps and prepared to watch the movie.
"Hey, what about the lights?" Amber asked.
"Oh, right!" Rowena got up and turned the lights off, then sat back down.
"Much better!" Amber said. She pushed play on the remote and The Phantom Menace started.

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Author's Note:
Hey guys! I just wanted to say thank you for getting this story over 100 views so quickly. Thank you! And thank you for getting the prequel so close to 800 views! (I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you've already read the prequel.)