WEST COAST 18+

2.

W E S T C O A S T

Slowly lifting from her kneeled position, Daniela moaned at the pain in her lower back. She spent nearly six hours on the clock, getting ready to leave when she accidentally knocked over a plant at the front desk.

Daniela could say her first day at the salon went nicely. But one thing she did pick up on is how messy these girls were. But she didn't mind; she was nosy and loved gossip, too.

Her friend, Britt, hooked her up with this job once she heard Daniela was looking for a way to make extra cash. These two have been cool since Daniela got here, and while meeting such a sweet soul like Britt, Daniela also reconnected with an old friend from middle school.

Shanti was her girl, and after running into each other at this nail salon, things were like nothing shifted.

They became a trio—great friends in a matter of months.

"You good to get home?" Britt asks Daniela, approaching her near the supply closet.

Daniela turned her attention, Britt's red roots coming into view before she met her eyes. She was taller than her.

"Yeah. By the time I finish this and walk down, the bus should be there," she answered, dumping the trash into the bin.

Britt tilts her head and asks, "Why not catch an Uber?"

"I haven't gotten my check yet at my other job, so until then, two dollars works just fine," she responds, setting the broom and dustpan aside.

"Well, you know if I was off work, I'd take you home." Britt leaned on the doorframe to ask, "Liking it here so far?"

"I am. It's very polished," admiring the floor plans of Gracie's Salon. "But the bitches in here are not."

"They're so cranky, acting like they're better than everybody, but they're not."

In disbelief, "And the gossip?"

Britts gasps, summing up a conversation she overheard, "Knowing your husband was having a baby with somebody else and doing nothing about it? I would've been calling my momma straight from jail."

"I'd never see sunlight," Daniela said. "I did that shit, Your Honor."

Getting interrupted by a familiar face, they witness a man flashing a couple of bags on his arm. He proposes, "I got what you need. I got what you need," the man sung, enthused to get a couple more sales in tonight.

Daniela knew damn well these bags were knockoffs, but they were legit-looking knockoffs.

"What you got?" She asks as she walks up to him, searching the options he held.

"The exclusive. Got the tag on and everything," he said with his pupils dilated and dollar signs flashing in his eyes.

Daniela wanted to put some money in his pocket since he was hustling just like her, but she didn't find what he had appealing. "You got anything else?"

He held his finger up to her, nodding for his wife to stroll over the cart. Once she did, Britt took her time looking through it to figure out what would go with an outfit she'd wear this weekend.

"I saw this for you and had to get it," the man said, showing her a cheetah print bag.

The gold buckle caught her attention, and amazed by the fur on the bag, Daniela smoothed her hand over it. She immediately asks, "How much?"

"It's sixty, but you my girl, so how about forty?"

"I could do that," Daniela said, locking in her desired bag.