This One's for You

Chapter Two // All I Had

As Tyler dragged me out of that coffee shop, I was already dreading wherever it was he was taking me, as he'd elected it was best kept a secret. Styled with a smile, Tyler crossed the street. Trailing behind him, I mentally admired his fashion expression. Even though this wasn't New York City where he belonged, he still dressed absolutely impeccably. Today, his messy black hair was styled back with gel, paired with a gray pea coat and white button up shirt underneath, dark denim jeans, cuffed and finished off with black Doc Martens. No socks, of course. I had always loved the way he dressed, although feeling seriously inferior today in my Victoria's Secret leggings, tennis shoes, and Jared's old soccer sweatshirt he'd given me two years ago. Somehow, it still smelled like him.

When we reached our final destination, I wasn't sure I was gonna like what was to come of it. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" I asked, a little harshly.

Tyler grinned, showing off all of his megawatt smile. "Oh yes, darling. We're doing this. I even started a Pinterest board in the café of all the looks I think you could rock."

Sighing, I let all of my restraints and arguments go, knowing he was going to bully me into doing this no matter what I did. Nodding softly, I let him lead me into the salon.

Once I was seated in a very uncomfortable black leather chair, matching black cape draping over my body, I looked in the mirror to see this stylist I had never met before, but apparently was going to trust my whole appearance with today. Tyler stood beside the tattooed lady with the brown pixie cut, swiping through all of his pins from today until agreeing on what would look best.

Having had long, naturally blonde hair all of my life, the thought of whatever was going to happen to me next scared the living Christ out of me. Tyler gave me a devious smile before escaping to another station to have his eyebrows waxed and hair trimmed while the stylist went to work on me. I didn't get truly nervous until she began to apply the dye to my hair, never letting me see what was happening to me.

Approximately two hours later and what seemed to be about a foot of hair on the ground but was more thank likely only a few inches, I couldn't decide if I was excited or anxious to see what I was going to look like when they turned the chair around. Facing Tyler, I saw the grin spread about on his face and figured, if he liked it, it can't be that bad.

My. Hair. Was. Red.
Red.
Oh. My. God. My mom was going to kill me.

When I saw it for the first time, my mouth instantly shot open as Tyler and the stylist squealed in excitement behind me. I couldn't tell yet if I loved it or hated it, but to save them both the pain, "Guys! I absolutely love it!"

Tyler came up behind me and hugged me, thankful he had forced me to do this. I wasn't sure that it was my color exactly, but it did feel good to have a little change of scenery from straight, long, blonde hair into slightly shorter, curly, and a light, natural looking red color. Refreshing, even.

As we left the salon, Ty had decided I was in need of some retail therapy. So we shopped. I bought some dresses and shoes I knew could compliment my new 'do in a great way, while Ty was mostly there just to force me to try things on and carry bags.

When the day was drawing to a close, and the sun was starting to set, I was accepting the fact that we would soon be returning back to Fall's Hill, and back to my misery despite how great of a distraction this day had been.

"Whoa, darling, Lia, baby, where do you think you're going? We're not done here!" Tyler tells me as I start to walk back to the car. Stopping in my tracks, I turned to look at him and his devilish smirk, knowing he had already schemed up something ridiculous. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his wallet. As he opened it, he pulled out two room keys to the downtown Hilton. "Momma Lisa thinks you need a night out, and frankly so do I."