Falling for the neigbor

Introducing Teresa

Chapter 1

The day started too early for Teresa. She hated getting up at 7:30 to get ready to be at work by 9. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had to do her hair in addition to putting make up on and getting dressed she could have slept in for an extra half hour. The drive to work was only fifteen minutes but because she worked at a salon she had to look her best every day she worked. It was a 9 to 5 job that had lots of people seeing her and making judgements based on her own appearance, her teachers voice from way back in cosmetology school alway stuck with her and rang its head when she wanted to not give a damn and put her hair in a ponytail. Instead she would curl her hair, pin pieces back out of her way and tease the hell out of it so that it had life to it. The process always ended up waking her up and ready for the day. Leaving the cocoon of pillows and blankets to get up was the hardest part.

Like pulling a bandaid off Teresa pushed out of the blankets and sat up with a yawn, rubbing her eyes she woke to the sun shining in through her window. The day was bright and warm with the sun out, Teresa knew it was going to be a busy day. With a resigned sigh she plugged her curling iron into the bathroom socket and started setting up her makeup. Coffee was a must as she went down to her kitchen and started brewing coffee so by the time her makeup was on the coffee would be ready.

    By 8:30 Teresa was on her way out the door and getting into her car. She wore a simple knee length black dress  with leggings and conservative heels that weren’t to high so she could stand in them all day. She’d made the mistake once of thinking she could wear high wedge heels and be comfortable only to have her feet kill by the end of the day, so she moved onto flats but they always seemed less dressy, so a thick short heel and pointed toe shoes were the way to go. Teresa got to work just in time to set up her station and open the doors.

Her co worker and best friend Cleo worked with her. Both Teresa and Cleo started at the salon the same month back in the very beginning when the store just opened, that had been 6 years ago and since then Cleo and Teresa had become fast friends and inseparable.

The daughter of the owner also worked at the salon and was a sweetheart but traveled so much that the two of them barely saw her, Elizabeth was the same age as Teresa and Cleo and they had all graduated at the same time which was when Elizabeth’s parents had opened the shop for her.

The three were friends but slowly over the years she had drifted away so as Teresa and Cleo saved money and moved out, Cleo bought a foreclosed house that needed work and Teresa got her townhouse that she loved. With the help of her grandmother’s inheritance she bought the townhouse with no mortgage and just had to pay taxes, gas and electric. She kept that to herself though, the only person who knew was Cleo and her parents. Cleo knew about the inheritance Teresa got when her grandmother passed which had helped in getting her townhouse home.

Elizabeth worked for her parents and still lived with her parents plus had no bills other than a couple credit cards and phone bills. So every month she would go on a trip somewhere and be gone for a week or two.  Each of the three girls had taken such different paths and continued to be friends.

    It was Monday morning and Cleo was already inside the shop setting up for the day. Both girls worked in the mornings Every other morning, the off days Cleo had school so would come in later in the day after classes. There was another girl, Amelia, who worked the hours that Cleo wasn’t here. The nice thing about the salon was the flexible hours, you made your own as long and as there was at least two people in the store there was no problems.

With only four girls at the shop, it left lots of work for Teresa and Cleo as the oldest employees who worked five out of six days a week. They took turns staying the extra day with the third person. Teresa did love her life, it seemed so simple, work, reading and sleeping. She wanted more though.