A life in the Dark

C h a p t e r T h i r t y T h r e e

F r i d a y 1 4 t h F e b r u a r y
________

Valentine's day. The best day for people in relationships and the worst for single people. The day where all you can see on social media is everyone stating how much they love their boyfriends et cetera.

This morning I got up and performed my usual routine before heading down, meeting Harley on the way. "Hey."

"Hey," he smiled. "How are you?"

"Good, you?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Erm... I was wondering..." I turned my neck to face him "...whether you'd like to hang out after school-as friends."

"Oh, er... I would but I have a lot to do later, what with it being Valentines day and all. I think we're fully booked actually."

"Oh, no worries."

"Besides, aren't you all going out for dinner since it's Rose and Zach's birthday?"

"Shit... I forgot about that," he said and I laughed at his stupidity. Because... I'm a good friend. "Good thing you know more about my schedule than I do."

*****

When I got to school, I walked in to see all the 'couples' hanging out and acting all sickening. I rolled my eyes and headed over to Keira.

"Heya,"she waved as I sat down, putting my bag under the desk but before I could say anything back Logan sauntered over.

"Hi," he said, looking straight at me as though Keira wasn't even there. I returned the greeting. "So, I was wondering whether you'd like to hang out later. Like we did a month or so ago." I guess most guys would be a bit more shy asking a girl things like this-being more subtle or taking it a little slower-but Logan's the complete opposite. I guess he's got a lot of experiance with this sort of thing over the years. And I mean a lot.

"Er... No thanks Logan." His face fell, hurt with rejection and the harsh reality that anyone could possibly reject him. I found it quite funny that for someone seemingly so tough he could take a such a powerful hit from something so small and insignificant. "I'm kind of busy later..." I explained, not wanting to damage him as badly as I did last time. "Sorry."

"Oh, no worries," he forced a smile and retreated back to his gang of idiots.

"Wow," Keira remarked, her eyebrows raised as she stared after Logan. "You got him good, huh?"

I snorted in disbelief. "He's just acting it."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure. Anyway, what're you going later then? I was going to suggest we could hang out at yours?"

"Why? And I'm busy in the shop."

"Hoped so. I was thinking I could some help you?"

I didn't know how mum would react to my decision, but I found myself agreeing. Why not?

*****

"Ok, let me show you round the shop," I instructed, dragging her back downstairs for a detailed tour of all the cupboards. Turns out mum was grateful for the extra help, and Keira's parents didn't really mind. "So," I began once we reached the bottom of the stairs and pointed to the white 'storage' door just across from us. "That's where we keep all pre-made stocks of items for when they run out. Everything is labelled and placed alphabetically based on the scents."

Then I pushed her through the other door to the back of the shop. Since it was a special day it was still closed but during the day mum had magically transformed it into a completely alien world. All the tables were wrapped in a silky, deep pink tablecloth that draped down halfway to the floor; heart-shaped balloons were hung up everywhere and the lights were tinged red. Oh, and confetti was scattered everywhere.

Whilst showing Keira around the kitchen area, I quickly said hi to mum and commented on how cool the place looked. Then I introduced her to the back rooms; the glass rooms and how the counters and shelves were laid out. The tour finished just in time for the opening.

Our first customers were a woman, who looked to be in her mid twenties, here for a manicure for her date later and an older lady whose husband had bought her a soothing massage a few days prior. After I took their drink requests, Mum immediately took the older one through to the back room; meanwhile I told Keira how to make the drinks and took the other into the glass area. After all: I've learnt the basics in shaping and filing nails to be certain shapes, so I can sometimes do that while mum does something else before she takes over; it's sensible, I guess since it just saves time.

"Please take a seat." I motioned towards the soft, cream one-person sofa with fold-out foot rest. "So I'll be shaping your nails and painting the bases before my mother takes over, if that's okay," I explained and she nodded. To begin, I got two bowls of warm, soapy water and left her hands to soak for a while then dried them and looked at her nails; long, weak and uneven. "I think you'd suit a squoval shape," I concluded, picking up the scissors and beginning to trim them to be as long as the smallest one would allow. Next I filed them and added a base layer, then asked what design she fancied.

"I don't really know," she replied, admiring her glossy nails. "I'm wearing a white top and blue skirt later though, so something to suit that, I guess." My mind filled with ideas of am ombre effect, I nodded and selected a white and matted icy blue to match her eyes-and hopefully the skirt-and got out the pot of silver jewels.

*****

Forty-two 'romantic' meals and seven spa treatments later, the doors were finally shut and we could just chill out. We were relaxing, mixing up some immune boosting smoothies when Keira spoke up.

"Erm... So you know how you gave me a gift card thing for my birthday?"

"Yeah...?"

"I was thinking... Maybe I could use it now? For you and me?"

"O-oh. Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well if you wanted to do something like that we can, but don't bother wasting your thing on me! Save it: I'm sure mum won't mind doing it anyways," I smiled, handing her a glass.

"No, I'll use it."

"No-"

"Please, I insist."

I chuckled. "Fine," I gave in. If you must."

~~~~~~

Okay no excuses, I was just lazy, so didn't write.

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