An Eye For An Eye

Cinquante-Cinq

Sleep didn’t want to return to me. I didn’t know what time it was and I didn’t want to know, I wanted to go back to sleep. But it was too warm and the sun was shining in through the curtains.

“Are you awake?”

I groaned and I could hear Deuc chuckle.
“Yeah, I’m awake,” I muttered as I opened my eyes. The room was a lot brighter than I had expected even with the curtains shut. Deucalion was already awake and stood by the door.
“Do you want coffee?” he asked and I raised my eyebrows. He had never offered me coffee before.
“I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be down once I’m dressed.” He smiled before disappearing into the hallway. I could hear his footsteps on the stairs.

After a few minutes, I climbed out of bed and headed to the guest room, which I supposed was technically my room but it felt weird calling it that. I slipped on a dress, but not the one I would wear later that Tamika and Charles had bought for me, and then headed downstairs.

“There’s a letter on the table for you,” Deuc said as I took the cup of coffee from him.
“Thanks,” I said, kissing his cheek before heading back to the living room. On the table, as he had said, was an envelope with my name and the address written on it. I set my coffee down. As I picked up the envelope, I started to open it and I pulled a birthday card out. I recognised the handwriting as soon as I opened it.

“It’s from Chris,” I said as I sat down. I had intended to say it loudly but it came out barely above a whisper. That meant he had found the address tucked underneath the windscreen wiper. Inside was a little message from him, wishing me a happy birthday and hoping I was well. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and smiled. It wasn’t signed but I knew the handwriting.

“He found the address and not Gerard then,” said Deuc as he sat beside me. Smiling, I nodded and turned to look at him.
“Yeah, I know his handwriting, it’s definitely Chris’,” I said. And it didn’t seem like there was any secret or hidden messages.
“You sound happy,” he said.
“I am,” I said before putting the card back in the envelope and back on the table. I sipped my coffee before leaning back and leaning against him.

“I have a present for you,” he said. “But I don’t know whether you want it now or later.”
“Really?” I asked, furrowing my brow. “You didn’t have to, you already said you’d pay for the meal.”
“I wanted to buy you a present too,” he said. “Besides, you’re my girlfriend, I’m supposed to get you a present on your birthday.”
“You don’t have to,” I said, giggling a little. It felt a little odd hearing him call me his girlfriend. He had done it a few times over the last few days but I just felt a little happier every time he said it. “But thank you.”

“You don’t know what it is yet,” he said, chuckling. I shrugged.
“The fact that you’ve bought me something is more than enough,” I said. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted it now or later. “When do you want me to open it?”
He hummed, he wasn’t expecting me to turn his question back at him. “Later, if you can wait. But before we go out, if that’s alright with you.”
“That is more than alright with me,” I said. I leaned forward and gulped down some of my coffee, it was starting to get cold.

Once I had finished my coffee, I headed upstairs to get the hair curlers and various hair clips and headed over to Charles and Tamika’s apartment.

I stepped inside the building and headed up the stairs like I had done the day before. I knocked on their door and almost immediately, it was thrown open and Tamika pulled me into a hug.

“Hey,” I said, laughing as I pried her arms from around me.
“Happy birthday!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t get you a card so I figured a hug might make up for it.”
“And I figured she wouldn’t remember to get you a card,” said Charles as Tamika stepped aside to let me walk in. He held out a purple envelope and I opened it to find a birthday card which was signed from both of them but in what I presumed was Charles’ handwriting.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile.

Charles quickly ushered me onto the bean bag which hadn’t moved from where it had been left in front of the couch the night before. He took the hair curlers from me and grabbed his own hairspray which I didn’t have any of.
“So, was it worth going back to his house yesterday?” asked Charles in a suggestive tone.
I gasped. “If that happened, I wouldn’t be telling you, either of you,” I said. I still couldn’t believe how open they were. Even Kara hadn’t been like this.

“You’re no fun,” said Tamika as seriously as she could manage.
“Or maybe I just don’t want to tell you about my sex life,” I said and she laughed.
“It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll stop.”

Tamika and Charles thankfully did stop asking me about my sex life and Charles focused on curling my hair. He was a little more nervous today, constantly asking whether it was too hot next to my head and checking if I was okay.

After an hour, my hair was curled. It felt a little odd as I ran my fingers gently through my hair, I wasn’t used to using hairspray or even having it curled.

“It looks nice,” said Tamika as she pointed me in the direction of the bathroom mirror. I stared at myself, I had avoided looking at myself in the mirror over the last few weeks. My dark brown roots were starting to show but I smiled. Even if I didn’t look like I used to, I liked what I looked like now. The curls were bouncy as I turned to look at Charles and Tamika.
“Thank you,” I said before looking back in the mirror.

Charles walked up behind me and turned me to face him. He pushed my fringe to the side and pinned it back with one of the hair clips we had brought, it was a black flower.
“Thank you so much,” I said again, it felt nice.
“It’s alright,” Charles said quietly. “It’s nice to have someone’s hair to do. I haven’t done anyone’s hair in a while.”

“Now you have to go back to Deuc’ house, have a nice meal somewhere fancy and then maybe have birthday se-”
“Yep, thank you,” I said, cutting Tamika off. She burst into laughter and I just shook my head.
“You have some of the best reactions,” she said between laughs and I could see Charles grinning and nodding out of the corner of my eye.

“Anyway,” I said as I grabbed my shoes and slipped them on. “I have to go, it’s nice seeing you two and thank you again for the help with the hair.”
“I told you, it’s alright,” said Charles as he handed me my bag. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.”

Shutting the door to their apartment behind me, I headed down the stairs and out into the street. It was a bit warmer now and the breeze blew my hair a little. Today was the best birthday morning I could have hoped for with everything that had happened.