CHAPTER NINE
AUBREY
WHEN I LEFT Rome’s apartment to walk down the hall to mine the next morning, I wasn’t prepared for Vick to be sitting at my small table like a sergeant.
She greeted me with as much venom as a blonde fairy could muster. “Well, I was right. You look like shit.” Then, she shoved a thermos of coffee my way because, truth be told, Vick couldn’t be rude to anyone for long.
I also had a hard time being rude to anyone and could never turn down caffeine even if it came with an insult. So I mumbled, “Thanks.”
“Katie will be here any minute. You want to talk about your walk of shame?”
I took a long drink of the scalding hot coffee and then lied through my teeth. “It wasn’t a walk of shame. I just watched a movie over there.”
“Fine. But Katie’s right. You are a terrible liar.” Her honey-colored eyes said everything she felt about me and Rome.
Katie barreled through the door at just the right time.
“Saved by your warrior princess,” Vick mumbled.
“What the hell are you going on about?” Katie asked as she threw her keys on the counter and beelined for the coffee pot.
Coffee addiction ran rampant through my friends.
“She doesn’t know.” I waved away Vick’s comment. “Are we starting this early?”
Vick put some music on her phone and pulled out a chair for me. “You bet we’re starting this early.”
I groaned and fell into the chair that would be my torture chamber for the next few hours.
“Don’t worry, I will somehow make this mop look like it did once upon a time.” She picked at my messy bun as if it was diseased. “Katie, go get my hair kit bag. I left it in Brey’s bathroom yesterday.”
I tried to jump out of the chair. “You never said we were going that far! That hair kit bag has things in it that will keep me tied down here for days, Vick!”
Vick shoved my shoulders down to keep me seated. “Don’t be dramatic.”
Katie laughed as she walked down the hall. “Coming from you, that’s rich, Vick.”
Vick ignored her. “Your hair is a disaster, Brey.” She motioned for me to move the chair over to the sink.
Reluctantly, I did. Katie handed over her bag and she dug through it while I told her, “Just wash it. You can’t cut it today anyway.” If Vick brought out that bag, I figured that’s what it meant. She’d cut hair part-time while in undergrad. Now, she was focused solely on completing her law degree.
“Cut it?” Vick shrieked.
Katie winced. “Brey, remind me how we ended up becoming friends with someone who can’t hear how loud she is. Have the neighbors complained about you having her over yet?”
I snickered because after only a month in the new apartment, I’d received a complaint.
Vick just waved her off. “Someone has got to be vocal about her hair being the perfect length, Katie, and we all know it isn’t going to be you.”
Katie snorted and for good reason. She sported a pixie haircut with black-and-lavender highlights. It matched her bold, take-no-shit attitude.
“Sure. I know, you both don’t care,” Vick continued. “But guys love long hair. You can’t cut it, Brey. You can, however, never put black temporary dye in it again.” She squirted about ten different products in my hair and then leaned my head back into the sink to start scrubbing.
“That feels much better than I would have thought today. I need this every day after a hangover.” I sighed in bliss.
“Yeah well, from my end, this is absolutely gross.” I looked up to see the temporary dye smeared up on her wrists. “No offense, Katie. You pull it off just fine but Brey has the most gorgeous natural hair color, and quite frankly, I don’t know what your natural hair color is.”
“Neither do I,” Katie deadpanned.