Page 73 of Gone for You

“And, what?”

“You know exactly what. How has it been going?”

I hesitate, take a sip of coffee and with my mouth still on the rim I mumble, “Perfect.”

“Of course it is,” she says, smiling brightly.

“You’re way more optimistic about me and Ethan than I am.”

“One of us needs to be,” she grumbles. “I just don’t understand why you two aren’t together.”

“Don’t start, okay? It’s your day and I don’t need to be bringing you down.”

“Then tell me what I want to hear.”

I breathe out a laugh and avert my eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You are.”

“Good come back. What are you, eight?”

Her stylist calls her over and she grabs my hand, brings me along with her, points to the chair next to hers and gives me a look that says ‘I’m the bride, are you gonna mess with me?’.

Her stylist begins clipping her hair in sections to start curling her hair. I feel her look at me out of the corner of her eye and spin my chair to face her.

I don’t like the way she’s looking at me. All knowing and stuff. I do my best to appear nonchalant, pick up a hair magazine off the moving cart the ladies must have brought with them that’s set up between Lily and me and thumb through it. Inspect the jet black pixie cut I’m staring at like I’m really considering such a drastic change. I’m not.

“I see it, Liv. I see the way you look at him. The way your eyes light up when you’re thinking of time you’ve spent together. I just want you happy.” She settles back in her chair, closes her eyes and tips her head forward while her stylist massages her neck. I look around, hoping that I’m about to get the same treatment because that looks like it feels freaking awesome.

“Hi, I’m Chloe.” I look into the mirror at a woman with gorgeous red hair smiling at me. I blink. There’s something so familiar about her but I can’t put my finger on it. Her eyes are so unique. A crazy combination of deep brown with green flecks, but not quite hazel like mine.

“I’m Olivia.”

She places her hands on my shoulders. “Any idea what you want to do today?”

“I was thinking of maybe a braid from here,” I point to the side of my head then trace a path to the other, “to here and then curl the rest?”

“Perfect. I love that idea.”

“That work for you?” I ask Lily.

“Pssh. Obviously.”

“You’re so chill. You’re like the anti-bridezilla.”

“That’s my goal. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. I just want to be Drew’s wife. I actually said I wanted to elope.”

“Your dad would have been a bit upset,” Carly says as she walks up to Lily, blonde hair now in a beautiful updo.

“I know,” Lily sighs as she fidgets in her seat.

Carly kisses her on the cheek. “Relax, sweetheart. Only a few more hours now.”

Lily’s eyes light up, her mouth splits into a wide smile. If you looked up the definition of a glowing bride, you’d see Lily’s picture.

Lily’s stylist spins her chair so she’s facing me rather than the mirror so she can work on another side of her head. “You know, I should probably be pissed that Drew proposed when he did.”

“Why?” I ask, sputtering out a laugh, keeping my gaze on the mirror.

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