The Hairdresser Diaries (7 page)

Don’t ask why take’em and go.”

The bartender laughed at Peyton and then pointed across the bar and said, “That guy over there said whatever you guys want is on him the whole night.”

I looked to see who he was pointing at and of course, it was Cole. He saw me, flashed a smile, and raised his glass to me. I ignored him. Wow this guy really didn’t give up and seemed to have a hard time understanding I wasn’t interested. I decided that I was going to tell him to stop this little charade, I’m not interested, and just because he buys me drinks, doesn’t mean he’s going to get in my pants. I was also going to tell him I was with Logan now and I don’t think he’d appreciate some creep hitting on his girlfriend. So it would be in his best interest to leave me alone.

“Yeah, that’s what I’d tell him,” I thought to myself. I’ll walk right up to him and tell him enough is enough, find some other poor, lonely girl to harass.

With my head held high, I took a deep breath, grabbed Peyton’s arm, and walked—more like stomped—my way over to Cole.

We practically had to fight our way through all the people. Ugh! I really hated when it was this crowded.

As we pushed through the crowd, one of the shot girls just happened to pass by. I took two shots of the tray when she wasn’t looking. I needed them to deal with this crowd and Cole. Peyton gave me a look and I just shrugged.

When we finally reached Cole, I tapped him on the shoulder, and was ready to let him have it. Only, when he turned around and flashed that big, sexy, smile at me, I froze.

“Hello Tatum, how are you?” Cole said.

I totally lost my train of thought and stared at him blankly. It wasn’t until Peyton cleared her throat and said hi to Cole, that I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. “Look, I only came over here to tell you, thanks for the drinks, but I can buy my own,” I said trying to stare him down as meanly as I could.

“I have no doubt you can buy your drinks I…” I cut him off before he could say anymore.

“And I have a boyfriend, so don’t waste your time.”

He looked at me questioningly, trying to figure out if the boyfriend line was just that, a line. “I guess you don’t waste any time, do you?” he said.

“Excuse me?” Now he’s insulting me, wow, this guy really knew how to pick up a chick.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, last night you didn’t have a boyfriend, and now you do.” I was getting a little irritated now. Not sure if it was because I got caught in the mini-lie or because nothing seemed to get rid of this guy.

“Well, yeah, then he wasn’t, now he is,” I stammered. It didn’t help me sound very convincing.

“The guy from last night?” Cole asked seeming to want to see how far I’d take this.

“Yes and his name is Logan,” I said with a harsher tone to my voice.

Cole just smiled, stood up, and said, “I apologize if I offended you. That wasn’t my intention. You don’t have to worry I won’t bother you again, and please, drinks are still on me tonight,” Before I could argue he continued. “Think of it as a parting gift, my apology.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to give him any reason to think he got to me.

Before he walked away, he leaned down, and whispered in my ear, “It was a pleasure meeting you Tatum and I don’t think I’m wasting my time.” Then he turned and walked away.

He barely even touched me, but the closeness of him still made me shiver and the sweet scent of his cologne lingered in the air.

He smelled so good. Not like most guys who smell like they bathed in cologne, I hate that, I always get a headache. His was soft, intoxicating, it made me want to be close to him and just breathe in his scent all night. I shook my head and came back to reality.

I stood there for a moment until I realized what he had said as his words played over in my mind, It was a pleasure meeting you Tatum and I don’t think I’m wasting my time. I had the feeling he wasn’t going to give up. What was I going to have to do to get through to this guy?

“Fine,” I said to myself. I’ll make him regret paying for my tab, so I ordered two shots and another beer. Maybe he’d think I was an alcoholic and change his mind about wanting to date me. Little did he know I could keep up with most guys when it came to drinking.

“Whoa, glad I’m driving tonight,” I heard Peyton say as I downed the shots, “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing important, come on let’s go outside and get some air.”

From the look on my face she knew not to ask any more questions. She followed me silently outside to the patio. That’s where we found our friends.

Alex, Kelly, Nate, and Landon were sitting at a nearby table and we walked over to join them. I gave everyone a hug and kiss hello and sat down next to Landon. He just squeezed my shoulder and smiled.

“So what happened last night with that guy Cole?” Kelly asked enthusiastically.

I rolled my eyes at her and said, “Nothing, I sent him away.”

“Oh why? I liked him.”

“Please, then you can have him, I’m not interested.”

“Who’s Cole?” Landon asked.

“Well he’s this…” Kelly started, but I cut her off right away.

“No one, let’s talk about something else,” I snapped.

“What crawled up your butt?” Landon asked, looking at me like I lost my mind.

I didn’t mean to snap at Kelly, I just did not want to talk about Cole. “Sorry Kelly,” I said.

She gave me an empathetic smile. “It’s okay.”

“Tatum’s just in a bad mood cause…”

“Shut up Peyton!” I yelled, giving her a look that said keep your mouth shut.

“Oh, that time of the month huh,” Landon said and everyone just laughed.

“Oh my god you guys, you know what…” I was beginning to say until I saw Logan standing on the other side of the patio.

Noticing my hesitation, Peyton looked in the direction I was and realized why I had stopped talking. “I’ll be right back,” I said getting up from the table not allowing them to get a word in.

Logan was surrounded by girls on the other side of the patio. I thought I’d walk over to him and surprise him.

When I reached him, I stood right in the middle of all the girls, right in front of him. “Hi,” I said raising my eyebrows at him wondering what the hell he was doing.

“Hheeyy,” he said drawing out the word. “Can we talk?”

He pulled me over to a corner where there were less people. Confused, I followed and waited to hear what he had to say.

“Um, look, Tatum,” he hesitated for a second, but I could see in his face I was not going to like what he was going to say. “Last night, what I said, I wasn’t really thinking straight.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, I had a little too much to drink, and you were looking so good last night,” he smiled at me, looking as if he was remembering the way I looked from last night. “And I said some things I shouldn’t have said.”

“Like what exactly?” I already knew, but I wanted to hear him say it.

“You know, why mess up what we have,” he said lightly tapping my chin with his fingers.

“And what is that Logan, what is it that we have?” I said with a set jaw and arms crossed.

“Fun.”

Peyton was right. I was just too blind to see it. I couldn’t find the words to speak. Not that it would have made a difference.

He leaned down, grabbed my hands, and tried to look all sweet and innocent. “We’re good right?”

I looked at him, disgusted, pulled my hands out of his and walked away. I walked past all my friends and straight to the bar. I heard Peyton call my name, but I ignored her.

Once inside and at the bar I told the bartender to grab the tequila and keep it coming. By the time I downed my third shot, Peyton had found me and stopped me from taking my fourth. “I know I said I’d drive tonight, but I didn’t volunteer to clean up puke.”

“I’m fine,” I said more or less telling myself than her.

“Downing shots of tequila tells me you’re not fine, give me that.” She took the other shot out of my hand as I reached for it.

“What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.

“Okay that’s fine, but how about we lay off the tequila for a bit.” I could see the concern in her eyes so I didn’t argue. “Let’s go back outside,” she suggested.

“No,” I snapped.

“Don’t worry he’s not out there anymore,” she reassured me.

I stared at the shot of tequila in her hand and thought maybe some air would be a good idea. She put the shot back down on the bar and made a gesture to the bartender saying not to serve me anymore shots.

When we were back outside, I didn’t bother to look whether Logan was still there or not. I went right over to Landon, sat on his lap, and laid my head on his shoulder. Landon just put his arms around me and gave me a squeeze. He could always tell when something was wrong with me. He never pushed the issue though. He knew I’d talk when I was ready.

I was so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t noticed at first Nate talking to Cole. Seriously, why won’t this guy go away? “What’s he doing here?” I asked Peyton.

“Nate saw him and started talking to him.”

I looked over and Cole was looking back at me. This time he didn’t smile. He had an, ‘I’m sorry look on his face,’ as if he was there to witness Logan and my conversation. I just looked away. The last thing I wanted was pity from him.

Landon patted me on my side and I lifted my head to look at him. “I have to take a whiz,” he said. I stood so he could get up.

“Anybody need anything while I’m up?” Landon asked.

I turned to Peyton mouthing the words, “can I?”

She rolled her eyes at me and said, “Fine, but I don’t want to hear any complaints tomorrow.”

She and I knew tequila wasn’t my friend, but when I was having a bad day it always made me feel better, at least for the moment.

I told Landon to grab me a beer and two shots of tequila. He was hesitant, but Peyton nodded at him letting him know it was okay.

After my fifth or was it my sixth shot of tequila—I lost count—I was feeling good. It was a good thing Landon was holding onto me or I’d probably fall off his lap.

“Ooohh, I love this song, you guys wanna dance?” Alex asked.

“Yeah let’s go,” I said jumping up off Landon’s lap. I asked Peyton if she wanted to come. She said no, she was going to stay and sit with everyone else. I shrugged my shoulders, grabbed Alex’s hand, and headed inside to the dance floor.

The dance area wasn’t very big, but it didn’t matter. At the moment I didn’t care about anything. Proof the tequila was doing its job.

Alex and I were on the dance floor having a good time busting a move, laughing at all the people who thought they could dance and the oddly matched up couples. There were guys trying to impress girls with what they thought were their best moves. Most of them just looked like they were convulsing trying to stay in rhythm.

There were girls in groups dancing together doing their own thing and girls and guys grinding up against each other oblivious that other people were around.

I started to giggle when I saw some small, Asian guy trying to dance with a girl twice his size and I turned to point them out to Alex but I stopped. Not far off to my right I saw Logan all over some chick. I froze and just stood there watching them. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his hands were moving from her hips to her butt as they danced. I stared, wondering if she was the reason he decided to go back on his word.

Alex caught on to my blank stare and shook me out of it. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back,” I said and marched right over to Logan. There was no way was he going to make a fool out of me with this girl.

When I got closer I was able to get a better look at her. She had short, brown, curly hair that looked like a bad 80’s perm. Her color was so drab and dull I could only assume it came from a box. She was short and had round pudgy cheeks and tiny eyes. She was wearing a bright orange tank top that was too short and jeans that were so tight they gave her a muffin top. She looked like the type of girl who would say yes to anyone.

I walked right up to them and tapped Logan on the shoulder. I don’t even know why I was doing it or what I was going to say. I believe the tequila was playing a little part in this. They both turned to look at me. Logan had a blank look on his face.

The skanky girl gave me a once over and said, “Can I help you?”

I ignored her and stared straight at Logan. “Are you fucking kidding me? So this is why you don’t want to be with me, so you can fuck this whore!” I shouted at him without thinking.

“Excuse me, who you calling a whore?” said the skank with a ghetto attitude.

Before I could say anything else Logan pulled me over to the side of the dance floor. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

“Me, what are you doing? One minute you say you want to be with me and the next you don’t and then I see you all over her.

You know she probably has herpes!” I yelled that last part in her direction.

“See, this is why I don’t want to be with you, you cause unnecessary drama,” Logan said in harsh voice.

I looked at him. I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. But there was no way was I going to let him see me cry and think it was because of him. I wanted to cry because of the idiot I was to even bother with him; to bring myself down to his level.

I broke free from his tight grip on my wrist and stormed out of the bar, leaving Alex in the middle of the dance floor totally unaware of what just happened.

I didn’t notice that Logan had followed me out of the bar until he grabbed my arm once we were outside. “Don’t touch me!” I yelled so loud everyone on the patio turned to look and see what the commotion was about.

Logan pulled me closer to him and got in my face whispering in a low voice, “Don’t embarrass me.”

“You embarrass yourself!” I couldn’t stop the tears this time as they started streaming down my face.

“Tay, you okay?” I heard Peyton call from over the wall of the patio.

I couldn’t look at her because she would know I was crying. I wasn’t even sure if I could control my voice enough to keep it from cracking when I spoke. I took a deep breath and without turning I glared right at Logan and yelled to Peyton I was fine.