Chapter 5
Joy wasn’t there the next day, neither was Deborah. Mel was on time and was setting everything up though. Mel looked focused and determined as she ran through the supplies and made a check list of everything that they needed and didn’t have. Kalyn went to work quietly and said nothing. She’d arrived an hour before the salon opened to ready her station. She wasn’t sure if she should say something to Mel, the two were close, but she wasn’t sure if she was enough of a confidant to divulge her secret affair with Gary.
The morning grey had burned off and it was fifteen minutes before the shop was to open when Mel went outside. She didn’t say anything she just opened the door and walked out.
After a moment or two Kalyn went outside as well.
Mel was seated outside of the salon. Her legs were splayed open and her back was against the brick.
“If I keep sitting like this it will ruin my pants,” Mel said looking up at Kalyn.
“Don’t you like things worn in though,” Kalyn replied.
“I do.”
“So, Deborah.”
“Yeah, Deborah.”
Kalyn arched her eyebrow and searched Mel’s face for clues. Mel’s face was typically stoic. It was hard to read Mel most of the time. She had the emotional range of a moody teenage boy, just different amounts of angst, depression, apathy and sadness rolled into one.
“So…”
“We’ll split up her clients for today. Luckily there hasn’t been more than one or two booked. I looked at the books last night.”
“You talked to her?”
“Briefly. She needs some time away from the salon.”
“Because of Joy?”
“Because of everything,” Mel said. A small tear grew in the corner of her eye. She sniffed. “I worry that I pushed her away. I was too harsh.”
Kalyn sat down next to her friend.
“It’s not your fault. She was under a lot of pressure. Financially.”
“I didn’t have to rub it in.”
“What’s done is done,” Kalyn said. “There’s no use feeling bad about it.”
“I don’t think Joy is going to be much help.”
“You talk to her too?”
“That’s the thing. I haven’t. Deborah said that she’d called Joy and hadn’t gotten a response. She left a message saying that she was leaving the salon. Joy didn’t call her back.”
Kalyn put her arm around Mel’s shoulder and the two sat on the sidewalk. A bus drove by as did a series of cars. Kalyn looked at the vehicles as they passed. They didn’t have concerns for Mel or Kalyn. They didn’t care about the salon. They were just passing through. Kalyn looked up at the salon. It was just five minutes until they opened. The first customer was due in thirty five minutes. Life was going on no matter whether Mel liked it or not.
Busy scissors filled the salon and the hours quickly passed as the two focused at the tasks at hand. A man came in for a classic comb over, a woman for a layered look, another woman wanted something more classic.
“Can I get the Jennifer Aniston,” the woman said to Kalyn after she sat down.
“Who,” Kalyn replied.
“The woman from Friends,” Mel said.
“Oh right.”
“Gimme a second,” Kalyn replied to the middle-aged woman. The woman, Katie, had light auburn hair and wore glasses. Kalyn stroked her hair quickly to feel the thickness then walked into the back room quickly to search her phone for the Jennifer Aniston haircut. The cut had lengthy fringes with highlights that were layered to blend the bottom of the bangs. The new style would require a fair amount of maintenance and Kalyn would have to teach Katie how to use a hair dryer and a round brush, amongst other accessories to maintain the look.
It took Kalyn two hours to complete the job and when she was done Katie looked at herself in the mirror approvingly.
“You look good enough for David Schwimmer,” Mel said to the woman.
“Thank you,” Katie said. “He was a bit too much of a whiner for me though.”
“Oh,” Kalyn said. “Who did you like? Joey?”
“No. He was an airhead. I liked Phoebe,” Katie said.
Mel smiled widely. She nodded her head with approval.
Katie stood up and swirled in front of the mirror. She smiled as she stood in front of the mirror.
“I love it,” Katie said. She walked to the front and paid for her cut and styling. Kalyn thanked her on the way out.
“Another job well done,” Mel said.
In Mel’s chair was a young man with dark hair. He was a little chunky, and more than a little pimply. His mother had come in and bought a gift certificate at the salon for her son’s birthday. He’d come in alone.
“Give me the Ryan Gosling,” he said.
“You want to look like Ryan Gosling,” Mel said.
“I want to fuck like Ryan Gosling,” he replied. He was barely a man and still had a boyish plumpness to his face. He slouched in his chair as Mel went to work. Mel had worked at a barber shop for a number of years before she’d entered the world of salons. She’d primarily been working in East Oakland giving fades to the men in the neighborhood. Now she was the resident men’s stylist at the salon and so she gave the man in her chair a high fade and combover. She cut a hard part into his hair.
“You might not look like Gosling,” Mel said. “But that’s okay. All a man needs to do to look good is get a haircut, take a bath, and put on some clean clothes and one out of three is still thirty percent of the way there.”
The boy grunted and paid.
There was no sign of Deborah nor Joy the entire day. Mel was able to arrange things so that the lack of Deborah at the salon wasn’t a big deal. The two clients that had booked with her were new and they didn’t seem phased by the fact that Deborah wasn’t at the shop.
As the day drew to a close Kalyn wondered what they would do about supplies, who would order the supplies. Who would pay their wages?
Kalyn looked up at the clock and it was time to close.
“So how do we do all of this,” Kalyn said.
“We can figure it out ourselves. I’m sure Deborah wrote a closing to do list and just ignored it.”
She had indeed. Deborah’s handwriting spelled out the instructions for proper closing. She’d never followed it herself but her intention was there in dark blue pen.
Mel counted the money while Kalyn did the inventory. They would need to order more supplies soon. They had enough to last out the week but after that... Kalyn hope that someone would come through either Joy or Deborah, or someone.
Kalyn was glad that the day had passed so fast. She didn’t really have time to think about Gary. Mel looked the door behind her as the two stood out on 40th avenue.
“Want to get a drink,” Mel said.
“Sure. Just one though. I shouldn’t leave Kaboose for too long,” Kalyn said.
The two walked across Broadway to a run-down old bar. No one was in it except for the bartender who was propped up against the juke box. The machine was playing Phil Collins’ greatest hits.
“I can hear it coming in the air tonight,” the box sang accompanied by the bartender’s light snores.
Mel walked up to the bar and smacked it hard. The bartender continued to stay in dreamland.
“Hey fucker,” Mel screamed. “I want a drink.”
The bartender opened his sleepy eyes. He was older and his jowls swung around like a turkey as he shook himself awake. He smacked his lips together. His eyes were red rimmed and his mouth emitted a terrible stench.
“What will you two fine ladies have,” he said.
Mel rolled her eyes and smacked down a bill. “I’ll have a shot and a beer of whatever you have on draft. She’ll have a shot and vodka soda. Not the well.”
The bartender nodded and got their drinks. Mel kept an eye on him as he poured out their shots.
“Here’s to independent living,” Mel said as she clinked her glass with Kalyn.
“Yeah. Independent living,” Kalyn replied.
Mel looked at Kalyn for a moment. Her dark brown eyes searching Kalyn’s light blues. Kalyn couldn’t keep her eyes locked and looked away.
“Something happened,” Mel said.
“What do you mean,” Kalyn said.
“I can see it in your eyes, something happened.”
Kalyn looked away from her perceptive friend.
“See you’re looking away. Out with it. Does it have to do with Deborah, is that why she didn’t’ come in today? Or was it Joy,” Mel said. Her eyes narrowed as she said the woman’s name.
“No. No. Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Kalyn stirred around her vodka soda. The small red straw collided against the ice cubes and clinked against the glass. She took a sip of the glass leaving a lipstick rim.
Mel waited for her friend to finish drinking she knew that Kalyn would spill the beans. She easily caved under a little peer pressure.
“Gary came in.”
“Whose Gary,” Mel said.
“He’s married to Joy, remember. You were the one who told me.”
“Oh right. I thought he was some tinder guy or something.”
“No.”
“But something tinderish happened? There was a spark?”
“He came over.”
“Why?”
“Well he was doing the books after we closed up last night.”
“Things did seem oddly organized,” Mel said. “I thought it was Joy.”
“No. It was him. Then we got to talking. He seemed nice.”
“Oh, but you were naughty,” Mel said with a raised eyebrow.
“It just happened,” Kalyn said shyly. Her face was turning red in embarrassment.
“What is it do you mean? Did you fist his asshole,” Mel said with a laugh. “I’d like to do some fisting with one of the Duplans.”
“No. He ate me out,” Kalyn replied. She looked down at her glass. It was beginning to empty out.
“Oh,” Mel said. She looked disappointed. “I thought something more exciting would have happened.”
“Well I sucked him off as well.”
“Did you swallow?”
“I plead the fifth.”
“Well it’s not that bad,” Mel said. “I sometimes have some Tinder twink come over and lick me out. I don’t touch his dick or anything and I don’t consider myself not a lesbian for it. I just like a little variety. Although the guy I call up he’s not really good at it. I should probably find another face to sit on.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think it was that good of an idea.”
“Well did it feel good?”
“Yeah.”
“Was his dick nice?”
“Yeah.”
“Well then it doesn’t matter,” Mel said. She took a long drink of her beer finishing it off. She went up to the bartender and ordered another round. The old man was quicker this time and Mel was back with another vodka soda for Kalyn.
“He’s married,” Kalyn said.
“So, what? Plenty of people are married. Plenty of people are divorced. Plenty of people are single. Sometimes married people don’t get laid. Sometimes divorced people don’t. Sometimes single people don’t and everyone needs to get laid. Maybe Joy doesn’t like to play on his team anymore,” Mel said.
“It just doesn’t seem right.”
“Don’t be so moral,” Mel said. “One it’s boring and two marriage is a terrible institution. How can anyone commit to someone else for that long I don’t know. I get tired of people have four dates.”
“We’re not the same Mel,” Kalyn said. “I sort of value you these things.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know. Because my parents.”
“Aren’t your parents divorced.”
“Yeah.”
“See. Marriage? It’s for suckers. Don’t worry about it too much Kalyn,” Mel said. She rubbed her friends back and squeezed her shoulders lightly. Mel leaned in close to her friend’s ear and whispered. “Just don’t get caught.”