Too Close

Chapter Seven

"That bitch sitting in my chair and texting my baby daddy. Somebody gonna have to hold me back." Brooke's coworker, Shaunie, whispered as she stood by Brooke's station.

"Which one?" Gianna nosily asked while discreetly looking around Flawluxe Hair Studio.

"Aht aht. Keep your drama over there and away from my client." Brooke said as she continue to braid Gianna's hair. She had been working on the small knotless braids since 11 that morning and she had one section left and would be finishing up at 5 o'clock.

"You right, I'm sorry B." Shaunie apologized. "But when I cut all her hair off and drop the blow dryer on her head, y'all know why." She threw her hands up.

"Don't lose your job behind Darius girl. Think about Dj." Brooke gave her final remarks and Shaunie walked back over to her station. She neatly parted a horizontal line in Gianna's head and traced it with edge control, then began a new plait while continually feeding in the braiding hair.

"I know how Shaunie is but I never expected you to have messy bones in your body, Gigi." Brooke laughed while quickly braiding the hair down to below Gianna's waist. Brooke's hands worked like magic. She took no longer than two minutes on each braid and they were extremely neat as if she spent an hour on each.

Hair had been her side hustle since high school and living in Houston, the hair scene was hot, so she had to stand out. And over the years, she'd just perfected her craft. But writing was her passion.

"I am a proud rewatcher of love and hip hop, real housewives, and bad girls club. I definitely got it in me." Gianna laughed with her as she checked her phone.

She ended up giving Jared her number that Wednesday when he picked up his niece from ballet. They had been talking via phone call and text for the past 3 days. He asked her on a date last night while they were on a late night phone call.

Canlis at 8?

Jared's text read and Gianna's eyes slightly went wide. Canlis was probably the most expensive restaurant in the city. Sitting around the downtown area, the enormous windows reflected Lake Union and the beautifully lit buildings around it.

Perfect. Gianna responded then lifted her phone up to show Brooke.

"Canlisss?" She dramatically dragged out the word. "Either he got money or he really likes you." Brooke held up her hand, about to grip the next piece of hair but dropped them again.

"How old is Jared again? If you got a sugar daddy, I'm not judging, I just wanna know where to sign up at."

Gianna laughed at her friend. "No girl. He is 23 and goes to Bellevue." She quickly typed in his instagram to show her a picture of him.

"Oop, not you got a lil white chocolate thing! I know that's right." Brooke leaned closer so she could get a better look. "He fine girl."

Gianna nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm excited." She spoke truthfully.

"Me too! Let me hurry up so you can finish getting ready."

_____________________

Miles sat at his impromptu office, his kitchen island. His student's papers were spread out all over the dark grey marble countertop. He shuffled through all of them, making sure that they were correctly together.

Yes, it would've been easier to grade online, but Miles was old school in a sense. He liked to read the words on paper and write out his critiques.

Hearing his ringtone, he shuffled through the papers to find his phone. "Wassup?"