Attraction

(1) | .Aaliyah.

I pack up my supplies for the day after finishing Emerald's two platinum blonde French braids. Autumn had finished with her last client half an hour ago and was busy sweeping the flooring of the building. I tell Emerald to keep safe walking home and she nods her head, giving me a hug and thanking me for doing her hair before walking out of the door to leave. 

It was five o'clock, London's rush-hour time. In South Croydon, it was no time for a fourteen-year-old to be walking herself home but we had already exchanged numbers so if anything she would call me. 

She was a constant customer of ours and a lot of the time I did her hair for free while Autumn gave her a whole spa treatment of her own. 

It was just Emerald and her brother at home based off of what she had told me. I must have known her for about two months now. 

The first time she came here was with another girl with red, fiery hair. The two of them were best friends but it was ginger who paid for both of their makeup, nails and hair-dos. 

In all that time I had never met her brother; I'd never seen him or spoken to him. He seemed to be a closed off person with the way Emerald continuously describes him. 

"He doesn't do much," she had told me while she sat on the chair which I had to pump up for her to reach my height. I combed through her hair with the acrylics detailing the tips of my fingers and I listened to what she was saying. "He's always out with people but God knows what he's actually doing." 

I didn't like the idea of Emerald being left alone when her brother goes out. Anything could happen to her.

I was based in Plymouth before and now that I've moved to London I can see the difference between the two cities. Living in London is like choosing to play a dangerous game but instead of having three lives, you only get the one. 

I was scared for her and I think she must have been scared of occupying the streets on her own, too. That must be the reason she heads over to HairHaven so often. She feels safe with Autumn and I. 

"That girl is going to break some hearts one day," Autumn says. She throws the tufts of hair which she had collected inside the dustpan into the bin and I let out a light chuckle. 

"We can pin her beauty on us two." I tease. 

Autumn gasps and rolls her eyes, setting the broom down. She reaches me and shoves me in the shoulder while I laugh. "That girl is beautiful without all our work, too, I'll have you know." 

I smile because I knew she was right. Emerald was a pretty young girl. Autumn picked up the nickname 'Mini-Me' for her because of how alike the two of them looked. They both share the same hazel eyes which blend in with a hazy light shade of green. 

They have the same light blonde hair, like Goldilocks, with dimples on either end of their cheeks. It's apparent every time they smile and when it's the two of them smiling as they look at their reflection in the mirror, it's as if there could never be any bad in the world. 

It's the complete opposite to my dazzle-dazzle chocolate brown curls which rarely ever complimented the constant change of my eye-colour. 

I unplug the straightener and the curler from the socket on the wall and Autumn walks over to the door. She flips the sign over so that it no longer read the word 'Open' but instead read the word 'Closed' in a large, bold, crimson red Harrington font. 

She switches off the light attached to the sign out-front which shone in neon purple and she grabs her car keys. 

"I'll take the rubbish out." Picking up the bin bags from the floorboards, she heads on out to the recycling dump outback just down the alley-way.