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 Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:59 pm
Nye smiled at hearing her surprise, although he did hope internally that it was a pleasant one. "Ah, not many people do. I wouldn't expect you to, especially, since... I was shot when you last saw me. Oh well, not much you can do about being mugged, right?" he lied. A good lie, at that- he already thought of all the excuses he needed to.
Nye placed his shears on the counter and began toying with Ivie's hair and examining it before making a quick executive decision. "Let's get you shampooed and then I'll trim you up nice. Hey, Denise, are you in?"
A slim and trim blond woman showed herself from behind the counter of hair-care products and came over to Nye with a flirty smile that he pretended not to notice. "Get her shampooed up for me, will you? And where are the good combs? I think Michael took his home." Nye scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully as Denise sighed and pulled her sweater down a little.
"Alright, I hear you. And the combs are... hm. I think Allison's not using hers, so go borrow it. Michael called in sick. Come with me, miss! Nye's very specific about having anyone with more than three inches of hair shampooed before he takes them on." With a regulated customers-only smile, Denise went to a sink while Nye walked over to some busty Hawaiian girl and began talking about something. Probably combs and Michael getting fired sometime soon. Probably.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:09 am
Mugged? In the cases of mugging Ivie had seen it was rare, very rare, for the victim to actually be shot. Bashed, yes, but actually shot? Very rare. Still, she didn't like to argue with him. After all, it wasn't her bussiness.
"You must have pissed the guy off pretty bad for him to actually shoot you." She ventured, before Nye completely took over the conversation with hairdressing lingo. Ivie promptly shut her mouth and let herself be looked after. It wasn't something that happened very often, after all. Perhaps she should splurg on herself later, a Christmas treat, since she was on holidays and all.
But for now, her hair was going to be washed. She sent a smile back at Denise, who had proceeded to ignore her as she set up the sink, and slid into the chair. Her red curls practically filled the sink as Denise began chatting about menial, trivial things, and Ivie began her Melissa routine; seldom speaking and lots of nodding. Her curls were pulled once or twice, Denise claiming it was her rings and Ivie suspecting otherwise.
Still, she had hair left when the woman pulled the plug. Droplets of water escaped the towel and ran down her neck, making her shiver a little.
"Nye, you want her hair wet or dry?" Denise drawled, flirtation slipping into her tone again.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:16 am
Nye disregarded her comment about pissing his "robber" off (although technically, he was robbed after being shot), and continued exchanging lingo with Allison. He did turn his head to the side once Denise addressed him, though. "Oh, did you pull it through with conditioner?"
Denise nodded eagerly, like a puppy waiting to be praised. "Good, then keep it wet. You can come back over here, Ivie, I'll be with you in a moment." Nye turned away to take a comb from Allison and head back to his station just when Denise put a full-on pout on her painted lips and trudged sadly away. The fact that Nye was barely aware of the girl was amusing in itself, but she didn't know that he found her reactions simply priceless.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:29 am
Ivie felt a little lost, but she always did in these situations. After all, all these people knew each other and she was rather out of the loop, but what could you do? She needed her hair cut, after all, and where else was she going to go? When it came to things like this, she was a creature of habit; she found a good place and she stuck to it until she moved or it closed. So she'd keep coming, on the occasions where she bothered.
She was happy to get away from Denise thought. It was just a hunch, but Ivie had a feeling the woman wasn't that fond of her for whatever reasons. Whatever they were, the red-head didn't really care. I mean, he probably wasn't going to see her for another few months after this, after all.
Making sure her hair was on the outer side of the chair, Ivie sat back and circled a few more dates in her diary before snapping it shut when Nye approached. "Past girlfriend?" She hazarded a guess quietly, not wanting Denise to hear.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:38 am
Nye set his equipment down and draped a gray smock around Ivie, making sure to velcro it around the back of her neck loosely. He gently pulled her hair through and let it sit around her shoulders. He found time to gab with her while he combed through her hair, being very very careful with working out the kinks Denise created. He seemed to be used to it. "It was more of a fling, really," he replied casually.
Not wanting to go any farther into the subject, he parted her hair in the middle and pulled it down around her face, measuring the length for himself. "Alright, how short do you want it? I'm almost tempted to ask you to let me add in a few layers, maybe some lowlights for definition if you feel up to it. My treat since, after all, you just came here for a trim." He smiled at her through the mirror again, laying on the charm in the most subtle way possible.
After all, he needed all the brownie points he could get at this point.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:50 am
Ivie had curly hair. This made it almost impossible to comb it without tugging at knots of some sort yet somehow Nye managed it. Now if there was anything Ivie enjoyed it was having her hair brushed - brushed as it didn't pull so much - and this was just as good. Her eyes closed and she resisted the urge to purr happily at the attention. Nye's confession to Denise being a fling went un-responded to. Ivie was busy right now, thank you very much.
Her eyes flicked open when he stopped combing, and a slight look of concern crept onto her face. "I've never had it layered...I'm not sure how well it would work with the curls, after all. I don't want it going any more crazy than it already is. And...are you sure about the highlights? Those are expencive..."
Christmas was expencive enough as it was.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:14 am
Nye sifted though her hair with his hands one more time before deciding on an accurate prediction of the outcome. "Well, the layers would take a bit of weight off the bottom, so you'd get a better curl out of it, and your hair wouldn't be so heavy all the time. It'll also kinda help with any tangle problems you have at the bottom there."
Obviously, Nye knew what the hell he was talking about. It was possible, from their angle, to spy Jean-Pierre looking in the boy's direction and wiping a stray tear from his eye. "And I'm sure about the lowlights. It'll put some depth into your hair color.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:19 am
Ivie gave a short laugh at the conviction in Nye's voice. "Well, you're the expert, not me. Perhaps it'll convince the folks I'm actually spend on myself too. And...well...if you're sure about it being your treat...you're making me feel bad though, I hope you know."
It seemed Ivie was warming up to Nye at least a little bit. It was hard not to feel at ease around hairdressers, after all. "You'll let me tip you though, I hope?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:24 am
"You're a nurse on the graveyard shift. Spending time on your already naturally good looks should be the least of your worries." Nye checked his cutting shears before turning to one of the newer hairdressers in Salon de Antionette. "Hey, can I get some music please?
The girl nodded shyly and went over to fumble with the speaker system before turning on some upbeat music. Allison on the next station over laughed heartily. "Party in the house!
Nye laughed to himself as he picked up the topmost layer of Ivie's hair and twisted it atop her head before beginning to snip at it carefully. "Don't tip me too heavily, mind, or you'll make me feel bad."
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:44 am
"Try telling that to a gaggle of aunt's." Ivie sighed, before shaking her head a little and letting Nye get to work. Highlights took far longer than she originally thought it would, and came with some silly foils that stuck out of her head like spines, yet she thought she was pleased with the finished result. It was different to what she was used to, at any rate. If she liked it in half an hour, they were all good.
All up, she spent an hour longer there than she'd expected to. She had nothing else planned for that day so that was fine, and she'd actually enjoyed talking to Nye and Allison about nothing. Denise had sulked around the staff room the entire time. Ivie didn't care.
In front of the counter she wrapped her extra long scarf around her neck a few times before pulling out her wallet. She paid in cash - she had a distrust of cards and a fear about credit - and smiled when she pushed an extra twenty into Nye's hand.
"It's less than a quater of what I should be paying you, so you can't claim you feel bad, mm?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:55 am
Nye took the money with a bit of an exaggerated sigh, just to prove his point. "Fine, fine." The twenty she tipped him he set aside, and then ripped off a sheet of paper from a small notepad. On it, he wrote 'Coupon for a FREE Haircut/Treatment from Nye Hemmingway! : D' in bubble letters and shoved it into a complimentary salon services brochure before putting it in a bag with a complimentary bottle of some hair treatment product for curly hair or another. He shoved the bag at her with a smile, and crossed his arms afterwards.
"You have a nice Christmas, you hear? And make sure you're not making any plans for the 23rd. There's a festival that day, and I heard it's gonna be pretty nice. Check your planner and write it in, and stuff. No one should miss it."
Before she could object to anything, Nye went back into the lounge to get teased by his friends and pouted at by Denise. Such was life.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:19 am
As Nye shoved the bag towards her Ivie accepted out of reflex rather than anything else. Peeking inside she eyed the items, before raising an eyebrow at Nye.
"Mr Hemmingway, I didn't fuss over you that much at the hospital surely, you can't give me all - "
But he was gone. Shaking her head a little and waving to Jean-Pierre, Ivie stuck her hat back onto her and set back outside. It wasn't until she reached her apartment and set the bag down on the counter did she remember what he'd said before she left. Why would he tell her about a festival on a whim...?
Out of curiosity more than anything else she flipped open her diary to the page. A small smile reached her lips at what she saw, though she wasn't sure if it was out of amusement or annoyance.
"December 23rd
Meet me near the candle store in the mall,
1pm sharp. Don't be late!
(I'm not leaving my phone number, so you can't cancel.)
- NH"
Well, that was that. She'd go but she would only be going to tell Nye Hemmingway that she did not date. At all. She didn't have time to! Calling was out of the question though and she was never one for standing someone up. That was just rude. She'd go, only because she had time to, and tell him. And that would be that.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:26 am
When the day of the festival approached, Nye relied on his naturally good looks to get him somewhere. All he did was don a sweater and a pair of jeans before getting his outerwear snug on his body and heading to the mall.
He was there a bit early, and found himself leaning against one of the wide columns in front of the candle store he specified to finish up his coffee. His cheeks still stung a little from being exposed to the harsh cold, but at least his beverage was doing a good job of warming him back up. A small smile tugged at his lips when he thought of Ivie's reaction (if she showed, even).
Was it weird to have reading people as a pastime?
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:36 am
When the day of the festival arrived, Ivie was in a tizzy. She'd kept out of the dating scene for so long (not that this was a date) that chosing an appropriate outfit was enough to make her stomach butterfly. There was no reason why it should be, she wasn't interested, but still. She'd been asked. That was different.
Still, she was too busy for this sort of thing.
She settled on one of her more casual outfits; a thick dress with a belt, stockings and knee-high, fluffy boots, coated with a brown jacket. Cream and brown were the themes, and the tartan scarf she wore boasted both colours and matched her beanie.
She'd caught the bus and was late. It was obvious she didn't like being late as she jogged over to Nye, taking a deep breath before looking up at him. "Sorry I'm late...need to say this now, Nye, I don't date. I just don't...alright? I don't mean any offence or anything but I don't date, I don't have time, alright?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:43 am
Nye sipped at his coffee even after pushing himself off of the column. He had his other hand shoved firmly into his coat pocket, and he did nothing but listen to her and smile. "It's nice to hear you call me by my first name and not 'Mr. Hemmingway.' I feel like I'm my own age again."
He took another sip before swishing the substance around in the paper cup, checking to see how much was left. He finished the drink before tossing it away and shoving his second hand into his pocket. "Now, who says this is a date? We've only met maybe twice. I thought it'd be nice for a busy person like yourself to get out around the holidays and relax for a bit. After all, I'm paying, so... count it as an early Christmas present? Although I am flattered that you'd even consider this a date." Nye couldn't help but yawn a bit and mumble a quiet, "Excuse me." Obviously, Ivie wasn't the only one lacking sleep. "Shall we? The parade starts soon, and I'd like to get a decent spot so I can take pictures for my parents. They don't feel like flying in from London."
There was that charming smile again. Nye Hemmingway was one cunning son of a gun.
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