“Daphne, over here!” she heard Holly’s voice calling out to her from the strip mall square where they had decided to meet up at.

  Daphne could barely make out the short woman who was craning her neck to see Daphne. Rather than having her signature two braids, the woman’s hair was out and bushy, curling every which way widely.

  Daphne waved, jogging a bit to get out of the chaotically busy parking lot. Signs were all over the sidewalk, announcing all of the early fall sales that were going on.

  “Hey, Holly,” Daphne said, striding up the gray stone path towards her friend.

  “I’m so glad you could make it!” Holly exclaimed brightly. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”

  Daphne did her best to smile widely. “I have been as well,” Daphne replied.

  Internally, Daphne was feeling a bit off balance. She had no idea what to expect from a shopping trip with Holly.

  “Alright, then! We’re going to have a ton of fun,” Holly replied, grinning brightly and taking Daphne’s hand. “Do you have any preference of where we start first?”

  Daphne looked down at their interconnected hands. I’ve never had a friend be so affectionate before. She had always looked with envy at the girls in school who had been affectionate with their friends. Not only had Daphne never had a friend who had been that kind to her, but she’d never been close enough with anyone to have expected it.

  Holly looked back up at Daphne’s face, and quickly let go of her hand, looking concerned. “Ah, sorry,” she said. “Hopefully I didn’t offend you. Sorry.” She looked away. “A lot of people complain that I’m too affectionate of a person.”

  “No,” Daphne replied. “I was just surprised because I’ve never had an affectionate friend before,” she said.

  Holly looked over at her scoldingly. “Of course you haven’t,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “I keep forgetting you’ve barely lived.” She grabbed Daphne’s hand and pulled her forward. “I hope you’re willing to actually try living today.”

  Daphne felt a grin spreading across her face. “I’m ready,” she said.

  “Good,” Holly replied, pulling her in the direction of a salon. “Since you’ve never done this before, I’ll just choose for you.”

  Daphne let out a little laugh, looking up at the clear October sky, and noticing the leaves had turned to orangey yellow, brightening the sky with their colors.

  “That sounds great,” Daphne said.

  “My sister does hair here,” Holly said. “She’ll fix you up really nice.”

  “Me?” Daphne asked. “My hair?” She honestly couldn’t even remember the last time she’d gotten her hair taken care of.

  “Yes, you,” Holly replied, looking back at her with a glare. “Have you seen how disastrous your split ends are at the bottom of your hair?” Holly asked fiercely. “Every time I see them, I swear I can hear your hair screaming for help.”

  “Pfft,” Daphne replied, attempting to hold back a laugh.

  “You laugh now, but just you wait until my sister has worked her magic on your hair.”

  The door automatically opened in front of them. “Holly!” A voice in front of them exclaimed. “You came.”

  The hair salon smelled sweet like a fruity perfume, and was done up in a modern, black and white, look with huge square lights on the ceiling.

  Daphne looked over at the woman who was standing at the counter. She was different than Holly in a lot of ways. She was tall, with a caramel complexion, and sparking blue eyes.

  “She’s your sister?” Daphne asked.

  “Yep,” Holly replied with a grin up at Daphne. “Noelle, this is who I was telling you about who was in desperate need of your expertise.”

  “I don’t know about desperate need,” Daphne muttered.

  “Nice to meet you, I’m Noelle,” the woman said, offering her hand to Daphne.

  “Daphne,” she replied, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Noelle,” Holly whined, “Please fix her split ends. I’m sad every time I see them.”

  “How do you know what that is?” Daphne asked, feeling her ears warm as both women stared at her, dumbfounded by her question.

  “Let me show you,” Holly said, grabbing a small handful of Daphne’s hair at the end. “Let’s see here…” she pulled out a few strands and reached them up to Daphne. “Do you see how the strands are breaking into two?” she asked.

  “Oh,” Daphne replied with a nod. “Split ends.”

  Holly dramatically threw down the strands and they floated down towards the rest of Daphne’s hair. “There’s so many things you can do for the health of your hair, and it will make it less frizzy too.”

  “Really?” Daphne asked, perking up at the idea.

  “Maybe a bit,” Noelle said, looking closely at Daphne’s hair. “You still have very thick hair with a lot of volume, but the strands are very soft and light, so it’s possible you’ll always be up against some level of fuzziness.”

  “I see,” Daphne replied, feeling her heart sink a little. She had always been jealous of Maggie’s sleek hair, but it seemed as though it wasn’t meant to be.

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  “I might be able to suggest a few products to help with it, too,” Noelle said with a nod, “But I won’t really get a sense of what might work for you until I get started on your hair cut.”

  “Okay,” Daphne replied. “I guess, shall we get started then?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Noelle said, smiling. She gestured for Daphne and Holly to walk around the counter.

  Noelle sat Daphne down in a chair, and pulled out a comb, gently running it through her hair. “I be this hair gets really snarly,” she observed.

  “It does,” Daphne replied. She heard the comb catching on her hair. Noelle quickly ran the comb through, getting out all of the knots while Holly sat in the chair next to Daphne, chatting happily. Noelle washed and began gently cutting the split ends off. Holly suggested some framing curtain bangs on the side, which Daphne consented to. Noelle offered to add some highlights, but Daphne said no, admitting that she’d never dyed her hair either, but that she really liked her color of hair as well.

  Noelle dried Daphne’s hair, at the end of it all, adding in some smoothing products that resulted in a still fluffy, but more polished look.

  “This stuff is incredible,” Daphne said, touching her softer, smoother hair, and seeing the reflection of herself do the same. It was hard to believe a quick hair trim and some product could make her hair look so much better.

  “I can sell you a bottle if you want,” Noelle offered. “You just have to put it on after you shower every time, to maximize its effectiveness.”

  Daphne blinked a few times. “That’s it?” she asked.

  “Yep!” Holly chirped happily. “Taking care of your hair is kinda easy!”

  “I’ll buy it,” Daphne said with a small smile.

  As she walked up to the register with Holly and Noelle, Daphne felt her heart ache. Their mother had always been too buried in her garden to teach the daughters how to be young women. Maggie had been far more popular in school than Daphne had been, so she’d at least been able to learn from her friends.

  It sucks that I’m already twenty-six and only just now learning these tips and tricks.

  “Your total is going to be fifty-six, ninety-three,” Noelle said.

  “For all of this?” Daphne asked, her eyebrows raising.

  “Yes,” Noelle replied with a smile and a nod. “I’ll keep giving you the family discount if you keep coming here for your haircuts, too.”

  Daphne looked down at Holly, feeling her eyes sting a little. “Thank you,” she said.

  Where were you years ago? I didn’t know how badly I needed this.

  Daphne put her card in the slot. “I’ll make sure to come back then,” she added to Noelle. Especially now that I’ll have extra money now that I won’t be taking care of Gary.

  Even though Daphne knew that Gary had been using her, she still felt a twinge of pain in her heart at the thought of his name.

  She chewed on her lip. Time to let go of that ass. It’s time to put myself first.

  “Thanks for coming!” Noelle said as Holly started tugging Daphne out of the salon.

  “Thanks for the help!” Daphne exclaimed, a bright grin spread on her face. “Where to next?” she asked, giggling a bit and turning towards Holly.

  “Makeup is next,” Holly replied.

  “Makeup?” Daphne asked, feeling her eyebrows raise. “I’m not very good at it,” she added hesitating a bit.

  “No time to learn like the present,” Holly told Daphne, still marching them forward.

  She’s got that right, I suppose. The upcoming accident came to mind, and how she’d wished to be happy. I guess it is something I just never took the time to learn. For all I know, I’ll really like it.

  Holly dragged Daphne into the makeup boutique that had popular music playing over it’s loudspeakers. “Makeup for work takes a lot less time than you’d think,” Holly was explaining. “Most of the time, my work makeup takes me about five minutes.”

  Daphne blinked at her a few times. “I didn’t even know you wore makeup to work,” she admitted.

  Holly grinned devilishly. “That’s kinda the point.” She pulled Daphne up to a saleswoman. “Hello!” she exclaimed brightly. “Any chance we could get a shade match for my friend here?” she asked.

  “Of course!” the sales rep replied, plastering a customer service smile on her face. The rep escorted them over to a huge rack with foundations of every skin color under the sun. “Would you hold out your arm for me, darling?” she asked. “Wrist up please.”

  Daphne did as was asked of her, and the sales representative started pulling down glass vials and comparing them to Daphne’s skin. “Let’s try these three,” she suggested. She reached out the bottle towards Daphne’s free hand. Daphne reached out. The woman squirted the tiniest spot of foundation onto Daphne’s finger. Daphne looked over at Holly, unsure of what she was supposed to do with the sample.

  “Rub it into a spot on your arm,” Holly instructed. Daphne nodded and did so. The foundation looked a touch yellow on her skin.

  “You probably have an olive skin tone,” the woman suggested, handing another jar to Daphne to try.

  “Is that a good thing?” Daphne asked, rubbing the second sample on a different spot on her arm.

  “It’s not a good or bad thing,” Holly replied. She peered at Daphne’s arm. “I think that may be the one.”

  “I think so,” the saleswoman said with a nod and a small smile. She put the bottles back onto the shelf, and pulled one off for Daphne that had never been opened and handed it to her. “If you’re new to makeup, this is the cheapest option we have for foundation.”

  “Perfect, thank you,” Daphne said, closing her hand tightly around the little bottle of foundation.

  “Do you ladies need any help with anything else?” the sales rep asked.

  “Nope, we’re good,” Holly replied. “Thanks for your help.”

  “Of course,” the woman said. “Feel free to let one of us know if anything else comes up.”

  “Of course,” Holly said. She looped her arm through Daphne’s and started pulling Daphne towards a display that said “junkie.” “This is my favorite brand,” Holly said.

  “Is it any good?” Daphne asked, looking perplexed.

  Holly just scoffed. “You’ve never heard of ‘junkie’ makeup before?” Daphne just shook her head. “It’s some of the best you can get at a relatively inexpensive price.” Holly pulled out a light pink pressed powder and put it next to Daphne’s face. “Perfect,” she said. “I had a feeling this would be your color.” She grabbed a brown tube, a clear tube, and a pink tube that matched the powder. “If you want a nice look for every day at work, these are the things I’d recommend,” she said.

  “All of these?” Daphne asked.

  “Well, switching between these two,” Holly said raising up the pink and clear tubes.

  “What is all of this?” Daphne asked.

  “This here is some blush,” Holly said about the powder. “This is mascara,” she gestured to the brown tube, “And these are two different lip glosses.”

  “I don’t know how to put on any of this, except for the lip gloss,” Daphne said, shaking her head.

  “I’ll send you a video that shows you how,” Holly said grabbing a brush and a sponge to boot. “And I’ll pay for half of this if you promise to give it a try Monday morning.”

  Daphne wanted to protest. It would mean getting out of bed even earlier. But Holly’s words when they met up came to mind, about how Daphne had never lived. “Okay,” she replied with a resigned sigh.

  “Perfect!” Holly said. “This should be all you need.”

  “Okay, that’s good,” Daphne said. “Probably any more than this and I would be overwhelmed trying to figure it out.”

  “We can get more next time then,” Holly said, eyeballing pallets of many different colors.

  They walked up to the register and paid, Holly getting points for her rewards account from Daphne’s purchase.

  “What now?” Daphne asked as they walked out of the makeup store.

  “What do you mean what now?” Holly asked. “It’s clothes time.”

  “Clothes too?” Daphne asked, incredulous

  “Obviously,” Holly replied with a grin. “I tried to make this as much of a ‘classic post break up’ shopping trip as possible.”

  Daphne heard herself laughing loudly. “That’s why we’re doing this?” she asked.

  “It’s my way of making you feel a bit better,” Holly replied triumphantly. “Hopefully it’s working.”

  “It’s working,” Daphne replied, laughing again. Her mind had only wandered towards Gary once during the entire trip. She knew if she had been at home with only Tanpopo to talk to, it wouldn’t have been the case.

  “Good,” Holly said. “Then let’s find you some clothes before we go get something to eat.”

  “Sounds great,” Daphne replied back, her heart warm, and smiling brightly at Holly.