The Space In Between(43)

“I made an appointment with Ms. Sally for your hair, it’s in thirty minutes. I’ve been calling you all morning but there was no answer.” I remained in my seat at the desk and watched through the mirror as my mom started straightening up the room around me. The suffocating feeling always seemed to arise whenever my mom came around; I didn’t know how much more I could take. But I remained silent and went digging through my luggage to find something to wear.
I heard sniffles from behind me—oh no. Mom was crying. Again. She looked at me and pulled me into a hug. The type of hug I needed from my mom—not too overbearing, but not nonexistent. She must have taken notes from Daddy.
“I’m sorry Anders. I know this hasn’t been easy for you. For any of us.”
I agreed. “I’m sorry I missed Thanksgiving, Mom.”
She pulled away from me and nudged my arm. “I saved you a plate in the freezer. After the dance tonight, you should stop by and eat.”
She loved me. She was crazy, a worry-wart, and extremely dramatic, but she was my mom. And I was so happy to have her there with me.
“Now. Let’s go do something about this hideous hair of yours.”





MS. SALLY STOOD BEHIND me, clipping away at my hair after it had been washed. The amount of hair falling to the ground was somewhat worrisome. I was almost positive I was going to be bald by the time she was done. But I didn’t say anything. Questioning Ms. Sally’s tactics was like questioning God. You just didn’t do it.
Chop chop chop. Gossip gossip gossip. Within that hour, I found out that Rachel had officially moved back into town, Derrick’s mom was on anti-depressants, Fred’s Bakery made a new strawberry jam and…
“Wait. What!?” I looked up to Ms. Sally, who stood with an ‘oh crap’ look pasted on her face. Her eyes shifted towards my mom, who was holding a magazine. She, too, had the ‘oh crap’ look plastered across her face.
“Oh…I thought. I mean, I assumed you knew, honey.” Ms. Sally slapped her chubby arm against her waist. “My gosh Betty, you could have told me Andrea didn’t know! I hate spreading gossip.”
“Is it true?” How could my mom keep this from me? How could she NOT tell me this big detail?
“Well...yes. It happened over Thanksgiving. We were hoping you would come but, well, what did you want Eric to do? Wait until you called? Because you never did.” She huffed and puffed, making up excuses of why it had ‘slipped’ her mind to inform me that my brother and Michelle were now officially engaged.
I returned to my seat. I couldn’t talk. I didn’t want to talk. They were getting married. They were about to begin the journey of their happily ever after. And I was jealous, bitter, and saddened by the idea. What kind of monster had I become?
The outcome of the change in my hair was beautiful. Ms. Sally did a fantastic job. I was now sporting a pixie cut, platinum blond hairdo which was much more me. It felt good to get back to the blondness, yet my blue eyes still stared back at me in the mirror like they didn’t know who I was looking at.
“That’s much better.” My mom smiled at me through the mirror and squeezed my shoulders. The look of joy beaming from her was proof that she was satisfied with my new look. “Now, time to get you to your dance rehearsal.”
Ugh. I shook my head, stood up, tossed on my coat and gloves, and informed her that I would walk. It wasn’t that far, and the fresh air would be nice to knock the grumpy out of my system.





MY HEART SKIPPED a beat as I stood outside the dance studio and saw everyone laughing inside. There were quite a few people in the room, but my eyes landed on the most important people. I saw Eric’s best friend, Bobby, talking with him and Michelle. I saw Ladasha smiling, chatting it up with Steve—Derrick’s best friend. And I saw Cooper in a corner with Rachel, who was laughing hysterically. Surely nothing could have been that funny. Jealousy filled me up while watching Cooper lean in towards Rachel and her beautiful grin. I had no right to be jealous; he was a free man to do whatever the hell he wanted to do, and we were just friends.
It was clear Cooper was the man in my dream, waiting for me to step outside—or in this case, inside—with him and move on. What was I waiting for? And how long could I expect a guy to wait for me? His head rose towards the window and I stumbled back. His dimples appeared as he locked eyes with me. I didn’t look away, but I didn’t move closer. Cooper held up a finger to Rachel, excusing himself and it was less than five seconds before he was standing outside in the chilled winter’s air next to me.
“Hey, you,” he said as I watched his breath hit the cold air. He rubbed his hands together and wrapped his arms around himself. “You look amazing.”
I gave him a half-smile and rubbed my mittens over my new hairdo. “Thank you.”
“What are you doing? It’s freakin’ cold out here. Come on in. They were about to get started.”
My foot shifted on the snow resting against the sidewalk. I pointed towards Ladasha. “That guy with Dasha? That’s Derrick’s best friend.”
“Ahh, I see.” He walked over next to me and stared into the dance room. He was wearing a short-sleeved black t-shirt and jeans, and I could see the hairs standing up on his arms. He was freezing. But he wouldn’t show it because he didn’t want to leave my side. “So here’s what I have learned about Pride and Prejudice dances. They move quickly. You change partners fast. And you hardly have enough time to chat with anyone. So I doubt Steve will even have enough time to notice you. But it’s completely up to you what you want to do. In or out?” he asked. No pressure, just a question.