The Green Ticket by Samantha March Page A

Lila later in the week to help fill the void of non-professional clothes in my closet.
    “Ready!” I slid off the stool and gave Kamille a friendly wave as I followed Allie behind the partition and into the salon part. Kamille just raised her overly plucked eyebrows at me and stared back down at the computer screen.
    “I just don’t think she likes me much,” I said to Allie, waving hello to the other stylists that I passed. I had been introduced to all the staff at an employee meeting last week, and thought I would fit in just fine at Blissful. The stylists were mostly female, and the median age was probably twenty-five. There was one male massage therapist and one male stylist who seemed just as nice as the females. The only one that seemed less than thrilled with me was Kamille.
    “Don’t take it too personally,” Allie said, opening the heavy doors that led to the spa area. I immediately felt a sense of calm when the busy chatter of the salon faded away and the soft music floating from the hidden speakers hit my ears. “She was being considered for the management job, so she probably wasn’t going to like whoever ended up getting it.”
    Well, that explained a lot. “I get it. Why didn’t she get the position? I mean, it makes sense to hire internally.”
    “I think there were a few reasons. She has a really busy schedule with her school and she’s in a lot of extra-curricular activities. She’s also pretty new to Des Moines –– she just moved here from out of state last year to go to Irving –– and Kevin was really big on finding someone who has a lot of connections with the city. And we’ve been able to watch her up front and see how she works, and she doesn’t seem to connect with the clients very easily. The personality that’s needed for the position just wasn’t there. You can’t tell me you think her personality is that of a winner.”
    I gave a slight nod but didn’t say anything. That was a bit harsh, but Kamille never had been friendly to me.  
    Allie ushered me into a treatment room as she gave me the low-down on Kamille, then held out what looked like half a towel to me. “I’ll slip out of the room, and go ahead and undress to your comfort level. Put this on over your body and lay face up on the bed. You’ll want to make sure to either remove your bra or at least take the straps down, because I do a neck massage. Same goes for your pants. If you can take off your socks and slacks, I also do a foot massage while your mask sets in.”
    “Got it. Thanks.” Allie left the room and I set out removing my socks, pants, bra, undershirt, and blouse. I also took off my watch and necklace, setting them carefully on the little table in the room, climbed into my towel/robe thing and crawled underneath the covers, eyes towards the ceiling. The soft music was soothing, but there was that scary-looking dentist-like contraption looming to my left. I wondered if I would be getting any extractions done and what the heck that entailed.
    My thoughts wandered over to Halloween while I waited for Allie to come back in the room. I couldn’t believe what a fool I made of myself. I threw up twice more on Sunday, thankful I didn’t have class or work to attend, and cringed every time I thought of Henry Landon. I really thought we had a connection going, but now I seriously doubted it. I barely remembered what our conversations had been about, and I was sure he was just entertaining the drunk girl at his party, trying to help his buddy Peter out. Peter had asked Hannah out for a dinner date this week, and all us girls were super excited for her once we found out about it. She deserved a nice guy. I wanted to ask Hannah to ask Peter to ask Henry what he thought of me, but I was sure Henry he would not be interested in a lush like me. I blew my chances on Halloween.
    “Ready, hon?” Allie asked, tapping lightly on the door and entering, dimming the lights just a touch.
    “Ready!” I responded, feeling