Page 4 of Five Alarm Kiss
“I don’t know.”
“Did you leave it on the full time?”
Laurel huffed out a breath. Like it mattered at this point. “I left it on until it looked light.”
“I told you to leave it on the full time,” Skye lectured. “You obviously didn’t.”
“What difference does it make?” Laurel knew her voice came out clipped, but she was beyond embarrassed.
“Obviously, a lot,” Skye said. “If you rinse it out early, you get this.” She held up a wayward strand that had escaped the hat. “You have to leave it on the entire time to get blonde.”
When a waitress materialized at their table, Laurel stuffed the lock of hair back under her cap and covered the side of her head closest to the waitress with her hand.
“Can I get you guys something?”
“Yes,” Britt said. “Refills for us, and a tequila shot for her.”
Without looking up, Laurel knew Britt was pointing her way.
“Two shots,” Skye corrected.
The waitress left to fill their order.
“I’m going home,” Laurel whimpered. She started to get up to retrieve her coat, but Skye pushed her back down.
“You’re doing no such thing. It’s your birthday, and you’re going to stay and enjoy yourself.”
“Really?” Laurel pointed at her god-awful hair. “How do I enjoy myself looking like Big Bird?”
More giggling from the girls next to them.
Kill me now.
“You just do. Nobody cares what color your hair is.”
Yeah, right.The laugh fest next to them proved otherwise.
“Laur…” Skye placed her hand on Laurel’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll fix it tomorrow. Tonight, we have fun.”
The waitress returned and placed their drinks on the table. “Add it to your tab?”
Skye nodded, then pointed to one of the shots and held up a finger, before pushing the glass in front of Laurel. “Drink.”
Knowing her friends would full-on tackle her if she tried to leave, Laurel accepted her fate and downed the shot in one gulp. The light gold liquid burned a painful trail down her throat.
“Gah!”She cringed and coughed at the same time. “That’s awful!”
Skye handed her the second shot. “Again.”
Laurel seldom drank hard liquor, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She threw back the second shot. It burned worse than the first and turned her stomach, but with any luck, maybe she’d black out and be able to forget the monstrosity that was her hair. She knew her friends wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
“Yuck!” Laurel put the shot glass back on the table and pushed it away. “How do people drink that stuff?”
“Here, take this.” Britt held out a lime. “It’ll make it better.”
As soon as Laurel bit into the lime, she regretted it. The citrus did dull the tequila taste, but also made every one of her taste buds freak out at once.
“Better?” Britt asked.