Sarah at the market

"Tomorrow" comes a little too quickly for Colleen's taste. In the morning, she finally decides to leave her house. Fortunately, these days masks are normal, so she puts on a black one with glasses and leaves her house.

Her list was long. From food, to toiletries, to kitchen supplies, to new sheets, to pillows. Finally, everything to furnish the second room of her apartment that housed only her excess clothes and moisture. She had to borrow Elena's car to transport everything. Elena is at work and Colleen is supposed to pick her up afterwards and bring her back to her building for their party. She didn't tell anyone that she was getting her hair cut at the same time.

Shoving her headphones into her ears, Colleen wanders through the aisles with her cart checking off her list each time she picks up an item she wants. Somewhere in her quest, she bumps into someone's cart and knocks over two pineapples that were perched on it for some seemingly out of this world reason.

"Shit, I apologize, I didn't..."

Why? she asks herself. Why? At her lowest point, a few days ago, she stalked Aidan's page, hoping to find something that would prove to her that he had really erased her from his life. That's when he posted a picture of him and his new fiancée somewhere on the beach. Both in white, smiling with a glass of champagne in hand. That's how Colleen recognized

Sarah Thompson, her ex's fiancée.

"Colleen? Is that you?"

Does she know her name? Hurry! She must not know that she knows it too.

"Yes, and you are?"

"Sarah. Oh my God, how silly of me! Sarah Thompson" The blonde presents a slender, manicured hand to Colleen. Sarah's nails are long and colored a beautiful baby blue. She shouldn't touch anything with such a soft, silky hand. "Next Cho." She murmurs with a smirk on her face.

"Ah..." Colleen could do nothing but gaze at the beauty that was Sarah. Straight white teeth, long light blonde hair that seemed soft to the touch.

"Oh... Maybe I'm making you uncomfortable? Ahggg what an idiot I am!!! It must be a little weird, right? You broke up with him and I come here to rub my ring after all this time."

"P... Excuse me?" Colleen was lost in what Sarah was telling her. Her childish, cheerful attitude wasn't really helping much either.

"It's embarrassing. After all these years..."

Years? It hasn't even been two months since Aidan gave her the coup de grace and she's talking years? Oh my God. Will she have to let him know that Aidan lied to her?

"Finally!" Sarah cuts Colleen's thoughts short and bends down to pick up the fallen pineapples. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, sweetheart. And I know a breakup is always hard even if it was our idea." She opens her bag and pulls out an envelope. "IF you want to, you can come to the wedding. It's not mandatory, of course not. I don't even know why I gave it to you. How rude is that?"

"Ah, no. It's nothing." Colleen reaches for the envelope and puts it in her own bag without giving it a second look. "I'll think about it. Thanks."

"It was a pleasure to finally get to know you, my beautiful one. Goodbye!"

Three steps later, the beauty was already in another alley, leaving Colleen speechless near the fruit.

Years ago? He told her they broke up years ago? What audacity! No, but really! His heart was hurting a little for Sarah. After this exchange, she doesn't seem like a bad girl. But you never know, maybe it's a front. Who knows?

Swallowing that lump of pain in her throat, Colleen continues her errands and promises

herself to forget about this story for the time being. She has guests. She takes the opportunity to refresh her drink corner with vodka and whiskey.

The young woman returns thirty minutes later, making the allee-return three times so much she has bags to go up. Soon arrives the hour to go to seek Elena. But this last one announces to her that Jack came to take her and that she does not need to move.

Taking advantage of the few minutes of break, Colleen took the opportunity to take a bath and wash her hair. Earlier, Raquel had said to detangle it well to avoid knots and uneven hair. Then she took the opportunity to plaster, let it dry and apply a few coats of paint, leaving the door and the nearest windows open for better ventilation.

Two hours later, with their hair braided into four pigtails and bottles of wine chilling, Colleen, Ida and Elena reminisce about their high school years when nothing went right, but basically they were the best years of their adolescence.

Soon Misha arrives with boxes of Tacos from Tito's, their favorite restaurant.

"So how are we feeling tonight?" Her friend asks.

Colleen stares at the ceiling for a moment before responding.

"Better."

At the same time, someone rings the doorbell. It's Raquel, all smiles, coming in with a bag that probably contains her equipment. Colleen kisses her and lets her in.

"Good evening, my name is Raquel and I am Colleen's neighbor" The young woman greets each of her neighbor's friends and sits down on a table. The three women look at each other and at Colleen.

"I didn't tell you," the host begins. "But Raquel is here to cut my hair. I'm sick of it." she says, grabbing a portion of her afro. "I'm not too mad but I want to change my face just a little bit. It's a little extreme but it's..." She is cut off by Ida clapping her hands above her head.

"But it's not possible how much you like to scare us, right? I thought you were going to say she was your new girlfriend or something!" Almost shouts her friend. "I have nothing against lesbians but until last I heard, you liked men! But, are you just cutting your hair? I approve! Great!" Color it too while we're at it Raquel! She needs a new look!"

While Ida praises the hair changes, Elena gets up and opens one of the bottles of liquor Colleen had purchased earlier.

"I think this news deserves a drink for each of us, don't you? Raquel?"

"Gladly! There are no children waiting for me at home."

The five young women each take a shot and continue to talk about everything. Raquel goes into the bathroom with Colleen to have a more controlled environment.

"So, how long are we going for, beautiful?" Raquel asks, untangling her friend's long brown tresses.

"Like this." Colleen shows him pictures she had spotted on Pinterest the day before and the box of dye that was in her closet.

"So for the length, that's okay. I need to straighten it out to a smaller size to get more precision. Then for the coloring, I think my grandmother has a similar box at her house. We used to sell them about 50 years ago."

"Is it that old?"

"Yeah, your hair would have just left your head."

"Go for the cup only!"

While discussing their future plans, Raquel cuts Colleen's curls strand by strand.

About 30 minutes later, a transformed Colleen emerges from the powder room and is greeted by friends who are clearly intoxicated.

"Oh, look how beautiful you are!" Ida exclaims.

"Yes, yes. Beautiful." Elena comments, popping a handful of chips into her mouth.

"Raquel did a great job!" Misha applauds. They gather for yet another shot and Raquel takes her leave of the others, taking some tacos from Colleen.

"So tell us everything now." It was close to midnight and the girls are sitting in the living room with a glass of wine in hand or on the table in the center watching "Notting Hill." It was Micha who asked the question. Her brown hair had grown a little since she last saw her, Colleen thought. Her dark skin was a little paler than usual. Suddenly, in her pain, she never noticed that the world around her was still spinning as usual. Ida had a boss who seemed to be looking for the right way to fire her, Misha was working more than normal because she needed to and couldn't say no to overtime, and Elena had told her about some wedding dresses she wanted to try on one day because she wanted to marry Jackson.

Embarrassment and guilt mix inside her and she explodes into tears that quickly roll down her cheeks. To no avail, Colleen tries to calm herself down to explain to her friends that she feels bad for not having been around for so long and that she feels guilty for forgetting that there are people around her that she loves very much. Strangely enough, her three friends understood what she was talking about and reassured her about the situation. "You are not for nothing there." Whispers Elena to her. "We all have our worries. Life is not perfect. We love you in spite of everything Lyly."

After her crying subsides, Colleen tells her friends about the not-so-chance meeting she had with Aidan's fiancée Sarah. No one knew what to make of the young man's situation yet. "He's at fault, but to hide a serious relationship all these years? And she never realized it?" Ida points out. Not pushing their heavy minds any further, they decide to finish one last movie and go to sleep. All but Colleen had to go to work in a few hours. "Howl's Moving Castle," by Studio Ghibli was the last movie choice of the evening. Misha, not being a fan of animated films, flinched a bit but was carried away by the enthusiasm of her friends.

Tonight was the best night in ages for Colleen. Even before her breakup with Aidan, this peace of mind and joy was not part of her daily routine. Maybe they were doomed from the start. Maybe he saw further ahead than she did... Who knows?