The Hairy Truth About Love

Nia is your average girl in an average world. Until her 20th birthday when everything goes wrong. Rescued by and forced to stay with a strange man who has a strange secret does not seem like fun.

I never imagined I’d be spending my 20th birthday running terrified through the woods, but unfortunately it happened. Now however, I’m sitting in some strange mans house watching as he roughly searches for a clean blanket. Taking my eyes from his grumbling back I stare into the cup of hot chocolate he had handed me just a few moments ago. The liquid shakes in my trembling hands as I begin to recall the last few hours.

(6 Hours Earlier)

“Are you finished with your hair yet? I swear you’ve been in there forever!” I ask irritably. Emily, my best friend since 2nd grade has been fixing her hair for the last hour. “It’s not even your party.”

“Hey! Just because it’s your night doesn’t mean I can’t steal the spotlight from you. All the guys won’t be able to keep their claws off me!” She exclaims fluffing her curly hair one last time.

“That’s not very nice,” I laugh. She gives me a ‘your point being?’ face and turns back to the mirror checking her makeup.

“It’s not like you’re trying very hard. You only want one guy to look your way,” Emily says finally leaving the mirror. She comes over to me and starts examining my hair and make-up. As she starts messing and shaping my hair she continues. “I don’t have anyone special in mind so I have to work extra hard to make Mr. Right come to me.”

“Em,” I say, firmly grabbing her hands and looking seriously at her face. “You can’t keep thinking you aren’t good enough. You’re beautiful. I’m sorry your dad never saw that, but he’s gone now. You’re funny, smart, caring, and any guy would be lucky to have you. Honestly I’ve always been jealous of you. You’re so pretty and guys have always liked you. I haven’t had one boyfriend. No one’s asked me out and all I ever get is pity from everyone. I-“

“The amount of boyfriends I’ve had doesn’t really say anything good. You shouldn’t sell yourself short Nia,” Emily says cutting me off. She stands up straight and puts her hands on her hips giving me a stern look. “Okay, this is not what a birthday is supposed to be about. How about this, we are both sexy b*****s and no one can tell us different!”

“The sexiest,” I laugh grinning widely at her.

“See! There’s no need to mope around,” she looks toward my closet and stares at the two dresses hanging there. “We are going to make a lot of men choke tonight with these hotties.” Emily snickers at the garments.

“Well the party starts in an hour so we had better get in them,” I tell her. Standing up I make my way to my dress. Emily does the same and we both undress and redress into our dresses. “I better not be planning on running a marathon.” I say tugging at the bottom of my dress. It’s a deep purple and stops just above my knees. It has one strap with some thin flowing material hanging loosely around my right arm in a make shift sleeve. The dress is form fitting and leaves me just enough room to walk at a fast pace.

“Don’t attract any creepy guys and you won’t have to worry about running,” Emily says smoothing out her dress.

Her dress is red and more risky then mine. It stops short on her thighs and has one small shoulder strap. She is a busty girl and it was difficult for us to find her a dress that fit just right in the chest. With this dress she at least doesn’t have to worry about the girls popping out to say hello. Her blonde hair falls down around her shoulders giving her a very sexy look. I know that tonight she won’t be going home alone.

“I don’t think I’m the one who has to worry about that,” I tell her reaching to put on my silver high heels.

“Well, who knows, maybe Zack will ask you out finally,” She says as she slips into her black open toed heels.

“Em, for the last time it’s not like that!” I sigh.

“You never know, I’m just saying.”

“Don’t just say okay? I don’t like him like that and I’d rather not have to be awkward around him.”

“Okay, okay. Fine,” She says rolling her eyes.

“Good, now let’s go,” I say heading out into the hallway of my small apartment.

“Whoa! Nuh-uh. Last make-up check first. For both of us,” Emily says standing with her hands once again on her hip. I stare at her for a second knowing her she won’t move until I give in.

 Sighing I walk over to the bathroom and we both begin to check ourselves out one last time. My brown hair just barely reaches my shoulders and the layers are styled to be a little messy and flare out a bit.

“We are hot!” Emily says posing to herself in the mirror.

“Alright your highness lets-“

“Hey!” I snap out of my memories as the strange man’s voice cuts through the room.

“Yeah?” I ask a little confused, the small smile that had started to appear on my face due to my memories fading away.

“What do you mean yeah? I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last 5 minutes. I found some clothes you could wear. I didn’t think you wanted to sit in a ripped up muddy dress anymore,” the man says holding some clothes in his hand as he stands in front of me. “Figured you’d probably want a bath too.”

“Thanks,” I say not feeling comfortable to say anything else. I shiver as at the thought of being warm again.

“Come on then, I’ll show you where the bath is,” he says as he turns and walks deeper into the house. When he notices I haven’t followed he stops and turns around. “Look, I know you’re scared and confused and being in a stranger’s house isn’t comforting. But I can promise I won’t hurt you, I did save your life. Now, you can sit there and freeze all night or you can get clean and be warm.”

He stands there staring hard at me waiting for my decision. I shiver again and look down at my torn dress, now nothing but a ripped up dirty rag compared to its earlier beauty. Carefully I begin to stand but with shaky legs I stumble and almost fall. I don’t fall completely though as the man, using some in human speed, catches me. Frightened I try to push him away but it’s no use. He curses and lifts me up into his arms. Slowly he carries me further into the house and up some stairs. I clutch his shirt wishing to get away from him but no longer struggling because of his warm body against my freezing one.

He sets me gently down on the toilet and backs away from me setting ‘my’ clothes on the counter. I look around the small room and see the bath is steaming and ready for me to use. Looking toward the man I see he is staring at me.

“Soap and such is sitting on the lip of the tub. There are fresh towels in the cupboard. If you need anything just give me a holler,” he says turning around and walking out of the room.

“Wait!” I say, barely above a whisper. The man stops and looks at me. “What’s your name?” I ask, needing to know who I had been saved by.

“Corin,” he says. Corin stares at me for a moment more before briskly closing the door leaving me alone in the small room.

A/N: Nia is said NEE-AH

Author's Note

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