"I'm so excited!" Cadence squealed, her voice loud as the music vibrated throughout the car. The window's were down but our excitement was way up.

"I know you are, you haven't stopped talking about it since last night." Angel said and Cadence sunk into her seat in a huff.

"It's just that I've never got my nails done before!" She whined and I giggled from beside her.

"You've never had your nails done before?" Angel looked back in disbelief, her hands clasped on her seat. "Not even painted?" She asked, but Cadence shook her head.

"Well no, I've got my nails painted before but just not done professionally." She said, leaning forwards, her face lit-up as she looked out of the window at someone eating a hot dog. It was like this was her first life and she was seeing everything for the first time.

Parking in a free parking space, we made our way down the pathway altogether. The smell of rich coffee beans as we made our way passed various coffee shops, the smell of fresh baked pastries and the sweet scent of the fall air. I waved to Ceres as we passer the flower shop. Walking forwards, my eyes latched onto some new arrivals in the book store. I stared at it like a little kid in a candy store.

I grabbed Angels arm gently, making her look at me. "Can we quickly go in here?" I asked, unsure if they would want to. Angel and everyone else gave a brief nod before entering the shop with me.

As I swung the heavy wooden door open wide, an old bell rang, almost sounding as if it was on its last legs.

"I love book stores!" Cadence squealed, running inside.

"You love everything." Charlotte commented, following her in mock reluctance.

The smell of books hit me as I walked down the aisles slowly, my finger dragging along the spines of the books. Picking up a book that rather appealed to me, I flicked through it, breathing-in the comforting smell of old paper.

"New edition just came in!" A weak and shaky voice said from beside me making me jump out of my skin.

"Sorry dear, didn't mean to scare you."

I glanced sideways from the pages to see a small old lady smiling up at me. I was struck by her silver hair glinting in a chink of sunlight that was streaming in from a skylight. The lady looked adorable in a purple cardigan with a matching skirt and a prim white top.

"It's okay. So these are new?" I tilted the book towards the assistant and she nodded.

"Came in this morning actually!" She said excitedly.

"How much is this?" I asked and she quickly grabbed a sheet that had the latest prices on. "Seven dollars."

Feeling happy with my purchase, I waved goodbye to the assistant and headed out the door, her feeble voice shouting something to me that made me smile. "Hope to see you again!"

I popped my head round the door. "I'm sure you will." I gave her one last wave before the door shut behind me.

The nail bar was situated at the end of the street. I quietly laughed to myself as I saw Cadence's eyes lit up with a big grin spread across her face.

"I'm going for yellow or orange nails." She enthused. "With flowers too!"

"Oooh," I grinned. "I like the look of those!" I pointed to the poster in the window of a girl sporting her newly-painted nails. "It's clever how they make the flowers look real! I might go for purple!"

Charlotte and Angel expressed widely in excitement as they said they couldn't wait to see the array of colours and designs on offer.

The hum of chatter reached my ears through the open door. "Hey there!" Came a bubbly voice as a blonde lady with falling curls sashayed over to us; her big eyes sparkling. "I'm guessing we have Willow and friends? Am I right? Come! Come! I've saved you seats over here with our lovely ladies, Maria, Perry, Sandy and Carlo."

"Carlo?" Whispered Cadence. "Me want Carlo!"

"Yes please!" Giggled Angel.

"Oh honey, he won't be into you in that way!" Smiled the assistant.

"Why are all the cute ones unavailable!" Sighed Cadence whilstfully.

Theo's chiselled jawline and melting eyes flashed before me for a few hopeful seconds. Carlo had similar features but lighter hair.

I was seated with a young lady with long chocolate-brown hair and big hazel eyes. Her long, slim fingers wrapped over mine as she guided them onto a little cushion. Shen was one of those girls who was plain yet naturally attractive.

"Hey, I'm Maria." She smiled warmly.

"It's nice to meet you Maria, I'm Willow." I shot her an equally bright smile.

"What would you like to have today?" She picked out an array of little books filled with all kinds of nail designs but I thought back on the design I saw on that poster.

"I saw a poster on your window." Maria nodded, leaning her arms on the table in front. "I was wondering if I could get that please?" She nodded again, but more enthusiastically this time.

"The purple ones with the lavender flowers on?" She asked, putting away the books next to a mug that was beside her.

"Yes. Those please."

"Of course I can do that for you. Do you want them as acrylics?" She looked up and I nodded. She stood up from her white chair and picked out the colours from the rack of nail polish, along with everything else needed.

She sat back down, putting the nail polish aside and started on wiping down my nails. "So how has your day been? Have you girls got up to anything exiting?" She asked and I watched her as she filed down my uneven nails.

"My day's been fine thank you. We all wanted to get our nails done today and go shopping, I think." I rested my free arm on the table in front, Cadence with a wide grin on her face as she watched Carlo do her nails.

She called dibs on him way before any of us could.

The next time I looked down at my nails, they seemed to be half way done.

Cadence caught my eye. "Can we do a reveal at the end?" Carlo and Maria laughed from behind their tables.

I leant in. "Definitely." I told her and she shrieked, turning to Charlotte who was sat right beside her. As I turned away, I saw Angel's face wide and pink.

I faced her properly this time and her eyes flicked between Carlo and me, before mouthing something ridiculously true, 'he's hot.' I enthusiastically nodded back and she giggled.

The music coming from the little radio located on a high shelf streamed into my ears and I instantly relaxed. The last time I had gotten my nails done, believe it or not, was for my tenth birthday. I wasn't allowed long acrylics like I wanted but what I got instead was still good enough. It was dark red nail polish with french tips - luckily I did have quite long finger nails at the time so it looked good.

"Do you enjoy being a nail artist?" I found myself asking, before I could stop myself. Maria looked up, pausing with the nail stencil in her hand.

"Yes. I've always wanted to work in a nail salon since I was young." She replied with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, how old were you?"

She laughed to herself. "Since I was four." She looked back down at the nail and pressed the stencil against it. "My Mom bought me a nail kit and I used it every single day. I could tell my Mom regretted buying me it though because I ended up painting the walls in the polish."

I smiled at her words. "I've done that before. Well, not with nail polish but with crayons. I remember my Mom left me for a couple minutes and there was a new pack of crayons on the table that she had got for me. She came back to every single wall being drawn on."

My Mom being mad was an understatement.

"How did she react?" She cupped here mouth, muffling her laughter.

I shut my eyes and then opened them again, the memory flashing in my head. "She didn't let me use them unsupervised ever again." I chuckled to myself. "My Dad however..."

My thoughts drifted a moment. Dad acted a LOT different!

"...He wanted to ground me for a month because he said how the wallpaper was expensive. But my Mom told him that wasn't going to work because I was just a kid." I cleared my throat, sitting up in my seat. "But that's what kids do, right?"

Maria sent me a comforting smile, finishing up with that hand. "Every kid has done something that has made their parents angry." She gave me an unfamiliar look with a warm smile on her face.

I felt a genuine smile appear on my face and I cleared my throat. "H-How did your Mom react?"

She patted around my finger with a cotton pad, cleaning up some of the nail polish. "Oh! Well she made me clean it up. With her help though."

"Glad to know someone's done the same thing as me...un a way." I added, laughing quietly to myself.

I glanced around the salon and coughed — almost choking — when I saw Cadence and Carlo smiling at each other. But it wasn't just a normal, friendly, smile, there was also a look of fondness on both their faces - But no one seemed to notice. Charlotte was too busy exploring through the pages of a magazine, whereas Angel was too busy scrolling through her phone with her free hand.

I chuckled to myself, making a mental note to talk to Cadence about that sometime - that was if I didn't forget which I most likely would.

"How does this look? Is this what you wanted?" Maria's voice brought me back into reality. She tilted my hand towards me.

"They look amazing. Thank you so much Maria." I thanked her for probably the millionth time today and she gave my hand a quick reassuring squeeze.

The other girls finished up around about the same time as me. As I bent down to pick up my bag to grab the money out of it, I heard footsteps - high heels clip-clopping along the floor to be exact. "Camila, your three o'clock appointment is here!" Maria shouted, pointing to someone at the door.

I swung my bag onto my shoulder and passed Maria the cash.

"I feel like Stephanie with my nails done."

Angel commented, tapping her nails on the table in front of her. I snorted and did the same.

Cadence leant forward on her chair, thanking Carlo as he wandered away — his gaze lasting on her for longer than necessary. "Willow, I can't believe Theo was at your house last night!" She looked at me with her usual big eyes.

I snorted and look down at my lap, my fingers playing with the hem of my sweatshirt.

In the background, I heard the same sounds of the heels clip-clopping along the floor — seeming faster than they were walking before...

I sat up straight and looked back to see who it was but it just so happened that I caught site of their dark hair and their Prada bag as they left in a hurry.

I turned my head to my friends who were just as confused as I was. "Who's that?" I found myself asking.

My voice must of been louder than I expected it to be because Maria turned around. "Miss Rose. She's one of our regulars."

"I recognise that name." Angel said, her head resting in her hands as she stared at the table in thought.

"Yeah me too. That sounds familiar." Charlotte nodded slowly and she looked up at the door, leaning back in her chair as she tried to see if she could spot the girl.

"Well, why did she leave? Was it because of what we were talking about?" Cadence frantically asked, her voice rising in pitch.

"I doubt she heard anything. I wouldn't worry." I calmly said though my stomach was far from being calm. The last name 'Rose' really did sound familiar.

Charlotte nodded in agreement, swinging her black purse onto her shoulder and snatching her phone from the table into her hand. "Yeah. I really don't think she would've heard us, we were pretty quiet. I think." We followed her out the door and I waved to Maria and everyone else.

"You think? Thinking is not good enough!" Angel's face scrunched up.

Me and Cadence both stayed back whilst Angel and Charlotte squabbled, which seemed to be an occurring thing I had come to notice - Though there was no harsh feelings behind it, it was just simply stupid little fights that friends got into.

I pulled the sleeves of my sweater over my hands as the air became more nippy since we were walking closer and closer to the beach. "I really want to get take out." Cadence whined, her hair blowing in the slight breeze.

"Yeah, me too." I glanced down at my phone and look at the time. "Why don't we go to Al's Diner?" I suggested and Cadence jumped for joy, running and tapping both Charlotte and Angel on their shoulders.

"Al's Diner. Let's grab food." She ushered with big eyes and I came to stand next to her, nodding in agreement. I could practically feel my stomach growling.

"What about shopping?" Angel's brows furrowed and so did Cadence's.

"Why don't we eat and then shop? That way we will have enough energy." I saw Angel thinking.

Charlotte seems to be up for anything. "Yeah. Okay, that sounds good." Angel nodded at my words and we all diverted back the way we came, back to the car.

"Thank goodness I thought I was going to shrivel up and die." Cadence whispered to me and I smiled at her.

Managing to get a parking space in the parking lot — which seemed to be overflowing, I stepped out of the car and walked up to the door. My eyes widened like saucers when I caught site of a familiar mustang in the window reflection.

"Guys." I started, and they looked at me. "I'm thinking maybe we should go some place else." I suggested with an awkward laugh. Cadence's smile dropped into a frown.

"But we're already here." She said and I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. "Are you sure you don't want to come here?"

I swallowed, putting on a fake smile. "No! It's actually fine. Let's go eat!" I swung open the door and as soon as I was inside, my eyes searched through the diner not stopping until I found him.

Charlotte brushed passed me, eyeing me up. "Are you okay?" She whispered to me away from the others but I nodded my head with a smile.

"I am great." I said, knowing damn well I was not.

I hadn't spoken or seen Theo since yesterday and things ended in an unusual way. So no, I didn't think I was okay.

Charlotte gave me a wary look. "If you say so." She shrugged and walked over to a free table near the back. I quickly pushed my bangs over my face and covered my face with my hand, pretending to act like I was just cold. Cold in LA.

Great! I couldn't see him. Maybe it wasn't even his car. I was many people had cars like that. If I was rich, I definitely would.

"Willow? Is that you?" The sound of my name made me snap my head up. Clair. It was only Clair. Phew! "I didn't know you were working." She said.

I gulped and walked over to her, helping her set down the boxes of napkins in her hands. "Oh. I'm not. I'm just here with my friends." I extended a finger out from my sweater, sceptical if Theo was really here or not.

I saw my friends looking at me, Cadence giving a small wave to Clair as she looked over. "I'll be over in a sec!" I mouthed to them and Angel gave me a thumbs up.

"Your friends seem nice." She said and I quickly popped around the counter, helping her put the napkins and clean cutlery away.

"Yeah. They are really nice. I'm glad I have some people I can hang out with at school." I smiled to myself. If it wasn't for Angel; I would of probably been sitting in my room in the dark with some depressing music blasting from my speaker.

"Oh yes. Betty has moved hasn't she." She said as she remembered. She frowned and I nodded slowly. "But that's great you have friends to hang out with." She nudged my side, giving me a smile of hope.

The bell dinged and she looked over to the chef who had rung it. "Duty calls." She shouted, quiet enough for only me to hear. I walked back around the counter, moving out of people's way. "Speak later!"

I waved to her and walked over to the booth my friends were sat in but as I dud that, my eyes met Theo's in an instant. He tilted his head slightly and I felt my heart race. I found every will power not to keep my eyes on his but he looked so good. His brown hair was swept back giving me a clear view of a scar on his forehead. How had I never noticed that before?

I breathed in and immediately turned my head away, feeling his eyes on me up until I sat down. "Who was that?" Angel asked and I gulped.

"W-What? Who?" I stuttered and all three girls looked at me like I was crazy.

"That girl you were talking to." Angel finished, her brows knitted together.

I nodded in understanding and laughed my awkwardness off. "Oh! Her. That's Clair. I work with her."

"You work here?" Cadence asked looking up at me from her slouched position. "How come I've never seen you here before?"

I shrugged slightly. "Who knows but I've been working here for quite a while." I laughed and picked up a menu from the table, my eyes scanning the choices.

I had only eaten here a couple of times; I wouldn't normally decide to come to the place of work but they do have some good food here. The amount of times I had served people their burgers or their waffles with my mouth watering.

Though it was not so great when I was serving people their food on an empty stomach.

"What's the best thing to get?" Cadence popped her head over my shoulder, looking down at the menu in my hands.

I pointed at the club sandwich and I saw her nodding. "Good choice." She said and I saw Clair wandering over to us, pen and pad in her hands.