People didn’t even bother to hide their curious glances. They were probably wondering why someone like him was with someone like me.
No.
I balled my fists. It wasn’t fair to assume the worst about people’s thoughts. It wasn’t fair to them or me. On the other hand, after a lifetime of hearing and reading garbage comments online, I couldn’t be that far off.
Pace came up alongside me and bumped his shoulder with mine. He grinned down at me in a questioning way, like he was checking in. I unclenched my jaw and smiled with a nod as if to say,Oh, I’m fine, all this is totally normal for me.
Imagine a world where weweretogether. What if we just walked around, ran errands, and got our toes done?
After being shown our chairs, I awkwardly maneuvered my way in, deciding to place my bag on the floor, only realizing after that there were hooks under the armrest thing to hang it on. I just wanted to be seated and in position as fast as possible.
Once settled, I quickly pulled off my shoes and socks, hoping there was no embarrassing sock fuzz to draw attention to me. Score one for packing extra sandals. I would be able to wear them until my toes were dry. Pace was frowning, looking at mylegs. I had one toe pointed, tentatively testing the scalding water of the pedicure bowl.
I swallowed. Was he checking out my legs? Or did my socks leave weird lines on my skin, and he was pondering if I had some infectious condition?
“Guess I didn’t really think this through.” He tugged his hat off and ran a hand through his smooshed hair, making little sections flip up in funny directions.
“Hmm?” I asked. My heart thumped even louder in my chest; it hadn’t taken a rest in a while.
“My shoes and pants.”
“Where are your little running shorts when you need them?” I said quietly.
He looked up, surprised at my joke. I guess it had been some time since I’d spoken.
“Should I just take off my shoes?” he asked, looking at the lady who pulled up a stool to work on his feet. She nodded eagerly and gestured for him to sit.
“I’ll just take off my shoes and socks then. What about my pants?” His hands went to the button of the jeans he wore. “Should I take these off?”
It was as though the whole salon had been listening because all at once dozens of heads snapped in our direction, and it was dead silent save the bubbling water of the machines.
I had a vision of calendar Pace suddenly shirtless and back in his hot pants, one leg up on the chair, next to me, as he undulated his hips and performed a striptease for the lucky ladies of Cozy Creek Nails.
“Hell yes,” somebody on the other side of the room whispered, followed by a few hushed giggles.
So much for not drawing attention to ourselves. I focused on my feet as I checked the water again. Still a few degrees short of boiling.
I forced myself to dip my feet, watching as my skin turned pink in the bubbling water almost instantly. Wasn’t the best feeling. I felt Pace’s eyes on the side of my face, but I continued to look forward, picking at my cuticles.
“I’ll just roll them up,” he said.
A few “ah, man” echoed around the room.
When the woman helping Pace gasped, I looked back in their direction. She was looking at his legs in horror.
“Is it bad?” he asked with a nervous chuckle. “I guess between all my runs and the fire boots, I have neglected my nails a bit.”
His technician walked away, calling out in Vietnamese to someone in the back. Her tone wasn’t panicked exactly, but she didn’t seem as calm as the others who chatted quietly back and forth together as they worked.
When she returned, she had another technician in tow, one with shoulder-length dark hair. She blew out air between her lips and pulled up a chair next to her coworker.
Pace gave me a sheepish shrug before dipping his toes into the water. “Damn,” he said and pulled his foot out. “Is it supposed to be that hot?” he asked the ladies.
They shook their heads, laughing, and messed with some knobs at his feet.
“That’s better, thank you. Think I about lost a layer of skin,” he joked to me.
He looked to where my own foot soup was happening. “You’re tougher than me,” he said, then added a low whistle.
