**** Extra note: I have gone back to the fic and done a lot of editing and additions! I didn't like how this was after I went back and looked at it after about a year of writing. Sorry to anyone who liked the original two chapters but I had to change it around. About everything is still here, I just added to it and fit it to current style of writing.
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Allen looked over Rio's body, watching as she rested her eyes blissfully unaware of the world around her in the midst of her afterglow and exhaustion. Her chest rose slowly and fell with a gentle exhale. Her pink lips were parted slightly, so tempting.
"I'm nowhere near done with you."
Allen warned her of what was to come, touching the swell of her hip as she lay with her eyes closed. Rio was unsuspecting to his next planned ambush of her tired body. He was ready to pounce on her again when the salon phone rang downstairs on his business floor. Rio opened her eyes, making some disgruntled, startled sound from the ringing.
"Hm?" She mumbled before registering it was the Salon's phone disturbing the peace. "Allen, your phone is ringing."
"I'm well aware, Princess"
Getting up from the bed, he grabbed boxers and slipped them on before stepping down the stairs to answer it. He picked the phone up and held it to his face, face betraying his pleasant voice. He wasn't in the mood to entertain business calls. The salon wasn't even open.
"Allen's Salon." He greeted, tone just a smidge passive aggressive. " We're currently outside business hours but how may I help you?"
"Guess who."
A high, over feminized, shrill voice came over the phone. Rolling his eyes, Allen looked down at the phone receiver with annoyance. The sugary voice he was listening to belonged to a not so sugary person. One he would have preferred not bother him period, let alone call while on his day off. Especially while he had Rio waiting upstairs naked for him.
"Michelle, the salon is closed right now." He told her, trying to cut off whatever request she was going to ask. "You can come tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse me..."
"Oh but Allen, I have a show tonight and used up all my hair spray. I really need some, could I come by and buy a can? " She pleaded sweetly, injecting right as Allen was going to hang up. "I could never perform without my hair done, you wouldn't allow that would you? Oh please? I won't be fit for the stage!"
Unable to decipher whether she was being honest or looking for a reason to see him, he consented to her request. Michelle gave a 'happy' squeal and hung up the phone promptly before Allen could change his mind about the out of business hours accommodation. Allen heard the click from her abrupt hang up and looked over to the stairs. He climbed them, muttering under his breath and entered his room.
"Pink piece of shit."
Tugging on his pants, he tightened his jaw as Rio shifted in his bed, opening her eyes after seeming to have settled back in to his sheets when he went to answer the phone. She saw he was getting dressed and didn't understand why.
"Why are you getting dressed already?" She questioned him, blue eyes looking to him with great confusion. "I thought..."
"I'm not done with you, stay there and keep looking pretty. I'll be back before you know it." Allen explained to her, picking up his dress shirt as he began buttoning up the snaps without even casting a glance to them. "Hairspray emergency, Princess. The minute they leave I'm relocking that door and coming back. Don't you worry."
Rio nodded in understanding, taking the sheets to her body. She watched Allen throw his navy cardigan back on and followed him with her eyes as he searched for his shoes before slipping them on. He gave her a loaded look, conveying his later intentions.
"Be right back."
The pink haired magician appeared at the door as if by ...magic. The doorbell rang and once and Allen made no attempt to quicken his pace down the stairs. He walked slowly, not pleased with Michelle's visit. The doorbell rang again, and he wished certain people knew when they weren't wanted.
He opened the door for her without greeting, letting her in. She entered with confidence only an oblivious individual would have, not noticing Allen's displeased grimace. Michelle fancied him, it wasn't hard to see. He didn't care for her at all, not that she picked up on that which added to his dislike.
The unmutual interest was only the tip of the iceberg, Michelle's insistent behavior despite knowing Allen was in a relationship was what crossed the line. Not to mention that, ironically enough, her rude and conceited personality turned him off. She knew Allen fancied women of a kinder nature and tried putting a front to reel him in all the time.
Hoping Michelle's voice wouldn't carry up through the stairs, he opened the large drawer behind the salon counter and took out the brand hairspray Michelle frequently bought for her iconic swirled performance hair. The tin of the tall cylinder hit the counter in what he tried to get across to Michelle as inconvenienced and he hit a button on the cash register.
" 400G."
Michelle looked at the very tall cylinder, pointing to it with alarm.
"Oh, Allen that's a far too big. I buy the small one for 150G, you know that." She admonished him with a flick of her wrist. "You're so silly. Give me the smaller once. Er-please. Please give me the smaller one?"
Allen wasn't stupid and knew that someone who used hairspray as frequently as Michelle did would logically prefer the larger sized product for the discount value If not simply for the sake of not needing to run out and buy it as frequently. However, Michelle thought she was clever by buying the smallest size, knowing she'd have an excuse to drop in frequently. Caught in a bad mood from being pulled away from Rio on his day off, he was tired of the trick and gave her the larger can, the largest one in fact. And he lied.
" This is all I have in stock for a while, weeks probably."
Michelle's face fell and Allen's face tightened, his patience wearing thinner. Her fake pout was annoying as all hell, even more annoying than her ruse.
" The smaller cans sold out and I won't have them for a while. The company I buy from is in the city and their delivery isn't the most timely, I'm sure you understand. " he explained to her, gesturing to the hair product. " Besides, with this you won't need anymore until next shipment. Lucky you."
The pink haired magician frowned, sad that her month long ruse was having a wrench thrown in it. She took out her wallet, retrieved the money and handed Allen the payment. He took it from her and proceeded to gather her change. When she took it from him, he shut the drawer and tried bidding her goodbye. Quick to come up with an excuse not to go yet, Michelle interjected.
" Would it be too much to ask for you to trim my bangs? "
"Yes, it would."
The curt way Allen answered her drove searing hot aggravation through her, and for a moment her pseudo-sweet persona almost gave way to her true self. Her face scrunched as she braced herself to snap at him but she pulled her lips back in a tight, toothy smile and returned to her Allen specific mask. Clearing her throat, she took the hairspray in hand.
"Oh, I suppose I should just come back tomorrow."
" Sounds about right." Allen confirmed, locking the register with the small key. "I'm actually open then.'
Hairspray in hand, Michelle gave him a forced pleasant thanks and left. Turning his eyes up towards the ceiling with a relief he tossed the register keys back in a drawer and walked over to lock the salon door and made sure the 'closed' sign was still up. Ready to return to the treat between his sheets, he strode up the stairs to his bedroom smirking to himself.
"Hope you're ready for me." he boasted suggestively, stepping through the door and tossed of his shoes, shrugging off his cardigan, the navy sleeves bunching as the garment sagged to his bent elbows and then fell to the floor. "I'm coming over there as soon as I get these off. "
Rio sat up, covering herself with the bed sheet as Allen's eyes ate her up while he undid his slacks. Down to his underwear, he crept over the bedspread to his girlfriend. He tried pulling the sheets down from her chest but Rio held them to her and twisted away with unhappy eyes. The displeased side glance she gave Allen made him cock a brow.
"Princess?"
"Michelle was downstairs." Rio huffed, eyes cast to the side away from the red head of hair hovering by her neck. "I heard her talking."
Allen sighed, wishing Michelle wasn't such a loud mouth. Her voice carried upstairs like he had feared. Rio was just as aware of Michelle's schemes as Allen was. The disdain was far stronger on Rio's side being that she herself had been the reason the magician had the opportunity to move in to town in the first place. A week collecting materials and hard earned money went in to all the construction projects she'd done for the sake of the community, including Michelle's home. And what Rio got for her gift to Michelle was a stab in the back.
"It's your day off, why did you even let her in?" She demanded, her voice edged with enough aggravation to warn Allen not to brush her off. "You're too nice."
" I'm too nice?" Allen deadpanned, knowing his reputation. "Me? I'm too nice?"
"You know what I meant!" She whined, her angry tone dying down to annoyance. "You can be an asshole but you're MY asshole."
Allen smirked at her wording and pointedly looked at Rio as she peaked the side in his direction to gauge his reaction.
"I'm your asshole?
"Stop."
Allen caught the skin of her jugular between his two front teeth and nipped her there. She reared back from the bite in surprise, swatting him on the face without realizing where her hand was going. Allen caught her hand approaching his face and kissed the pulse of her wrist.
" Easy, baby" he chided her. " I'm a good boy. Naughty, but good all the same where it counts."
Rio huffed, her bangs lifting with the gust of air and falling back to place on her forehead. The shimmery yellow tufts of hair still freshly trimmed along with the rest of her hair courtesy of none other than a certain rehaired beautician boyfriend.
" Michelle is a paying customer, you know how that goes. If I got upset everytime that Amir guy came around you wouldn't be very happy with me."
"He's a prince and he likes my merchandise." Rio argued, referring to the fact the Prince often visited the farm to purchase things . "Like I'm going to shoo him away."
"Yeah, merchandise. That's what he's after. "
Rio rolled her eyes but accepted there was no real reason to be up in arms over Michelle being a persistent, rickety third wheel. It was stupid to stress over someone her boyfriend had no interest in. He hated Michelle and she knew it. Everyone knew it, everyone except the culprit herself. The level of narcissism was unreal.
"Michelle is dense." she lamented, turning back to Allen who appreciated her warming cold shoulder. "She needs to get a clue."
"She needs a new color. All that pink makes her look like a gumball." Allen piped up, without missing a beat which tickled Rio's funny bone. "I thought I hated that stuff before. Shit."
"You really are an asshole."