Make Me (Editing)

eight (edited)

I had never felt so calm and collected walking into work as I did today. It wasn't just the new look, but the new confidence it had given me, that allowed me to feel this way.

After getting home from the salon just after midnight last night, Becca had been waiting eagerly to see what Nikki had done to me. She knew just as much as I had about what was going to be done to me, but also loved it just as much as I did when she saw me walk through the door.

Becca had never been shy of a little change herself, going from brunette, to blonde, to red, before settling on the black with pink bangs that she now had. I would never be as adventurous with colours as her, but was excited to have at least made the move to blonde.

I walked over to reception, needing to ask about getting new ID photos taken. Although the company had relatively lenient dress-code policies, it was required that our key-cards be updated whenever a more major change was made. This was most certainly one of those times.

"Ally?" Bella looked up at me with her mouth open in shock. "I hardly recognised you! You're so gorgeous. I mean you always were, but-"

"Thanks, Bella," I chuckled, shutting her up from her nervous rambling. "I was just wondering how I go about updating my ID?"

I followed her into a tiny office, located just behind reception. She had me stand in front of a blank wall, taking my new photo in a couple of clicks. She showed me the picture, making sure that I was happy with how it looked, before connecting it to her computer.

"We're placing an order next week," she informed me, "so it'll be a little while before it comes in."

"All good," I smiled, thanking her before heading back into the lobby, just in time to see Conner arriving.

He stopped and stared for a good minute, deliberately making it awkward as only he could.

"Nikki's really done it this time," he beamed.

"She sure has," I laughed in agreement. "You like it?"

"Like it?" he repeated my question. "Ally, I would almost consider going bisexual for you."

"All I ever wanted," I joked.

The two of us headed for the elevator, selecting our respective levels as the doors closed us in. I said goodbye to Conner as he got off at his stop, making the rest of the journey to the top floor solo.

"You look different," Nikki smiled mischievously in my direction, drawing a considerable amount of attention to where I stood. People were mumbling all over the place, but it didn't bother me. "New skirt?"

"It is, actually," I smiled across at her. "Thanks for noticing."

I placed down Mr Gray's coffee on his vacant desk, thankful that I'd managed to fit in all of my extra errands this morning without making myself late. Heading into my own office, I shut the door and got straight to work, opening my emails to view my day's tasks.

Before I could even locate the email, the sound of someone knocking at my door made me jump a little. Hardly anyone ever came into my office.

"Come in," I called, anxious to see who was after me this early in the morning.

Sure enough, the door was opened, revealing a slightly dishevelled Mr Gray. He still looked sharp, but nowhere near as flawless as he usually did.

"Goo-," he began to speak, but stopped as soon as he looked over at me. An unknown emotion flashed across his face, most likely shock. But as always, the expression was gone as soon as it had come, being replaced by his usual stoic profile.