Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > Cracked nails & Red lollipops
Prologue
Calming music, slightly vanilla scented air, the sound of happy chatter and nail-dryers going on and off. Bright but somehow shaded walls from pink flowery lamps that hung under each manicure station. The sound of water falling slowly downwards into a dish, coming from the fountains along the windows, which made it impossible to see the busy streets outside. Warm wooden floors with comfy honey-colored rugs for people to put their bare feet on. Ceiling fans turning slowly around and around, giving off a gentle breeze that would cool anyone off from the blazing weather outside. Steaming coffee and tea machines to the left of the manicure stations, along with pretty porcelain tea cups to sip from. All those details describing a quaint little beauty salon called “Pretty & Flawless”.
A small sign had been hung up on the window and in small, delicate calligraphy wrote 'Needed Manicurist assistants' and a certain boy had just happened to walk by and see it. Who saw it, you ask? A teenager, though he looked as if he couldn't possibly be older than nineteen. He was beautiful, with a slim feminine body, caramel colored eyes rimmed with blackness, and the tightest pair of black skinny jeans anyone had ever seen. Along with a cute button nose, pink pouty lips, and a head of pretty brown hair that fell across his face, Ryan could probably stop anybody that happened to walk his way, no matter the gender.
Ryan had been on his way to the mall, planning on browsing for places to go to send an application at. He needed to get a job, since he had just moved out of his parents house a week ago, and he needed a salary that paid more than the current amount he was getting paid at seven-eleven. He didn't have much experience in anything, but he caught on rather quickly and people seemed to like him wherever he worked, despite his lack of talking and socializing, the women he worked with seemed to find his stuttering and shyness an adorable quality. And teased him about it twenty-four seven.
Stopping in his tracks at the sight of the sign, Ryan raised his eyebrows. “Manicurist assistants?” That's kind of an odd job. Ryan had never heard of it before. Why would a manicurist need an assistant? What, did they need someone to sit beside them and be a human nail dryer? Ryan bit a chipped nail, which was rather beaten down, since he had a habit of biting his nails on a regular basis, and pondered for a second. Would it pay good? What were the qualifications to being an assistant? Would he make an idiot out of himself for applying when it was such a girly job? Well, that didn't really matter, since half the people Ryan met told him they thought he was a girl at first glance anyway. Might as well go and check it out at least.
Shrugging, Ryan opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately his eyes widened, upon seeing how elegant and like, professional everything looked. He suddenly felt out of place,almost like a cheap whore going to church. Looking at the receptionist, who was a girl with sleek black hair that was twirled into a bun, a white uniform and a perfectly made-up face, Ryan stepped up to the counter nervously. He looked around, but he couldn't see anything since there were frosted glass doors leading to the rest of the salon, but the entrance hallway was pretty spiffy. Yes, very spiffy.
The girl smiled warmly. “Do you have an appointment?”she asked, taking out a binder and opening it to a list of names. Ryan quickly shook his head, and pointed to the sign wordlessly. He tried to talk as least as possible when going job hunting, or when being with anyone really, since his stutter wasn't something everyone thought nicely of, and here seemed like a calm place. Ryan would probably fuck up the whole 'aura' of the salon if he even opened his mouth to try to speak. Instead he either nodded or shook his head, and used his hands a lot.
Instantly the girls eyes lit up. “Do you want to apply for the job?!” she asked, seeming a little too eager for Ryan's likings. What, did no one else apply yet? Or was it something else...? Could it be that this was a nightmare job where they would make Ryan into a slave to file nails for the rest of his life? Instead of running from the place screaming, which Ryan would never do by the way, he nodded. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not this was the right job for him, since it was probably full of women, and Ryan wasn't good at talking to girls. Or boys, but either way most females bothered him.
“Okay, do you have an application paper with all your information?"
She raised an eyebrow as Ryan took out a bunch of crumpled papers, each one with at least one stain on them, probably from when he was fixing the slurpee machines, and handed them to her. He had been dumb enough to have been writing it at the same time, which is not a multi-task he would want to try again.
Ryan smiled sheepishly, and looked away as she opened up the papers (ripping a couple from all the stickiness) and scanned them briefly. After about two minutes she put the papers back on the desk, and smiled eagerly once more. “Ryan, is it? Let's go and meet who you'll be working for.”
What ...? She couldn't be serious. She didn't even ask him anything! She didn't even read the whole two and a half pages he wrote. Ryan stared at her with disbelieving eyes. How could someone hire him in less than five minutes?
When she continued to look at him with excited and maybe relieved eyes, Ryan started to worry. Was this really a good job to take...? Before Ryan could even think of another thing, the receptionist grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall, through the tinted doors, and into the nail room. He didn't have time to even get a word out before the girl got the attention of one of the manicurists. “Keltie! Know where Brendon is? I have his new assistant!” she said happily to a girl with pretty blond hair and bright eyes, who turned to look at them.
“Oh my god, finally! I didn't think a guy would ever show up! I mean, how hard is it to find a man who likes beauty salons and spa therapy? It's been like, three weeks and he's the first one!” Keltie practically shouted, as she flew up and ran over to Ryan, pulling him into a hug that nearly lifted him from the floor.
Ryan let out a squeak as he was practically ambushed, and blushed when Keltie eyed him up and down after she let him go. “I think Bren'll like him Shay, he's so cute!!” she squealed, and pinched his cheek. This was exactly what he meant when he said girls bothered him, they were so damn loud ! He raised his hand up and rubbed at his now abused cheek, and almost glared at Keltie, but lost the nerve when she smiled at him.
“What's your name, honey?” she asked, but Shay replied for him. “It's Ryan, Kelt, and stop friggin' glomping him! If he runs away cause you freaked him out we'll never find anyone to fill in the spot.” Shay just sighed when Keltie pouted at her, and shooed her away from a very perplexed Ryan. “Sorry about that Ryan, Keltie has ADHD.” she said, and shook her head solemnly.
“Hey!!!” Keltie shrieked, her long hair whipping around as she strode back over to the two of them. “That's mean Sha-sha, I do NOT have ADHD, I'm just very outgoing.” she finished, crossing her arms and folding them across her chest, and glared at Shay indignantly.
“You keep thinking that, but I'm going to go and find Brendon. See you later, Keltie. Ryan, come with me, unless you want to be molested by blondie over there.” she smirked, before turning around and strutting out of the room, heels clicking along the tiles of the hall. Ryan didn't know whether to laugh at the two's ridiculous antics, or to feel bad for Keltie, who turned widened eyes towards Ryan. “I would never do that!! Gosh!! She talks about me like I'm some kind of horny zebra!!”
Ryan coughed into his hand, badly hiding a giggle past his lips. Even though Keltie was a little nuts, she was funny, and Ryan could tell she was one of the very few girls he might actually like.
After running from the room, waving to Keltie on his way out, he looked through the hallway, only to have nobody out there. Ryan walked down, and went to the first door to the right and opened it up. Immediately his nose was filled with the scent of body oil, along with lavender incense. The massage room, obviously. But nobody was there. Only two empty beds with light purple towels draped over them. Ryan shut the door, and walked along to another door further down, but on the left side instead. This time a different scent came to his senses. ' Eww ...hot wax.'
Again, obviously, a hair removal...section. But still, nobody was in there either. Ryan quickly shut the door, happy to stay out of that room, and continued along the hall. He never knew the place was so big! The building looked so tiny on the outside. What else would be here? Ryan's curiosity moved him to another door, but his bladder stopped him from entering another room. He needed to find a restroom, he hadn't even noticed it earlier, but then again he didn't really have time to think about much during the time he'd been there.
He continued down the hall (which seemed to go on forever, and seemed much longer than the last time he'd been down it.) until he reached a door with the little man sign on it and pushed it open. He went over to the urinals and did his business, then went over to the sink and looked into the mirror. As he washed his hands he stared at the lights that ran around the mirror, it was like those ones you'd see in old fashioned dressing rooms. He was so into the cool designs on the walls and the decorated ceilings (this was a pretty stylish bathroom. Ryan was impressed.) that he didn't hear someone open the door and come into the bathroom. “Why hello there.”
If Ryan hadn't been holding onto the sinks edge, he was almost sure he would have fell over. The voice was so loud, and it echoed through the room, surprising Ryan. He turned around, and his eyes found who had been talking. Before he could stop it, Ryan gasped.
There, standing in the dim lights of the restroom, Was. The. Most. Adorable. Boy. Ryan. Had. Ever . Seen. He was wearing a pair of skinny's just like Ryan, but even they looked tighter than his own. His face was cute, almost endearing, with big chocolate brown eyes, and a pair of quirky red frames. He also had on a snug lavender hoodie, with a multicolored unicorn across the front. On anyone else Ryan would have out and laughed at the sight of a unicorn on a bright purple sweater, but for some reason he found it looked rather good on whoever it was that was standing in front of him.
Ryan heard a clearing of a throat, and quickly shut his mouth, which had been gaping open, and looked up quickly. He felt himself blush, he had clearly been gawking at him, how embarrassing. Ryan was about to apologize, when the boy spoke up again. “Are you Ryan?” he asked, smiling. When Ryan nodded he smiled even bigger.
“Oh good!!” He turned around and left, and Ryan stared at the spot where he had been a second ago. 'Wha-'
“Shayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! I found him, you can stop looking!!” he heard the boy shout, awfully loud. Then footsteps could be heard coming toward the bathroom again and he reappeared, and grinned toothily, which kind of made Ryan want to hug him. Ryan's eyes widened again as he blushed, he didn't even know who the kid was and he wanted to hug him? No, no, that's not right.
He was interrupted from his thoughts yet again though. “Ryan? I'm Brendon. Shay told me she told you who I was.”
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. He couldn't be who Ryan had to work with! No! Not the guy who he'd been caught practically molesting with his eyes! He'd probably already made a bad first impression. No scratch that, he knew he made a bad first impression, plus he didn't know a thing about nails! How was he going to do this?
Ryan fidgeted, then slowly but surely, nodded again. He was still in a little bit of a shock mode. Ten minutes ago he would have thought it crazy if someone had told him that he'd be working with a super hot guy, at a salon, as a manicurist assistant. Honestly. It kind of happened fast.
“So, Ryan. If you want, you can start tomorrow! Just come in at around eight-ish and we'll start your first day. Of course, it's not that hard a job, since you're with me, of all people.” Brendon laughed, and put a hand on his hip.
Ryan nodded.
Well then. He started tomorrow...
Calming music, slightly vanilla scented air, the sound of happy chatter and nail-dryers going on and off. Bright but somehow shaded walls from pink flowery lamps that hung under each manicure station. The sound of water falling slowly downwards into a dish, coming from the fountains along the windows, which made it impossible to see the busy streets outside. Warm wooden floors with comfy honey-colored rugs for people to put their bare feet on. Ceiling fans turning slowly around and around, giving off a gentle breeze that would cool anyone off from the blazing weather outside. Steaming coffee and tea machines to the left of the manicure stations, along with pretty porcelain tea cups to sip from. All those details describing a quaint little beauty salon called “Pretty & Flawless”.
A small sign had been hung up on the window and in small, delicate calligraphy wrote 'Needed Manicurist assistants' and a certain boy had just happened to walk by and see it. Who saw it, you ask? A teenager, though he looked as if he couldn't possibly be older than nineteen. He was beautiful, with a slim feminine body, caramel colored eyes rimmed with blackness, and the tightest pair of black skinny jeans anyone had ever seen. Along with a cute button nose, pink pouty lips, and a head of pretty brown hair that fell across his face, Ryan could probably stop anybody that happened to walk his way, no matter the gender.
Ryan had been on his way to the mall, planning on browsing for places to go to send an application at. He needed to get a job, since he had just moved out of his parents house a week ago, and he needed a salary that paid more than the current amount he was getting paid at seven-eleven. He didn't have much experience in anything, but he caught on rather quickly and people seemed to like him wherever he worked, despite his lack of talking and socializing, the women he worked with seemed to find his stuttering and shyness an adorable quality. And teased him about it twenty-four seven.
Stopping in his tracks at the sight of the sign, Ryan raised his eyebrows. “Manicurist assistants?” That's kind of an odd job. Ryan had never heard of it before. Why would a manicurist need an assistant? What, did they need someone to sit beside them and be a human nail dryer? Ryan bit a chipped nail, which was rather beaten down, since he had a habit of biting his nails on a regular basis, and pondered for a second. Would it pay good? What were the qualifications to being an assistant? Would he make an idiot out of himself for applying when it was such a girly job? Well, that didn't really matter, since half the people Ryan met told him they thought he was a girl at first glance anyway. Might as well go and check it out at least.
Shrugging, Ryan opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately his eyes widened, upon seeing how elegant and like, professional everything looked. He suddenly felt out of place,almost like a cheap whore going to church. Looking at the receptionist, who was a girl with sleek black hair that was twirled into a bun, a white uniform and a perfectly made-up face, Ryan stepped up to the counter nervously. He looked around, but he couldn't see anything since there were frosted glass doors leading to the rest of the salon, but the entrance hallway was pretty spiffy. Yes, very spiffy.
The girl smiled warmly. “Do you have an appointment?”she asked, taking out a binder and opening it to a list of names. Ryan quickly shook his head, and pointed to the sign wordlessly. He tried to talk as least as possible when going job hunting, or when being with anyone really, since his stutter wasn't something everyone thought nicely of, and here seemed like a calm place. Ryan would probably fuck up the whole 'aura' of the salon if he even opened his mouth to try to speak. Instead he either nodded or shook his head, and used his hands a lot.
Instantly the girls eyes lit up. “Do you want to apply for the job?!” she asked, seeming a little too eager for Ryan's likings. What, did no one else apply yet? Or was it something else...? Could it be that this was a nightmare job where they would make Ryan into a slave to file nails for the rest of his life? Instead of running from the place screaming, which Ryan would never do by the way, he nodded. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not this was the right job for him, since it was probably full of women, and Ryan wasn't good at talking to girls. Or boys, but either way most females bothered him.
“Okay, do you have an application paper with all your information?"
She raised an eyebrow as Ryan took out a bunch of crumpled papers, each one with at least one stain on them, probably from when he was fixing the slurpee machines, and handed them to her. He had been dumb enough to have been writing it at the same time, which is not a multi-task he would want to try again.
Ryan smiled sheepishly, and looked away as she opened up the papers (ripping a couple from all the stickiness) and scanned them briefly. After about two minutes she put the papers back on the desk, and smiled eagerly once more. “Ryan, is it? Let's go and meet who you'll be working for.”
What ...? She couldn't be serious. She didn't even ask him anything! She didn't even read the whole two and a half pages he wrote. Ryan stared at her with disbelieving eyes. How could someone hire him in less than five minutes?
When she continued to look at him with excited and maybe relieved eyes, Ryan started to worry. Was this really a good job to take...? Before Ryan could even think of another thing, the receptionist grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall, through the tinted doors, and into the nail room. He didn't have time to even get a word out before the girl got the attention of one of the manicurists. “Keltie! Know where Brendon is? I have his new assistant!” she said happily to a girl with pretty blond hair and bright eyes, who turned to look at them.
“Oh my god, finally! I didn't think a guy would ever show up! I mean, how hard is it to find a man who likes beauty salons and spa therapy? It's been like, three weeks and he's the first one!” Keltie practically shouted, as she flew up and ran over to Ryan, pulling him into a hug that nearly lifted him from the floor.
Ryan let out a squeak as he was practically ambushed, and blushed when Keltie eyed him up and down after she let him go. “I think Bren'll like him Shay, he's so cute!!” she squealed, and pinched his cheek. This was exactly what he meant when he said girls bothered him, they were so damn loud ! He raised his hand up and rubbed at his now abused cheek, and almost glared at Keltie, but lost the nerve when she smiled at him.
“What's your name, honey?” she asked, but Shay replied for him. “It's Ryan, Kelt, and stop friggin' glomping him! If he runs away cause you freaked him out we'll never find anyone to fill in the spot.” Shay just sighed when Keltie pouted at her, and shooed her away from a very perplexed Ryan. “Sorry about that Ryan, Keltie has ADHD.” she said, and shook her head solemnly.
“Hey!!!” Keltie shrieked, her long hair whipping around as she strode back over to the two of them. “That's mean Sha-sha, I do NOT have ADHD, I'm just very outgoing.” she finished, crossing her arms and folding them across her chest, and glared at Shay indignantly.
“You keep thinking that, but I'm going to go and find Brendon. See you later, Keltie. Ryan, come with me, unless you want to be molested by blondie over there.” she smirked, before turning around and strutting out of the room, heels clicking along the tiles of the hall. Ryan didn't know whether to laugh at the two's ridiculous antics, or to feel bad for Keltie, who turned widened eyes towards Ryan. “I would never do that!! Gosh!! She talks about me like I'm some kind of horny zebra!!”
Ryan coughed into his hand, badly hiding a giggle past his lips. Even though Keltie was a little nuts, she was funny, and Ryan could tell she was one of the very few girls he might actually like.
After running from the room, waving to Keltie on his way out, he looked through the hallway, only to have nobody out there. Ryan walked down, and went to the first door to the right and opened it up. Immediately his nose was filled with the scent of body oil, along with lavender incense. The massage room, obviously. But nobody was there. Only two empty beds with light purple towels draped over them. Ryan shut the door, and walked along to another door further down, but on the left side instead. This time a different scent came to his senses. ' Eww ...hot wax.'
Again, obviously, a hair removal...section. But still, nobody was in there either. Ryan quickly shut the door, happy to stay out of that room, and continued along the hall. He never knew the place was so big! The building looked so tiny on the outside. What else would be here? Ryan's curiosity moved him to another door, but his bladder stopped him from entering another room. He needed to find a restroom, he hadn't even noticed it earlier, but then again he didn't really have time to think about much during the time he'd been there.
He continued down the hall (which seemed to go on forever, and seemed much longer than the last time he'd been down it.) until he reached a door with the little man sign on it and pushed it open. He went over to the urinals and did his business, then went over to the sink and looked into the mirror. As he washed his hands he stared at the lights that ran around the mirror, it was like those ones you'd see in old fashioned dressing rooms. He was so into the cool designs on the walls and the decorated ceilings (this was a pretty stylish bathroom. Ryan was impressed.) that he didn't hear someone open the door and come into the bathroom. “Why hello there.”
If Ryan hadn't been holding onto the sinks edge, he was almost sure he would have fell over. The voice was so loud, and it echoed through the room, surprising Ryan. He turned around, and his eyes found who had been talking. Before he could stop it, Ryan gasped.
There, standing in the dim lights of the restroom, Was. The. Most. Adorable. Boy. Ryan. Had. Ever . Seen. He was wearing a pair of skinny's just like Ryan, but even they looked tighter than his own. His face was cute, almost endearing, with big chocolate brown eyes, and a pair of quirky red frames. He also had on a snug lavender hoodie, with a multicolored unicorn across the front. On anyone else Ryan would have out and laughed at the sight of a unicorn on a bright purple sweater, but for some reason he found it looked rather good on whoever it was that was standing in front of him.
Ryan heard a clearing of a throat, and quickly shut his mouth, which had been gaping open, and looked up quickly. He felt himself blush, he had clearly been gawking at him, how embarrassing. Ryan was about to apologize, when the boy spoke up again. “Are you Ryan?” he asked, smiling. When Ryan nodded he smiled even bigger.
“Oh good!!” He turned around and left, and Ryan stared at the spot where he had been a second ago. 'Wha-'
“Shayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! I found him, you can stop looking!!” he heard the boy shout, awfully loud. Then footsteps could be heard coming toward the bathroom again and he reappeared, and grinned toothily, which kind of made Ryan want to hug him. Ryan's eyes widened again as he blushed, he didn't even know who the kid was and he wanted to hug him? No, no, that's not right.
He was interrupted from his thoughts yet again though. “Ryan? I'm Brendon. Shay told me she told you who I was.”
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. He couldn't be who Ryan had to work with! No! Not the guy who he'd been caught practically molesting with his eyes! He'd probably already made a bad first impression. No scratch that, he knew he made a bad first impression, plus he didn't know a thing about nails! How was he going to do this?
Ryan fidgeted, then slowly but surely, nodded again. He was still in a little bit of a shock mode. Ten minutes ago he would have thought it crazy if someone had told him that he'd be working with a super hot guy, at a salon, as a manicurist assistant. Honestly. It kind of happened fast.
“So, Ryan. If you want, you can start tomorrow! Just come in at around eight-ish and we'll start your first day. Of course, it's not that hard a job, since you're with me, of all people.” Brendon laughed, and put a hand on his hip.
Ryan nodded.
Well then. He started tomorrow...
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