Bea stood in the room that would now act as her salon annoyed that the governor had set her up so easily. She had already turned out Vera’s request to be apart of dressing for success, being a lifer and seeing no benefits to taking part. She was a little impressed that the governor had had it in her to sneak it on Bea when she announced the trial period of the conjugal visits but not enough to be happy about the current arrangement.
“Those newbies are gonna freak when they realize it’s me showing them how to apply make-up.” Maxine giggled as she grinned ear to ear at the prospective of seeing all the shocked faces of the new inmates taking tips from her. She loved this new assignment.
“How’s vinegar tits, cheeky bitch.” Bea set down a box of supplies and pointed towards Maxine. “Is there a wig in that box?”
Maxine stepped over to the box, lifting the lid and peering in, “uh, it’s empty.”
“God, if it’s not bloody nailed down in this place.” Bea threw her hands up in exasperation. Only having a moment to think about how else she may be able to do demonstrations for the women.
“Hey… Bea…Look who's here.” Bea turned to see Allie Novak walk in the door heading straight for her, giving Maxine a small smile.
“I’ll have a cut and colour thanks.” Allie smiled at Bea waiting for her reaction. Lowering her lips into a frown, Bea was surprised at how fast Allie had come to collect on her offer.
“Step into my salon.” Bea waved Allie past a grinning Maxine to a chair she had placed in front of a sink. She knew better then to trust the women to shower before they came to see her, it was hard enough to get some to shower on a regular basis. Bea did not yet have a full running salon, and was missing much of her usual supplies, relying on her resourcefulness to get by until she could strike another deal with the governor. Bea grabbed a garbage bag and scissor, quickly cutting head and arm holes on the bottom and sides.
“Arms.” Bea said as she continued cutting, lifting her eyebrows in question when Allie didn’t move. “Above your head.” Bea watched Allie slowly lift her arms smirking as Bea’s eyes flicked down to the bare skin of her stomach now peeking out from under her sweater. Rolling up the garbage bag Bea lifted it above her head, feeding Allie’s arms through and tugging the bag down over Allie’s head. Both of them breaking into a laugh as Allie’s head got stuck.
“Hold still would yeah! Or I’m gonna cut you.” Bea laughed as she tried to put a little extra slit in the bag.
“You couldn’t have cut this big enough the first time?!” Allie’s voice came out muffled from inside the bag, the laughter in her voice still audible.
“Well if I knew you had such a big head!” Bea retaliated, as Allie’s head finally popped through the top. “There!” Bea said with satisfaction. Maxine grinned to herself as she pretended to busy herself collecting items she thought Bea might need. Allie finally sat down in front of the sink as Bea put a towel over the bag in an attempt to keep the bag and herself dry. Bea grabbed Allie’s elastic and pulled it out of her hair-taking note of Allie’s wince as it got caught on some of her hair.
“Sorry, I’ll try to be gentle.” Bea said as she placed the elastic in Allie’s hand, lingering a second as she felt Allie’s fingers close around hers. Allie smiled lightly as Bea finally snatched her hand away and gently lifted Allie’s hair into the sink, placing her hand on Allie’s shoulder encouraging her into a slouch so that her head rested in the sink at a better angle. Turning on the water, Bea started spraying Allie’s hair, angling the spray away from her face.
“Is the temperature good?” Bea asked as she ran her other hand over Allie’s temple and working into her hair.
“Mmm, very good.” Allie sighed; her eyes closed as she let herself enjoy Bea’s strong and gentle touch. Putting down the showerhead, Bea squirted shampoo into her hands. Bea started her massage at Allie’s temples, running her fingertips in slow circular motions. Gradually raking her fingers through Allie’s hair, Bea got the shampoo into a lather before returning her focus to massaging Allie’s scalp. Bea looked at Maxine raising an eyebrow as she elicited a moan from Allie. Maxine smirked nodding her approval at Bea’s progress to use Allie’s affection. With Allie’s eyes closed, Bea continued to watch her without embarrassment. Watching as Allie’s eyelashes fluttered and her legs crossed as Bea moved towards to base of her neck. Bea forgot her audience as she watched Allie’s chest rise and fall in the slow motion of someone near sleep, memorizing each time she made her breath hitch.
“Are you ok?” Allie’s voice was quiet. “Bea…?” Bea hadn’t realized her hands had stopped moving, her eyes coming back into focus as she looked down at Allie’s bright blue eyes, widened with concern.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” Bea spoke as she wiped a tear that had escaped on her sleeve, her hands covered in shampoo. Shifting, Allie slid her hands over Bea’s bare arms, her fingers wrapping around Bea’s wrists pulling them out of her hair.
“It’s ok you know.” Allie continued to whisper, knowing Bea would hate if she drew any attention to this moment of weakness. Allie intertwined her fingers with Bea’s drawing their hands into her lap as she rubbed Bea’s palms with her thumb. Her thumb slipping over the water and soap covering their hands. “Life in prison must be hard to face. Prison is lonely and the body craves love and contact. It’s ok to want that, it’s ok to GIVE into that.” Allie emphasized the last sentence, watching Bea look up at her from staring at their hands. Bea lifted the corner of her lips slightly, her face pulled tight to try and keep back more tears as she nodded a couple times. Allie let Bea slide her hands from hers, leaning back into the sink to let Bea wash out the shampoo still in her hair.
Maxine walked over as Bea was towelling out the access water in Allie’s hair, “I set up a table of supplies for you in front of a mirror over there.” Maxine pointed to a little corner she had just set up, “I’m going to go do Boomer’s nails, let me know if I forgot anything.” Bea nodded silently at Maxine, still not trusting her voice to reply. Maxine tilted her head in concern, squeezing Bea’s shoulder in comfort as she went to sit down across from Boomer at a table she set up near Bea’s station.
It didn’t take long for Bea to become herself again, listening to Allie, Maxine and Boomer chatting and laughing. Occasionally making lingering eye contact with Allie in the mirror as Allie kept her gaze fixated on Bea. Watching her hands move gracefully around her head cutting off inches of her hair. It amazed Bea how she was able to keep up with Boomer and Maxine and still maintain such focus on her. She felt like her skin was burning under Allie’s stare. When it came time for the dye, Bea put on some gloves working quickly to section off Allie’s hair, only lightening chosen areas. She smiled, enjoying the slight return of control she felt as watched Allie succumb to her touches again, her eyes closing as Bea’s fingers rubbed her scalp.
Bea looked up at the clock on the wall, “You have 30 minutes for the dye.” She told Allie before she grabbed a chair and set herself up at the table with Maxine and Boomer. Allie stayed where she was until Maxine gestured to her to bring her chair over to join them.
“I can do your nails too if you like” Maxine offered “new nails to go with your new hair.”
Allie looked at Bea and smiled, “What do you think Bea? Red?” Allie wiggled her fingers trying to get a rise out of her. Bea was feigning disinterest, looking around the room and shrugged.
“I’ve never been very big on nail polish.” Allie’s grin got even bigger as she turned towards Maxine, “I think I’ll leave them thanks.”
“Just a tidy then,” Maxine said as she started to take Allie’s hand and grab a nail file. When Maxine finally finished cleaning, cutting and filing Allie’s nails, Bea led her back to the sink.
“You just can’t touch me enough can you Bea?” Bea rolled her eyes as she sprayed water into her hair, refusing to answer. Neither talked much as Bea brushed and blew dry Allie’s hair, picking up scissors every once in awhile to cut a stray she had missed. After much fussing Bea picked up a small mirror and held it behind Allie’s head angling it so she could see the back of her hair. Allie kept touching the new length, a huge weight lifted.
“All done.” Bea said her hands resting on Allie’s shoulders, her thumbs gently kneading into the muscles she found there. Allie groaned quietly as she placed a hand on top of Bea’s giving it a squeeze.
“It looks good Bea” Allie said as she stared in the mirror at the image two of them, almost as if they were posed for a photo, she was only half talking about her hair.
“Thank you” she said as she got out of the chair and stripped herself of the garbage bag she was still wearing and walked started towards the door.
“Don’t thank me yet, you’ll owe me.” Bea replied as she started putting her stuff away into waiting boxes.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll think of someway to repay this one.” Allie winked at Bea, laughing at her shocked face as she left.
It was Maxine that brought Bea back, reappearing at her shoulder. Taking one look at the smile on Maxine’s face Bea rolled her eyes deciding it was time to head back to their unit. “Come on.” She growled.
***
Bea and Allie didn’t talk to each other for a while after that, only seeing each other in the yard as the freak was taken to her new unit in general. Allie distracted by Kas and their new arrival. Bea distracted by the governor riding her to keep Ferguson safe, and the women’s demands to see the freak punished.
It wasn’t until dinner the next day that they had the opportunity to talk again. Bea was at the table listening to Boomer and Liz argue over Boomer’s health if she wanted to get pregnant. Momentarily relieved of the stress of the freak. That was until Boomer got bored of the conversation and started asking Bea what she had planned. It was then that Allie walked past on her way to put her tray away giving Bea a private smile, finalizing Bea’s decision it was time to leave.
“I don’t know Boomer, but I’m planning on taking a dump.” Bea picked up her tray and followed Allie over to the counter scraping the remains off her tray into the garbage.
“Aw Bea! Stop staring! I get it you like me.” Bea smiled and stepped closer to Allie as she put her tray down.
“Your hair looks good.”
“Yeah thanks, I got a good hairdresser.” Allie turned toward Bea, the two of them standing only a few inches apart. Feeling that she had helped warm their relationship a bit more, Bea finally tried to use their relationship to her advantage.
“So, uh, I hear the freak’s in your unit.”
“Yeah”
“Lucky you.” Bea let the silence hang a second before she tried again. “ So, what’s she doing?”
Allie shrugged, not understanding everyone’s interest in a woman that wasn’t doing anything, “Just sitting there.”
“She say anything?”
“Not much, she stares at the wall… likes she’s out of it, meditating or something.”
Bea nodded, not thinking she was going to get much else. “Well, you do look good.” Bea said again blushing slightly this time as she left the cafeteria, Allie staring after her.