"Wait. How do you know Riley?" she asks.
Brad looks at me to answer. I don't know what to say. I want to tell her the truth, but I can't.
"He's—" I start to say.
"Her boyfriend," April blurts out from behind me.
I whip around to face her. "April!"
"What? You're just going to stand there and let her put her hands all over your man?"
Kari laughs. "What are you talking about? Brad isn't hers. He's mine. We've been dating since June."
"You WHAT?" I say, raising my voice.
"She's lying." Brad steps away from her. "It was only two dates. The ones with Nate. I haven't been out with her since."
Kari narrows her eyes at him. "What the hell is going on here? Tell me you are not dating this..." She points to me. "This trailer trash slut!"
"She's not a slut. Or trailer trash." Brad puts his arm around me. "She's my girlfriend."
I feel everyone's eyes on me. The whole salon. I glance around for Kandace but don't see her anywhere.
"No fucking way!" Kari spits out. "There is no way you're dating her. You're going to be a doctor. There's no way someone like you would go out with someone like her."
"You done yet?" he asks, raising his brows. "Because if anything, you're the one who sounds like trash right now. Riley's a good person. A hard worker. Kind. Generous. Funny. All things you're not, which is why I never wanted to go out with you. I only did because Nate made me. So he could go out with your friend."
"Wait." Her eyes go from Brad to me. "You're THAT Riley? The one Nate couldn't stop talking about at dinner that night?"
"Nate and I are friends," I say. "We've been friends a long time."
"You're way more than friends. The guy is in love with you. I couldn't figure out why he was on a date with my friend when he was in love with someone else."
"He's not anymore," I say. "He's—"
"And he's okay with this?" Kari asks Brad. "You dating Riley? If that's even real. I still don't believe it."
"We're dating," Brad says, pulling me closer. "And I don't give a shit if you don't understand it. I don't need your approval. Or anyone else's."
She stares at him a moment, then laughs, bringing her hand to her mouth. "He doesn't know, does he? Oh my God, this is perfect!"
"What's perfect?" April asks. "Why are you laughing?"
"Nate doesn't know," she says, smiling. "He doesn't know the girl he loves is dating his cousin, the guy he's jealous of."
"He's not jealous," Brad says.
"Oh, please." She rolls her eyes. "I know jealousy when I see it. The way Nate kept bragging about you while looking like he wanted to punch you. If it wasn't so pathetic, I would've laughed in his face. If only I'd known then about the Riley thing. That's even funnier." She laughs. "Were you two together back then?"
Brad and I don't answer.
"So that's why you wouldn't go out with me again," she says. "Because of her." She shrugs. "Makes sense. You're a guy. Only here for a few months. You wanted an easy lay and you got it."
"Shut the hell up," Brad says. "I'm not listening to this. Riley, let's go."
"She can't go," Kari says. "She works here."
"Not anymore." I glare at Kari. "Tell your mom I quit."
"Fine." She huffs. "She was going to fire you anyway."
As I walk to the break room with Brad, I hear Kari say, "You should leave too. You're fired."
I look back and see her in front of April.
"Why?" April says.
"For being friends with her."
"April didn't do anything wrong," I yell at Kari. "And you can't fire her. You're not the boss."
"What's going on here?" Kandace asks as she walks in holding a coffee cup from next door.
"Riley quit," Kari says. "And I fired April. She's not a good fit."
Kandace's eyes go to April. "Good. We can't have employees who don't fit our culture. April, get your things and leave."
The room is silent, all the other stylists staring at April, looking scared they might be next. Kandace and Kari have been here less than an hour and are already bullying everyone into submission. I feel like I'm back in junior high when Kari turned everyone against me.
"Don't let them do this," I yell from the back of the room. "Don't be bullied by them. There are other places to work. You don't have to do this."
I wait for someone to walk out the door, or at least say something, but they don't. They're too afraid of not having a job. I'm afraid too, but I'll find something else. Anything is better than this.
"Let's go," Brad says to me as he holds open the door to the break room.
"Wait." I run over to April, who's quietly crying. I put my arm around her. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."
Everyone watches as I walk her out of the salon.
When we're in the break room, I give April a hug. "It'll be okay. You'll find something else."
She sniffles. "None of the salons in town are hiring."
"Then you'll find some other job. Or you'll cut hair out of your house. A lot of stylists do that."
"I live in a tiny, crappy apartment. Nobody will go there." She sobs on my shoulder.
"April, you'll find a job. I know you will. Everything will work out. It always does."
Brad's standing behind her and smiles. "Good advice."
I smile back. "I heard it from this guy. He's really smart."
"You need to pack anything up?" he asks. "We should probably get out of here."
"Um, no, I just need to grab my purse." I pull back from April. "You need to get anything?"
"Yes, but I don't want to go back in there."
"I'll do it," Brad says. "What do you need?"
She tells him, and he returns to the salon, then comes back with just her purse.
"Where's all my hair stuff?" April asks.
"They wouldn't let me take it," Brad says. "Kandace said it's salon property."
"But I bought some of that stuff myself."
"I'll get it." I start to leave, but Brad pulls me back.
"Forget it," he says. "It's not worth the fight. I'll buy her what they took."
"Brad, you don't have to do that," April says.
"Let's just get out of here." He goes to the back door and holds it open for us.
We walk April to her car, a rusted-out hatchback that constantly breaks down. She really needed that job, and now she doesn't have it because of me.
"I'm sorry, April," I tell her.
"It's not your fault. And what you said in there? You're right. I don't want to work for those people. I wouldn't have lasted a week."