The calm moments to myself came to an abrupt end as usual. Rosey had spotted me from a mile away and came running out of the nail salon to greet me. Her hand latched around my wrist again and pulled me to the shop, “You’ll love this place I know it! The people here are SO great. Come on, come on!”
My feet stumbled while trying to keep up with her and I was thrown through the double doors into a heavily decorated small shop. The walls were dashed with fake webs, spiders, witches, ghosts, candy corn, and werewolves. Candles lined any remotely open counter space and their electric bulbs make a fake flickering light all around.
The whiplash of scenery making my heart race was a great start. Though this wasn’t jarring enough for Rosey who quickly pointed at one of the workers, “This is Chester! They’ll be the one doing your nails. Oh! And they have a really cool hybrid!” Now being thrown in head first to socialize, my mind stuttered trying to keep up.
Chester sat on the counter facing us with their legs crossed. Each leg and arm had black stripes on white leading up to orange and yellow fur. They wore a white collared shirt and lanyard. Above that was a dark almost purple face with a white marking on their forehead and tall webbed ears. But by their pointed nostrils was a wide smile with small fangs peeking through.
Chester waved at me with a friendly greeting, “Hey welcome. Like she said I’m Chester. Feel free to look around or ask for any help if you can’t decide on anything. We have a sale on clear coats for the early birds at the moment so they can last you to Halloween.”
I was then pulled to a seat near Chester as Rosey sat beside me and practically yelled in my ear, “Their hybrid is SO cool. Their mother was bat and their father was a striped hyena. How sick is that?!?”
Chester hopped down from the counter and moved behind it to grab some supplies, “Moved here for a more small town vibe. Though do either of you know what color you’re getting? Maybe some designs too?” Her hand reached up the top of the counter to slip a pamphlet in front of us. On it was the pricing for different colors and styles along with brands they provided. As expected, Rosey’s eyes immediately jolted to the row of glitter based polishes.
Chester however continued to speak while setting out a few items, “So what’s your name?”
I glanced up to see them looking at me as I responded, “Oh, I’m Michael.”
Rosey whispers while keeping her eyes locked on the different colors, “She’s shy.”
My grip on my own hand tightens a bit, “I uhm. I just want something subtle. Like if you looked at me you can tell I did my nails but otherwise never notice.” If I didn’t come back to the lodge with something to show for the money he gave me, I fear he was telling the truth and I wouldn’t see another dime. I had no reason to not believe him yet.
Chester nodded as they held out a hand to me, “Sounds good.” I gave them my hands as they started cleaning them up. While they worked I tried not to pull my hands away. To make up for the feeling of wanting to get out, my legs had pulled away and off to the side instead. I couldn’t tell if Chester saw how uneasy I was but they struck up more conversation anyways, “So Michael, I couldn’t help but notice your ears. They’re webbed too. What hybrid are you if I may ask?”
I started to speak but was drowned out by Rosey literally putting her face between us to answer for me, “She’s a white dog and bat! Almost like you!” I kept my mouth shut. Any awkward smiles I exchanged were now only grins that hid gritted teeth.
Chester’s eyebrows raised on hearing it, “Oh wow that is interesting. Glad to hear I’m not the only nonferal bat in town. Back where I’m from there were at least a handful of us. Here most people are more woodland style creatures.”
Rosey swiped the conversation and continued to speak to Chester. Fine by me. At least she sounded happy, “I'm a opossum and badger. But some people call me a skunk , which is so crazy. Like it's clearly my face and not my tail with markings like that. Have they ever seen a skunk before?”
By now I could see Chester doing a faint red gradient on the tips of each of my claws. They got out a small cooling fan to help dry them faster. Chester took a breath and was about to speak, “So Micha-” before Rosey suddenly jumped to speaking again, “Oh. And a question. Do people ever get your hybrid wrong? Or like they know it's wrong cuz you already told them but they don’t care cuz like they want you upset about it? So like if I kept calling you a zebra and making horse noises around you would you be offended? Is that like microtransgretion or a MACROtransgretion? Get it? Cause this is like REALLY rude so it's larger like the word macro.”
The side glance Chester gave Rosey said a lot more than Rosey just did. But not a single bit of those unspoken words made it through Rosey’s head. Rosey suddenly breaks the silence, “Oh! My bad. Are you actually a zebra? Maybe you were self conscious about it and pretended you weren’t and by me guessing a wrong hybrid I accidentally guessed the right one. I got it right didn’t I? Man I’m great at this stuff huh?”
With my nails now dry I slowly pulled them away and down in my lap. My hands tightened on feeling the tension in the air between them. Chester looked down and pursed their lips while thinking. After looking back up at Rosey, their tone had flattened completely, “I’m done with her nails. You already paid. Our transaction is complete. Goodbye.”
I quickly started to get up and turn towards the exit as Rosey loosely trailed behind me while talking, “Thank you so much! I’ll definitely be stopping by again!”
The more Rosey kept going the more briskly I headed out the doors and onto the sidewalk.
I kept the pace up so as to get out of sight of the shop and finally be able to breathe. Rosey however caught up beside me and continued to talk in my ear. My chance at getting in any deep breaths was taken away by a waft of her bad breath, “Man that Chester person was so rude. I’m glad we got out of there. Like I was just trying to strike up conversation and joke around. I guess no one appreciates good jokes these days. They just don’t get sarcasm.”
I checked my phone’s lock screen for the time and thankfully saw my time running out. Almost like reciting a pledge I began the same lines that she seems to actually listen to, “Sorry but I have a job interview in a couple minutes and don’t want them thinking I’m dependent on you and unreliable as an individual because of it. If I mess up this interview I fear it could ruin a lot of potential opportunities for my future.”
A neuron or two sparked in Rosey’s brain, “Oh! Of course! I won’t interfere with that. See you at the lodge later Tommy!”
Now walking without any tethers to her, I briskly got out of sight and could finally breathe. I had just enough time to calm down and collect myself before the interview.