Joey was looking for a hiding place.  He was in trouble, big trouble.  He’d managed to elude her so far, but it was only a matter of time before she caught him.  And she’d know as soon as she saw him that he had been unfaithful.

Joey ducked into the makeup room, scrambled into a chair, pulled up his hoodie, and tried to be inconspicuous.

JC burst out laughing.  “Joey, there is no point in hiding.  Melissa would have to be blind to miss what you did, and she’s totally going to kill you!”

“Shut up!” Joey tried to whisper and yell at the same time.

All the sudden his hoodie was ripped off his head.  He could see Melissa standing behind him in the reflection of the mirror.  Her jaw was hanging open.  He took advantage of her shock and tried to bolt out of the chair—until he realized that she had a hold of his ear.

Justin was about to make a comment, but the look in Melissa’s green eyes made him swallow his words.  She might be only 5 feet tall, but he knew better than to mess with Melissa.

“Joseph Anthony Fatone,” Melissa didn’t yell, she spoke calmly—too calmly.  Justin and JC cringed.  It was like getting in trouble with their moms, but worse.  “What on earth were you thinking?  Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”

Joey tried to gauge the look on her face.  Would he get in more trouble if he answered or not?  He went with not.  “I…um…I thought that it would be fun, you know, for Christmas.  It’s just temporary, I promise.”  Her hold on his earlobe was getting more painful.  He squirmed a bit, trying to find relief. 

“Temporary?  Bright green?”  She was so angry, she was almost speechless.  “I can’t believe that you snuck around behind my back and went to see someone else. 

JC tried to slip out the door, but Melissa caught him.  “Where do you think you’re going?”

He gulped and grasped at the first answer that came to mind, “Sound check?” 

She shook her head, “Fine, go.  Just remember that I need to do your hair afterwards.  Pretty sure you’re due for a cut.”  She cut her eyes to him.

JC unconsciously ran his fingers through his hair.  There was no way she was getting near his locks with scissors, or worse, a razor.  He just had it to the length he liked and as his stylist, she knew it.  He heaved a big sigh.  “What do you want to know?”

“JC!”  Justin shook his head.  “What are you doing?”

“Hey, man, I like my hair,” JC replied.  “Just because Joey was stupid, it doesn’t mean the rest of us should have to suffer.”

Melissa smiled sweetly.  “Why?”

“We thought it would be fun,” JC mumbled.

“Where?”

“The bathroom on the bus.”

Melissa shook her head in disbelief.  “Who?”

“Aw, come on, Melly, don’t make me be the narc.”

“Fine, JC.  After your cut, I think we’ll take care of those highlights again.  I’m thinking blue this time, or maybe purple.”

“You suck,” he pouted, but he knew when he was beat.  “Fine.  It was Chris, OK?  Chris!”

“Thanks, JC,” she blew a kiss at him.  “You can go.”

“No hair cut?” he asked.

“No worries, JC, your hair is safe in my hands.” 

He smiled.  “Love you Melly!”

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here and take the kid with you.”

JC and Justin beat a hasty retreat.

Melissa released Joey’s ear and sat down in the chair opposite him.  Joey rubbed his earlobe while trying to make it look like it didn’t hurt at all.

She looked him directly in the eye for the first time that night.  “Just tell me why, Joey.  Why did you have to go and do something so stupid?  Don’t you remember how long it took you and me to get it right?”

He heaved a sigh.  “I don’t know.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t completely sober and somehow Chris got into my head.  You know how he does that!  He gets in there and suddenly you find yourself agreeing with him.   And the next thing I knew, we pulled up at a pharmacy and Chris and Lance were in the store picking out the best brand, then I’m in the bathroom with Chris.  When I woke up, I was alone in my bunk and I thought it was all a dream.  Then I saw myself in the mirror and I screamed.”

“I knew right away that you were going to be hurt and, Melissa, the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you.”  He tentatively reached out to touch her long blonde hair and let his fingers trail up to her cheek.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know what possessed me to think that it was a good idea.  I didn’t mean to belittle all the time we spent together and I hope that you will forgive me.”

“Joey, Joey, Joey,” she shook her head.  “Why would you let Chris give you hair advice?  I mean, come on, he had all those crazy braids, remember?”

He nodded.  “I know, I was stupid.”

“You were both stupid,” she agreed.  “Do you have the box that it came in?  If it’s really temporary, I might be able to fix this before you go on.  Otherwise, we’ll have to dye it all back, and it could get ugly in the meantime.”

Joey smiled tentatively.  “Are you saying that green is not my colour?”

Melissa reached across and smacked the top of his head.  “That’s exactly what I’m saying, you goombah!  Bright green is definitely not your colour.  If you wanted a different colour, all you had to do was ask.  If you ever get someone else to dye your hair, Fatone, we’re through and you’ll have to find a new stylist.”

Joey reached out his hand.  “Deal!”

Melissa put her hand in his and they shook. “Deal!  Now go get me the box so that we can work on getting your hair back to normal.”

When Joey ran out to the bus, Melissa went to her kit to see what she could find that might help to remove the dye.  She wasn't sure what he was up to, but at the very worst, she’d have to spend some more time with Joey.  Was that the worst?  Spending time with Joey was an exquisite kind of torture.  She loved being with him and just having fun, but she hated knowing that she wasn’t special to him.  They were basically work friends and she knew that when this tour ended, if her contract didn’t get renewed, Joey wouldn’t give her a second thought.  He’d just break in the new hairstylist and continue on his merry way.

He hadn’t led her on, at least, he hadn’t done it on purpose.  Everyone had told her to watch out for Joey, he was the flirty one.  They told her that he played fast and loose with people’s emotions, but she soon found out that wasn’t true.  He was affectionate and yes, maybe a little touchy when it came to showing his affection, but a hug from Joey could brighten up the worst days.  So, how could she help halfway falling in love with him?  She shook the thought from her mind as Joey jumped into the chair and made it spin around.

Melissa stuck her hand out and stopped the chair with a jolt.  They all knew that she hated it when they spun her chairs, but they all did it.  She took the box out of his hand and looked at it, flipping it around in her hands.  “This is what you used?”

“Yeah,” Joey nodded.  “Chris bought it, so I dunno what it is.”

Melissa giggled.  “Oh, Joey!”

“What?” he griped as she wrapped a towel around his neck while she warmed up the water.

“This isn’t hair dye.  It’s coloured hair spray.  I’m surprised your whole bus isn’t green.  Didn’t you notice that Chris just sprayed your hair?’

“Hey, I told you I wasn’t completely sober!  How was I supposed to know what he’d done?”

Melissa shook her head as she tilted Joey’s head back and started to massage his scalp to get the colour out.

Joey sighed.  “That feels so good!  I could sit here all day and let you do that to my hair.”

“That’s what you pay me for,” Melissa muttered as she scrubbed, “well, that and apparently babysitting.  With the amount of stupid things the five of you do to your hair, I should be making danger pay.”

It took a little time, but she was able to get the green colour completely out of his hair.  She gave him a good conditioning before she turned off the taps and wrapped the towel around his hair.  She sat him up and after giving his hair a quick towel drying, she pointed him over to her stylist chair and chucked the towel into the laundry bin.

Joey sat in Melissa’s chair, watching her as she worked on his hair.  He couldn’t take his eyes off her.  The whole point of this exercise was to get Melissa’s attention and to ask her out.  He didn’t usually go to such extremes to get a date, but he really was only partially sober when he and Chris had concocted this hare-brained scheme.  And he wasn’t nervous.  Joey never got nervous.  OK, he was a little nervous.  If she rejected him, she’d probably be cool about it, but he’d still have to see her and sit in her chair every day.  He was pretty sure that she wouldn’t say no, but there was always that small chance.

He’d given up on small talk early into the styling phase.  She was a woman on a mission and she wasn’t going to let him distract her.  So he sat and watched her instead.

When she tugged his hair, he yelped.  “Ow!”

“Sorry, this piece won’t do what I want it to,” she growled in frustration as she tried to get it to co-operate.

He rubbed his head as he tried to push her hands away.  “It looks fine.”

“No, it doesn’t.  Just let me fix it.”  She shoved him back into the chair.

“Mel, it’s fine,” he grabbed her hands and pinned them to her sides.

“Joe, just let me fix it.”  She struggled to get her hands free.

He stood up so that she couldn’t reach his hair and then let her hands go.  He leaned into the mirror and smoothed his hair down where she wanted it to go in the first place.

“There, it’s fixed,” he grinned.  “Since I took care of that for you, will you come to this New Year’s thing I have to go to?”

She gave him a look, “What?”

“Come on, I need a date, don’t let me down!”

She stepped back and started putting away her supplies, packing them up to be ready at the next stop.

“Are you ignoring me?” he asked with a pout.

“Yeah, I think I am.  Why would you do that?  What was all the build-up for if you just wanted someone to go with you?  You know I would have gone with you if you needed a plus one.  I’ve done it before for JC and Chris.”

Joey frowned.  This wasn’t going the way he had hoped it would.  “I don’t need a plus one, Melissa.  I want you to be my date.  I don’t know why this is so hard, I really like you, but you make me nervous!  Can I start again?”

She let her guard down a little and met his eyes, “Sure.”

Joey took the hair products in her hands and put them on the table so he could hold her hands.  “Melissa, what are you doing New Year’s, uh, New Year’s Eve?”

She laughed.  “Joey, if you start singing, I’m out of here!”

He laughed too and rolled his eyes.  “I just can’t get a break, can I?”

Melissa smiled and put her hand on his cheek.  “Yes, you can.”

Joey covered her hand with his and looked into her eyes.  “I’d like you to be my date for the New Year’s Eve party, not a plus one, or a space filler, but a real date.  We’ll dress up and and dance the night away, and maybe at midnight, you’ll let me kiss you.  Will you come with me?”

“I’d love to, Joey.” 

He turned his face to kiss her palm before pulling her in for a big hug.  “Thanks, Melissa. I can’t wait.”

Melissa enjoyed the hug.  She wrapped her arms around Joey’s neck to and tugged his face closer to hers.  “I am not waiting that long for my kiss,” she smiled, then kissed him sweetly.  

As he went through the rest of his prep, the smile didn't leave Joey's face.  Sure, dyeing his hair had been a little crazy, and maybe next time, he wouldn't listen to Chris, but the important thing was that she had said yes.  She wanted to go out with him and he was over the moon about it.