Our story isn't a fairytale, but it is "US", and Helli for some reason trusts me to tell it to you, so here we go... 

Would you believe me if I told you that this has been in the making for over 13 years? Would you also believe that I, Tiffany Washington, ran, sneakers squeaking on the pavemnet, for atleast 10 of those years? Helli affectionately calls me "Forrest Gump", but we will get to that in a second.

   I'm not certain on the exact first day of when we first laid eyes on each other, but Helli will tell you it was at a mutual friends apartment and for her it was love at first sight. For me, well I was going through some things and definitely wasn't ready for this beauty as I shook her hand for the first time. She unnerved me with her direct stare and bright smile.What I can tell you is that I found out quickly that day how much Helli loved being the life of every party and how you can not be in the same room with out noticing her. Helli is full of energy, unapologetic about her actions, and LOUD! So loud that you can be in a night club with the DJ blaring your favorite song, packed full of boisterous party goers, and still hear Helli over it all. I know you are thinking that I am exaggerating but that is exactly how I knew Helli was in the building every single time for over the next ten years of our friendship. Picture this.....I'm out with my friends laughing and dancing until you hear "Hey Girl Hey!" from across the dance floor as she made her entrance. I swear that I am not making this up. what she didn't know was that her little calling card was also my signal to look over at my best bud and say "let's move on to the next spot". Now you are thinking did she really just say that? I thought they were friends? We were and I wouldn't leave without telling her hello, but at the same time I would literally run in the opposite direction as soon as I could. Why? I wasn't ready nor was I mature enough to respect the love I knew she was offering me. If you had asked me what I wanted and who I wanted back then I had no idea. So for ten years I ran and we grew apart. I joined the military and went off to war. Helli started making waves, becoming driven as a hairstylist and her name started popping up on the various social sites we were mutually apart of. After awhile I kind of ..... no I stalked her and started to reach out to her, because something had changed in her that had me wondering what I had been missing all these years. Needless to say that was when I stopped running but started walking in the other direction. I still may not have gotten the courage to do more than stalk her had I not needed a haircut. Picture Homey the Clown with an ACU cap, I needed a haircut that bad, so when all my hairstylist friends were booked and couldn't fit me in I had to face that I couldn't run anymore. I paced and paced looking at my phone thinking how could I ask the girl that I had been running from to cut my hair? IN TRUTH I knew I wasn't going to be able to run away this time. So as I texted her... on facebook, voxer, and every other social media site we shared in common. Oh I was smooth!!!!!! Playing it off as just needing a favor, but she called my bluff and treated me like a regular client saying that I needed to call the salon to make an appointment. Who makes appoinments!!! I never had with the other hairstylist I knew, but ok.

Two days later... I called my bestfriend, you know the one that I used to turn to and say lets go, and told her what I was about to do. I knew of all people she would be the one to give me the pep talk of my life since she knew all about us. We talked about how I was just going to get a haircut and that would be it. I could go back to running and I was determined to just stay friends. So as I sat in the waiting room of the salon, hat in hand so to speak, Hellianna took her time before she stepped into the doorway. She knew she had me on her terms and that there wasn't an escape route for me to take but little did she know that as I laid eyes on her for the first time in so many years that my feet had stopped, the pep talk went out the window as my mind blanked, and I forced my gaping mouth into a smile. I knew then that," Forrest" had come home and I would be running to her from now on.