Mikes dad had been tolerant of his boyhood, letting him do just about anything he wanted. He was actually proud that his son liked the out of doors, even though it was skateboards and soccer rather than football or baseball. He put up with his baggy jeans and too big shirts, although he would not let Mike sag them down and show his underwear. Even his mom, who spoiled him to no end, agreed with that. He was a handsome lad, everyone agreed. You would have said he was sleek if he had been a panther. Good muscle tone, broad chest and shoulders with a narrow waist and hips. The only thing, his dad said that spoiled his looks was that curly hair that hung down almost into his eyes and down on his collar. His sixteenth birthday passed and he got his drivers permit. It would be another year before he had enough money to get his own car. He had a descent job at a music store. Generally he was a good boy with good grades in school. He was sometimes given to pranks that got him into trouble, not usually serious.
His last prank, however, was too much. It had consequences that would affect him the rest of highschool, besides nearly getting him kicked out of school. He liked Cindy well enough, she was pretty, if not beautiful. She dressed simply and still wore her hair in pigtails. She also sat in front of him during the last class of the day. He still doesn't know what made him do it. He just thought it would be `fun' to cut off her pigtails when the bell rang. More amazing was that the scissors that he had `borrowed' from his mom's sewing room, cut right through them, shearing them off about an inch from her scalp. Cindy wore her hair in pigtails, because it was like a long waterfall when it was combed out, and she didn't want it in the way as she made her way around school, gym, and band. She had liked Mike well enough until the fateful afternoon. As soon as he had cut them loose from her head, Mike had turned to run. Cindy grabbed him by his belt, she was a pretty strong girl, and didn't let go. He turned around to face her. He was more than a little scared now. For sure if she raised a fuss, he would get kicked out of school. Instead, all she said was: "Your mine." She picked up the to braided lengths of hair and handed them to him. "Put them in your book bag. You had better have them anytime I ask you for them. Otherwise, it's bye bye Mikey. Do you understand?" Mike nodded. He tried to say he was sorry. She simply told him to shut up. He owed her, and he was going to pay.
Mike didn't say anything to his parents. Cindy's parents were really upset, her father especially had loved her long wavy hair that fell nearly to her waist. Nothing they said could induce her to tell what had happened. She did finally tell them that if they made her tell, they couldn't depend on whatever she said being the truth. "I'll take care of it. I'll have to go to the salon tomorrow though and have it styled." That's all she would say. Mike was forever looking at Cindy, just waiting for her to drop her bomb on him. When she came to school on Monday with her short haircut, he went straight to her and told her how pretty she was with her new hair style. She thanked him, then looked at him slyly. "Your still on my list. Even if I agree that this short style looks really good and I'm sort of glad you caused it to happen. You still `owe me'. And I'm going to collect."
A month went by. It was Monday after Thanksgiving and everyone was beginning to think of Christmas. Even at school, a Christmas dance was going to be held for the juniors and seniors. It was going to be a semi formal affair, the girls wearing dressy dresses and the boys wearing suits. No tux's. Mike did not plan on going. He wasn't a dancer and he didn't particularly like to get dressed up. (You think you know where this story is going.) Sure Cindy did. Mike was a reluctant date. He told her he didn't know how to dance. She told him he had better start learninging. But he didn't know how. She told him where a dance studio was. She would go with him if he liked. He'd have to ask his parents. His mom was all for it and smiled as he stumbled his way through asking if he could. His dad was not as happy, the lessons weren't free. His dad did think it was funny when he finally admitted that he could get PE credit for doing it. And just wait until his friends found out. The classes were 3 nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and Saturday afternoon. His mom was very helpful and signed him up; she brought him the flyer that explained what he needed for class. Dress shoes, dress pants and a white long sleeved shirt for the first two weeks. He had 3 weeks to learn how to dance. The last two classes were going to really be `dress rehearsals', so Mike would have to dress, tie and at least a sport coat if not a suit. Mike was really afraid his friends would find out and tease him, which they would have. He was surprised at how easily he caught on. Cindy was pleased that he wasn't stepping all over her feet. The instructor told them they `make a good pair'. The two weeks went by pretty fast. Mike and Cindy became a topic of conversation in their class.
Mike's dad received a strange call the Tuesday of the last three dance sessions, `the dress rehearsals'. He knew who Cindy was, he knew her parents. It was Cindy on the phone. "Mr. Samuals." "Yes, Cindy. What can I do for you?" "Could you take Mike to a barbershop and get him a haircut?" Mike's dad was going to heaven. This girl wanted him to get a haircut. "Sure Cindy. Have you told him?" "No sir. He'll agree to it, I'm sure. And, it should be a really short haircut. Like a military style flat top maybe, if the barber thinks it will look good on him." "That short?" "Oh, yes sir. I want him to look really sharp at the dance Saturday. I've gotten a shorter style and his hair has to be shorter than mine." "I'll take him right down this afternoon as soon as he get's in from school. He'll have it cut when he gets to the studio tonight."
Mike was really surprised when he got home and his dad was waiting for him. He headed for the refrigerator as usual. His dad said, "just grab something you can eat in the car. We need to get going before the shop closes." Mike didn't bother to ask what shop. His dad was sometimes hard to understand, said his teenage mind. He grabbed an apple. "Just drop your books in your room." Mike was soon back. His dad shook his head. The things kids wear to school now days, he was thinking. He looked at Mikes long hair just as Mike ran his fingers through it, taking it out of his eyes. `You won't need to do that again for a while. Wonder what Cindy has on you that she is sure your just going to sit quietly in the chair and have your hair cut off?' Mike got in the passenger seat and buckled himself in. He munched on his apple all the way to the little strip mall. He knew where he was going as soon as his dad pulled into the parking lot, even though he didn't park right in front of the barbershop. Mike got out without a word and headed for the door. His dad came behind. `Maybe he does know'. He was thinking. His dad had made an appointment as soon as Cindy hung up. This was where he got his hair cut. But he had made Mike's with one of the younger barbers. He'd been going to Pete the barber that owned the shop for at least 20 years. Pete was good and he liked him. But he had thought Mike would prefer a younger man to cut his hair. Brandon was an excellent barber, in his 30's. Many of the younger guys who came to the shop to get buzzed came to see him. He seemed to have an air of comradery that they empathized with. His own hair was long-ish crew cut. Pete greeted Mike's dad and said, "Brandon will be right with you in a moment Mike. Just have a seat until he finishes up." In a few minutes Brandon had finished with his customer and swept the big black leather and chrome chair out and told Mike to "come have a seat."
Mike sat in the chair. He hadn't been to the barbershop in at least six months. His mom usually took him to the unisex salon she used in the mall where they just trimmed the ends. Brandon told him to "sit up straight. For this haircut, you need to be sitting tall." Mike gave his dad a look, `what kind of haircut'? His dad just smiled at him. He sort of bobbed his head and said, "Pete, maybe I'll get a trim if you have time today. Although I'm sure it won't take Brandon long." Pete said he would be next.
Mike sat up straighter in the chair as Brandon put the strip of paper around his neck, swirled the cape out to cover even his legs down below the knees. He fastened it snugly. Mike wasn't sure what was about to happen, but judging from his fathers smile, he was going to get the haircut his dad had been tossing hints at him about for a while. And he had this dance on Saturday night too. `It's gonna be shorter' he guessed. Brandon never asked how he wanted it, he just began to comb it out. It really had gotten kind of long. Mike had been planning to have his mom take him down and get it trimmed up before the dance. It hung down in his eyes when it was combed out straight like this. "Don't worry," Brandon said, "it won't bother you much longer, hanging down in your eyes. Mike thought it wouldn't be too bad. Brandon hadn't picked up the clippers, but had scissors in his hand. That thought lasted only about 5 seconds, as the blades were run under his bangs pretty close to the top. Mike could feel each hair as the blades closed on it, cutting right through. The length left couldn't be more than an inch long, he was thinking. There was no mirror so he couldn't see. Brandon moved around to the side. It was definitely going to be shorter. He pulled the hair up with the comb and whacked it off right on top of the thin black teeth. Around the side all the way to the top, then the back, then the other side. The first cut had fallen past Mikes face and slid down the cape into his lap. Now there was a circle of 6 inch long hair around the chair. If he could have seen himself, he might would have laughed at the sideburns which were now much longer than the sides.
Mikes mind came fully awake, when Brandon put the scissors in his pocket and picked up the clippers. He gave a little jump as they popped when turned on and began to buzz. He could see that there was no guard over the little teeth that were aimed at the side of his face. Brandon tilted Mike's head a little to the right. "Sit still. These teeth are sharp." He laid the blades right on the skin below the sideburn and pushed up. All the way up, flipping the hair down the front of the cape where it rolled into Mike's lap. He glanced down. He knew that there was no sideburn left. He gulped. `It's really gonna be short'. Mike sat very still as Brandon peeled the hair off the side, almost all the way to the top. He could feel the cool air on skin that hadn't been exposed to fresh air since he was a little kid. Brandon moved to the other side of the chair and repeated the process. Both sides of his head now felt the coolness of the air. Brandon moved behind him and straightened his head up. He told him to pull his chin in a little. "Now hold it just like that. Don't move it." Brandon moved to the side; he took out the thin little black comb again; first he used it to graduate the hair all the way around on the sides using the scissors, then he used it to raise the hair in front, then ran those clipper blades right across the top of the comb. That comb seemed to been resting on his skin from front to back. Behind was a flat table of hair that was about ½ inch in front to little more than 1/4 inch high in the back. Brandon continued across the top of Mike's head, from the front to the back, until it was all the same height and level, flat from side to side. Brandon stuck the comb back in his pocket and moved behind the chair. "Head forward." He pushed Mikes chin down onto his chest. The bare blades ran up the back side of his head, mowing the last of his hair off, one side then the other until there was only the center strip left. Brandon ran the clippers up to the top and stopped. He told Mike to raise his head. He then adjusted it to the perfect angle and beginning just below where he left off, pushed the blades up over the top, leaving a bare strip down the center of his head, only raising the blades to keep it flat to the front from the highest point in the center. Brandon clicked the clippers off. The buzzing stopped. Mike gave out a little sigh. He was wondering if there really was any hair left on his head. Brandon brushed his head off, then his shoulders. Mike could see even more hair falling towards his lap and the wispy bristles, he knew, were right on the skin. Brandon took a small jar and uncapped it. A finger full of pink crew wax. He rubbed it between his hands, then massaged it into the little bit of hair that was left on top of Mikes head. Next he used a stiff brush to make it stand up. Out came the comb again with the scissors running along the top, each hair was given attention until it was all perfectly level and flat. Brandon told him that most guys don't really make it stand up like that, but let it lay down. He turned the chair around so Mike could see his new haircut. Mike couldn't believe the change. It made him look more serious, he thought, and perhaps a little more mature. He might have to put away the skateboard. What were his friends going to think. He'd always had longer hair that curled out from under his old baseball cap. It was over now. He kind of liked the way it looked. He bobbed his head up and down and looked at both sides. Brandon turned him back around. He undid the cape and folded it down into Mike's lap, then took the paper strip off. Mike felt as if a choke collar had been removed. "I don't usually shave around young men like you, but I think today we'll just edge it really smooth." He put a small towel around Mike's neck and tucked it in under his shirt collar. Warm lather was spread over the sideburns, around his ear, over the sides of his head and down the back of his neck. It was repeated on the other side. "Now, you really do have to not move." Brandon tilted his head a little to one side and shaved over the sideburn. Smooth as a baby's bottom, no hair left at all. Then around the ear, making sure there were no hidden little hairs left. Next the side was shaved to about an inch above his ear all the way around. Brandon finished both sides and the back. He removed the towel and ran it under hot water. After wringing it out so that it was only damp, he wiped off Mike's whole head. The flat top lay down instead of standing straight up. Brandon turned the chair around and asked if he liked it that way or standing up. He used the stiff brush to show him the difference. "Standing up, I think." Brandon turned the chair back around, removed the cape from Mike's lap and let the chair down. "There you go young man. A whole new look for you."
Mike stepped
down and turned to look at his haircut again in the mirror. Turning his head one way then the other. He couldn't really tell it had been shaved from any distance. But running his hand over it, Mike could tell that there was no hair there any more. It was smooth. Brandon handed him the jar of crew wax he had used to make it stand up. "Not too much, just a finger full, rub it in and use a good hairbrush. It'll stand up for you." Mikes dad was finished with his trim at about the same time and paid for both haircuts. "Come back in a week if you want to keep it that way." "Yes sir. I'll be back." He told his dad he needed to get a hairbrush and probably some sun screen. He didn't want his head to be sunburned but he did want to tan it a little for the dance.
His dad asked him what he thought of the haircut when they were back in the car. "When we pulled in the parking lot I knew we were going to the barbershop. But I had no idea I was going to have my head skinned clean. How come?" "You'll have to ask that girl of yours?" "Cindy?" "Yep. She said you wouldn't make any fuss. Something about she didn't want your hair to be longer than hers. If that makes any sense to you." Mike decided he'd just be silent. No point in stirring up old trouble. Besides that. He was getting to really like Cindy, and dancing.
That night, Mike wore a tie even though he didn't have to. Cindy couldn't get over the haircut. She kept rubbing the back of his head. "It makes you look even more handsome. I'm glad you are going to the dance with me. Are you glad too?" Mike blushed a little as he told her again that he was sorry he cut her hair, but he was "really happy with the end result." He would even keep his hair cut like this, in a flat top if she like it that way. She liked it that way.
The next day at school his friends all had to feel his head. Comments were everything from "WOW!" to "are you planning on joining the Marines?" Some of them wanted to know if he was still going skateboarding. "Of course. All I did was get a haircut." "I hear you are going to the dance with Cindy." Mike hadn't been one to blush often. But he found himself looking kind of sheepish. `No telling what they would say if they knew he was taking dancing lessons'.
When they asked him if he was going to keep his hair cut like that. He said, "yes. It feels good and Cindy likes the way it looks. When are you guys going to get cut your curls off?" he struck back. Mike spent every minute he could out in the sun, using the sun bloc. By Saturday afternoon, the pale skin was beginning to tan matching with the tone of his face.
Mike was really excited as he began to get ready for his date on Saturday. His dad had bought him a new razor and shaving gel. He had let Mike pick out an aftershave, letting the young lady at the counter give the guidance for selection. He took his shower and like his dad, shaved his face carefully afterward. He splashed some aftershave in his palms and rubbed it on. He sure hope it didn't smell as strong later. He brushed his teeth, gargled with listerine, then added the crew wax to his flat top and brushed it to stand up. His mom had said he should wear the new blue suit with a white shirt and the silk red and green Christmas tie. When he came out all dressed up his mom had another surprise for him: he could take her car tonight. She had already called Cindy's folks and it was ok. Of course, they were also going to be at the dance, which because it was sponsored by the school, as chaperones. Cindy's parents would pick them up.
He was wowed when he picked Cindy up. He knocked on the door and her dad invited him in. "I heard you had gotten a haircut. You look really sharp tonight." Cindy came down the stairs her short pixie haircut setting off her pretty face. The red ankle length dress was elegant and showed off her budding womanhood to it's best. Mike was again awed that he should have such a pretty girl on his arm tonight. She could have had anyone she like, and it was him. It was really strange how everything had changed because of a stupid prank. He gave her a small corsage of pure white rosebuds that she said smelled `heavenly'. Her mom told him to drive carefully and her dad gave him a look that said for him to behave himself. It was chilly out, not really cold, so Cindy took a white shawl that accentuated her dark hair and looked absolutely Christmassy. Mike drove the carefully to the dance which was at the highschool gym. Their parents were there just ahead of them. They smiled when Cindy came in on Mike's arm. They were a very handsome pair. Nothing would do but they had to stand and have their picture taken, not once, but about 10 times before they could slip off. These adults were supposed to stay in the background. The dance began at 7 and was over at 10. Mike and Cindy were a hit. His friends that did go were amazed that he danced so often and so well. Mike himself felt like he was floating on a cloud. Cindy beamed that he had been so good about it.
As they were leaving she said to him. "I think I'll keep you on the hook. You are just the kind of boyfriend I wanted." In the care she reached over and pulled him towards her. It was their first kiss. It seemed to last forever. Mike felt the stirring in his pants. Too bad they didn't have time to `play'. He'd definitely like to get to know her better. She was stroking the back of his head as they drove towards home. "So tell me," she asked. "Do you like my haircut?" "It looks so good on you, and you are so pretty. I'd like for you to be my girl forever." Then after a pause he asked "Do you really like my hair cut this short?" "Mike, it makes you look so much more mature, and yes, I do like it. It looks so much better than that mop you had. I expect you to keep it cut just like that for me."
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