It Girl

“Hello. Simon?” I asked, holding my phone in my shoulder and pulling the hair brush from my carry-on.

“Hey. It’s me. Amanda?” He was surprised.

“Yes! Yes it is! Actually…” I took a breath, “I’ve just landed in Columbus. Are you in town by any chance?”

“I sure am.” he chuckled, “You need a ride or something?”

“Oh no. I wouldn’t want to trouble you. I just wanted to see if you were free tonight. I’d really like to see you.”

“I can be free tonight.” he answered. “Where can I meet you?”

“The Hilton. Just call me when you’re downstairs.”

“Okay. What time?” he asked.

“As soon as you can, actually.” I confessed. “Can you bring your hair cutting kit?”

For weeks, I should have told him my plan but I kept putting it off. This was my last chance. I couldn’t go and chicken out in front of all these other passengers.  Not that it would matter to them.  I was still somewhat terrified. 

He paused for a moment. All the while I couldn’t breathe. People finally began exiting. After probably half a second, Simon answered, “Of course. Do you want a hair cut tonight?”

I remembered the last time Simon cut my hair. We were in college and had been dating when I learned his kink. Every time we made love, he thought of cutting my hair very short. So eventually, I let him cut it and he gave me the best love of my life. When he asked to cut my hair shorter, I refused. After all, I wanted to grow it back. We parted ways, knowing I’d never be able to fulfill his sexual needs. Then I grew my hair out.

On the plane, I looked at my reflection in the window. My blonde mane hung in big waves to my elbows. It puffed a bit in front of my black head band. People always said they were jealous of my volume. They would die to have it and begged me to never cut it. Of course, I won’t ever cut it. Thank you. I’d say that and they’d believe it.

I wore my most adult clothes. You never know what kind of professionals you can run into at the airport.  They all expect you to look professional too. Still, I looked like a little girl pretending to work in an office.

I had the pronounced cheeks and pointed features of a talented actress. With one blink of my sapphire eyes, I could express more emotions than there are words for. For the past six years I’d lived on the stages of Europe, bringing the classics to life. So I did need to wear my hair long.

Walking from the liquor store, I caught him staring at my ass. Even in my heels, he had two heads on me. The attraction was still there. In spades, at that. Simon hadn’t changed. Extra stoic and a little pensive for pizzazz. We‘d hardly said a word to each other and I was almost angry about it.

At the elevator, I finally asked, “So I take it you’re not seeing anyone right now?”

“Nope. I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?” I huffed, expecting him to be annoyed by the whiff of interrogation. “Don’t you want to talk to me?”

“I do. So what? Are you back from Europe now?” he asked, bending low to fill our ice bucket.

“Yes but I don’t plan on staying in town for long. Actually, I just wanted to stop here and see you.”

“Just me. Not your family?” he looked opening a soda, skeptically. He had a talent for showing doubt. Actresses have to look out for that kind of thing.

“No. Actually, I’m cutting myself off from them for a while. It’s part of a dream I have. A big dream.” I turned, dramatically. “I don’t care whether or not it works out for me but I have to try. In the morning, I’m taking a train to holly wood and give myself a fake name, pretend I’m a teenager, and become the next it girl. I want to put myself to the ultimate test and make a whole new life that is all an opportunity to act.“

I opened the curtains and let the setting sun make shadows on my face. The face of an actress. I continued with full theatrics. “Simon. Darling. The theater is for old people. It will always be there. Whether I make it or not, I know what I want in my life story.”

“I think that’s just great.” he nodded and I believed him. Finally he gave me that look. The one I’d been waiting for. That lust for mischief, which had somehow rubbed off on me. Still, I blushed at it.

“So.” he continued, opening his back pack. “You want me to cut your hair. Is that supposed to mean something between us?”

I choked on my saliva and tried to wash it down with my soda. Of course, the hair cut. I couldn’t avoid the subject and quietly change my mind. That would be unfair. So I felt very brave and held him close. I noticed him smelling my hair, and sighed into his shirt. I confessed, “You know what I have to do. You don’t have to cut my hair if you don’t want to but I want you to. I could have gone straight to a hair dresser in Los Angeles, but this…” I felt his chest hair through his shirt as he breathed slowly, drinking my scent. “This is part of my dream. I want you to cut my hair as short as you’ve ever wanted to. And then.” I held onto the gaze of his wincing eyes and felt his cold hand on the back of my neck. “We can do anything you want to do. But my train leaves tomorrow.”

“Okay.” he trembled and stepped away, pulling out his hair cutting kit. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

We borrowed a bar stool from the lobby and set it up in the bathroom. Chill beats echoed from my phone, sitting in the bath tub. With a towel wrapped over my shoulders, Simon sprayed at my hair and ran a large comb through it.

“You know. I want to be an it girl, so I’m expecting a radical hair cut.” I reminded him, biting my lip. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m going to buzz it.” he said. “First I’m going to cut it really short with scissors. Is it okay if I start?”

I gave a big shrug and nodded, smiling.

So I watched him. Starting in the front, he gave me wide bangs, cut short. My side burns curled and rested on my chest. With a smile, I said I’m loving it.

“It looks so cool.” I enthused, feeding the scene verbally. “I already feel so sexy. It’s like you are defiling me, removing my beautiful girlish locks.“

“Yeah.” he agreed, with all of his pizzazz.

Simon quickly snipped my side burns and trimmed the back across my hairline. Already, I felt so much lighter and so sleek, seeing my neck and shoulders in my shadow. I was really gonna be able to move around in the sheets.

The smell of my hair was everywhere, as it piled on my lap and on the floor. He put a guard on his clippers and their buzz drowned out the music.

“How short is that?”

“It’s a number two. After this, I’m going to fade from the bottom.”

Wow. A fade. I gasped at the feel of the cool air on my scalp, as the roller coaster kept getting better. Simon managed to leave the top just long enough to lean to a side. I felt faint with anticipation at what Simon would do to me later. And so high at the thought to of making his sexual dreams come true.

He used a comb to guide the guard less clippers up the back of my head and I could see my scalp in places I once thought I never would. I’d been clenching my fists so hard that my palms were white. And with my scalp, I could feel my sweaty palms.

“You’re going to get hair stuck to you. Just wait.” he begged, brushing me off with a towel. I loved how it felt, brushing my bare neck. Through the mirror, I gave him a coy look and bit my lip.

“Thank you.” I said, softly. “You know. I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

“Really?” he asked, using a blow dryer to finish getting the hairs off me. Still, I’d need to take a shower to get all of it off.

Shaking out the towel, I studied my reflection. Even in my suit blouse and pleated skirt, I looked like such a wild thing. I started unbuttoning my shirt, scanning the miles from my clavicle to the back of my head. If Simon didn’t make a move on my soon, I thought I might die right there. I felt so sexy.

My hair was darker and fuzzy all over. My eyes, even more blue, told the life story I wanted for myself and ended with a flash of that lust for mischief.

Simon put his hand behind my head and pulled me into him, as the heat of his kisses touched every part of me. And I felt his burn, colliding with every part of my insides.

So without sleep, I took the train to my dream. I told Simon I’d someday grow my hair out again, with hopes that he’d buzz it off for me.

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