Kissing Cousins

Kissing Cousins

By Shorngirl

I was asked the other day, ‘what was the most humiliating experience of my life?’. For a moment, I thought about making something up, as I was sure some of my other friends were doing. For whatever reason, an attack of conscience struck me, and I was compelled the tell them all about it.

Kirsten and I had never really been close growing up. As first cousins, I suppose it was natural to feel a certain competitiveness. She was pretty, with long blonde hair and an enviable smile, while I sported an equally luxurious head of brunette locks. I may not have been as pretty as she was, but the difference was negligible.

I was just going into my sophomore year in high school, and Kristen her Junior, being a few months older. It always irked me that she was only three months older than me, and yet was a grade ahead. She always swore it was because she was smarter, but my mother had made it clear, that it was because of the age cut-off. Regardless, we were nearly the same age.

Cutting to the chase, my mother and father had taken a short trip out of town for the weekend and left me with my aunt and cousin. I wasn’t thrilled, but it wouldn’t have been the first time one of us had to stay with the other.

If I’d have known what was about to happen, I would have certainly run away. Ignorant of the future, I reluctantly unpacked my overnight bag, sharing a drawer with my cousin in her room. The arrangement was the same as it always was. I’d sleep with Kirsten, just as she did with me in my bed. Nothing had ever happened to make either of us wary of the other.

Kirsten seemed different than I remembered her being on my last visit, treating me a bit too kindly. I should have seen it coming. That night as we got ready for bed, she made a comment that should have sent up more than one red flag.

“Have you ever thought about other girls, Lea?” My name was Leanna, but Kirsten and my aunt had always called me Lea. I glanced over at her, to make sure I hadn’t heard the question wrong.

“How do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“I mean…” and she had to really make an effort. “…have you ever thought about girls, romantically?”

I hadn’t heard her wrong, but I wished I had. “Kirsten. Seriously?” I chided, flopping down on the bed, but then standing at once, up as if I might catch something. “Don’t be weird.” That was the end of that conversation, or so I thought.

After we had crawled into bed, I couldn’t help but think about what she had asked. I got a funny feeling in my gut, and I knew that I was treading on thin ice. I turned around, facing away from her in a huff, annoyed with my own weakmindedness.

It was close to midnight when I awoke, feeling something against my side. My eyes flew open when I realized it was my cousin’s arm, wrapped about my middle. It had happened before, but now it carried an entirely different meaning.

It was when I noticed she was wide awake, that things got heated. I turned to face her, only to be met by a wet, sloppy kiss. I resisted, pushing away from the embrace, but to my absolute horror, realized that I was returning the kiss.

We stayed like that for a while, touching and kissing, until the bedroom door suddenly flew open.

“I knew better than to trust you, Kirsten, after the comments from your teachers. You ought to be ashamed. And you, Leanna. I never would have dreamed.” My aunt was beside herself, separating us, and escorting me down to the sofa in the living room. “We’ll deal with this tomorrow.” Those had been her last words before she disappeared into her bedroom.

I barely slept, actually missing the closeness I was enjoying with my cousin. So when my aunt jostled me awake, it felt like it was all too early. In fact, it was nearly nine in the morning.

“Wake up, Lee. I’ll talk to you in the kitchen after I speak with Kirsten.” A few minutes later my cousin walked into the kitchen, looking a bit shell-shocked, my aunt hot on her heels. “After breakfast, I’m taking you both down to Barasso’s. I’m nipping this little fiasco right in the bud!” My aunt scolded.

Now, I knew where Barasso’s was, but I had never actually been inside the place. That was mostly since it was a barbershop. I looked over at Kirsten, who had a pained look on her face. She didn’t like this any more than I did.

I didn’t, for a moment, think that any punishment doled out would be coming my way. I was of the mind that Kirsten would be punished in whatever fashion my aunt decided, and she would in turn tell my parents, and leave it to them to deal with me. My parents were as straight-laced as they came, and I had no doubt as to how severe my punishment would be.

We dressed after breakfast, my aunt having retrieved my things from Kirsten’s room. All during the drive, my aunt was totally silent but I could see whatever she had planned, she had already discussed with my cousin. Kirsten was pale as a ghost.

It was a Saturday morning, and Barasso’s was fairly crowded. Of course, we were the only women in the place, so we garnered lots of stares as we took our seats in the row of plastic chairs lining the one wall opposite the cutting stations.

I watched, with a fair amount of trepidation as the barbers peeled the hair away from their clients’ scalps. It would have been easy to think they only knew two cuts, short and shorter.

Of course, the fear in my heart took on an entirely different flavor when my aunt passed me one of the plastic number plates, handing the other to Kirsten.

“You can’t make me get my hair cut. My mother…”

“Listen here, Lee. You have two choices. You can take your punishment right here and now, or I can tell your parents all about your little tryst with my daughter here. Knowing my sister, you may not see the light of day until well after graduation.”

I knew she was right, of course. My mother would be furious; heartbroken, but furious. I looked down at the number, contemplating my fate. Surely, she wouldn’t have the barbers cut our hair like these men. “Fine. But you won’t say anything to my mother?” I confirmed.

“You do as I say, and I won’t say a word.” She promised. I had no reason to doubt her.

Kirsten’s number was called first, and I saw my aunt lean in and whisper something to her before she stood and walked, straight-legged to the large swivel chair. The barber seemed amused to have so pretty a customer slip into his chair.

“What are we doing today, young lady?” The man asked. I struggled to hear what she requested, but it sure sounded like ‘give me a brush-cut. The barber shook his head, wrapping the cape around her neck, while my cousin held up her long flowing hair. “You’re sure about that. One, two, three, or four?” He asked, loudly, so the rest of the place turned in disbelief. I saw her hold up one finger, and I almost vomited.

With no fanfare at all, the barber slipped a blade onto the large clippers, the number ‘76’ boldly embossed on the face. My mouth fell open as the blades ran down the middle of her head, but it must have been nothing compared to the look in Kirsten’s eyes. The clippers had skinned her down to the bone, the stubble left behind barely visible against her pale white scalp.

In no time at all the entire top of my cousin’s head was the next best thing to bald, shorter than any boy in school by far. Next came the sides, her ears popping out from beneath the waves of gold like two pink clamshells, dug from the sand. They weren’t overly large, but they sure did stick out now.

Next to go was the back, the clippers sending waterfalls of blonde curls onto the black and white tiled floor. By the time he was done, a sea of my cousin’s tresses surrounded the chair like a mote.

Loosening the cape, Kirsten looked as though she had had quite enough, but the barber pressed her firming back into the chair, spreading a white foam up her nape and around her exposed ears. I gasped, audibly, as did she; the straight razor scraping away a one-inch border around her ears and well up the back of her head. That finishing touch separated what could have been the least bit feminine, and plunged far into the realm of masculinity.

Rubbing her neck in shock, Kirsten was allowed to exit the chair, glaring at her mother for having done this to her. I was shocked back to reality when my own number was called, by a different barber.

My aunt leaned over as she had with my cousin and whispered into my ear. “Don’t you think I won’t tell your mother, young lady. You tell him, ‘all off’.”

“All off…” I questioned. “… as in bald?” I gasped. My aunt pursed her lips and nodded. So it would be this horrendous fate, or whatever lay in wait for me at home when my mother learned of my escapades with my cousin. I stood and walked towards the chair, the handsome barber turning it in my direction, a smirk on his face.

“Just like your friend, there?” He asked, pointing to Kristen who was doing her best to disappear as a group of boys stepped into the shop from the street.

With my heart in my throat, I reiterated the words my aunt had insisted upon. “All off.” I managed, slipping into the warm leather seat, the cape feeling like a prison as it was wrapped about my shoulders.

“All off!” He mused, grabbing a much smaller set of clippers from the counter. The boys turned to see me in the chair, their faces familiar. I was quite sure I knew one of them, but everything was such a blur. I could see them laughing as the clippers were brought to my forehead.

Not hesitating, they passed over the top of my head, leaving a strip of jet white scalp in their wake. It was so much shorter than my cousin’s, the hair cut to the point of being non-existent. What might have been there was only a shadow against the gleaming reflection of the lights against my scalp.

Strip after strip was peeled from my head, and I am ashamed to admit the feeling was not all that unpleasant. As the cool air from the ceiling fans rushed over the newly exposed skin, a shiver ran straight down to a pit in my belly, and down from there, embarrassingly.

The barber and everyone else in the place seemed to be enjoying my humiliation, as I was shaved to the skin by the evil machine. If I thought my cousin’s punishment was severe, then mine was beyond the pale.

As the last of my hair fell to the floor, a small round of applause rose up from the boys, who seemed more than amused by my predicament. I was sure I recognized one of them now. Johnny Thornton. He was a grade behind me, but I felt so foolish shorn bald in front of him. I had seen him eyeing me in the halls, but I had ignored him. Now, it was he who would have the last laugh.

Just as my cousin had been shaved, so would I be, only my humiliation would be complete, the razor removing any trace of hair from my shiny scalp. Utterly humiliated, and embarrassingly aroused, I stood from the chair and ran out of the shop; my aunt and cousin following me out shortly thereafter. “Those boys sure made a fuss after you ran out, Leanna. Of course, nothing they said was very flattering.”

Kirsten and I sat in the back seat, each maligning the other as we sulked over our lost locks. My mother found out anyway and I was grounded for what seemed like an eternity. The thing was, I never dated another boy, and I never grew my hair past my ears ever again.

The women all looked at me in silence, and it was hard to tell if they were shocked or amused by my telling of the tale. There was one there, though, who seemed more than a little intrigued. I saw her later that week sporting a crewcut. We’re going out the day after tomorrow.

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