"One of Those Faces" - Part 3 by myboyfriendisbald

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The next morning Jess and Grant were waiting outside my door when I got to work. Jess had her arms folded over her chest but her expression wasn’t as cross as I’d anticipated. Grant had a 5 o’clock shadow gracing his jawline, and his hair was still damp from his shower. He looked divine, if I did say so myself.
"Morning," Jess said, stepping to the side so I could unlock the door.
"Morning to you too. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Jess rolled her eyes and hitched a thumb in Grant’s direction, "How long will it take to grow back down to his shoulders?"
The three of his shuffled in side and I motioned for them to sit on the couch, "Coffee?"
They both nodded, so I took off my coat and went to get the Keurig running.
"His hair grows pretty fast, so call it 10 months from now so… March?"
"MARCH?" Jess palmed her forehead, "Jesus, Grant. You’ve barely been signed with me for two years and we’re gonna have to orchestrate a full rebrand."
Grant blushed cherry red, "I can’t apologize enough, Jess, I completely understand if you want to drop-"
"Hush," she said, snapping her steely gaze toward him, "I’m not dropping you, but you get no more chances. Capeesh?"
He nodded, staring at the floor.
"So, remind me why we need to have this argument in my shop? I’ve got another client coming in within a half hour."
"Well I was hoping I could send him on a mission trip or something for like two months and let this whole thing blow over, but you just confirmed that’s not an option, unfortunately, so now I need you to help me brainstorm other options."
I snorted and then said sarcastically, "Like what, a rebound relationship with a new, edgier, girl who can claim she’s the one that sheared him?"
Grant’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, and Jess let out a ‘hmm’ before saying, "That’s not actually the worst idea."
"That IS the WORST idea!" Grant replied.
"No it’s perfect, actually," Jess clapped her hands together, "You and Liv can date for a few months, it would make sense that she’s the one who sheared you, since she literally is. And she’s edgy enough, people would buy that you "changed for her". Fake date for like a month and then break up, and you can regrow your hair to its former glory. We’ll just have to figure out how to have you stay on as Liv’s client after the fact…"
"Woah woah woah," I hollered, "I am NOT dating Grant, that would ruin my reputation."
"Oh come on, no it wouldn’t. People love a good scandal, it would be great press, for both of you."
"It’s not a scandal, it’s a lie. It’s not like I cheated on Clarissa with Liv, Clarissa cheated on ME. It would just be us dating, only it wouldn’t even be that. I’m not playing this stupid game."
"You already played a stupid game, now you get stupid prizes."
"I’ll admit it was dumb for me to act so irrationally last night, but I’m not dragging Liv into this anymore than I already have."
Jess rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, "You two have had the hots for one another since you met and NOW you wanna act like it would be weird to be seen together in public? I actually thought this was gonna be an easy yes from the two of you."
"Who says I have the hots for Grant?!"
"Um, your goo-goo eyes every time you talk about him do."
"I do NOT make goo-goo eyes."
"Oh you certainly do, and Grant told me all about how he asked you if you like-liked him last night."
"Jess!" Grant hissed.
"What? It’s true, isn’t it? Geez, I can’t believe you guys can’t see how good of a plan this is."
"I was JOKING," I reply.
"Well you may have been, and honestly I was at first too, but now that I think about it, this makes perfect sense. I don't know how else we gloss this over with Grant’s fans, other than to give them something even more juicy to gnaw on. So it’s either you two date, or we have to fake an accident that gets him out of the limelight for like a year."
"You’re insane," Grant got up off the couch and started pacing.
"And you’re stupid! Listen, I know the break up hit you hard, and I’m sorry, but you’re not a child, you can’t just throw a tantrum when things go poorly."
"First of all," I said, putting a hand firmly on my hip and staring Jess down, "You’re the one who told me not to toy with Grant in the first place. And second, you’re also the one who told me I could chop off as much of his hair as I wanted so long as it looked good. I’ve done nothing wrong by those parameters, so leave me out of this!"
"Yeah but you were supposed to ask me first before you just sheared him like a sheep! And I was teasing, you’re a grown up for Pete’s sake, flirt with the guy if you want to, I can’t stop you."
"Ok both of you, enough." Grant threw his hands up in exasperation, "Listen, can we all just take a breather on this? Let’s give it a beat, we can all cool down, and then reconvene. I’m leaning toward just leaking a photo of Liv and I out together and letting the press run with it, rather than actually going on a faux date. But let’s talk it over Friday, yes?"
Jess and I nodded in unison. I got us all a cup of coffee and we sat in silence. The tension was thick. Eventually another client came in and Jess and Grant silently left.



On Friday I bitterly agreed to let Jess release a photo of Grant and I to the press. She promised in return that she would send all of her clients my way for the rest of her career, which seemed fair enough, since she was probably going to hurt my reputation by insinuating that Grant and I were an item and I’d rid him of his precious locks.

A few days after the photo ran Grant dropped by to thank me profusely for helping him out. His fans were all pissed at Clarissa, and sympathetic to his post breakup Britney moment. They were less in love with the two of us dating, but it gave the people who didn’t love his new ‘do someone to blame for it.
We sat and chatted for a bit, truly he was very nice and probably under different circumstances we would have actually been a good romantic fit. He was seated in my chair with his legs propped up on the table top and I was sitting on the table top itself. I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and no sooner did I take a step down the hall when I heard the doorbell tinkle. "I’ll be right with you," I called down the hallway.
What I heard in response was, "You b@st@rd! I knew I would find you here, with that little skank!"
I felt panic bubble up, and peaked my head back around into the main salon. It was Clarissa, and she was pi$$ed judging by the look on her face.
"Clarissa, what the hell are you doing here??"
"I followed you here, I had to see this b!tch with my own two eyes."
"What are you even talking about? You cheated on me, why are you mad that I’ve moved on?"
"Clearly you love her more than me," she shrieked, "You promised me you’d keep your hair long. It was the reason you got famous, and now look at you! How could you? I can’t even look at you!"
Grant went to get up from the chair and calm her, but she threw him back into it.
"We’re not going out anymore, Clarissa, I can do whatever I want with my look."
Clarissa let out a feral shriek and next thing I knew she lunged toward him, pinning him to the chair with her body weight. With one hand she grabbed his face roughly, and with the other she reached back behind her and grabbed my edging clippers off the table.
"What the f-k is wrong with you," Grant growled, "Are you drinking again? God damnit Clarissa, you are aren’t you!?"
She slapped him across the face, and then without any warning, drove the clippers right down the center of his head. I was running to stop her, but I was too late. I pulled her off of Grant, but there was already a noticeable white swath shaved right at his hairline…
"Oh crap," I muttered, "Clarissa, you need to go before I call the cops."
"She can’t drive, she’s sh!t faced!"
"I’ll call her an Uber," I dragged Clarissa over to the front desk and shoved her down in my office chair, "Sit there and don’t move."

Within ten or so minutes, even though it felt like an eternity, Clarissa was loaded into an Uber and left. Grant was still sitting in the salon chair, completely bewildered.
"What the f-k just happened," he groaned, finally reaching a hand up to feel the bald patch on his head.
"Grant, I’m so sorry, I tried to stop her."
"I um… I know, Liv," his eyes welled with tears, "I know, that’s all you’ve done is try."
He started sobbing and I went to him, wrapping him in a hug. This time I didn’t care that it was probably not the best move to hug a client, at this point Grant was more than a client. We’d been through a lot in the last year, or at least that’s what it felt like.
"It’ll be ok," I said, stroking his cheek, "I promise, it will be ok."
He sniffled and stared at me with his glossy brown eyes, "How could she do this?"
"She’s angry, apparently. And very wasted."

We sat in silence for a while, until I heard him let out a deep sigh and he turned to look at me again. I didn’t stop him when his lips crashed into mine. Just like I had imagined, they were warm and pillowy soft. With the kiss of stubble on his jaw, it felt like heaven to kiss him.
"I’m gonna be bald for a while," he said, nibbling my lower lip, "Guess I won’t be a client for a while, won’t have any hair to cut."
"Guess not," I replied, "Guess this isn’t such a bad idea then."
He smiled weakly at me, "It’s a good thing you think I’ve got "one of those faces" or I’d be sh!tting myself right about now at the prospect of being shaved bald."
"I think you could pull off just about anything," I murmured in his ear, "And hey, now I can fit you for a wig and it won’t be massively uncomfortable with all your own hair underneath."
"Guess I won’t have to go on hiatus after all then. Or you know, fake a rebound relationship scandal."
"Guess not," I mused. I found myself winding my fingers in his hair, feeling a bit sad that I was ultimately going to have to buzz it all off before he left. There was no way to hide the bald patch, so it only made sense just to even it all out.
"You wanna get this over with then?" I asked, stroking his naked scalp.
Grant’s shoulders drooped, "No, but I guess there’s no time like the present."
I patted him on the shoulder and we both got up off the floor.
If Jess hadn’t been planning on killing us previously, she was definitely going to now!

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