Up to you part 2 by Ryan

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I soon got to my apartment. Upon closer inspection, it was slightly longer than I thought, though when parted like this it was hard to tell exactly how long it was.

I quickly took a shower to inspect the damage. It was a weird and new feeling on my head, I probably would have enjoyed it if I wasn't so worried on what I looked like. When I got out of the shower I dried off in a hurry and took a look in the mirror. The angle was hidiously obvious, and I relized I would have to style it in a part every day for quite a while.

Two months later

I have gotten used to the change, and in fact I liked the haircut so much that I kept it, going back once every three weeks for a touch-up. Soon I met some people at my work and around town, including a man named Ben. Ben was around my age, just out of college, with shoulder-length, dark brown hair and a long bushy beard of the same color to match. We quickly became best friends, and spent a lot of time together, inside and outside of work. One day Ben had just one drink too much at the bar, and made a bet on which team would win the baseball game, which was at the bottom of the eigth and had a very clear winner. If I lost, I would grow out my hair to look like his, and if he lost he would come to the barbershop with me and get whatever I told the barber to give him.

Needless to say, I won.

The following saturday, I met up with him at the barbershop first thing in the morning, and we were the first two in. As it was early, only two of the three barbers occupied their stations at the time. "Hey George, hey Kyle." I said to them, in which they both greeted back.

"Who's your friend, Keith?" George asked me, knowing I only came last week for a touch up.

"Well, Ben here lost a bet, and now he has to get whatever I want him to get. But... I don't know what to have him get, so as long as it's short, it's up to you." I said to George, as another man walked into the shop, getting called by Kyle to the chair.

George smiled. "Alright, sounds fantastic." He said, as Ben nervously sat in the chair. "So Ben, what was the bet?" He asked as he caped him and turned him away from the mirror.

Ben gulped. "Who would win the baseball game..." He said meekly as George turned on the clippers.

"Ah, stinks." George replied as I spectated from a nearby chair. Any talk was halted when the clippers, which I could see had no guard. The clipper slowly plowed through the long hair Ben had, stopping at the crown. He continued to do this to the back, left side, and right side, until there was almost invisible stubble. He then turned off the clippers. Ben asked to turn around, in which George said that he'd have to wait until the haircut was completely over. He then cut the top hair, taking off a year or so of hair growth, leaving about two or three inches left on top, seemingly to taunt him.

"What are you going to do to it..." Ben asked hoarsely.

George sighed but didn't answer, as the clippers roared back to life, now with a number one attachment. He slowly went over the top, reducing any hair that remained to stubble, but in comparison to the back and sides, it looked longer. Then, much to Ben's surprise and embarrasment, the beard was clipped away quickly and mercilessly. George applied shaving gel in the back, sides, and face and destroyed the stubble that remained on those parts in minutes. Ben looked so worried, I almost felt bad. Almost.

After blending the top to the shaved sides, George splashed some aftershave on his hands and rubbed it against any shaved part of Ben, who winced. George then turned Ben around so he could see himself. He saw what I saw. A completely different looking person. "One extra short high and tight and beard trim." George told him, beaming. If I wasn't there myself, I might of not believed it was him. He frowned and paid George, with a decent tip, and then said something to him, who grinned and nodded. "Keith, why don't you just get a trim while you're here?" He said as Ben took a seat.

...that wasn't in the plan. Not wanting to be rude, I complied and walked to the chair. He caped me and smiled. "So you took advantage of him to get him to do this?" He said, amused. I nodded, calming a little, not noticing that the clippers were unusually high pitched. That is, until he went from the back of my head through my right eyebrow. I almost fainted.

"What....what did you do?" I asked, terrified.

He laughed and said, "If he got one that short, you need shorter, and since you don't have a beard, eyebrows are the next best thing." he said, going quickly, buzzing all my hair, including eyebrows, off. He grinned when he shaved the eyebrows, going slowly to really let it get to me that my entire head and face was going to be hairless soon. He finished and applied after shave around my head and where by eyebrows used to be, stinging a bit. When I got out of the chair, I unhappily paid George and left the store with Ben.

I didn't hound Ben, knowing he felt as bad-if not worse- than me. In fact, he was worse, never before has he been so nervous, even now, hours later as we sat around in my apartment, he stumbled on most words.

When he left I took one last look at the new me before going to sleep. The guy looking back at me, shiny bald head, no eyebrows, just wasn't what I wanted. In fact, I hated it.



Seven months later I was back to my normal side part haircut, and my eyebrows eventually grew back. Ben however, did not attempt to grow his back in the same way. Eventually refinding his confidence, he decided to grow a goatee and kept the high and tight. After the incident, we were better friends than ever, and never bet on anything with each other again.

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