'Man of My Word' by TyeSays

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"I can't believe this is happening..." Joseph mumbles as watches Kyle, his 'best friend' of the past four years, place a number 000 guard onto his newly bought hair clippers, "This has to be a dream," he closes his eyes, "And when I open my eyes, I'll be back in bed, safe and sound, and not duck taped to a chair in the boys bathroom..." he quietly counts to three before reopening his eyes, "...Damn it, I'm still here..."
"And here you'll stay till I'm done with you," Kyle says gleefully before plugging the clippers in and turning them on; he can't help but smile as the small hunk of plastic roars to life in his hands.
"C'mon man, don't do this..." Joseph says before nervously pulling at the tape that binds his wrists together, "Just.." little beads of sweat begin to form on his skin, causing his thick mop of blonde hair to stick to both his face and the back of his neck, "Just..cut me free, and we'll forget this ever happened, okay?"
"'fraid I can't do that," Kyle says before turning towards his tightly bound friend.
"Yes, yes you can," Joseph continues to pull and tug at the tape wrapped around his wrists.
"No, I can't," Kyle walks over and places a hand atop of Joseph's head, "I've made a deal with someone," he begins to comb his fingers through Joseph's sweaty mope of hair, "And as you know, I'm a man of my word," he pulls his hand back, and watches as Joseph's sweaty hair falls back into place. All Joseph's life, he's worn his hair the way he wanted it... all his life, he's had hair long enough to cover both his eyes and touch the collar of his shirts... all his life, he's fought head-to-head with his parents over the way he kept it, and up until now he'd won those battles..
"Who'd you make the deal with?" Joseph asks, his eyes locked on the machine in Kyle's hands.
"Can't say," he turns the machine 'round and 'round in his hands, "...I ain't gonna lie, though..." he smiles a half-tilted smile, "I've kinda always wanted to do this.."
"Good to know," Joseph says sarcastically. Kyle's smile grows a tad bit bigger.
"Just a little tip," he reaches out with his free hand and gently brushes Joseph's sweat-drenched bangs away from his face, therefore giving himself easier access to the poor boys hairline, "The more you struggle, the worse this'll be...so..." he places the clippers on Joseph's now exposed forehead, "I suggest you stay very, very still," and without giving him a chance to reply, Kyle pushes the roaring machine into the helpless boys sweaty mane. Joseph cringes as he feels the hungry machine fight its way down the middle of his scalp, leaving a wide trail white skin in it's wake. Kyle pulls back and once again runs the machine across the top of Joseph's head. Patches of sweaty blonde hair fall down onto both the floor and and Joseph's lap. "So far so good..." he runs the clippers over the top of his head a couple more times, stopping only when he's sure every last strand of hair has been reduced to nothing but mere stubble, "You're looking better already," Joseph doesn't say a single word as Kyle sets to work on cutting the hair that occupies the right side of his head, "Honestly," it only takes him about half-a-second to completely destroy the sideburn Joseph had spent hours shaping up and making perfect, "I think you'll like this look more then your old one."
"Highly doubt it," Kyle runs the clippers up and around Joseph's newly pierced ear, making very little work of the hair that once covered it almost entirely, "I highly f***ing doubt it," he says coldly.
"Never know," Kyle holds down Joseph's ear and once again runs the clippers up and around it, only stopping when the hair around it - like the hair on top - is reduced down to nothing but stubble. He smiles before running his fingers along the bristly hair, "Perfect," he moves around to the back, "Ah, finally," he runs his fingers through the thick curtain of hair that hangs on the back of Joseph's head, "the part I've been waiting for.." he places the vibrating machine at the nape of Joseph's neck and, without another word, pushes the hungry machine up into the thick curtain of blonde hair. He watches with glee as giant clumps of sweaty blonde hair fell away from Joseph's head, revealing a paper white scalp beneath it, "Perfect," he says before pulling back and running the clippers up Joseph's head a second time, then a third time, and forth, only stopping when he's positive he's buzzed down every single strand of hair. He makes quick work of the hair on the left side of Joseph's head, "And that's the last of it," he says as he watches the last chunk of hair fall down to the bathroom floor.
"Great..." Joseph watches as Kyle moves around and grabs ahold of his face, "What are you doing?"
"I was asked to do one last thing," he places the clippers firmly against Joseph's neck and quickly runs them up and over his chin and beneath his lip, removing the small clumps of curly brown hair that covered the lower half of Joseph's face.
"Seriously?" is all he can say as Kyle runs the clippers up and down his cheeks, over his top lip and under his bottom lip, "You know how long it took me to grow that?" Kyle doesn't answer, instead he simply turns off the machine and rolls it back up. He then proceeds to pull out his phone, and snap a quick picture of the defeated, freshly shaved college student.
"There we go..." he puts the phone back in his pocket and picks up his hair cutting kit, "I'll send someone in to untie you," and before Joseph can say a single word, Kyle walks out of the room. Joseph's jaw locks, and he has to force himself not to scream and not to burst into tears of anger. He lowers his head...and quickly regrets doing so. Seeing the pile of dead hair on the floor and on his lap quickly reduces the poor boy to tears. All those years of fighting his parents, and all those years of perfecting his look...wasted...He begins to sob...

Kyle idly toys with a loose peace of thread on his shirt as he makes his way up to the front door of Joseph's mother house, "Stupid little..." he rips the thread out, and silently curses under his breath when he sees the mini hole he's created, "Great, perfect," he knocks on the door. A moment passes before it swings open, revealing a middle-aged woman with thick blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, "Hey."
"Did you do it?"
"Yes," he pulls out his phone and shows her the picture he took of Joseph.
"Wonderful," she reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a couple hundred dollar pills, "And here you are," she slips them into Kyle's waiting hand, "And he doesn't know it was I who asked you?"
"He doesn't have a clue."
"Fantastic. Thank you Kyle, you've been a big help."
"It's no problem...thanks for the cash," Kyle shoves it deep into his pocket before turning and walking away, "Have a nice day, Mrs. White."
"You too, sweetie," she closes the door, and Kyle quickly scrambles back into his car. He looks at his phone...the picture of Joseph still fills his screen. He bites his lip...he knows what he did was wrong...knows that tackling Joseph outside of his literature class and taping him to a nearby chair was wrong...and knows that shaving off every last bit of hair on his best friends head was wrong...but he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy himself...and he'd be lying again if he said he didn't want to do it again...he turns his phone off, puts his car in drive, and heads on back to the dorm building. He knew he'd in a s**t ton of trouble, with both Joseph and most likely a couple teachers and quiet possibly the police, if Joseph was indeed that upset by the whole thing...

he wasn't gonna run though. He would apologize, yes, and possibly pay a fee, but deep down... he knew he'd do what he did again in a heartbeat, and most likely he'd do it for free, and possibly without even being asked too...

Kyle smiles as the images of himself shaving Joseph's head flash before his eyes...

Oh yes...he will, for sure, do it again....

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