The Intern, Part 3 by Jack

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The Intern, Part 3

By the time the clock neared 4:30 the place had thinned out. There were two unoccupied chairs including William’s when a guy about his age hesitated at the door. The guy eyed the deserted waiting chairs and then the empty barber chairs. He stepped inside and lifted the hair away from the collar of his snug fitting polo. The closer the guy’s tight jeans got to his chair the more William tried not to stare at his crotch. Their eyes locked and they exchanged nods.

“Umm, Willi-, ummm, I, I mean,” he dropped his voice an octave, “B-bill.”

“J-J-J-Jason.”

The intern grinned and looked the other way. Jason’s hand snuck to the top of Bill’s head, “sweet haircut, dude, or should I say, um, marine.” His heals clicked together and he saluted.

“Haircut of the day,” his eyes shot up toward the placard while his hands grazed his sidewalls. He blushed, “umm, new look for me.”

Jason stroked the stubble on his chin, “like awesome.”

“Like still getting used to it.” William got redder and smirked. “Easy to take care of,” he made a funny face, “great for, umm, summer?”

“Right. So.”

“So, ahh, Jason, you been in here before?” William brushed off the chair with the cutting cape and motioned for him to sit.

“Been away at college. Here for the summer. Landed a construction job. Well, my uncle landed me the job, he’s on the crew. I’m gonna be the guy with the flag controlling traffic, you know, at road construction sites. Easy money, but my uncle keeps sayin’ how f***in’ hot it’s gonna be out there with all this hair.” Jason swept his hair away from his eyes. “He gets his hair cut here.”

While William pumped up the chair he imagined Jason stripped to the waist with his hard hat on waving his red flag in the air. He took his time fastening the cape and continued making small talk. Meanwhile Jason eased back into the chair and started teasing William about his oversized tee shirt and how it was probably covering up a pretty hot bod. He didn’t notice the clippers glide toward his forehead and land front and center. But when William slid them straight back and let a major chunk of hair bound toward the cutting cape Jason jerked forward. The barber guided the clippers a few inches over and eased them back again. The third time they attacked, Jason sat straight up and thrust his upper body around to face his assailant. The clippers gouged into his scalp as he shoved them away. He tried to yank on the stubble, “what the f***. What the f*** are you doin’, dude?”

William grimaced. His eyes shifted back and forth, up and down, then he looked up and pointed. “Ahh, umm, haircut, the umm, haircut of the, you know, day,” he stammered and rubbed his own head. “The five buck special?”

Neither of them spoke for way too long.

“You don’t, um, didn’t umm, want, didn’t see the, umm,” his voice quivered, “sign?”

“The sign?” Jason sneered. “What sign? How the f*** am I supposed to see some f***in’ lame-ass sign let alone even get what it means? And you’re just f***in’ shavin’ all my hair off without askin’ or even sayin’ something? Like, don’t you at least say, like, dude, I’m gonna shave your f***in’ head bald so you look like a f***in’ marine like me.”

“Everybody else…and you said you got this job and it was going to be hot, and. . your uncle, and I guess I thought you wanted, um. . ”

“a f***in’ shaved head? Like yours? This is f***in’ bulls**t. No s**t. You’re givin’ me a f***in’ boot camp haircut like yours?” He tried to grab the stubble, “what the f***!” Jason bolted out of the chair and stood in front of the mirror staring in horror. He kept rubbing the top of his head and yanking on the long hair that surrounded it.

As Jason’s “what the f***’s” got louder William attempted to assure him that he would to try to leave as much hair as he could, but he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Roy storm toward the back of the barbershop. William looked over at Jason and took a deep breath. “My first day.” He tossed his head toward Roy. “The owner. I just…”

“Somethin’ wrong over here, boys?”

Jason stared into William’s face. He gritted his teeth and shook his head, “just gettin’ the five, umm, buck special.” He scratched the quarter inch of hair left on the top of his head, “student budget, you know. Every five bucks counts, huh, Sir?” His eyes welled up, “gonna be a long, hot summer.”

Jason took a deep breath and shook his head as he stumbled back toward the chair. The owner of the shop stood right next to him with his arms crossed over his gut. He shoved the clippers with the 00000 blade into Bill’s hand and coaxed him along, “this young man ain’t got all day, son.” William inched the clippers toward Jason’s temple. When he saw Jason’s blank expression and looked into his dejected eyes the novice hesitated. He swallowed hard and nudged the blade back. No mistaking it, the cut was not even close to perfect. The intern’s reluctant hand steered the clippers toward the base of Jason’s sideburn and maneuvered them up the side of his head. He watched Jason shudder as sheaths of his sun bleached hair rippled toward the floor and wide patches of stark white scalp were exposed. By the time the clippers were positioned on the other side both men were sweating. The first cut looked like a sawtooth. After examining it the intern redirected his clippers and zigzagged them across Jason’s head a second time. Without saying a word Roy seized the implement and edged Bill out of the way. He bore his hand into the top of Jason’s head and scowled at Bill. “Yer gonna have that sidewall so screwed up by the time yer done he’s gonna end up lookin’ like he was attacked by some wild beast. Can’t have this young man leavin’ here lookin’ like that.” His voice was apologetic, “sorry, son. New barber. Got a bad case ‘a the first day jitters.” Roy continued the divestiture himself. When he finished the sidewalls he stood back to admire his handiwork. He grinned and filled his hand with warm shave cream and began massaging it into the sides of Jason’s head. In his most accommodating tone he told Jason he was in for a special treat. Before either William or Jason got where this was headed Roy had his straight razor out was scraping away at the stubble on the side of Jason’s head. The whitewalls were glistening by the time he finished. “Gimme the 0A, Bill. And watch close. This is how ya’ learn.” He blended the line and took the top a lot shorter to repair the damage William had done then spun Jason around to face the mirror. “Now this ain’t yer standard five buck high ‘n tight, son. Figure fer yer trouble ya’ should get somethin’ special. And on yer budget this should keep ya’ looking nice ‘n neat fer at least a extra week.” He grinned and rubbed the top of Jason’s head, “this is one sharp looking haircut on ya’, son. Next time ya’ come in here, ya’ come right over an’ see me an’ I’ll clean ya’ up fer free. On the house.”

Jason cradled his head and whimpered, “thanks, Sir. That’s very nice of you.”

As Roy walked away William mouthed, “I am so sorry.” His voice got a little louder, “really, dude.” He looked at Jason’s reflection in the mirror and started to snicker, “I am really, really,” the snicker turned into more of a laugh, “so, so, so sorry.”

“This isn’t, umm, f***in’ funny, okay, dude. I look like a f***in’ freak. A f***in’ dumb ass freak. People are gonna f***in’ point at me and gawk like there’s somethin’ f***in’ wrong with me.” Jason cocked his head and arched his thick eyebrows. Now that he had almost no hair they were distinctly prominent while it was William’s ears and nose that overpowered his thin face.

As he started to unfasten the cutting cape William tried not to laugh out loud, “you know, it isn’t really all that bad.”

“Yeah. Right. And how is not really all that bad, Bill?”

William hesitated, “ah, it’s a nice change?” When he started to really crack up he slid his hand over his mouth, “your uncle, maybe he’ll like it? It’ll be easy to take care of? And cool.” He moved his hand to the top of his own head and scratched it, “I’m kinda getting used to mine. Empowering. Like a whole new me.”

“Never gonna get used to this, ok, dude. And my friends are way gonna pick on me. My hair. It’s my thing.” He shook his head, “was my thing.” Jason continued running his fingers over the sides of his head and glaring in the mirror. “And my f***in’ uncle. He’s gonna f***in’ bust a gut laughin’. And tease me the most. F***, it’s way shorter even than his, and his is f***in’ crazy marine short.” Jason’s voice became weak, “look how f***in’ white these sides are, dude. They f***in’ shine! Way shinier even than yours.”

“Err. I can sort of fix that.” He screamed toward the front of the shop, “hey, Roy, can you come back here for a second.”

“Dude. Keep that old guy away from me. He’s the f***in’ butcher that scalped me. Don’t let him touch me, ok?”

By the time Roy showed up William was sitting in the chair and the perimeter of his head was covered with shave cream. “Gimme whitewalls, too, Roy. I wanna shine, just like Jason. And while you’re at it, can you take the top down, too.”

Roy’s eyes lit up like a dog with a bone and he went right to work scraping away at the sides of his new intern’s head. “Ya’ make me proud, boy.” When he finished he grabbed the 0A and took the top down a couple of notches. “Now that’s a haircut that’s gonna get some attention. We can keep them whitewalls shinin’ fer as long as ya’ work here, son. Every mornin’. First thing, yer in my chair.” William almost smiled. Before things got too warm and fussy, Roy shoved a push broom toward him.

Jason spotted the dust pan and bent down so William could brush the remnants of his hair into it. “Just to think, all this was on my head just like ten f***in’ minutes ago.”

“Let it go, dude. Ten minutes was like a long time ago. We didn’t even know each other, and now we’re pretty much blood brothers.” William reached down and rubbed Jason’s head, “and we got me and my trusty clippers to thank for that.”

“Blood brothers, right, more like bald bros, dude.” Jason’s shiny head rotated up to catch William’s eyes, “you and your f***in’ clippers. I might, might start thinkin’ about forgivin’ you, maybe in six months.”

“Forgiving me? I was thinking you owe me dinner or something for getting you the extra special treatment from Roy.”

“I f***in’ owe you dinner?” Jason smirked, “no way, dude. No f***in’ way.” Before cutting out the two of them stood next to each other in front of the mirror staring at their identical induction cuts. When William started making funny faces Jason reluctantly joined in. He grabbed William’s head and stroked it, “one thing’s for sure, bro, this baldie looks way hipper on me than it f***in’ looks on you, especially with these,” he moved behind him and pulled William’s ears straight out, “giant f***ers flappin’ around.”

As they left the restaurant Jason shoved William against the side of the building. He secured William’s H&T with one hand while the other one slid up his inner thigh. William’s dick reacted accordingly. “Thanks for dinner,” Jason grumbled then shoved closer and let the stubble on the top of his head graze William’s cheek. “And for the sweet haircut, Billy. Thanks to you I probably won’t have to comb it til, what, maybe Halloween?”

“At least you can let yours grow back. Thanks to you and your meltdown, Roy’s going to be tending to my whitewalls til my internship’s over. And after what I did to Gionetti this morning, well, that could be a f***ing life time.” William fondled Jason’s sidewall, “hey, just remembered, you still owe me five bucks for this sweet haircut, dude.”

“Just try and collect it.” Jason bounded down the street and William chased after him.

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