The Simple Reality

Ex-Barber

"Sit still," she said to him, lifting his head with small gentle fingers. The man seated in front of her puffed his chest thinking what the hell ran in his mind when he agreed. The night ending this way couldn't have been imagined even if he had an eternity to conjure it up on his own. Her intentions were good, he didn't mistake that, but he knew he'd gotten himself into a situation that'd lead him into another. He huffed just a bit before he squeaked words out that would be interrupted anyway.

"Okay b—"

"Would you please— I think you're almost finished." He listened to a soft crunch as scissors had cut through wet hair. A scissor in the right hand and two fingers sliding between strands of brown hair to measure by sections. Did she know what she was doing? Not entirely. Was he aware? Most certainly by then.

His eyes lifted over the frame of his glasses watching her in the mirror move around him, side to side after a while. She hesitated a lot. It seemed like the seven YouTube videos she had binged to refreshen her mind a bit did nothing. She cut from the back, the sides, the front, up top. And when she set the scissors down and checked the length to find if it is equal and symmetrical, she didn't know what she was looking at anymore. Each time she'd find it wasn't even as she presumed, she would cut some more to fix it, but she realized it was a lot of cutting and slowly his hair was becoming a lot shorter. Her face was grim and lost and his heart was in his mouth unable to read her expression. He feared what she thought.

"What?" He noticed her biting her lip thoughtfully as she stepped back. Her eyes looked at his damp hair in the mirror and she caught his serious gaze.

"I think that you better go to an actual barber tomorrow," she said quietly and calmly, because she already knew the direction his reaction would go.

"Agnetha!" he growled.

"It doesn't look so bad. I just can't tell what I did, it looks f-fine—"

"Fine," he scoffed, repeating her words. "I would have just gone there in the beginning!" he peered in the mirror to find his hair was shorter at the sides, but certain places were missed. He looked so unlike himself and a perfectionist that he was, he was stressed to know he'd have to wait until the next morning to get his hair fixed.

"Darling, I tried! It's not bad, it just–" He turned sharply to see her and she tried terribly not to laugh as she pushed her black frame glasses over her blonde hair. Her fingers brushed his hair a bit to make it look nice and somewhat acceptable. Maybe it was all the styling. "I forgot we're not in the 70s anymore and my cuts no longer work," she shrugged.

"I have a meeting tomorrow. I have places to be, and what will I do? I must look as silly as a monkey. I won't go there like this."

"Honey, no," she said, still ruffling with his hair. "To be honest, you look handsome. I left it as it is from the top so you can style it back like always, but..." she bit her lip in thought. "You just might want to go and see the barber." Her shoulders raised for a second.

"Let's hope he squeezes me in for a walk-in first thing." His tone was so irritated, and it suddenly caused her to drop her folded arms, and turn around. She would never cut his hair again even if he begged for it. Not that he would ask after this, but she was sure then, he would always find something he did not like.

The next morning was bound to be an early one. Lately the days had him up to get his day started much sooner due to the coming events such as the musical and his other works. His eyelids had separated calmly until he could absorb that was it, it was his time to wake up. No alarms were set that morning and it had him think why. The conclusion was that Agnetha must have turned it off before bed, just to avoid the annoying jingle he had set. He always justified his choice to her saying the more annoying it is, the quicker he'd get up to turn it off. And her response, the more annoying it is, the more inclined she was to throw it out the window. But he would need his phone, so she'll settle with turning it off instead.