ᴀ ꜱɪɢʜᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ꜱᴏʀᴇ ᴇʏᴇꜱ // ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

3 - Finishing Him

3rd person's POV:

By the time Billy arrived at Starcourt Mall, he had it all planned out. Go in the shop, get an appointment with Tony and hopefully get some more details.

As he stood on the escalator, he could already see the blinking sign, saying "Tony's Barber Shop" at the end of the Mall.
Confidently, Billy strutted past the other people, with a speed as if he was about to miss an opportunity of a lifetime. But once he stood right in front of the shop, he stopped in his tracks, in- and exhaling deeply one more time.

The little bell on the door rang as the blond young man stepped over the threshold. The barber shop was was decorated tastefully, he had to admit. A little rustic; red wood, with black leather seats and dark green wallpaper.
While Billy let his eyes wander though the small room a tan, dark haired man came up to him.

"Good afternoon.", The man said in a deep tone.
"Hello, uhm.. I'm looking for Anthony Mahan. The owner?"

A polite smile graced the tall man's face, as he leaned onto the cashier's counter.

"Well, that'd be my humble self. So, how can I help you?"

Billy tried swallowing the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. When he came in here, he expected a middle aged man, already going grey or something like that, but no way. The man standing in front of him was tall, quite muscular actually. Not that he was intimidated, but in this moment, he reconsidered his plan a little.

"I'm here for a haircut and shave.", Billy said with renewed confidence.

"Well perfect, I can set you up with one of my barbers right now."

"No!-", Billy replied way to eagerly.
"I mean.. well, I hoped to get it done by you. I heard you're the best in town."

If there was one thing Billy Hargrove possessed, was his undeniable charm.

"Well, you see, I've got to leave in half an hour for an appointment.", Tony sighed and stopped talking for a moment. "But I could start and ask one of my employees to finish you off, if that'd be okay for you."

Billy's eyes flashed and a smirk crawled up his face.

"That would be fantastic. I'm right behind you."

The barber led him to an empty seat, put the cape around him and started putting shaving cream of Billy's cheeks and chin.

"So, where'd you hear from my shop?", Tony asked.

"I heard you were Chris' father and a friend of mine recommended you to me, since your shop moved from the city center into the mall and I was looking for a good barber."

"Oh!", Tony lowered the razor for a second, in surprise. "You're a friend of my daughter?"

"Uhm.. yeah, something like that."

"Oh, you know, I would've let one of my other employees finish you off, but since you two know each other Christina could just do it herself. That way you two can chat a little.", Tony offered.

"She's here? Then that's a brilliant idea.", Billy assured, grinning.
"Does she help out here often?"

"Occasionally. She doesn't have a lot of time of course, 'cause of school and her job in the bookstore."

Billy was so attentive to what Anthony was saying that everything else got filtered out. The snapping of scissors, the whirring of blow dryers and the chitchat between customers and barbers - it all went silent, as he was only interested in every little detail that Chris' father was ready to disclose.

Billy didn't know Chris worked in a bookstore, Max didn't mention that.

Tony babbled on about his darling daughter, which Billy of course didn't mind, because every detail was an advantage to him. The better he knew her, the easier it would be for him to get to her.
After a while, the barber put down the razor and wiped the shaving creme off Billy's face.

"Alright pal, that's it from me. Hold on a second." He turned away from his customer and yelled through the shop: "Christina, sweetie, would you come here for a second?"

A few moments of no response, and there she was. Her usually fluffy curls straightened and tucked behind her ears, with an old broom in the right hand.

"Yeah, what is it, Dad? I was just sweeping the backroo-" She stopped at the side of the buff blond in the barber's chair.
"What are you doing here?"
Before Billy could answer, her father chipped in.

"Well, your friend.."
"Billy Hargrove.", He completed.
"Yes. Billy. He came here for an appointment with me, but I've got to leave. You wouldn't mind finishing him off, would you?"

"Uh, well-"

Not waiting for his daughter to deny his request, Tony greeted the smirking boy in his chair goodbye and put the razor in her hands.
Chris huffed, watching her father walk away. She turned around and eyed her opposite up and down.

"You've never been here before." She stated, putting down the razor and taking the scissors from the table. "Are you following me?"

Billy chuckled.

"Don't flatter yourself, love. I just need a haircut."
"Of course."

As Chris started to cut the boy's blond curls, Billy leaned back.
"But don't cut it too short. And make it even."

The girl swallowed her dander and put on the customer-friendly smile.
"I planned to do so.", She mumbled to herself. "I know what I'm doing."

Almost finished, she straightened out his bangs for a trim. Holding the strands in one hand and the scissor in the other, she moved slightly closer to her customer to see wether his hair was evenly cut.
Squinting, she didn't realize how close her face was now to Billy's, until she looked down from her hands to meet his gaze. An amused expression wandered over Billy's face and Christina immediately backed off a little.

'He really is having his fun here, isn't he?', the girl thought.
Quickly putting the scissor and comb down, she took the cape off of Billy and turned him towards the mirror.

"Alright! You're all set and ready to go."

Billy first looked at himself in the mirror for a minute, running his fingers through his hair, and then got up.

"What's the rush?", He asked while following Chris to the cash register.
"Or do you have anywhere to go?"
The girl wasn't a fool, she noticed what he was trying to do.
She leaned against the counter putting the money into the cash register.

"Well, yes. I have a date later."
"Oh well, have fun then.", Billy said, smiling.

He thought, if he showed as little interest in her dating life as possible, she would develop some sort of curiosity herself.
Unfortunately, Billy held himself for way too smooth, because Chris had lied. His whole not-being-interested charade was useless. The date she had planned for tonight was cuddling up with her dog and watching Alf. There was no one she would've even considered making plans with beside her Chow Chow, Moose.

She tried to get him off her back, and she thought she did, but Billy really went through with his plan.
Just as he wanted to walk towards the door, he turned around once again and stepped closer to the girl.
His gaze traced her body, just to wander up to her eyes again.

"You look pretty, by the way."

The girl couldn't hold back. She didn't want Billy to think he got to her but admittedly, she felt the heat rising up her cheeks.
The corner of her mouth curved up to a sheepish smile but she was at a loss of words. She wanted to slap herself across the face for reacting this way, especially since it came from Billy.
But if there was one thing Billy Hargrove was marvellous at, it was charming other people.

After a moment of admiring Chris' reaction, who by now had nervously averted her gaze, he chuckled proudly at what he had done and left the shop without another word.

It all went according to plan.