Chapter Three – No Big Deal
“Blonds? Like in blond guys? You told me you’re not gay!” April exclaimed and then pressed one hand over his mouth, stealing a nervous look in the baby’s direction.
Jett smirked. “I think it would be a good color for you.”
April began munching on one fingernail while he looked again at the hair dye in his hand. “Blond? Why this particular hue, though?”
The color on the package was enough to give April the chills. He couldn’t swear, hand on heart, that it was the same hue he had used at thirteen, stolen from his sister’s stash, but it was really close. It was a bright blonde that April was pretty sure it would catch on his brown hair like a fucking charm.
He studied Jett while trying hard not to stare. Could it be that Jett remembered him and now was just trying to trap him? But why the charade? He could say it.
Remembering how their friendship had ended wasn’t helping right now.
“I just picked it at random.”
Jett’s answer took a while to catch up with him. April stared at the package again, and then he threw it back to Jett. “No. I agree about taking care of Jay, which, by the way, it must be listed on the same level of danger as the Deadliest Catch or something, but I won’t play to whatever weird-ass fantasies you have. What? Do you want me to act like Jay’s mom, now? Is she a blonde?”
“I don’t know who she is,” Jett replied and shrugged. “Jay looks like he has blond hair, right? Ah, then he’s not my kid. I don’t fuck blondes.”
April stared at Jett and huffed. “Seriously? Just earlier, you say you like blonds. Did you mean it like blond dudes? For real?”
Jett cracked his neck. He did that a lot.
“Aren’t you too young to have troubles with your joints like that?”
“Don’t change the subject. Dye your hair, or I’ll take you to the bathroom, shove your hair under the shower and give you a total makeover myself.”
“Don’t tell me you want me to put on makeup, too! I swear I won’t look anything like a woman! Certainly not like Jay’s mom!”
“That’s not why I want you to die your hair, fool!”
“Jay’s mom might not be blonde at all,” April rambled on. “Kids have light hair when they’re little. It changes with age. Even yours was lighter when – I mean your hair surely changed, too!”
Which was true, since Jett’s hair had been a very light brown as April remembered, and now had a darker color. But he was not supposed to give himself away, and yet, there he was, making a total fool of himself.
“That’s it,” Jett said and grabbed April by one arm. “I’ll do it for you.”
“Hey, I need to supervise Jay. What if he wakes up?”
“He looks like he sleeps. It won’t take long. Also, I’ll need the key to your apartment.”
“Um, why?”
“Hey, you’re the dude in debt. I need to limit the damage. All your things will do.”
“Ah, so I’m taking care of Jay for free!”
“Stop talking so loudly! You’ll wake up the baby.”
They both stopped at the same time, holding their breath, and looked at the sleeping kid. Jay seemed completely unaware of the little domestic conflict taking place in the room.
“You’ll get a haircut, too,” Jett said with finality.
“Oh, great. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just shaved my head if you don’t like my hair color?”
Jett seemed to ponder for a second. “Nah, I don’t want you bald.”
“You seem very peculiar in your tastes,” April replied. “Why not?”
“I think you’d be less cute if I did that.”
Say what? April opened his mouth and remained with it like that for a couple of seconds. Jett pushed his index finger into his mouth, making him choke and take a step back while batting away the other’s hand. “Why the hell did you do that for?”
“Because it’s funny, that’s why. You made such a face.” Jett laughed and made a pour impersonation of what April might have looked like.
April wanted to protest some more, but Jett dragged him to the bathroom.
***
Jett took the scissors with confidence. He had no idea about cutting anyone’s hair, but it couldn’t be too complicated. It looked like April had resigned with the idea that he would get a makeover, whether he liked it or not.
He moved around, grabbing chestnut curls and snapping them fast. April was staring at himself in the mirror, his bottom lip jutting out. Jett stared, too. That lip looked damned juicy.
“Are you going to take all day? If this is some torture, you’re a complete weirdo,” April said.
Jett snapped out of it. What was with him today? From that time, when he had had fun all summer with Theo and forgotten about all the other things, he had kept away from feeling the slightest thing about dudes. Not that at thirteen, he had known jack shit about what he felt. He had just decided not to investigate further. He liked girls — end of story.
“Have you thought about wearing contacts?”
“Contacts? That’s a bit too much hassle, you know? They’re expensive --”
“I can pay for them.”
“That’s not the issue. I need to have them custom made, obviously.”
“Do you have like a second pair of glasses?”
April seemed to hesitate for a second. “No.”
Jett knew he would search the dweeb’s home for the second pair. “Now, the dye.”
April took the package from his hand. “I’ll do it. Just go watch Jay.”
“Why?”
“He might wake up. Imagine how he would feel, waking up alone in a strange house.”
“Hey, I left you two the cleanest room in the house.”
“Thanks. I was a bit surprised.” April pulled some food remains from his hair, using the brush he had found on the sink.
Jett stole another glance at him. April’s hair was a little spiky now, a consequence of chopped up curls, but even so, his face was still nice. He just looked a little punkish — a punk with glasses, good with kids, and with a passion for cryptocurrency.
Jett shook his head. “Be blond when I get back, or we’ll have a problem.”
“Yeah, yeah.” April waved for him to go away. “Get some food while I do this ‘cause I’m starving.”
Jett checked his watch. It was already two in the afternoon. Time did fly. “Sure thing. What do you want?”
“Cheeseburger. With pickles. Lots. I mean, if you don’t mind,” April said quickly.
“All right. You like your pickles, huh?”
“I like sour stuff, as a general rule.”
Jett pondered.
“Why are you narrowing your eyes like that?” April questioned, staring at him in the mirror. “You look like you’re about to do something bad.”
“Are you always so distrustful of people?”
“Only of gangsters who take me from my home and order me to dye my hair blond.”
Jett snorted. “Execute the order. Fool,” he added with some satisfaction.
April always bristled at that word. It was like an invisible hand was pinching him, and he got annoyed like a porcupine.
Whistling, Jett left the bathroom. Just as he was about to go downstairs, he remembered to check on Jay. From the door, he looked at the small seat that doubled as a baby crib on the bed. There was a reason why that room was clean. But April didn’t have to know about that. After all, Jett knew his dad wouldn’t be home for months. Even then, he would only be in passing, and the chances were he would spend little time at home. And, by then, both Jay and April would be long gone.
The baby was sleeping soundly. With a shrug, Jett left. So April liked pickles. A lot. Just like Theo. It had been an impulse to buy that hair dye, in that color. He was curious how much like Theo April would look. Well, he wouldn’t be Theo, but a version of that boy Jett had known at thirteen, and he would be okay with that.
Sometimes, Jett felt something when he thought of Theo. There was no point in sentimentalism, but it did feel like longing. Like when he heard a good joke, and wanted to tell it to someone, and he turned to his left, waiting, on some unconscious level, to meet those incredibly large green eyes behind the square, black-rimmed glasses.
He grimaced and took out his phone to order food. In the meantime, he took a look around. Maybe the house did look pretty bad. Jett grinned when an idea struck him. April the Fool just got himself another job.
***
April looked in horror at himself in the mirror. Fuck. If Jett thought he knew him from somewhere, now he would have the proof. Now, he was no longer sure whether he looked nothing like his thirteen-year-old self or not. If Jett found the glasses, he was fucked. Well, they were too small for him now, so he would say he wouldn’t wear them.
With slow moves, he put his glasses on and looked again at himself. He did look a certain way with his hair like that. And the spiky hair made him look a bit less like himself. Well, he would just deny that he knew Jett. What would the guy do? Jett knew a boy named Theo, not April. That was his saving grace.
He found the blow drier and proceeded to style his hair to be as tame as possible. As much as he tried, he still looked like he had just survived electrocution.
On his way down, he checked on Jay again. He would have Jett buy one of those fancy baby monitors so that he could move around the house and make it less of a pigsty without watching over Jay all the time.
Jett’s eyes were unreadable when he entered the kitchen. April pretended to be nonchalant as he sat down and grabbed the cheeseburger peeking from the paper bag on the table. He was about to take a bite when Jett moved so fast that it made him yelp. He was hovering way too close.
“Have you ever been to Lynn? It’s a small town, not so far from here.”
April managed to keep the cheeseburger from meeting the floor by executing a strange gymnastic maneuver. “Doesn’t ring a bell. I’m not from around here. I'm here for college. Fuck! What am I going to do about school?”
His predicament didn’t mean anything to Jett who was getting closer and closer, making him lean back into his chair. “Dude, you’re too close. And frankly, I don’t know how your girlfriends can stand you or kiss you. It would be like kissing an ashtray.”
Jett grinned. April was sure he didn’t like that. Slowly, he put the cheeseburger on the table, although he had to stretch so that he didn’t touch Jett by accident.
“Kissing an ashtray? Nah, I’m a great kisser. They all love it.”
April swallowed hard. Why was Jett so close, anyway? “Well, they might have bad taste, then. I wouldn’t kiss --”
Firm lips pressed against his so fast that he leaned back too hard. The chair balanced dangerously, but a steady hand caught it and made it regain its initial position, and April was brought closer, into the kiss. For a moment, his eyelids fluttered. At thirteen, Jett’s lips hadn’t felt like this. But then, April had been the one to kiss him. Their lips had been cold, but April had sensed warmth between them, or maybe he had just imagined it.
Now, Jett’s lips weren’t cold. But they were daring, not like that time, and there was more to that. April made a small sound when the brush of lips turned into something else. Teeth caught his bottom lip and bit it softly, making him open his mouth without thinking.
Jett moved just enough to sink one of his hands into the hair at the back of April’s head, intending to take the kiss deeper.
This is wrong, this is so wrong, was all April could think, but it was like he was paralyzed and his lips, no, his entire body, didn’t want to push Jett back.
A baby’s cry from upstairs made them both freeze. April was fast to push back his chair and escape Jett. Without a word, he fled the kitchen and ran up the stairs like he was possessed. Why the hell did he give in like that? Most likely, Jett was fooling around.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
He was fast to check Jay. The boy’s cry diminished upon seeing him, and April smiled. Well, he now understood his sister better. Knowing that someone this small and vulnerable depended on him should have scared him good. But, instead, he felt useful, and something more than that.
He busied himself with distracting Jay with one of the squeaky toys Jett had brought. Hopefully, Jett wouldn’t come after him.
April needed time to think. Why the hell had Jett kissed him like that? Was it only a dare for him?
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