“Someone take a picture so I can see it,” Lisa ordered her partners in crime.
Gina snapped the shot and showed her. I wanted to have some fun, so I did my hairdresser impersonation. One of the guys who’d done our hair on
“Honey, I call this my ‘eye-grazing fringe’ look,” I said and then scrunched up my nose. “Sugar, I don’t think this is right for you.”
I messed up her bangs so there wasn’t such a severe straight line across her forehead.
“Sweetness, I call this creation ‘wispy bangs.’”
Gina dutifully took a picture.
“Saccharine …”
Lisa turned and looked at me askance. I momentarily dropped out of my hairdresser persona.
“Sorry, I couldn’t come up with any other ‘sweet’ nicknames.”
“Sweet pea, lollipop, sugar lips …” Wolf offered before I shut him down.
“Sweet pea,” I said, dropping back into hairdresser mode, “the final creation is called ‘sideswipe delight.’”
I pulled her hair to one side so that she had more of her forehead exposed. I liked the way that looked on her.
“You look fabulous,” I said as I clapped my hands excitedly.
“David, it’s not nice to make fun of gay people,” Gina warned.
I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips.
“I’m surprised at you, Gina Tasman, putting labels on people just because they do hair,” I said, shaking my head. “Here I thought you were more enlightened than that.”
Gina’s mouth worked, but no sound came out. I’d turned the tables on her. I hated when people tried to impose their ‘politically correct’ views on others. It just made you into someone no one wanted to hang out with. It fell into the ‘making people wrong’ category of behavior. Not the best way to win friends or influence people, trust me.
Gina knew me, so I thought her comment was uncalled for. I treated everyone as an individual, or at least tried to. Someone’s sexual orientation was of no concern or issue to me unless they attempted to force it on me.
I turned to Lisa with a bright smile to ease the tension.
“Which do you like best?” I asked in my normal voice.
“Sideswipe delight.”
“The good news is that it’ll eventually grow out,” Dare said.
We all busted out laughing. We laughed even harder when Dare tried to figure out what was so funny. He was absolutely right, though. If they didn’t like how their hair turned out, it would eventually grow out.
“Me next,” Pam said.
“Lollypop, you are not touching that gorgeous hair,” I said as I waggled my eyebrows.
Pam had that whole California surfer-girl image that would be criminal to change. She looked pleased and nodded.
“Do you want to try bangs?” I asked Gina as a peace offering.
She nodded. I played hairdresser until the bell rang. As I walked out of the lunchroom, Destiny Crown walked past me.
“Weirdo,” she said under her breath.
I was okay with being thought of as weird.
◊◊◊
We found our baseball uniforms in our lockers. Mine had the ‘C’ to indicate I was the captain; that left me a little confused.
“Did I miss a vote or something?” I asked Tim and Wolf as I pointed at my jersey.
“Who needs to vote when we all know that you’re going to lead us?” Tim asked.
“That might be true, but I didn’t want to assume anything,” I admitted.
They acted like it wasn’t any big deal, so I let it go.
“Dawson!” Moose bellowed. “Take them out to warm up.”
“Yes, sir.”
We walked out as a team to stretch and get the blood pumping. The first game of the doubleheader would be our JV squad against Lang Academy’s, then we would play in the second game against their varsity. After the full-team warm-up, Moose told the varsity they were free until the top of the fifth. That was when we had to head to the locker room to get ready for our game.
The varsity decided to go over to the football field and run some drills before we came back and watched the game. Ty was standing next to me when his little brother and friends rode up on their bikes.
“Ty. Ty. Ty.”
I almost laughed as Ty glanced over. Only a big brother could give that look to a younger sibling who was getting on his last nerve.
“Get lost, Stranger Things.”
That was too funny. Until he said it, I didn’t make the connection. Ty’s younger brother and his friends looked eerily similar to the TV characters. It reminded me of when Alan, Jeff, Tami, and I would ride our bikes to baseball games. They looked like four geeks just waiting to get picked on.
“Ty, give us some money so we can get something to eat,” his brother whined.
“I said get lost.”
“But we’re
Ty turned to me and shook his head.
“You would think the kid never gets fed. The little shit eats more than I do.”
When I’d been about his age, my mom actually took me to see a doctor because she thought I might have a tapeworm. She next asked the doctor to check to see if I had a hollow leg.
I wondered some days why child services didn’t take her away. Tami had been kind enough to clue me in that my mom was just giving me a hard time. I’ll admit to having been a little gullible back in the day.
