David was emotionally and physically tired. There was so much stress in his period of time at work, it left him broken and somewhere else. Very briefly, he procrastinated from his work, put on headphones and listened to some music. Some songs that Kaylon recommended to him two years ago, like Porter Robinson or The Weeknd. It calmed him down enough and gave time to release some tension, but it didn't help that he couldn't focus on work. Although it didn't make the world go away, David at least gave the world a shot if you thought about it that way.
Heading down the stairs of his office building, he saw a man with black hair exit out of the building. Through the entrance. Walking from the flight of stairs, he sped-walk towards the doors that separated the spaces. When he walked out into the cold air, David felt the refreshing breeze on his body instead of the air conditioning but no sigh or relief followed. There was a spider on his back.
He pulled out his phone, unlocked it and tried to call a Lyft to hopefully get home. Then, he felt his stomach. Not a growl, but rather a soft pain. On cue, he instead wanted to looked for directions to the nearest restaurant and switched to the Maps app on his phone. He looked for the nearest restaurant that he could walk towards but then decided to go to Subway. A regular restaurant or something would be bad. He spotted one about a mile away from his location, more or less. He was also in the mood for sandwiches.
He dug his headphones out of his pocket and plugged them in. He put on Tame Impala, began directions and put his phone in his pockets. He carried his laptop bag and started to saunter over the crosswalk. On the other side, he stopped, put down his laptop bag and then pulled out his phone again. This time, he unlocked and pulled open the Messages app and went to Kaylon's tab.
"Will be home soon," He texted, "Just got out of work. Heading to Subway."
He pressed the send button and continued.
—
The keys shifted, a death somewhere in a space. There was a mechanical step, like a march. Then two doors opened slowly to reveal Kaylon and Luca arriving back into the parking lot. They were, unusually, very talkative. And yes, they did remember to park the SUV where David parked it last time to not confuse him even more. Thank goodness, Kaylon thought, it wasn't taken by someone else
"....watched anything at all?" Kaylon's inquiry was relocated into the space around them as they headed for the stairs. The closing of the doors and a press of a button made a military step heard around at least the parking lot.
"No, I don't think so." Luca answered.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"Well, what do you like to do often? When you have time or whatever?"
"Read."
"Huh, that's very interesting. Have you ever read Twilight?"
"No."
They were now climbing up the stairs and about to walk on the sidewalk when Luca's answer was heard.
"God, I don't like that book. And I haven't read that much books."
"Why haven't you?"
"Well, I do like reading a good book but so far, there isn't anything I want to read that's interesting. At all." Concrete. "Maybe because I don't have enough money or something, but I don't really know."
"Hmmm."
When they entered the lobby, they immediately went to the elevator and Luca pressed the button to go up. however, the former checked every pocket of his jeans and became overwrought, automatically thinking that he had lost his keys.
"What? What is it?" Luca asked.
"I think I lost the key!" Kaylon panicked, "Oh no. Oh no!"
"Did you check everywhere?"
"YES! I did!"
"Well, where did you last leave it?"
Kaylon was, virtually, frantically searching everywhere for them. "My pockets."
"Did you check them?"
"Yes!"
And sure enough, he checked his wallet and found the spare key in one of the pockets. Where he had last put it. The elevator opened, as well.
"You're sure?" Luca smirked, tilting downwards to he right and looking up to him before chuckling a little. Funny.
Kaylon was embarrassed enough and was going to get angry at this. But he didn't. He laughed alongside her. "Oh, stop it!" He riposted.
He got over it sooner than later.
As the door unlocked, they stepped into the conditioned space with it being as near-tidy as they left it hours before. Luca went to go relax on the couch andKaylon stretched out his arms and emitted a sound loudly, to a certain extent. Then he noticed the shopping bags he was carrying in his left hand as he went to David's room.
"Hey." He enunciated to Luca.
She was lying, tired, on the couch. "Yes?"
"Do you think that we could do it now?"
"Do what?"
"Dye my hair?"
She then waited before she spoke. "Wait."
A few minutes later, Kaylon and Luca were in the bathroom. About ten or fifteen minutes ago, somewhere between that time, Luca applied the bleach to Kaylon's hair. It turned the light brown hair to an anomalous, light spaghetti blonde. Kaylon was still sitting patiently on a chair while Luca was applying the hair color to his bleached hair. He was wearing a trashbag over his torso in place of his T-shirt, as to not stain the shirt.
The hair color transferred an algid temperature onto his scalp and it seemed as if his entire hair was soaked in slime or some gelatinous substance. The cold touch of the hair dye eccentrically calmed Kaylon down; focusing on that solely, he just stared completely ahead and did nothing. It felt nice and relaxing, especially considering that it was his first time getting his hair dyed.
Something rising from his stomach, no. Lower than that. He felt something coming from a place lower than his stomach. It showed a little bit and showed up at the worst time possible. Kaylon agitated and thought. Is it really getting up now? And in the nick of time, he thankfully moved it covered it up at the last minute, just when Luca noticed something. Or anything wrong, if so.
"Something wrong?" Luca asked.
Kaylon wanted to look back at her but stood still. "No, I'm fine." Kaylon replied, "Thank you, though."
She smiled and kept applying the hair dye until everything was completely covered, even the roots of the hair. However they were barely touched by the bleach itself, so it didn't matter if the hair color got into the roots. It would just come off.
"Done." Luca said.
"Now, all we gotta do is wait," Kaylon responded. Kaylon then opened his phone and set a timer for fifteen minutes, at which a text popped up from David and switched to the Messages app. "Luca. David's gonna be back soon. He's getting himself something from Subway."
"Ok."
"Do you know where the towel is?"
Luca looked at the towel. "It's on the toilet. You should be fine."
Kaylon took in a deep breath. "Ok."
About six minutes passed with no one talking. Luca already exited of the bathroom into the guest bedroom. Kaylon had to stay behind. Afraid that he would ruin the chair, since it came from the kitchen, he remained immobile. At one point, his head started to itch a bit, then it grew slightly. It bugged him to no end. He so desperately wanted to scratch it to disencumber himself of the itch, but doing so would stain his fingers. And his fingers weren't getting bleached today.
Despite the itch, he waited even more. Just because he could, he then yelled for five seconds and subsequently laughed, if you could even count it as maniacal. Luca didn't come out, she was in her bedroom. She had enough.
—
David was waiting for the sandwich to toast while ordering at Subway. Other than looking at other sandwiches and the oven, there wasn't much else that he could look at. Or seemingly enjoy silence and looking around. The latter was mostly Kaylon, as he could remember. Why he would be so left in his tracks was an idea he didn't think of.
And then they called up the owner of the toasted sandwich. He took a close look at it to make sure it was exactly how he ordered a Black Forest Ham. It was. Did it have provolone on it. Yes. It was his. Post-check, they asked him for anything else and he gave them a no. He paid no attention to how they wrapped it.
They gave him his total and he paid. Simple. Thirsty for something, he put down his sandwich and walked to the fountain.
Next, he bumped into a person. Scatterbrained from the encounter, his hands were disorganized in collecting the sandwich and the remnants of the drink that the person had. Giving them back to the person, face.
Yes, that face. That was collecting his drink. When they stood up, it was the person he saw walking out the door from his workplace. He could tell just because of the black hair. But up in his face.... Well, he couldn't tell much about his face other than
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm so sorry." The man said.
"Uh, it's fine." David said, "It's fine. I'll get it. What do you want?"
"I'll take a Coke."
"Alright.
And still dazed, he gave the youngman his sandwich and walked to the fountain. The cup had leverage against the dispenser. Then, there was a flicker of the lighting and everyone was looking around. There was also something else that happened. Something that was something, in a nutshell.
Whatever it was, it sure would be a long night. He gave the drink, filled enough with Coke, to the man.
"Thank you." The man said, holding his drink in his hand and holding it up, then down.
"You're welcome." David said.
The man then sat down with his food in a table, then David in a selected spot three tables across from him. And before he could eat, the man got up and walked towards David. He tapped his shoulder.
"Yes?" David responded.
"Thank you for what you did back there." The man said.
"You're welcome."
—
Fifteen minutes. The phone vibrated and emitted a ringtone from the top of its lungs, signaling the fact that the fifteen minutes were up. Cautiously standing, Kaylon walked to the phone and silenced the timer. He then locked the door and undressed, first taking off the trashbag and then his pants and underwear.
Carefully, he dragged the shower curtains about halfway and put his left foot into the bathtub, succeeded by his right. Valve to the redline, water running through the faucet. Initially, the water made Kaylon shiver and want to leave. But the water warmed up to him and it hugged him like the friend it was to him for so long.
The water made his head stay under for a brief time before the shampoo. He started to get a little disoriented from the splinter of sleep in his mind and he quickly, if not messily, sat down at the back of the tub. He then pulled out from under the stream and had his fingers burrow underneath hair, latheringin deep and staining his hair. Then conditioner and the slippery grip, separating and spreading the conditioner for about a minute fully. When Kaylon dipped his head under the faucet again, it felt nice. Cold and hot, material and material. Less and less color ran for it.
Fuck it. He rerouted the flow to the showerhead and made sure his head was out of its direction. Water fell onto the rest of his body and always tried to climb, but failed. All the same. The body wash also created white paths that the runoff always left. Possibly a memory, that would fade away soon after. A smear, a path that led to somewhere else.
And it all ended.
A footstep. Another. Kaylon grabbed the towel and rubbed down his right arm, then his left. Followed by his legs, between and the back. Lastly, he messed around his hair. Circles,then zig-zags and random movement. When he looked in the mirror, it wasn't light brown anymore. In a new coat of paint, his hair was completely white, save for the occasional roots. It was a mix between the old white and the milk. And the result was amazing.
He chuckled then laughed for a split second, playing around with his hair and gawking at it. White. Afterward, he tightened the towel around his waist and put the clothes on his pile switched the lights off and continued into his room. About a moment later, he knocked on the guest room's door, wearing his usual T-shirt and pajama pants.
Luca answered, looking at the resultant of her help.
"Look!" Kaylon said, gay.
Luca smiled, happy that it went well. "Wow! It does fit you nicely."
"I know, right?!"
And out of nowhere, he hugged her. The action was enough to flummox and remind Luca about this action. It was a little while since she had a hug, or even an tender embrace, and they weren't good ones. Kaylon, on the other hand, was enjoying it. Maybe a little too much. Then, he recognized his mistake. They just met, he wasn't that close with her, you name it. It was wrong, in his mind. And he could see it in her eyes. Swiftly, he pulled in his arms and left without saying a word.
Luca tried to utter a word, squeal a noise or do something. She couldn't at all, fortifying herself behind the bedroom. Was it again too much? Sure, Kaylon was nice and all and a very kind soul but a hug... The hug was the choke.
Just then, a text from David popped up on Kaylon's phone.
"Will be home later. Going to get laundry baskets."
ns 15.158.61.20da2
