Duality

[Literary_Dreamer]

Nicole Taylor
Age: 19
Personality: Nicole is the shy, bookish sort. She's never made friends easily but once she makes a friend she is loyal to the end. She gets nervous easily and would rather run away from a problem than fight it. She'd much rather take orders than give them.
History: At the age of four, she was taken from her parents and placed in the care of her grandmother. She doesn't remember anything before going to live with her grandmother. She always did well in school, never went on dates, and spent most of her time with her best friend (whom she loved). She graduated from high school and moved to a university far away to study history.

Matthew Lewis
Age: 19
Personality: Matthew has a take-charge sort of personality. He loves life and is going to live it to the absolute fullest. He doesn't care what other people think about him at all. Despite the flippant way he goes about life, he is fiercely loyal and dedicated to protecting the things that are important to him.
History: Throughout Nicole's life, Matthew has stepped in when things got too hard for Nicole's shy personality to handle and he's given back control of her body as soon as the stressful events passed. Whenever Nicole acted out of character or did something "rebellious", that was Matthew taking charge in a vain attempt to help her live life to the fullest. It never stuck. Nicole doesn't know that Matthew exists.

*****

"Oh, Mr. Bunnies, what am I going to do?" Nicole asked the worn, old, stuffed animal that leaned against her vanity mirror. She pouted a little. For a moment, she thought she had caught a reflection in the mirror that was halfway passable as pretty but on second glance, she was still her plain old self. There wasn't really anything that she could find attractive in her long brown hair (average) and her green eyes (bizarre). There was no natural way that she could contort her features to make them beautiful. Pretty and Nicki just didn't mix.

She tried to remember how Emma had done her makeup but couldn't make her wrists move in the right way. She'd looked almost halfway decent when Emma had done her makeup.

"Oh, come on," Emma had said, "just come out with us one night. One night. How hard can it be?"

Very hard, as it turned out. It was mostly because she wasn't used to having people look at her. Partly it was also because Emma had loaned her some clothes, clothes that Nicole swore she'd never, ever, ever wear again. Sky high heels and a miniskirt were not for her. Period. And then there were the boys, whose eyes were always aimed too low, at the cleavage Emma had coaxed out of the shirt even thought Nicole was not particularly blessed in the chest area. The whole disastrous evening had culminated in Nicki passing out. Emma swore it didn't happen but Nicole knew she was just being nice.

Emma hadn't asked Nicole to go out with the group again but that probably had more to do with Nicole finally giving up and explaining how there was this guy she liked back home. Emma had squealed with delight and made Nicole promise, on pain of whatever Emma could think to inflict on her, that she would ask him out when she got home for summer vacation and that she would text Emma with the results as soon as she knew them.

Well, now it was Nicki's chance. She was going to see her childhood best friend and true love tonight and it was her solemn duty to ask him out. So...she had to look nice. But how was she to do that when there was absolutely no way to make her look nice?

"I shouldn't even be wearing makeup, Mr. Bunnies," she said with a sigh. "I mean, who do I even think I am? I just look like a hussy. He doesn't like hussies. I mean, I don't think... I don't even know what kind of girl he likes. Maybe he's got a girlfriend. What if he's got a girlfriend? I'll look like an idiot."

You're hyperventilating, Nicki.

"Right, right. I just have to calm down. I don't have to ask him out tonight. I've got all summer, after all. Let's just catch up tonight. I mean, we haven't seen each other since August. There'll be tons to talk about. Now, where's that makeup remover?"

Ten minutes later, Nicole looked like she always did again. Hair up in a ponytail, button down shirt with jeans and, most importantly, no makeup. She glanced at the clock, still early.

"Hey, Gran!" she called, walking out of her room to lean over the railing on the stairs. "Let me know when he gets here. I'm gonna finish unpacking while I wait."

She then darted back into her room, leaving her grandmother to ask, "When who gets here?"

 

[Winterwings]

Jasper Miller
Age: 20
Personality: Jasper cares about everyone and everything around him. If someone is sad, he's soon there trying to make them feel better. He can't stand seeing someone feeling bad without trying to make it better. He's a calm person who rarely gets upset (at least he doesn't show it very often).
History: Living in a strict family, he hasn't been able to express himself. His family didn't like fact that he's gay, which resulted in Jasper being anywhere but home as he grew up. This forced him to grow up quickly and, for the most time, be his own parent. Raised partly by his strict family and partly by friends and himself, has left Jasper with a mixed view of how to behave.

*****

Jasper was looking forward to meet Nicole, as it had been such a long time since they met. At the same time, he knew that there was something he had to tell her. He had tried not to think about it too much, but he couldn't help but to feel a bit nervous about it. After all, he had told her that it was something important he wanted to tell her. He wondered what she thought he wanted to tell her. Was she looking forward to them meeting, as well as he was? He smiled at the thought the two of them finally seeing each other, once he got there.

Standing in front of the mirror, he quickly glanced at himself, giving himself a brief smile, before putting his shoes on. He was wearing a pair of ordinary, blue jeans, a brown coat, and underneath it, a striped sweater in white and green. "It's good looking, isn't it... at least okay, right?" he said thoughtfully, looking down at what he was wearing. He smiled slightly as he thought of a friend of his back at the college. Right now, all he wanted to think about was Nicole.

Some time later, Jasper was standing there, outside of where she lived. He thought it looked quite familiar although it had been some time since he last visited. Knocking on the door, he imagined Nicole's granny walking towards the door to open it.

"Hi, it's Jasper... Nicole's friend", he said, giving the granny a smile, then glancing up the stairs for Nicole. He took his shoes off, walking up the stairs, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He was feeling more nervous than he had expected.

He knocked on the door lightly before opening it carefully. "Nicole?", he said, stepping inside. He saw her unpacking. A smile spread across his face and he walked right up to her, wrapping his arms around her as he stopped in front of her. "I'm here now", he said, as if it wasn't obvious already. He could feel the smell of her hair, it was familiar to him. Feeling her in his arms made him feel good, it was just now that he realized how much he had actually missed her. He then let go of her, taking a step back, thinking that maybe he had invaded her personal space a bit too much, too fast.

 

[Literary_Dreamer]

Nicole took a look around her room, sighing in contentment. Neat and tidy, just the way she liked it. It was almost as if she'd never gone away to university in the first place. Except for the spirit wear that was now tucked neatly into her dresser. And the books she'd decided not to sell back, which were now on her bookshelf next to all of her favorite novels. And the suitcase which she was going to have to lug all the way downstairs to store in the closet where it belonged. Other than that, it was like she'd never left in the first place.

There was a light knock on her door and Nicole stiffened. Gran never knocked, always barging into her room without the slightest warning. It wasn't such a big deal because Nicole never did anything in her room which she would be embarrassed to have Gran walk in on her doing. Mostly, she just cleaned, read, slept. But if they were knocking, that meant it wasn't Gran.

Easy, Nicki, easy.

"Nicole?"

Nicole spun around on hearing the oh, so familiar voice. Logically, the one she loved ought to have been the last person she wanted in her room, with its childlike color scheme and the row of stuffed animals on the bookshelf next to all of her nerdy favorite books. Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Bunnies. It hadn't changed really in more than ten years. She ought to have been embarrassed. Jasper had been in her room so many times before, though, that there wasn't much point. He'd already seen every nook and cranny, there wasn't anything to hide anymore.

Next thing Nicole knew, she was in his arms. It was like a dream come true, except in her dream he would kiss her passionately after taking her in his arms and that simply wasn't going to happen. They were just friends, friends who had known each other since what seemed like the dawn of time, friends close enough to hug but no more. She took advantage of the moment, however, because she could. She memorized the feel of his body against hers, his warmth, his scent, the texture of his jacket against her cheek. Then he stepped away and she could look into his bright blue eyes.

"Jeez, Jazz. Give me a heart attack, will you?" she said, but she was grinning because she didn't mean it and they were close friends so she could do things like that and she wouldn't give it up for the world. She would never, never, confess her feelings for him if it meant that they couldn't be friends again. She would even smile happily at his wedding if it meant they could still be friends. But, oh, would it hurt.

"It's been way too long. I mean, I hardly even recognize you. I think you exceeded the amount a person's allowed to change in a year." Nicole stopped, suddenly aware that her statement could possibly be taken in a negative way. "I…meant that in a good way, you know. You look good, Jasper, really good. Anyway, just let me grab my jacket and we can head to the diner. I can't believe how much I miss Edith's pie. I mean, unless you don't want to go. I just kind of assumed, like old times and all…"

 

[Winterwings]

Jasper laughed briefly as she spoke. Give me a heart attack, will you? It was so much something Nicole would say. It made him happy to hear that she seemed to be the same person as before. Not like he had expected her to change all that much, but hearing her say something familiar, something that he knew was something that the two of them both got, made him feel warm inside. At her words, he looked a bit thoughtful for a second, before he got an explanation. He smiled a bit - of course she didn't mean anything negative about what she had said. Had he really changed that much? He looked around briefly for a second, as if to expect a mirror on the wall to look into, to see himself. Thinking that he had changed made him a bit unsure of it all. Maybe he had changed? He looked back at her, nodding.

"Of course we'll go!" he said, smiling at her. Edith's pie, just like the old times. It would be wonderful. Just like before. Almost as if nothing had happened. He tried to tell himself that nothing had happened as he followed her out of her room towards the hallway, although he knew that things had changed. Of course things had changed. Thinking of that made his stomach ache for a moment, it made him nervous.

Being out in the streets, Jasper enjoyed the fresh breeze of air as they walked down the same, familiar streets, towards Edith's pie. Once in a while he looked at Nicole in amazement - she was so cute. So normal. So everything-is-just-as-it's-supposed-to-be-perfect-Nicole. He smiled at his silly thoughts. "So, Nicole", he said, looking at her, saying the name as if it was something his lips weren't used to saying, as if it was something they learned once again, "what has your life been like since we last met?" he asked, and couldn't help but to smile. He couldn't help but to smile about it all - about how happy he was to have Nicole there, that they were finally together, how good it had all turned out.

Breathing in the familiar air once they got to Edith's pie, Jasper looked around at the familiar surroundings, feeling good about it all looking like it had always looked. Sitting down at their usual spot, assuming that that was where Nicole wanted to sit, he took a deep breath. "I can't believe I'm finally here. With you, and all. I don't think I've realized how much I've missed this until now", he said.

 

[Literary_Dreamer]

Normally, Nicole would have lingered over fetching her jacket. She didn't like going out and anything to forestall the dreaded social conventions that accompanied it was welcome. But this was Jasper. There weren't really any social conventions with Jasper. She could just be herself. Except for the tiny fact that she was in love with him and was keeping it secret. Not for much longer, though, if she was true to her promise with Emma.

Nicole pushed the thought from her mind. She didn't want to think about Emma. Instead, she focused on getting her jacket as quickly as possible and rushing out to Jasper so that they could go to the diner which they'd frequented since they'd been children, first with their mothers and then alone as they got older.

As they walked to the diner, Nicole reveled in the familiarity of it all. She was with Jasper. Life was perfect. There weren't any classes to take. There weren't any exams to study for. There wasn't any Emma to pester her into going out. There was just Gran and Jasper and maybe a summer job, which would likely be Gran paying her to help out at the shop which Gramps had started, but he'd died before Nicole was old enough to remember him.

When Jasper asked what she'd been up to since they'd gone away to university, Nicole paused to think it over seriously. At first, she didn't believe anything had happened, really. Nothing interesting ever happened to boring old Nicole. Then she started picking out things she thought Jasper might be interested in. She collected quite a few little thoughts and arranged them neatly.

"There's really a lot to talk about," she said at length. "For both of us, I bet. It's been so long. I don't think we've ever been apart so long. Why don't we wait to swap stories until we get to the diner? Once we've got some soda and maybe some pie, we can really get into the stories."

The only reason Nicole said this was because they were almost to the diner and Nicole's nice little arrangement of thoughts was being usurped by the smell of pie. There was no maybe in it for Nicole. She was definitely getting some of Edith's famous coconut cream pie.

They went straight to their usual spot, Nicole not even considering a different spot. This was two booths over from where she always sat with Gran. The placement came from when they were in that terrible pre-teen phase and too cool to sit with their parents, at least when they were hanging out together. The spot stuck. Nicole couldn't imagine them sitting anywhere else now, it would just feel wrong. Not that she'd tell Jasper that.

Once they were sitting, Jasper mentioned something about how unbelievable it was to be home. Just as Nicole began to analyze the wording, the tone, even the pitch of what he said, she stopped herself. If she started to fret over everything Jasper said, she'd never actually hear what he was telling her. Instead, she just replied, "Me, too."

Then the waitress came, the waitress who had always served them. She made exclamations about how they were back, asked how they were, told a little story about her daughter who was five, then took their order. Nicole got a piece of pie and a coke. She waited for Jasper to order, then, once the waitress had left, she began to line up her stories about the year.

She told Jasper about Emma, her crazy roommate and new friend. She told him about her classes and her exams. She told him about her group of lunch friends who were all insane. She told him about the day that a toilet exploded in her building and flooded the hall. She told him about the professors she liked and the professors she hated.

When Nicole was done talking, she looked at Jasper hard for a moment then said, "But your year was probably a ton more interesting than mine. What's been up with you?"

Nicole didn't really want to talk about herself half as much as she wanted to hear about Jasper. She wanted to hear every insignificant detail of his life because she loved him and she wanted to hear about his joys and his sorrows but also because she seriously believed that his life was more interesting than hers. She said none of this, though, simply waiting for Jasper to tell her about his year.

 

[Winterwings]

((I'm sorry for the late reply!))

Jasper listened attentively to what Nicole was telling him about Emma, her classes, and so on. He found it comforting sitting there, her going through what had happened as he had been away. He could picture everything that she was telling him, it was like a movie playing inside of his head as she spoke. She didn't go on forever though, which made Jasper both happy and sad. He'd love to hear more about it, he wanted to know everything, but he realized that it'd take a lot more time than a couple of hours for her to do that. Besides, he was looking forward to telling her about what he had done, too.

As her mouth turned silent, he looked at it for a moment, before, thoughtfully, looking away. What was he going to tell her? He knew that there probably was a lot of things to tell her, but as they sat there, he had a hard time finding anything that he could tell her. All he could think of at the moment were those sleepless nights, where he had missed her, wondering if she missed him, too. He wasn't going to tell her about that, at least not now, he thought, looking at her, smiling slightly. Of course there were better, funnier, and much more interesting things, that had been going on in his life.

"Well, I'm studying medicine, you know. The first couple of weeks or so were quite rough, actually... meeting all the new people and everything... adapting to all the new things", he said, shrugging, thinking that there wasn't really anything special about that. "It's really fun meeting others that are into the same things as I am, medicine, I've made some great friends over there", he said, smiling widely. "Of course I studied quite a lot, but I also hang out with friends. I joined the student media, I wrote for the school's newspaper... there's this guy, Henry, who I studied with. He studied, like, all the time!" Jasper said, almost laughing at the memory. "Whenever I saw him he had this book in his face... everywhere... I didn't see him doing much else, actually", he said, shrugging. "Neil was my college roommate. We did so much together... once we tricked our math teacher, Mr. Eliot, believing that a thief had taken all the books in the classroom... we actually hid them in our room... he was so eager about finding the thief, he put up flyers all over the school", he said, grinning.

After some time, Jasper couldn't think of anything more to say. He had talked about his classes, teachers and friends, laughters and tears. Yet he hadn't mentioned his love for Dylan. He wondered if his way of describing him made Nicole wonder if there was more than friendship. He doubted it. He bit his lip and looked away. He had shared all of those moments with her, yet not the most intimate ones. "Don't think I didn't miss you, I did. Sometimes I laid awake at night, thinking of you", he said, glancing at her. "And... there's this thing I've got to tell you", he said, looking at her with a serious gaze, playing with his hands in his lap nervously. "I want you to be the first to know. You really matter to me, you know", he said and then paused for a moment, thinking about how to continue. "Dylan, that guy from college... I... I'm gay", he said, swallowed and closed his eyes, as if he could escape it all. He couldn't believe he had actually said it. I'm gay.

 

[Literary_Dreamer]

Nicole listened with eager attentiveness to everything that Jasper had to say. As she had expected, his life was so much more interesting, more worthwhile than hers. She soaked up every detail, prepared to remember it all forever. She adored listening to him, just hearing his voice, and yet the stories he was telling were so fascinating, too.

This was what contentment was, this was pure happiness. This was what had been missing from her life those long grey months she was at school. Her happiest moments in life were those spent with Jasper. There was no one who could stand up to his presence in her life. No one ever had. No one ever would.

"And... there's this thing I've got to tell you", he said, looking at her with a serious gaze, playing with his hands in his lap nervously. "I want you to be the first to know. You really matter to me, you know", he said and then paused for a moment, thinking about how to continue. "Dylan, that guy from college... I... I'm gay."

For a long moment, Nicole sat there without comprehension. She blinked a few times blankly. She simply couldn't process what had just been said. It certainly wasn't the ending to Jasper's tale that she had been expecting. As soon as she began to comprehend, a blanket of loss settled on her and would have crushed her expect that she passed out. A soothing nothingness surrounded her and she was lost to the world.

Meanwhile, her body continued to sit upright and blink blankly as the mind that now had complete control over all motor functions sorted out the situation. Matthew Lewis analyzed the situation, selected the appropriate facial expression and picked up precisely where Nicole had left off.

"Wow," he said. His voice was a little lower and gruffer than Nicole's so he adjusted and repeated, "Wow. You got so serious there that I was afraid. I was terrified that you were going to say something terrible like that you had terminal cancer or something. I mean, wow, it's big news. You've got a boyfriend. Congrats. But you look like someone just died. You can't seriously think that this will change the way I think about you, can you? It won't. You're my best friend and I love you. Nothing's going to change that. I don't care if you date a boy or a girl or someone who's somewhere in between. I will say this, though, if that boy hurts you, I'll personally make sure he wishes he'd never been born. But that would go for anyone you date, if they're a boy or a girl or a hermaphrodite."

Matthew smiled winningly at Jasper, even though he didn't feel it. This worthless maggot was breaking his dear Nicki's heart and all he could do was sit there and play nice. What he really wanted to do was beat the boy so badly that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him when she was called to the morgue to identify his cold, dead body. Of course, he knew that would only hurt Nicki more and he wouldn't be a very good guardian angel if he went around hurting the ones his charge loved best. He'd just have to cling to the angel aspect of his duty and leave as soon as possible so that Jasper might make it out of the diner alive.

"Oh, look at that," he said innocently, pulling his phone out of his purse and keeping the screen carefully out of Jasper's view, "Gran is calling. Probably wants me to get to work. I've not even been home a week and she's working me like a dog. But you know how it is, she's getting older and can't do as much stuff on her own as she used to. Better not keep her waiting. We've got to get together another time or something and chat more. I'll call you and let you know when Gran is going to give me a vacation from my 'vacation', okay? I'm really sorry about this. I gotta go."

Matthew took his check up to the cash register, paid, and was out of the diner in less than five minutes. Once outside the diner, he ducked down an alley to recompose himself.

"I'm sorry, Nicki," he whispered aloud, letting his voice drop back to its natural pitch. He didn't know why, because they shared vocal chords, but it had always been natural for him to speak much lower than Nicole did, although he could mimic her voice perfectly. "I'm so sorry. I should have seen this a mile off. I shouldn't have even let you walk into that diner. I shouldn't have even let you speak to that boy again. But don't you worry. I'll make this right. I'll make that disgusting little pig fall for you, fall for us, if that's really what you want. Then, you can have him if you want him or you can break his heart like he broke yours."

Plan solidifying in his mind with every passing second, Matthew made his way to a nearby salon. Once he was there, and informed that walk-ins were welcome and yes, they did have an opening for him, he borrowed a pencil and pad of paper to sketch the hairstyle he wanted.

Nicole should have been good at art. It was a talent which she had been born with. However, when Matthew was born and he inherited all of the traits that would allow him to protect Nicole from those who would have done her harm, somehow her artistic ability had gotten thrown in with the mix. Since Nicole inherently lacked ever trait that Matthew had, she was left destitute of artistic ability, only possessing enough to make decent penmanship and stick figures. Matthew, on the other hand, had nurtured his artistic ability in her place and was an incredible artist.

"Are you sure that's the hairstyle you want?" asked the hair dresser when he was done.

"Positive."

"Okay," answered the hair dresser with a shrug and commenced clipping.

Once Matthew was relieved of his unnecessary hair, he went to buy a few masculine outfits at the local thrift shop. He tried to get by with denting their savings as little as possible. He didn't have to worry about Nicole noticing the missing cash because he had been skimming money off the top of her bank account and sending it to his own account since she first opened her account. She wasn't good enough with numbers to notice what went missing and he'd built up quite the little nest egg.

Matthew snuck back into the house, careful not to let Gran see. He didn't want to be faced with twenty questions, especially when she'd come so close to suspecting his existence over the years. Once safely in their room, he hid his new purchases and flopped on the bed for a nap, knowing that it would be Nicole who woke.

And what an awakening Nicole had. She had a vague memory of Jasper's confession, which she dismissed as a nightmare and the actual evidence of a drastic haircut. She stared into the mirror with horror for several long minutes before calling Emma, whose older sister was a hair dresser.

"My hair's gone!" she wailed into the phone. "I look like a boy!"

 

[Winterwings]

((I hope you don't mind me playing Emma as well? Just tell me if you'd rather have me play Jasper only, as Emma is, well, your character.))

Jasper looked at Nicole, worried about how she would react. Looking at her feeling like he had ruined something, although he didn't know what since they were, in his eyes, just friends,he felt like throwing up. He wanted to go back in time and make it all undone. On the other hand, he thought, if he did that, he would still have it untold. The one thing that he wanted her to be the first one to know. The thing that was so important for him to tell, something that made complete sense in his mind, something that he had been afraid of letting out of his mouth in words, be said. He was gay. It was as simple as that, but looking at Nicole, he felt like he had just said something far more complicated than he had thought it was. Maybe it was a big deal for her? Maybe it was a big deal for both of them? He almost held his breath until he Heard the words. He exhaled, feeling more relieved than ever. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal for Nicole after all? She seemed to handle it good, he thought, listening to how she explained that she didn't care about it and that she wouldn't change her mind about him just because of this. He smiled slightly at the last words of hers - "if that boy hurts you, I'll personally make sure he wishes he'd never been born".
Everything moved on fast from then. Apparently, her Gran was Calling, wanting her to get over there to work. Jasper barely processed her explanation about it all until she was gone.

Immediately after realizing that Nicole had disappeared, that she had gone out the door and wasn't sitting at the table with him, he wondered if he had done anything wrong. Had his confession about being gay ruined it all? Thinking about it, it didn't make sense - she had sounded so cool about it all, saying that it wouldn't change the way she looked at him, and so on. People lie though, he thought, reminding himself that people doesn't always tell the truth. He had a hard time believing that Nicole would lie to him, though - they were such good friends, and he didn't see why she would lie to him. Wouldn't it be a lot more easier for her to tell him the truth? Maybe it had come as a bit of a shock, and she needs some time to go through it all, he thought, biting his lip, unable to stop thinking that maybe he shouldn't have said it, after all.

Some time later, Jasper didn't know how long, but probably half an hour to an hour, at least, he stood up. He had been sitting there by himself repeating his and Nicole's last moment together in his mind, wishing that it wouldn't end like this. Shaking his head, he decided that he had done nothing wrong. I'm just over analyzing it, he thought, glancing out the window. The thought of going out there by himself, unsure of what Nicole thought of him, of the whole situation actually, made him sad. This hadn't gone the way he thought it would. There isn't much in life that goes the way you plan it, he thought, making his way out on the cold street.

~

Emma was really curious to hear what had happened with Nicole and that boy that she had been talking about. She was so happy that Nicki had asked him out, and she couldn't wait to hear it all. Therefor, she rushed to the phone as it rang, and it didn't take more than a second before she had answered it, knowing that it was her friend on the other end.
"My hair's gone! I look like a boy!" At those words, Emma bit her lip, almost about to laugh, unsure of whether she was joking or if she was serious. Gathering herself for a moment, she cleared her throat and sat down, a serious look on her face, concerned, even. "Really, Nicki? I'm so sorry", she said, feeling as if she was trying to comfort her after a break-up. She was still confused about it all, though. "Well, get over here as soon as you can, okay? I'll make sure that my sister have a look at it. I'm sure it's not that bad. I'm guessing it has something to do with last night? When you get over here you have to tell me everything", she said, not being able to hide the curiousity and eager in her voice, still wanting to know what had happened.

 

[Literary_Dreamer]

"Well, get over here as soon as you can, okay? I'll make sure that my sister have a look at it. I'm sure it's not that bad. I'm guessing it has something to do with last night? When you get over here you have to tell me everything", Emma told Nicole, leaving her only slightly more relaxed than she had been when she first saw her sheared-off hair. She agreed to get over there as soon as possible and hung up. She then sat for another ten minutes, staring at the wreck that had been her beautiful long hair.

When she got up to leave, however, everything went black.

"I'm sorry Nicki, my love," Matthew whispered, knowing that she couldn't hear him, "but I just can't let you make me look like a girl. It'll ruin our plan, my plan. But," Matthew glanced in the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair, "I'll see if Emma's sister can't do anything about styling it to make it look better for you. No cutting, though."

Matthew pulled on a hoody and put the hood on so that their grandmother wouldn't see what had been done to their hair and ask too many questions. It was best to leave the question answering to Nicole who really was innocent in all of this and who would thus answer the questions innocently.

"Hey Gran," Matthew called into the kitchen where she was just finishing up her breakfast, "Emma just called me, she's all in a panic. There's some sort of emergency over at her place and she wants me over there right away."

"Emma?" Gran asked.

"My friend from college?" Matthew responded the way Nicole so often did, with a question tone in his voice.

"Oh, that Emma," Gran said. "All right, I suppose you can go, but you'll be working twice as hard for me when you get back to make up for the lost time."

Matthew hated to ask Gran for things because she always qualified her answers like that and he wanted to say that he was over eighteen and didn't need to ask her for anything, technically, but Nicole was a good kid and would never do that so he couldn't do that either. He just said, "Thanks Gran!" and left.

The drive to Emma's was a long one but Matthew drove faster than Nicole did so he made it in better time, which made up for the ten minutes Nicole had wasted after talking to Emma.

"Hey, Emma!" he said when she answered the door. He gave her a big hug and stepped inside. "So here's the damage." He pushed back the hood for her to look at his haircut. "I'd like your sister to do whatever she can but no scissors. I don't think I could take it if it got any shorter and don't tell me that it won't look shorter because it always does. That's exactly what they said when they went to fix my hair after Gran took a scissors to it to get gum out when I was eleven." He gave a disgruntled expression that explained exactly how that event had turned out.