The Academy - Friends vs. Family (33 page)

“Shit... fuck,” Gabriel clutched his tools to his chest, stepping
away from Silas. The comb dropped from his mouth, rattling to the ground.
“Trouble, don’t do that to me,” he begged. He stepped closer. Since his hands
were full, he used his wrists to push my cheeks at my face. His eyes were
stressed, his mouth drawn. “Don’t do it anymore. God, please, no, please. You
can’t do that to me.”

“You said you would cut them off,” I said, with difficulty with
him squishing my cheeks.

“I won’t. I won’t touch it. Don’t look at me like that. He can
keep it. As long as you want it.”

I stopped the pout, making a half smile against the squishing.
“Are you sure?” I asked with enthusiasm, brightening up again quickly.

Gabriel’s eyes focused on my face with an unsteady relief. Silas
caught my eye. He held up a thumb, mouthing
good job
, and grinning. I
grinned back at him without thinking and Gabriel caught it, whipping his head
around just as Silas was lowering his hand and smoothing out his face.

“You motherfucker. That’s it. You’re done.” Gabriel stepped back
and ripped the towel from Silas’ shoulders. “Walk around with uneven sideburns
for all I care.”

Silas laughed, standing up, and brushing his fingers around his
shoulders to sweep away lost bits of hair. “Totally worth it.”

“Thank you, Meanie,” I said, trying to sound thrilled with his
decision. I was pleased with the nickname I’d discovered.

Gabriel’s mouth fell. “No, not that...” He pointed the clippers at
my face. “Don’t you dare.”

“It’s only fitting,” Silas said. “You call her Trouble.”

“She is Trouble,” Gabriel groaned. “And you know it.”

“Nope, she’s
aggele mou
.”

“A devil’s angel, maybe.” Gabriel smirked. He snapped his fingers
at me. “Alright, now you.” He pointed to the chair.

I tiptoed over to the chair, perching carefully. I was worried he
would give me a horrible haircut. He’d only done boys’ hair before, right?
Would mine be cut short? Or would I end up looking like Luke with his longish
blond hair hanging around his shoulders?

Silas backed off, sitting on the ground cross-legged, putting his
hands behind him to lean back. It comforted me that he was there and might run
interference in case Gabriel tried to buzz my hair short. I smiled pleasantly
at Silas and he beamed.

Gabriel put aside the clippers on top of his blue duffle bag and
out of the way of Max sniffing around our legs. Gabriel put the scissors in his
back pocket. He took my towel from my shoulders and readjusted it to cover my
body and started combing out my hair. He smoothed out the strands, feeling them
between his fingers. “Feels better,” he said. “Don’t use the stuff you were
using at home, okay? Wait for me to bring you a new batch.”

Silas started making faces at me. My shoulders shook as I giggled.

“Stop it,” Gabriel commanded. “You make her giggle when I’m
cutting her hair, I’m likely to fuck up.”

“Don’t fuck up her hair,” Silas said.

Gabriel stepped in front of me and blocked my view of Silas. Gabriel
angled his head down to me. “You’re too short,” he said. He swept a finger
across my cheek as he combed the hair close to my face. “I should take you home
with me.”

“We don’t have time for that,” Kota’s voice floated out to us from
beyond where I could see without turning my head. Max greeted him with a yip,
leaping to meet him.

“I need her higher,” Gabriel said. “It won’t look right if I try
to do it like this.”

“Stand up for a second, Sang,” Kota said, his footsteps moving
closer.

I stood up, holding the towel in place around my shoulders. Kota
was wearing Levi jeans and a hunter green polo. His brown hair was smoothed
back, still slightly damp. His eyes swept over me, a smile catching on his
lips. He nudged his glasses up by the bridge and sat on the chair and putting
his knees together.

He patted at his lap. “Come sit here,” he commanded.

“I can’t move around you,” Gabriel said.

“She can sit facing me and then sit facing away as you need,” he
said. “Unless you want to wait.”

Gabriel grumbled, shifting on his feet as if considering the
options. “Fine.”

Kota planted his hands on my hips and I sat on his knees, facing
Kota first. I sat closer to the edge of his knees so Gabriel didn’t have to
lean around Kota’s legs. My palms met with Kota’s chest to steady myself. My
face felt hot. It was an awkward predicament. It was different from sitting in
their laps in any other direction, because from anywhere else I could look at
other things. Now it felt like I was forced to look at Kota. His eyes were
always so questioning, so invasive me. Not for the first time, I felt he could
see every little secret buried inside me.

Gabriel combed the back of my head and started snipping the
scissors. Comb, snip. Comb, snip.

“Is he making spikes in my hair?” I asked Kota.

Kota laughed, his friendly voice echoing in the garage. His palms
fell on my thighs just above my knees to rest. “Did you want spikes?”

“No spikes,” Silas said.

“I’m not doing spikes,” Gabriel mumbled. “Not today at least.”

“I didn’t know you cut girls’ hair,” Silas said.

Gabriel shuffled around to the side. Comb, snip. “Sang’s my
first.”

My eyes widened at Kota. “Really?”

Kota grinned. “He’s kidding.”

“Like hell I am,” Gabriel said. “What, you think I’ve got dummy
girls in my closet at home to practice on?”

“What about all those girls you woo or break hearts of or what
not?” I said, recalling his poem and his singing and all the times he talked
about things he knew about girls.

“Mergh,” Gabriel said. “Shut up or I’ll leave you with half a
haircut.”

I rolled my eyes, but pressed my lips together. I didn’t want to
bug him anymore. We’d been picking on him a lot that morning and he still
looked like he was about to fall over from exhaustion.

Gabriel was measuring out my hair just off my shoulder when the
side door opened. Erica stepped out, wearing shorts now, and a faded brown
t-shirt. She padded out into the garage. The air electrified around me. Silas
half coughed. Kota stiffened in the chair at this. Gabriel combed my hair more
than he snipped. Silent warning system?

Victor followed behind her, wearing designer jeans, and a short
sleeve button up white shirt. Victor’s eyes fell on us. His eyes blazed at me
in a way that was confusing. I wanted to tilt my head at him to ask silently
what he was thinking but I forced my head to keep still, worried Gabriel might
mess up. Victor roughed fingers through his wavy hair and rubbed at the back of
his head.

Erica’s eyes fell curiously on me in Kota’s lap. “How’s it going?”

Kota didn’t flinch, didn’t move his hands from my knees. “So far,
so good,” he said.

“She’s still too short,” Gabriel complained.

“I know you can do it,” Kota said. “You can’t stop now.”

Erica moved to her car at the other side of the garage, leaning
against it and folding her arms over her chest to watch. “Do we need a stool?”

“No,” Silas and Gabriel said at the same time. Victor remained
quiet but his eyes ignited and flared.

Erica’s head tilted, confusion slipping into her eyes. I knew why
the boys refused a stool, but now I knew Erica most likely didn’t know anything
about what was happening with me. They didn’t tell her.

“Or pillows for her to sit on?” she asked. “Phone books?”

“She’ll be fine,” Kota said. His legs raised up and dropped out
from under me, causing me to bounce.

I gasped, gripping at his legs, half grinning and mouthing a small
ouch.

“Hey, hey,” Gabriel said. “I’m gonna cut her ear if you do that.”

Erica’s eyes flickered back and forth between my face and her
son’s. Gabriel continued to measure and cut but she didn’t seem as interested
in this. I watched her from behind locks of hair in my face. Her lips twitched.
She was eager to ask something or say something but I thought maybe she wasn’t
sure how to start. No one else was talking, either. Kota was intently watching
Gabriel work. I stiffened, feeling the weight of something floating in the air,
left unspoken. I wasn’t sure how to move or behave.

“Alright,” Gabriel said. He nudged my arm. “Turn around so I can
do the front.”

I slipped back off of Kota’s knees, turning around. Again I was
facing Silas. Erica was out of view now. Kota’s hands felt for my hips again
and he pulled me back until I was perched on his knees. In an effort to keep
myself stable, I put my hands behind myself on his legs. Kota kept his hands at
my waist to steady me.

Gabriel started combing hair in front of my face, closing off view
of nearly everything.

“What are you all going to do today?” Erica asked, finally
breaking the lull.

“North and I are going to do some work at the diner,” Silas said.

“Oh,” Erica’s tone lifted, but it lingered in a peculiar way. This
wasn’t who she was hoping would answer. “Is it almost done?”

“A couple more weeks,” Silas said, seeming oblivious to the
inflection from Erica. “We’re trying to finish it before football games start.”

“That’ll keep you busy,” Erica said. “But football sounds fun.”
Pause. Kota’s fingers tensed against my hips, gripping more than just holding
me. “Are you going to take Sang to the football games, Dakota? It’d make a nice
date.”

There it was. It was what Erica was waiting to hint at the entire
time. I couldn’t see her face, but her voice tipped higher at the end of her
last sentence. Expectation.

Kota’s leg shifted underneath me. “I didn’t know she liked
football.”

What did that mean? He would have asked me if he thought I liked
it? Did he want to? My mind blazed through a thousand different possibilities.
Dating? I’m just trying to get through my sophomore year with my new strange
group of friends and a mother insistent on punishments they told me weren’t
normal. When in the world did I have time to even date anyone? When did they?
Jessica had been right, we were always busy.

“You didn’t ask her. Sang, do you want Kota to take you to the
football games?”

More inflection. I felt a pressure from everyone in the room. What
was I supposed to say? If I said no, did it mean I didn’t like Kota? If I said
yes, did it mean we’d be going on a date? What did that mean to everyone else?
I couldn’t see anyone to try to confirm how I was supposed to answer.

Gabriel swiped at my hair with his comb, removing a lock from my
eyes. His crystal blue eyes stared down at me and he inclined his head a
little.

“Yes,” I said quickly to recover for the moment I had paused. If
Gabriel was telling me to answer positively, I would. “I’d like to.” It wasn’t
a dishonest answer. I’d never been to a football game. It was Kota’s hesitation
and unease behind me that had me stumped.

“There,” Erica said. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? You should ask
girls about date ideas before you assume.”

“I didn’t know she was interested in dating,” Kota said in a quiet
voice. Where was Kota, the confident leader of an elite Academy crew that
barked orders?

“Of course she’s interested,” Erica said. “She’s your age. You
guys should be dating.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Kota replied.

Gabriel combed the hair in my face, raising the scissors to my
cheeks, shaving off the start of bangs that hung over my eyes. He started
layering my hair from my cheeks to an inch from the start of my shoulder.

“Well what do you mean? She’s a nice girl and it is obvious she
likes you and would date you.”

“How do you know?” Kota asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“A girl doesn’t sit in your lap unless she’s interested in dating
you,” Erica said in a happy tone.

My eyes widened and my lips parted. Was that true? Is that what
the guys meant? Is that what happened when I sat on their laps? Were they all
thinking the same thing?

Gabriel combed my hair away from my eyes and winked down at me.
When he moved aside to comb my hair, Silas was sitting up on the concrete of
the garage, his dark eyes sought out mine, intense.

What have I done? I’ve sat in most of their laps, and in front of
the others. Dating wasn’t what I was thinking about at all. I had no idea if
that was what they were thinking.

Kota made a guttural grumbling with his throat. “Maybe we
shouldn’t talk about it now.”

“All I’m saying is, if you’re going to do it, you should ask her
outright. If you wait, someone else might and then you’ll lose your chance.
She’s a pretty girl and she’s a sweetheart. I’m surprised she’s not dating one
of the football players.”

Silas half beamed at me, his eyes brightening. I wasn’t sure what
he was thinking. Since he played football and I sat in his lap that I should be
almost expected to date him?