Dyeing for Your Art
Author's Note: Blah blah disclaimer blah.
Though seriously, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I have no idea how I wrote so much about hair dye. What is wrong with me.
"Other mid-nineteenth-century photographers established the medium as a more precise means than engraving or lithography of making a record of landscapes and architecture: for example, Robert Macpherson's broad range of photographs of Rome, the interior of the Vatican, and the surrounding countryside became a sophisticated tourist's visual record of his own travels."
Max paused at the end of the paragraph and reached for her highlighter. She outlined the relevant sections of the text in bright, fluorescent yellow, and attempted to burn the information into her brain. But, try as she might, she couldn't concentrate. Frustrated, she rolled onto her back, squirming a little when a few blades of grass tickled the skin of her upper arms and shoulders that wasn't covered by the straps of her tank top. She sighed heavily, and squinted up at the harsh, unforgivingly bright sun.
A heatwave had, for the last few days, held Arcadia Bay in a merciless, unrelenting grip. Day after day of sticky, cloying heat had taken a heavy toll on the residents of the Bay, and in particular on the student of Blackwell Academy who, as sheer misfortune would have it, were right in the middle of exams season. Unfortunately, and to the complaints of many, the AC in the dorms had only made it a single day into the heatwave before giving up the metaphorical ghost. Such dire circumstances had cause a daily mass exodus of almost every student to the Academy grounds where, desperate to escape the insufferable heat of the dorms, any spot of decent shade was fiercely coveted.
Unfortunately for Max, she had once again missed out on a shady spot, leaving her to lie in the unblinking fury of the sun. Hence, her total lack of concentration. She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to mental run through the information she'd been trying to take in. After a few seconds, she admitted defeat, recognising she wasn't going to get any work done in her current state.
God, if I was a guy I'd give my left nut for a distraction right now. Literally anything would do. Her inner voice complained.
Little did she know, on that day, the fates were feeling generous.
Even with her eyes closed, it was easy to tell something was looming over her, so much so whatever it was had blocked out the sun. She grumbled internally and opened her eyes, fully intending to demand who had the audacity to disturb her faux-existentialist wallowing. Instead, she was greeted by the upside down, carefree grin of (who other?) Chloe.
"'Sup buttdick." She said. "Nice shorts." She continued, casting an appreciative eye over Max's legs, which were bare to the mid thigh, where they met the hem of her denim shorts.
"Chloe? What're you-"
"I'm here to free you from your lame-ass study prison. Now get your adorable hipster butt up and into my truck." Without waiting for a reply, she bent down and grabbed Max's arm, ready to haul her up.
"But... study..." Max protested meekly, even as she allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
"But nothin'." Chloe responded, practically escorting Max to her truck. She opened the door and bundled the brunette in, making sure none of her weakly flailing limbs caught on anything. She circled around the hood and opened her own door, sliding smoothly into the seat with the practised motion of someone who had done so thousands of times before.
"Chlo, I appreciate you being my punk in shining armour, but I really gotta study." Max said. She made to open the door, but was stopped by Chloe's hand on her arm. She turned towards the punk, to find her giving her an exceedingly pointed look.
"Max. I'm telling you. You need a break. You've been holed up here for days. I've barely seen you and you've obviously been feeling miserable as shit in this fucking heat. And I know that's what you've been doing, as you haven't replied to any of the gazillion texts I sent you. So yeah, I'm breaking you out of this shit, just for a day, so we can do something rebellious. Something fun."
Max should've known. Chloe had a plan, and she obviously wasn't oing to get out of whatever it was she had cooked up. "Alright, Little Miss Rebel. What's your idea of fun?"
Another grin was sent her way. "We're gonna dye your hair."
"What?!" Max was momentarily shocked. "Chloe, I can't dye my hair! My parents would flip their freaking shit!"
Chloe raised an incredibly skeptical eyebrow. "What, so you're telling me they're totes fine with their daughter being regularly eaten out by another chick, but they'd lose their shit over your hair not being all normal and brown?"
Max nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, fuck that. Max, dude, you're eighteen. You can afford to express yourself a little more without the fear of parental wrath. And if they do freak, just blame it all on me. I mean, I am the one doing the persuading here."
Max considered Chloe's logic. It was true she wanted to express herself a little more, and she had always been envious of Chloe's appearance and laissez-faire attitude towards other people's opinions. Why shouldn't you do something kinda rebellious? A little voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Chloe whispered. You deserve something nice. You only live once, after all.
"Alright." Max found herself saying. "Why the hell not?"
Chloe beamed at her, and gunned the engine. "There's my Super Max! C'mon, we're gonna unleash your punk spirit!" She slipped the truck into gear and peeled off into the road, driving a little too quickly and recklessly to be called safe. They drove into town, with the windows rolled down and music blasting the entire way. Chloe was particularly enthusiastic with her singing along, which earned them some odd looks at traffic lights. Max was content to sit in relative silence, with the wind flowing through her hair, and smiling at Chloe whenever she looked her way.
Soon enough, they pulled into the parking lot of Arcadia Bay's equivalent of a Wal-Mart. Chloe killed the engine, and they stepped out of the sweltering heat, both of them already missing the cool wind generated from travelling. Even though it was only a short walk from the truck to the entrance, the two women were sweating by the time they entered the building. A wave of delicious relief washed over them as they entered; the AC was obviously on full blast.
"Uhhhh holy fuck that's good." Max moaned, sounding practically orgasmic.
"Goddamn, this is better than sex." Chloe agreed.
Max shot her a look.
"Well, almost." Chloe hastily back-pedalled.
Satisfied, Max headed to the hair products aisle. She stopped in front of a vast selection of hair colours, momentarily stumped by the wide range of choice on offer.
"So, what'cha gonna go for?" Chloe asked, hugging Max's arm.
Max continued to scan the shelves, with nothing in particular jumping out at her. "Dunno yet. Nothing's doing it for me so far. Suppose I'll know when I see it."
Chloe nodded, and went to pick up a couple of boxes of her own hair dye.
Max bit her lip. There had to be something here she would want to – There! She crouched down and picked a box up from the very bottom of the shelf. The model on the front was showing off an aggressively angular bob cut, which was a pale, almost whispy pink in colour. Max's free hand went to her hair. Her own style was vaguely similar, though nowhere near as well maintained as the model's. But it was the colour she was in love with. Pink will go nice with Chloe's blue she thought.
She stood up, and almost collided with Chloe, who had been peering over her shoulder, having found her own colour almost instantly.
"Niiiiice." She said. "That's hella gonna suit you. C'mon, let's go pay and get back to mine. I wanna see how you look with bright pink hair!" She snatched the box out of Max's hands, and almost skipped to the check out, where she surprised Max by paying for everything. When Max attempted to give her money for the hair dye, Chloe almost shushed her into the ground.
"You pay for shit-tons of stuff. I'm paying for this, no buts!" Was all it took to settle any counter-arguments Max might have had.
Chloe's excitement seemed to bleed into her driving, as the trip to her house took almost no time at all. She practically bounced into the house, followed by Max, who was privately giggling at her girlfriend's boundless enthusiasm. As soon as the front door was shut, Chloe whipped off her tank top and threw it unceremoniously in the general direction of the washing machine.
She turned to Max. "Shirt off. It's better if you're not wearing too much when we put the dye on, because that shit never comes out of clothes. And also it's hella hot, so clothes suck anyway." As if to prove the point, she unbuckled her jeans and let them fall to the floor. "Don't worry, it's gonna be just us for a few hours." She said, noticing the look of caution on Max's face.
"If you say so." Max shrugged. She peeled off her own tank and wriggled out of her shorts, leaving her in her bra and panties. Chloe had elected to forego a bra for that day, which caused some interesting jiggling as she bounded up the stairs.
Once they were settled in her room, Chloe wasted no time in opening the box and preparing all the necessary application equipment. "Alright, you've never done this before, so we're gonna need to do an allergy test, y'know, just to make sure your hair isn't gonna fall out or anything."
Max nodded.
"The instructions say to leave it for twenty fours hours, but honestly you can usually tell within a few minutes, so that's what we're doing." Chloe continued. She put one of the plastic gloves on and dabbed a tiny bit of the mixture onto her index finger. "Hold out your arm." She ordered.
Max did so, and Chloe smeared the blob onto the inside of her elbow, creating a pale patch roughly the size of a dime. A few minutes went by, with Chloe staring at the patch intensely.
"Well, it looks fine. Any itching or burning?" She asked.
Max shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, it's a little tingly, but I can barely feel it."
Chloe grinned. "Looks like we're good to go!" She slid the other glove on, and prepared the rest of the dye. "You want it just on certain bits, or do we do all of it?" She asked.
Max thought for a few seconds. "Might as well dye all of it." She gestured to the dye kit. "Go nuts!"
The grin grew wider. "Yessir!"
She moved to sit behind Max, and began to apply the dye, starting with the roots of her hair.
"Fuck, that's cold!" Max complained, forcing herself to stay still.
Chloe grimaced in apology, even though Max couldn't see it. "Oh, yeah. Guess I shoulda told you about that." She placed a kiss on Max's shoulder, being careful to avoid the dye.
The next few minutes were filled with with intense concentration on Chloe's part, as she tried not to get any dye on any parts of Max that didn't need it. She was mostly successful, with only a couple of spots ending up on her neck. Max, meanwhile, was resisting the urge to squirm as blob after blob of cold hair dye was applied to her head.
Eventually, Chloe leaned back, satisfied she had covered every single strand of hair with the dye. "We're done for now." She said.
Max shivered. "So what now, rinse it off?"
Chloe shook her head. "Nah. It needs some time to set in, so the rinsing will come in-" She checked her phone, "About thirty five minutes."
"Awh, but I'll be hella bored." Max pouted. "What are we meant to do for that long, just sit here?"
Chloe shrugged. "We could get high? Just kidding." She added hastily when Max cast a withering look her way.
The couple lapsed into silence, neither knew what to suggest, until Max perked up. "Oh, we should take a photo! Like a "before" thing."
"Hella yes! Good idea, Max."
Max leaned over and grabbed her bag, rooting through it until she found her Polaroid. She sat back on the bed and pointed it at herself, careful to angle the camera to obscure anything compromising.
"Photobomb!" Chloe interrupted, sliding into frame behind Max's right shoulder and throwing up the peace sign.
Max chuckled, and depressed the shutter button. The flash went off, and a few seconds later the camera whirred, and ejected the photo. Max took it and, more out of habit than anything else, shook it a few times.
Even though, in the photo, her hair was a mess and covered in pink goop, and her and Chloe were both obviously in a state of undress, Max couldn't help but love it.
"Classic us." She said, showing Chloe the photo.
"Classic us." She agreed. The two kissed, with Chloe having to crane her neck at a slightly awkward angle to avoid getting any dye on her.
Some time later, Chloe glanced at her phone and said "Alright, that should be enough. Go rinse off in the shower, then we'll see how it's turned out. Though if I was a bettin' girl, I'd say we're in for a treat."
She fished a small tube out of the discarded box. "Use this, it's conditioner. It'll help seal the colour in."
Max took it and nodded. "Sounds simple enough."
Chloe squeezed her hand. "Think you'll be OK in there without me?"
"Yeah, I think so." Max replied. She got up off the bed and made for the bathroom, picking up a towel on her way. She threw a wink Chloe's way, and slipped out of the door.
Once she was in the bathroom, she placed the conditioner on the side and turned the shower on. She gave it some time to reach an acceptable temperature, and once it had, quickly slipped out of her bra and panties.
She got into the shower, and let out a satisfied sigh as the warm water hit her skin. After half a minute or so of enjoying the warmth, she pivoted so her back was facing the water, and prepared to rinse off her hair. How hard can it be? She thought.
"Chloeeeeeee!" Came the high pitched, hysterical sounding cry.
The object of the call dropped her phone on the bed and scrambled off of it, racing for the door. What had Max managed to do in under five minutes?
She burst into the bathroom, and was stopped completely short by the sight that greeted her. A naked, hysterical Max, the entire shower, and quite a few of the surrounding tiles were utterly covered with splatters and rivulets of pink hair dye.
Max's eyes were closed and her face screwed up in a terror-stricken grimace. She was also emitting a constant series of high pitched noises. Chloe couldn't think of any other word for it than mewling. To top it all off, Max was covered, head-to-toe in the excess dye, giving her the complexion of a hipster flamingo.
"Max? What? How the- what the actual fuck?" Chloe spluttered, almost at a loss for words.
"I'm sorry!" Max bawled. "It was fine and rinsing off and then it started going everywhere and I panicked because there was so much of it and then it got on the walls and that made me freak out more and then it went in my eyes and I couldn't see!" She blindly felt around for Chloe. "Please don't be mad." She added in a small voice.
Chloe rolled her eyes affectionately, and reached for the towel. She brought it up to Max's face and gently wiped away the dye. "Of course I'm not mad." She said when Max opened her eyes. "You're just an idiot." She joked.
Max pouted, her eyes saying she didn't think it was a joke.
"Oh Max, sweetie I didn't- gimme a second." She said. She hastily stripped off her underwear and clambered into the shower, joining Max under the water. "Think you can put your head back for me?" She asked.
Max hesitated, then tentatively nodded. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, and a second later felt Chloe's hands wind their way into her hair.
Chloe began to massage and lather, working the conditioner in deeply. In no time at all, Max could be seen to visibly relax, and soon she was completely calm, trusting Chloe to do her work.
She felt something rough on her forehead, and realised Chloe must be sponging away the last of the dye. The scrubbing sensation felt good, and Max sighed in appreciation.
"There we go, all done." Chloe said. She pressed herself up against Max, relishing the feeling of wet flesh on her own. She kissed the smaller woman, and felt her utterly melt into her embrace. The kiss wasn't heated, but slow and loving. Neither of them felt any urge to go any further; both of them simply happy to hold each other close and enjoy the warmth of the shower, and the additional comfort of each other's skin.
Or, at least, they were until Chloe trailed her hand down Max's back, paused just as she arrived at Max's ass, and then gave it a quick slap.
Max broke away from the kiss. "Really?" She said.
Chloe smirked. "Yep. Now come and finish up, I wanna see what your hair looks like."
A few minutes later, the both of them were wrapped in towels, safely ensconced within the privacy of Chloe's room. Max's hair was hidden from view, wound up in another towel. She sat down on the bed and unwrapped her hair, shaking out a few loose water droplets. "So how's it look?"
Chloe shook her head. "Uh-uh, I'm not telling you yet. We gotta get it dry first." She brandished a hairdryer and sat down behind Max, before getting to work. For the next few minutes, the room was filled with the noise of the hairdryer as Chloe carefully made sure every last bit was dry. As she was doing so, she ran a hairbrush through the strands, untangling any knots she found.
When she was done, she shut the hairdryer off, sat back, and whistled. "Damn Max, you look hella fine."
Max perked up. "Really?"
Chloe gestured to the mirror. "Go see for yourself."
After kissing Chloe swiftly on the cheek, Max approached the mirror, not without a hint of trepidation. She took a breath, and stepped in front of the glass. It was a good thing she had breathed in beforehand, as what she saw made her gasp.
Her hair was a shining, iridescent pale pink, not unlike the colour of bubblegum, but slightly lighter. It wasn't quite the colour the model had been displaying, perhaps a shade or two darker because of her naturally brown hair, but Max found she didn't care. She ran a hand through it, admiring the way the different strands caught and reflected the light. She shook her head vigorously back and forth, and for just a moment her entire head was encased in a shimmering pink halo."Wowser…" She whispered. She felt Chloe slip her arms around her shoulders, and a kiss was planted on top of her head.
"So, what'cha think?"
"Chlo… I love it. And I love you for getting me to do this." She turned in Chloe's arms until they were facing one another.
Chloe was beaming at her. "Chloe do good?"
Max nodded. "Chloe do very good." She leaned forward and captured Chloe's soft, waiting lips.
Chloe hummed, and kissed back with vigour. She caught Max's lower lip between her teeth, and gave it a quick nip. Usually, that would draw a squeak from the smaller woman, but instead, Max bit back, and pushed Chloe towards the bed. While Chloe was distracted by Max's counterattack, the former brunette's hands made quick, nimble work of Chloe's towel. It dropped to the floor, followed within seconds by Max's own. If Chloe noticed, she didn't protest.
Their legs hit the foot of the bed, causing them to lose their balance and topple over. They landed on the mattress with a soft whump, Chloe on the bottom, and Max on top, straddling her hips.
Chloe broke the kiss, and grinned. "Hey, you wanna see what happens – uhh, fuck- when you - don't stop - mix pink and blue together?"
Max didn't bother responding, and continued to suck on Chloe's pulse point.
Soon enough, the bedroom, cast in a pale red light from the sun filtering through the curtains, was filled with nothing but sighs.
Author's Note: So I've actually felt productive this week, hence the two chapters. Well, sort of two. I don't know if the previous one counts, but at least it gave me the motivation to write this one.
And yes, Max will be keeping her new hair colour for the foreseeable future :)
Also, the hysterical naked girlfriend crying and covered in hair dye? That may or may not be based on true life experiences. Maybe. I'm not telling. Anyways, see you next time. Peace out.