Jem let out another happy peal of laughter as more black hair fell to the floor. He felt like a child, not thinking about a care in the world. He snipped again at Will's hair with a pair of scissors, grimacing when he cut a chunk of hair too short. He couldn't help but giggle again at the sight of Will's bedraggled hair.
"You know, James, I've seen you happy, but I didn't know giddiness was part of your emotional spectrum." Will huffed, hunching his shoulders as hair fell down his shirt. "Frankly, it kind of scares me. You're going to be the one cleaning the hair up. You know that, right?"
"I know. You never clean up anyway, and I'm not going to force poor Sophie to do it." Jem narrowed his eyes, trying to concentrate on Will's hair. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop his mouth from curving up in a guilty smile.
"I guess. How does it look so far?"
"Will, you better not kill me, got it?" Jem said breathlessly, clasping his hand over his mouth as he was taken over by a hopeless fit of laughs. "It doesn't look terrible, its just...hmmm...asymmetrical?"
"What did you do?" Will stood up and was immediately in front of the mirror, running a hand through his hair. It definitely was shorter, curling slightly behind his ears. It was slightly longer in the very front, curling up in the humid room. The sides, on the other hand, were slightly shorter, giving his hair and overall, as Jessamine would call it, stylishly messy look. "It actually doesn't look too bad." Will said, turning his head to the side.
"Well, that's the thing..." Jem mumbled, staring at the back of Will's head. "I might have cut a piece of hair in back...too short. It looks rather funny."
Will's hand traveled to the back of his head, brushing loose hair from his neck. "Damn it, Jem. Did you really cut it too short?"
"Maybe." Jem covered his face with his hand, grinning despite his growing shame that increased by the second.
"Can you fix it?" Will asked, his face still warped with regret for asking Jem to cut his hair.
"Well." Jem looked at the closed door with a resigned look on his face. "There is one person we could ask..."
~~ooo~~
"This better be important because the impropriety of me doing this has already scarred me for life." Jessamine sighed dramatically, flipping a blond curl out of her face. She fixed her gloves, daintily clasping the fastenings at the wrist together.
"We need your help...You see, I know you are more of the beautician and you probably know a trifle more about hairstyling than I do." Jem explained as he led her into his room. When he opened the door, Will looked at Jessamine with a glare of disdain.
"I don't get it. What do you need my help with?" Jessamine complained, her mouth upturned in a red, sulky bow.
"Will, turn around." Jem ordered, ignoring the scowl that covered Will's face. At first, Jessamine just looked at Will's back, which he had not yet changed. The blood had formed a dry, crusted ring of red around the slit in back.
"I'm not touching that!" Jessamine recoiled in disgust as if being near such a thing would infect her as well.
"Its not that...it's his hair."
Jessamine's eyes traveled up to his head, her eyes widening in horror. "What did you do?" Forgetting all rules and bounds of propriety, Jessamine hurried over to Will, looking at the back of his head. "You ruined his hair! This is worse than the time that treacherous servant back in-"
"Yes, we get it." Will interrupted, looking impatiently at Jessamine. "Can you fix it?"
"Maybe." Jessamine took the sisscors from Jem, examining Will's hair. Snipping cautiously at the longer parts, she evened out the back so it looked somewhat halfway to normal. "You cut it quite awful in back, James."
Will groaned again, slouching in his chair. "I swear, if you mess my hair up on purpose, I'm going to kill you."
"Well, if your going to threaten me, I'm not going to fix it."
"Just please fix it, Jessamine." Jem pleaded, his silvery eyes wide with guarded amusement as he stared at Will's hair. "Will's just in a bad mood."
"Bad mood? Ha, if he's ever in a good mood, tell me. I'd like to see that." Jessamine scoffed, still evening out his hair. "There, how does that look?"
"Better I guess." Jem shrugged, flicking hair off of Will's neck. Without another word, Jessamine tossed the scissors on Jem's bed before making her way out of the room. She closed the door with a loud thump, her heeled shoes still clicking audibly as she walked down the hall.
"Oh, by the Angel, I look different." Will said, looking at his reflection. It wasn't all entirely bad, but it was unusual to see him with such a kept look. His black hair, which was normally in his face and covered in silt, was still messy, but cleaner in appearance. It didn't curl over his ears anymore and waved subtly in back.
"I think cutting hair is the only thing Jessamine is useful for. It looks okay. In fact, you almost look like you have a slightly longer pompadour haircut." Jem snickered, standing by Will. "Not, that that's a bad thing."
Will grunted skeptically, raising an eyebrow at his new appearance. Running a hand through the top of his hair, his tipped his head to the side. "Can you promise me one thing, Jem?"
"Depends." Jem smiled crookedly, crossing his arms.
"Don't ever, ever, ever let me give you permission to ever cut my hair again."