Seasons To Remember
Chapter 6: Time For A Change
"I can't believe you got your hair cut like that, Dad," Trini laughed, glancing at a picture of her father with his hair cut very short and styled to be spiky on top.
They needed a little levity after the heavy-duty conversation thus far.
"Your mother hated it," Tommy said with a grimace.
"She wasn't the only one," Kat chuckled. "It just wasn't you."
"What can I say? I was in need of a change," Tommy muttered, almost under his breath. He'd cut it shortly after their breakup.
"Jason told me Rocky had a field day with you that first time he saw you with it," Kat continued merrily ....
~*~
"Hey, Tommy, when did you get ba- Good Lord! What did you do to your hair!" Rocky exclaimed as Tommy entered the dojo after the last class of the night. Red Dragon Martial Arts was jointly owned by Rocky, Jason and Tommy (who was due to join the teaching staff once his contract with his uncle was finished). Rocky jokingly referred to their operation as the Red Ranger School of Kicking Monster Butt.
"Nice to see you, too," Tommy muttered as he attempted to ruffle Rocky's own short-cropped hair. He was still getting used to his own shorn locks. His hair hadn't been this short since before high school.
"It's quite a change," Jason murmured tactfully, picking up on the fact that Tommy was a little sensitive about the new cut. "It'll take some getting used to."
"That's an understatement!"
"So what's with the new 'do'?" Rocky wondered.
"I needed a change, and Uncle John's been after me to lop off the ponytail. Said my helmet would fit better without it."
"Didja tell him you've been wearing helmets with it since you were sixteen?"
"What brings you home so soon? I thought you were supposed to be in Michigan," Jason continued, noticing that something about Tommy's mood was a little off.
"We had to pull out of the Pepsi 400."
"What happened?"
The trio had been making their way towards the small office, and Tommy flopped down in a chair and blew out an exasperated breath. "My first big race and I totally choked."
"What do you mean?"
"Jack, Uncle John's regular driver, got hurt and couldn't drive at Watkins Glen. I filled in for him. I lost control in the first turn barely five laps into the race and crashed the car."
"Oh man ...." Rocky gasped, full of concern.
"Are you okay?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, and nobody else was hurt ...."
"That's good," Rocky murmured.
"Eddie, our crew chief, says that it wasn't my fault. The tie rod gave out – defective. It could have snapped with Jack in the car. Eddie said that Jack couldn't have minimized the damage any better than I did ...."
"So why are you so bummed out about it?" Jason wondered.
"Over-developed guilt muscle and insufficient memory," Rocky snorted, unable to resist the jibe. Jason scowled at him, and Tommy smiled wanly at the reminder of his well-known shortcomings.
"It really was mostly my fault," Tommy went on. "My mind wasn't on the race."
"It was probably on Kat and what she's going to do to you when she finds out what you did to your hair," Rocky teased, trying to interject a little levity into the conversation.
"Rocky ...." Jason chided, feeling their friend's humor misplaced at the moment.
"Kim was the one who'd have shot me for cutting my hair," Tommy reminded him, grateful for his partner's efforts to make him feel better. "As for Kat, well ... she was the reason my mind wasn't on the race. But it doesn't matter any longer what she thinks of my hair."
"What?"
"Tommy?"
"When I saw Kat in New York, we mutually decided that things weren't working out the way we'd hoped, so we called it quits," Tommy explained.
"Whoa!" Rocky gulped.
"I'm sorry, bro," Jason said, just as stunned as Rocky. "I had no idea .... I've talked with Kat a few times since Christmas, and she's never said a word about you guys having trouble."
Tommy shrugged. "I think it's been brewing since Kat first went to London. We tried ... it just wasn't meant to be, I guess."
Jason rested a hand on Tommy's shoulder, giving it a consoling squeeze. "You okay?"
Considering how badly he'd taken it when Kimberly broke up with him, it was a fair question.
"I will be. Even though it was for the best, it's gonna take some time to adjust to, y'know."
"I know," Jason commiserated, his break-up with Emily being recent enough for him to know exactly what Tommy was going through.
"So, does this mean Kat is available?" Rocky asked oh-so-innocently but with an anything-but-innocent wiggle to his eyebrows.
"Rocky, I don't believe ...." Jason sputtered. How crass could the guy be?
Tommy, however, knew that Rocky wasn't really serious – at least, he didn't think so.
"DeSantos, Kat has too much class to be seen with the likes of you."
Rocky clapped his hand over his heart and staggered back as if wounded.
"Besides, I thought you had a girlfriend."
Rocky grinned sheepishly and shrugged, clueing them in that he had yet another ex-girlfriend.
"A guy can dream, can't he?" Rocky mock-pouted. "At least, if I brought Kat home, I know Mama would approve of her."
Mama DeSantos' negative opinions of her eldest son's girlfriends was legendary.
Tommy was comforted by the business-as-usual banter; however, he found it strange that Jason hadn't leapt in to take part in the give and take. His best friend was oddly silent.
"Seriously, though," Rocky continued, sobering somewhat, "would you really mind it if one of us asked Kat out or something?"
"Kat's her own woman; she can date whoever she wants," Tommy said.
"But would it bother you?" Jason interjected at last.
Tommy stopped to consider. He hadn't given it much thought. Maybe it would bug him, maybe it wouldn't, but there was one thing he was certain of. "If one of you guys could make Kat as happy as she deserves, then you have my blessing."
The conversation might have lapsed into a thoughtful silence at this point, had Rocky not been regarding Tommy with a frown, tilting his head this way, then that as he scrutinized him.
"Now what?" Tommy huffed, praying it wasn't another crack about his hair but knowing it was a vain hope.
"I think you'd better avoid open flames and inflatable objects until your 'do grows out," Rocky said, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips.
Both Tommy and Jason rolled their eyes.
"You want to ask? I don't think I can without throttling him," Tommy muttered under his breath.
"You're gonna owe me for this," Jason whispered back. Aloud, he caved to the inevitable. "All right, I'll bite. Why should he avoid flames?"
"Well, there's so much goo on those spikes, they'd probably catch fire."
"And the inflatable objects?"
"Because they're so pointy, they'd pop 'em!"
~*~
Kat leaned over and quickly pecked Tommy on the cheek, much to his surprise.
"I never did thank you for telling Jason that he had your blessing,"
she explained. "Without it, I don't think he'd have felt right pursuing
a relationship with me."
To Be Continued In 2003 ...