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A sink that looked like it had the ocean inside it. The owner’s hair overflowed into the sink, hair looking wispy as it flowed in the water. Stu sat in the chair, eyes tightly shut as he waited for a pair of hands to detangle his hair roughly. What let up to this was that when Nina took off his beanie he saw her expression change into that of shock. She said nothing as she reached forward to try and run her fingers through his hair but she was unable to.
Gentle hands massaged shampoo into his scalp as fingertips moved across it. They left a lingering sensation that Stu found neither enjoyable nor dissatisfying. He knew exactly how his hair got to the saddening state that it was in now. He hated brushing his hair and with the hatred came the neglect and not wanting to come face-to-face with the problem that he caused he hid it under his beanie. It had never been an issue for out of sight out of mind but then Nina took the beanie off. He had expected her to chide him like a child, to hold up his knotted hair and interrogate him on why he let his hair get to the state it was in, but she did neither. So now he found himself with his hair drenched with water and suds with Nina carefully working her fingers through the knots. She tried not to tug on his hair as she worked on each tangled knot but no matter how careful she was Stu’s instinct was to wince whenever he felt a knot come undone.
“Am I hurting you?” Her voice sounded so melodic and soft.
“Nah. Can’t help it.”
Nina leaned down and kissed his forehead before going back to the task. Now she hummed. It was a song that he had recognized. He liked that about Nina, how their musical interests were always on the same wavelength. He sometimes tried to play a song on his keyboard for her to guess and she was always able to name the song. One day he’ll play a song and stump her.
One hand acted as a shield over his eyebrows as the other scooped water and poured it over his hair, rinsing the shampoo. Despite the weight of the water weighing his hair down he could already feel the difference between how it was before and now. Over and over the water ran through his hair, the faucet of the sink running, and the plug undone so that the sink didn’t overflow. Despite the sound of the running water Nina continued to hum, scrunching her free hand through Stu’s hair to make sure the water permeated throughout his hair to get the shampoo out.
Water turning off his hair lay drenched in the sink, his head feeling the breeze of the air conditioner sent shivers throughout Stu but soon Nina placed a towel over his scalp, guided him to sit up, and patted his hair dry. She didn’t wrap it nor roughly towel-dried his hair like Stu was used to the few times he went to the salon with Paula. He still scrunched his eyes shut despite there being no pain. He couldn’t help it as whenever anything came near his scalp he expected it to feel sharp, tingly pain. Nina dropped the towel onto the floor as Stu’s wet hair cascaded down his back. Nina's humming continued to fill the restroom as she grabbed a bottle, squirted its contents into her hand, rubbed her hands together, and then worked it through Stu’s hair.
“What’s that?”
“Leave-in conditioner. I figured you wouldn’t want your hair messed with further so it’s better plus it helps to make combing your hair easier.”
“Oh.”
The comb had blue hair passing through its teeth each time it ran through his hair, never once getting stuck in a knot. Stu waited on the edge of his seat for his hair to be tugged but not once did the feeling occur. Every time the comb reached the bottom of his hair Nina ran a hand through the section she had combed, as if feeling for what the comb could have left behind. When she finished she leaned down and kissed the top of his head.
“All done. I’m sure it feels a lot better than before.”
As Stu stood up he looked at himself in the mirror. His blue hair looked silky smooth with a sheen to it that it lacked before. Running his hand through it he could feel the softness of his hair between his fingers. He turned towards Nina, leaned down, and softly kissed her as his arms found themselves wrapping around her waist. As he pulled away Nina let out a small giggle as she wrapped her arms around him.
Love is a splendid thing.