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A few days later, at work, at the end of the day, Jim was sitting at his desk, getting ready to go back to the apartment. It had been several weeks since he'd gotten a haircut, and in the days since he had seen Chris at Home Outlet, with his new `friend,' Greg, he thought more about Ken. Was today a day he was on duty? Jim pulled his business card out of his wallet, and sure enough, today was listed as one of the days he was supposed to be in the shop.
Jim walked down to the men's room, walked in, and looked at himself in the mirror. The casualness of his loosened tie and sleeves rolled at the cuff seemed hand-in-hand with the five o'clock shadow he tended to have at this time of day. And yes, he could sure use a haircut, or at least a trim. It was a few inches in length now. But then, several of the other guys in the office had hair that long, so it didn't really stand out. But it felt scraggly, so a trip to the barber seemed in order. Jim washed his face and ran his comb through his hair, and headed out.
He entered the barber shop, and was pleasantly surprised to see Ken at work on another customer. At the same time, he felt a bit embarrassed about not having been in contact with for several weeks. When another barber came up, and offered to give him a haircut, Jim said he would like to wait for Ken. The barber went up to Ken to tell him. Ken turned to look, saw Jim, and beamed at him. Jim smiled back, and took a seat.
After several minutes, Ken finished with the customer he had been working on. He walked up to Jim.
"Hey, stranger," he said, with a smile. "Long time, no see."
"I know," replied Jim. "Things have been kind of busy," he said, sheepishly.
"I know, I know," said Ken. "Come on down," he added with a wink, gesturing Jim to take a seat in his barber chair.
Jim plopped into Ken's barber chair, a front lock of his hair falling into his eyes. Ken gave his hair a healthy tousle (to which Jim instinctively gave a half-hearted attempt to dodge, after the fact), followed by a casual hand on his shoulder. Jim grinned at the tousle and hand. I guess a barber can get away with that, he thought...
"Wow, it's grown out," said Ken. "I like it," he added, looking at Jim's hair in the mirror.
Jim looked at his hair and Ken in the mirror. He gave Ken a flick of his eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, looks nice."
Well, in that case, just a trim, huh?"
"With pleasure," replied Ken, as he pulled out his scissors to begin the haircut. For the next several minutes, they got back into the banter they had had during the first couple haircuts, as if there had been no time in between. At times during the haircut, Ken seemed to allow his fingers to linger in Jim's hair, while making a point in conversation. During one of these times, in spite of himself, Jim had a flashback to the wet dream he had had about Ken after the second haircut, but quickly recovered.
When the haircut was finished, his hair didn't seem any shorter than it had been, just neater. Nicely layered, with its usual silky shine, Ken gave the comb a final go through, leaving a nice full look. Although it was apparent that Jim usually parted his hair on his left, today it seemed willing to take only a rough part, falling over his forehead in the front and over his ears on the side, giving him more of a preppy look, going with his loosened tie. As Jim got up, he ran some fingers deeply through his hair, causing a lock to fall into his eye. He left it.
After paying at the register, Jim pulled Ken aside and asked softly, "Would you like to get together for dinner this Friday?"
Ken looked at Jim. "Yeah, sure. Something on your mind?"
Jim looked back at Ken. "It can wait until then."
"Ok, see you then."
Jim called Ken the next night, to solidify time and place for dinner. On Friday night, they met at a restaurant of Ken's choosing, both dressed casually. They were shown to a table, where they were given menus, and placed their orders.
"So, you seemed a little, I don't know, strange or something, when you asked me to dinner." said Ken. "Is something up?"
Jim looked at the table in front of him. "I'm not sure where to start."
"Ok," replied Ken. "Take it slow."
Jim paused. "A lot has happened since I last saw you. Probably most importantly, my wife and I have separated, temporarily."
Ken looked at Jim with concern. "Wow, I'm sorry. Why, if I may ask?"
"Well," replied Jim, "I guess it started with some wet dreams, one of which was with you."
"Ok," returned Ken with a small nervous laugh. He wasn't sure what to say next.
"I guess I've been wondering about some things since I last saw you, as you could imagine, based on that."
"Yeah."
"You have blue eyes, don't you?"
"Yes," said Ken with a bit of a laugh, "I do."
"I remember noticing them during one of our first haircuts, and feeling some kind of vague uneasiness, and then the wet dream shortly after that."
"Hmm..."
"Shortly after that, I met a stock boy at Home Outlet. Actually, he had noticed me on a previous visit. I guess you might say I was taken with him. We went to see a movie together, and he made a pass at me. Just a hand on my leg during the movie, but I brushed him off. Sometime after that, I had a wet dream about him, even more intense than the one I had had about you. I told my wife about it. Understandably, she was upset. I've moved out temporarily, at her request. She said that I have to look at this.
"I went out about a week ago with the stock boy, Chris, on a `date.'" Jim paused, and reflected. "It was really kind of romantic. If you like my hair, well, his hair was just as nice," said Jim, remembering. "Anyway, we kissed too. It was something. A few days later, I went back to Home Outlet, and saw him with another guy. Probably gay, and according to Chris, probably with a mutual attraction. Chris encouraged me to explore my own feelings with others. I hate to consider you a rebound, but..."
"I don't know what to say," said Ken, a bit incredulously. "I thought about you a few times, after that time we went out for coffee. I wondered if we might ever, you know, get together. But with your wife, I thought, Nah. Of course, now, things have a whole new spin."
Jim looked at Ken. "Do you think you would consider going out on a date with me?"
Ken looked back at Jim and paused, and smiled. "I thought that was what this was," he said with a wink. He looked around, and saw there was no one else around. He reached across the table, and took Jim's hand, with a gentle squeeze. They didn't release hands for several seconds.
"Seriously, though," continued Ken, "I think if you want go out, that would be great. I'd love to. But I think we should take it slow. You've been through a lot recently. Most importantly, with your wife, and then also, with this stock boy, Chris.
"Personally, I'm an old-fashioned kind of guy. I kind of like romance, however we can determine that in gay culture. I also think that two guys should be friends first, and any kind of `courtship,' if you will, should take its time slowly from that... Just my philosophy."
Jim looked at Ken intently. "What you're saying makes sense." Looking at Ken's blue eyes, he began to notice what a good-looking guy he was, in his own way, with his own unique kind of virility. During the haircuts, when Ken had given him a casual and spontaneous pat or squeeze on his shoulder, he had also noticed his gentleness, which was appealing, and kind of arousing, at the same time.
At this point, their meals came, and they continued their conversation, mostly along more usual topics. Afterwards, they walked outside. Remembering what Ken had said during their initial conversation, Jim thought it best to take things slow at the moment. He looked at Ken, with a slight smile, the soft evening breeze blowing a lock of hair into his eyes.
"Tonight was fun," Jim said, offering his hand to Ken, who shook it.
"It was," replied Ken, smiling. "Glad you asked."
Jim paused, thinking. "Do you think you might be up for some heavy-duty walking through the city this Sunday?"
Ken hesitated, thinking of his schedule. Then, "Yeah, that sounds like fun. I'd like that. Thinking of kind of an all afternoon thing?"
"Yes, if you're up for it."
"Sounds great."
With that, Ken gave Jim his address, they agreed on a time, and parted.
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