Two years, I still couldn’t believe my girlfriend and I had been dating for almost two years now. I couldn’t be happier, but I often found myself wondering what it was that she found so attractive about me. Sure she always said the glasses, what she called my “Weezer” glasses, or my shy attitude, maybe my water polo body (my one good feature), or anything else she could come up with, but in my heart, no matter how many excuses she gave, I knew that Shannon was so far out of my league that it was scary. She was perfect, I constantly reminded myself of it, my friends constantly reminded me of it, people I had never met constantly reminded me of it. Standing 5′ 7″ and with a body to die for, my perfect little Eurasian dream girl had all the features of a dream. Whether it was her deep brown eyes, her clear complexion, or my personal favorite, her absolutely glorious curtain of jet black hair, the most gorgeous hair that any woman could posses. It fell in a perfectly straight, silky and intensely thick shining blanket to her waist, ending about three inches short of her perfect butt, gleaming and shining brightly when the lights hit it. Quite simply put, it was the kind of hair you saw in shampoo commercials, just plain perfect.

I thought back to the day we met, it had been my senior year in high school, I had shown up to my Calculus class and quietly sat down to read a little. Since I was early, I was the only one in class, until she showed up. I didn’t hear or see her walk in, I just remember sensing her walk by me and stop next to the seat in front of me, then hearing her beautiful opera choir voice (another amazing feature) ask me “Is this seat taken?” I looked up… and there she was, as beautiful then as she is now.

I tried to reply in a complete and coherent sentence, but all that came out was “Um… yeah, that is um… yeah go ahead.” I wanted to die, knowing that she was going to walk away in disgust, but this girl is full of surprises.

“Thank you.” she said, flashing one of her gorgeous smiles, and sat down in front of me. I could only stare, even the back of her head was a sight, although her hair had only been to the top of her shoulder blades back then. Shannon Cochran, a transfer student from Arizona, she loved being in California, and once class started, she had every single guy in the class admiring her. I knew I was going to have to make her mine fast, before the chance left me once and for all.

We got to know each other, and she let me know early on about all the guys already asking her out. Each story made me more and more anxious, but she assured me that she didn’t want to see anyone like that until she settled down in her new state. Every day in class I was mesmerized by her, and she constantly lets me know now that she knew it. Many times as I wrote down notes, she would toss back her head and let her liquid satin hair fly over my paper, bending back her neck to look at me with those eyes, and I would feel like my heart skipped a beat each time. Finally I asked her out, and she said yes before I could even finish the sentence, and that was where it had all began.

We were inseparable from then on, and we even planned on the same college together, moving out to our own little apartment a couple of months ago. Everyday with her was a gift from God, and I never took her for granted. She was more than my fiancé, she was my best friend.

So we were on our way to the barbecue at a friends house who I hadn’t seen in years. She was walking a little ahead of me, her unbelievably thick hair swung back and forth like a pendulum, glistening brightly as the sun hit it. She turned around to face me, flashing that gorgeous smile.

“Honey, something wrong?” she turned her entire body towards me. She was wearing a long denim skirt, a white button up blouse, and a waist length black leather jacket. I walked up to her and kissed her deeply, reaching back and stroking her satin locks, something that I knew she loved me to do. Her arms snaked up around my neck, and we simply stood there looking into each other’s eyes for almost ten seconds before she asked “What? What is it?” Her eyes had a hint of fear in them, I wondered what was wrong.

“Nothing.” I replied, “I was just thinking about the first time we met, still trying to figure out why you sat next to me.”

She smiled yet again, “I told you, it was the glasses, now come on.” As we walked up to the front door, she reached back and fastened her hair into a ponytail that was as thicker than my arm. We were greeted by old friends and shown to the back where there was quite a large gathering. Shannon went of to talk to some old friends while I hung relatively close to the barbecue with my old teammate Ryan.

“So Matt,” he said, turning the burgers and closing the lid to the barbecue. “How are things going with you and Shannon.” I simply smirked and told him about the engagement. “Holy shit!” he replied, “no kiddin?”

“No kiddin.” I replied, and glanced at my betrothed, she was holding a beer and laughing at an unheard joke, her hair flying around her as she straightened back up.

“You know, the Kings game is on in two days, you up for a bet?” my favorite team since high school had been the LA Kings, and they were up against the Flames in game seven of the Stanley Cup, Ryan’s favorites.

“How much?” I asked.

“Our girlfriends hair,” Ryan burst out laughing, “No, 100 bucks.” I knew he had been joking, since we always had an inside joke since we loved our girlfriends, and their manes.

“OK, 100 bucks on the Kings for the cup, see you on Saturday to collect my money.” It was Wednesday now, so that would give me time to come by and pick up my loot.

Later that night Shannon and I said our goodbyes and walked back to our car. It was almost nine by the time we got home, so we changed for bed and started to watch a movie. Shannon was lying in my lap as I laid back, her hair done up in a bun that looked almost the size of my head. She was wearing her favorite tight t-shirt and a pair of short shorts under a long white robe, and we barely paid any attention to the move since we talked about our old friends. I brought up the bet on the Kings, nonchalantly bringing up our hair joke.

Shannon sat up and turned to me, her deep brown eyes looking into mine. “And why didn’t you bet my hair?”

I was dumbfounded, I honestly didn’t know what to say. I looked up at her huge bun, some of the strands had broken free and were hanging loosely in her face. I brushed them back out of her face and tucked them behind her ear. “That’s why,” I replied, “I love doing things like that too much, besides, you love your hair don’t you? I know every other girl in the world does, why would you want to part with it?”

She seemed to contemplate that for a while, the began to twirl the loose strand around her finger. “I guess you’re right, but I was seriously wondering lately about a short cut, what it would look like, maybe even a shaved head.”

“No way, nuh uh,” I replied, “why would you even think of that?”

“Well, you know how long it takes in the morning to get ready,” she shot back “besides, it’d save us money, and it gets way too hot in the summer, you have no idea.”

We talked about it for almost an hour, the very thought of her parting with her locks drove a dagger into my heart, but it was her choice. Finally, we decided that we would make a second bet on the Stanley Cup game.

“OK,” she began, “if the Flames win, no more hair.”

“No way,” I shot back, “you can’t jinx my team like that, it’s unethical!”

“Alright, if the Kings win…” she tried again.

“Nope!” once again I cut her off before she could finish. “You can’t do that either, it’s my team, what’s the point of seeing them win the cup if my fiancé is bald?”

“Jesus! Can I bet anything?” she seemed a little peeved, understandably. We talked a little while before coming to a decision, The Kings not only had to win, but win by a four goal spread. The last six games had no more than a two point sp
read, the chances of them getting that spread were almost nil, a chance I was willing to take. Of course, Shannon didn’t approve of this gamble, saying that it wasn’t even a gamble at all, but I shot back that God must really want to see her bald if he’s willing to go that far for it. She agreed, and we sat back down and continued the movie, my hands rubbing her bare nape and massaging her neck. Suddenly I had a thought, this may be one of the last nights I had to enjoy her legendary mane. I reached for the chopsticks holding her hair in place, but she grabbed my wrist quickly as I began to pull them out.

“Oh come on, this may be one of the last nights I have to play with it!” I protested.

“Is that so?” she smirked at me, “so you’re really going to go through with it if I win?” She stuck her hand out towards me, the smirk never leaving her face. She looked oh so cute in that pose with the stray hairs swinging down into her eyes again.

“Not that it’s likely, but yes, I will hold to my promise, I’ll even shave it for you. If the Kings win by four points, I will make sure that those clippers are nibbling away at your hairline.” I reached up and shook her hand.

If I had known that I had just planted the seeds of destruction for her glorious mane, I would have run as far as I could from that hand.

But, I had no way of knowing that I had just sealed her hair’s fate, so I reached back up for the chopsticks. “Now, let’s let that dam loose.” She pulled out the sticks and her hair fell in a jet black waterfall down to her hips. I spent the entire movie running my hands through that hair, and even when we went to bed, I couldn’t keep my hands off of it. I ran them through her hair over and over, marveling at the texture, it literally felt like running my hands through silk.

We went to class together in the morning, then I went to work while she went out shopping. When I got home she was just walking up to the door. We kissed each other and walked into the apartment. She had her hair loose today as usual, and she seemed excited to show me something.

“Here, tell me what you think.” She went into the bathroom, and emerged a few minutes later wearing a knee length skirt, a pink blouse, and a pair of glasses that looked very cute on her. “What do you think? OH! I almost forgot, to get the full effect…” she pulled her hair back as tight as she could get it, trying to give me the illusion of baldness. “Eh?” she asked.

I laughed loudly, “I think you just wasted our money since that ain’t gonna happen.”

“She let her hair fall back into place and gave me a joking smile, “We’ll see about that.” She started to slip out of her outfit, but I stopped her.

“No leave it on, we’re going out to dinner tonight.” I began to get ready while she put her hair up in twin braids, a look that she knew I loved. While at dinner, we talked as usual, but my hand kept reaching out to her braids, even tied up like this they were incredibly soft and shiny. She smiled and tolerated it, but eventually undid the braids and put her hair back up into a ponytail.

When we got home we watched some TV, the entire time I just sat there and played with her hair endlessly. The final night before the game, we made love, and it had a certain sense of satisfaction since there was a slight chance it would be the last time before her locks would be gone. I took in every moment that night, afraid that it may be the last time I would be able to enjoy it with her silky curtain flying around her head like that.

The next morning we got ready for the game, and in more ways than one might have thought. Shannon went out and bought a pair of cordless electric clippers, then laid out a blanket to collect the hair for the actual deed. I still doubted that it would happen, so I made fun of her the entire time she was setting up camp.

“Laugh all you want,” she said “but we’ll see who’s laughing when all this is gone!” She grabbed a handful of hair and walked over to me, tickling my neck with it. She walked back over to the counter and stood in front of the mirror, brushing out her hair for what seemed to be and hour. I watched curiously as she did, seeing the lights bounce off of her gorgeous black blanket of hair.

Finally, six o’ clock rolled around, and we sat down to watch the game, Shannon sitting in my lap. As I played with her hair, she turned to me and quietly whispered “Better remember it, you only have two hours left to enjoy my hair”. I decided to take advantage of that statement by burying my hands into her silky mass and giving her a scalp massage, her hair whispering quietly under my fingers. The first period led to no score, satisfying me immensely since any victory looked to be minimal. The second period led to the Flames ahead by one goal, and even though my team was losing, I was still immensely happy that my satin treasure would still be mine. As the third period started, I simply hugged Shannon close and sunk my face deep into her satin jungle, lightly biting the back of her neck. Halfway through the 3rd period my team had made an astonishing comeback and were ahead by two. Even though I was thrilled, that dark thought of losing Shannon’s soft satin locks that I held in my hands kept popping up in my head, and I hugged Shannon even closer.

In the last four minutes of the game, Deadmarsh scored again, now they were up by three!

“Holy crap,” I said, “no freakin way!”

Shannon turned to me, a playful smile tugging at her lips. She reached back and tossed her hair into my face. The satin running over my features and making me shudder at it’s immense softness and weight. She grabbed a swath of hair and began to wave it in front of my face. “Have any last words you want to say to it baby? Because soon it’s all going bye bye!” I decided to act unaffected by her taunt, and kissed her lightly on the head.

“I don’t think so babe, no way will they score with only four minutes.” Famous last words.

Sure enough, on the last second of the game, Ziggy Palfy shot it in to seal the victory, I stood up in disbelief, pushing Shannon to the side.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed, holding the sides of my head. I looked over to see Shannon jumping up and down, her hair flying around her in a storm of glistening beauty.

“Oh yeah! How about that?” she screamed, finally stopping to rub it in. “You can’t argue against the best! And now, well…” she grabbed two huge handfuls of hair “You might as well kiss it goodbye babe!”

“But… I…” I stammered, desperately thinking of a way to save that gorgeous mane.

“No way babe, I…” she stopped suddenly, looking sideways with her eyes at the “camp” she had set up. She turned her eyes back to me, made a tiny smirk, and bolted for the camp.

“NO NO NO!” My legs pumped into life and I raced her to the camp right as she was making a mad dash for the clippers. She snatched them up and popped them into life. I watched in horror as she began to raise them to her head, the silver tip even touched her forehead before I grabbed both of her wrists and wrestled her to the ground. I got on top of her as she threw her body back and forth, finally giving up as I pried the clippers from her hand. I looked down at her, her gorgeous face surrounded by a pool of living black satin.

“You promised!” she yelled, glowering at me. “You have to go through with it, please!”

I sat there, looking at her beautiful mounds of shimmering hair laid out on the blanket like a shimmering oil spill. “I know,” I wanted to swallow my words, but a promise was a promise “I guess I better start.” I slowly ran my hands through her soft hair one last time, then slowly turned the clippers back on. She smiled as I snapped the clippers back into life. “You’re sure about this babe?” I asked, still on top of her. She thought for a moment, then nodded, her glowing hair following her head as if gripping for dear life. Slowly I lowered the clippers toward her forehead as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. I plunged the clippers into the pool of hair right above her left e
ar. As the clippers began to nibble away at the hair above her ear, she let out a scream of excitement. I stopped and turned off the clippers. “You OK hun?” I asked.

“You bet,” she shot back, “but let me get up, I want to see!” I got off of her and let her up to walk to the mirror. She stood there for a while lifting her heavy mass of hair to examine the beginning of her hair’s destruction. Just a tiny patch, not even two inches wide. Had she wanted to, she could have covered it up and stopped there, but slowly, she walked back and nodded at me. I pushed the clippers back into her hair, kicking up little pieces of severed silk and handing it to her. As I slowly and strategically destroyed Shannon’s shimmering satin glory, I thought back to all of the time I had spent running me hands through it, a feeling that I wasn’t going to have again for quite a while. Just the thought that I was stripping her of coveted mane made me want to drop the clippers and have her finish the deed herself.

Huge mounds of black silk fell to the floor, making my chest lurch. I continued to take more and more hair off, starting above the left ear and slowly working my way towards the center of her head. After a while I had reached the halfway mark, and she sat there with a small tear forming as the right side of her head was still covered with a shining carpet of jet black hair. I started in on the right side, and within thirty minutes I had transformed my fiance’s head from a glistening treasure trove of silky hair into a rough bulb that felt like sandpaper. I felt ashamed, but Shannon was absolutely beaming, and I knew that I had made the right choice.

We gathered her hair as a memoir of that bet, and it was incredibly heavy, I still don’t understand how she sported that on her head. She promised me that night that she would grow her hair back out, because even though she loved the feel, it just didn’t click with her.

Two years later and we are happily married. Still going to college, we are able to find time for each other almost constantly, and we couldn’t be happier. True to her word Shannon grew out her hair, and it was now a little past her shoulder blades. It hadn’t lost any of it’s beauty, but she still had a long way to go before it would get back to it’s former glory. Luckily, it was a road I was ready to make with her everyday.