This is a story about a friend of mine. His name is Mark, and lives in the north east United States. He’s a pretty typical guy. Not a lot to describe him. After knowing each other for a while we realized that we have the same taste in women. Not particularly blondes, huge boobs, nice legs, or anything like that, but long hair. Real long. It wasn’t until one time he brought a girl named Katie around that I realized that there was more to it that just that one thing in common. One day Katie looked a certain way, and then the next time I seen her she wasn’t quite the same. This is the story as Mark tells it…

He was walking through the mall one day and not really paying attention to any one thing he happened to notice a girl sitting on a bench by herself, looking upset. He stopped, looked her up and down as she sat there cross-legged. She had a black toque on, black shirt that appeared to have some kind of band on it he didn’t know of, and some dark track pants. She seemed to be a bit on the goth side of things, but that wasn’t gonna stop him this time. He sat down beside her and started talking to her.

"What’s got you so down?" He said to her, with a bit of a smirk.

"Excuse me?" She replied with some attitude.

"Oh, sorry, I just thought you might want to be cheered up." With that he started to stand up.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, saying "No, I’m sorry. I appreciate it."

"I’m Mark," while he goes to shake her hand.

"Katie," she cracks a bit of a smile and shakes his hand.

"So what’s got you so down, Katie?" He follows up.

"Just quit my job in this dump" She says with some bitterness in her voice. "Boss said I can come back when I look presentable. Asshole."

"That’s pretty harsh. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way you look." He put his hand on her shoulder. "You gonna change to go back?"

That question obviously frustrates her. "I don’t know… I don’t want to, but it was the only job I’ve ever had that I can actually enjoy. Especially around here, knowing my options."

"Well, you wanna get something to eat?" He asks hopefully.

"Alright, anywhere that’s not here." She gives out a small laugh.

He laughs as well. "Deal. Let’s go."

From there they left the mall together, making small talk and enjoying each other’s company. Things must have been going well between the two of them, because the next night he brought her over here and I got to meet her. My first impression of her was she was pretty cute. She was wearing a nice small top that really showed off her nice figure, and when I met her she was also wearing a toque, so I didn’t realize at first. When she went to the bathroom Mark said to me "pretty hot, huh?". Of course I agreed. Then much to my delight he said "But you haven’t seen the best part yet". This of course had me curious, but I had a feeling I knew what he meant. And sure enough when she came out she was no longer wearing her hat, and I got to see the black ponytail that hung down to her waist. I was completely drawn to it, as Mark was. We sat around and made small talk for a while, and eventually they left. I was sad to see her go.

They went back to Mark’s place where things got a bit more interesting. The flirting led to more and more, and soon they were making out on the couch. Mark couldn’t resist, and tugged on her ponytail as they were kissing, and she let out a quiet yelp. He laughed and apologized and they continued. Later on when things had calmed down pulled the elastic out of her hair and let it all fall into place. It laid in an uneven line across her waist. She looked somewhat uncomfortable at this point, so he held and kissed her.

"Why do you hide your lovely hair all the time?" He asked with a soft tone.

"Because I quit taking care of it, and now it doesn’t look as good" She said timidly.

"You can just cut it back" He said with encouragment.

She pulled back a bit and looked at him. "You make it sound so easy".

"Isn’t it? I do it all the time" Said laughingly.

Katie got shy and quit talking. This was apparently a sensitive issue.

"What’s wrong?" Mark asked hoping he didn’t offend her.

"I don’t like wearing my hair down anymore because of the way it is now, but I lost my stupid job because I can’t wear a hat" She was depressed.

Mark felt as though this was his chance. "Katie, you’re getting your job back".

She must have understood because she was scared, but he had her by the hand and pulled her to the kitchen. Not wasting any time he opened a drawer and pulled out some scissors. She was staring at them in fear, and too stunned to try to get away or say anything. He let go of her hand and grabbed a strand of her long black hair on the right hand side and snipped it off at her ear. Now she was really shocked, to the point where a tear started rolling down her face. Then he grabbed a bunch on the left side and snipped it off. Dropping it on the floor as he cut it off, she had closed her eyes and started to cry. He walked around her and grabbed the hair in the back and cut it off above her shoulders piece by piece. When he was done she had jagged strands of hair everywhere hanging around her face.

"The worst is over, Katie" Mark said while trying to hold back his excitement. She opened her eyes and dried her tears as she looked around at the floor around her, seeing her long hair all over it. He then took the scissors in one hand and her hand in the other and took her to the bathroom. She could barely look in the mirror, and Mark told her she might wanna keep her eyes closed for this part. That’s when the unmistakable sound of the clippers snapped on leaving about an inch of hair he ran it up the sides and back oh her head. This made her really unhappy, but Mark very happy. Then he took the scissors again and randomly cut the hair on top so that it was a bit longer than the rest. He set everything down and hugged her.

"Take a look, Katie. I think your boss will like it. I do." He was all too happy at this point.

She tried to stop crying to take a look and he could see once she actually saw herself it wasn’t so bad.

"Not bad for a first time, huh?" I’ve only ever done my own, but that’s a lot easier.

A few days later Mark and Katie showed up at my place again, and Katie had the toque on. I couldn’t wait for her to take it off so I could admire that hair, but when she did I was in awe. She looked uncomfortable, but it didn’t take me long to realize what went on. From then on me and Mark talked about it, and our interests in general. It’s amazing how you never expect someone you know to like the same thing.