27 Vhalar 722 (Morning)
Eternity got up at the sound of knocking on her door. Her eyes fluttered open and she then hurried around the house to get ready for her day. “I won’t be long,” she called out. She had a lot of stuff planned and the first thing on her list was to help a neighbor with her hair. Eternity had never given someone a haircut before but she'd been eager to try it out. She let her neighbor in and brought her over to a chair she’d pulled off to the side so the hair wouldn’t get everywhere.
“What kind of haircut did you want again?” Eternity asked as she went to fetch her scissors.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, “maybe something above the shoulder? My hair is just so long and annoying.”
Eternity had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her that this was a bad move. Short hairstyles didn’t always look bad but her instinct told her that it wasn’t the right style for this woman. She looked in the mirror in front of the two of them and held up the woman’s hair and put her hand in the way so it’d show what a short haircut might look like.
“Is this really what you want,” Eternity asked, “looks kind of butch if I’m being honest. I don’t want to say it can’t look good on you but this is my first haircut. I’d hate to fek it up.” Eternity adjusted the hair length so that it dropped just below the shoulders. “Now this, this I can do.”
“Butch? No no no, that’s not what I want at all,” the neighbor said with an annoying shake of her head that caused Eternity to lose her grip on her hair.
“This length looks alright, doesn’t it?” Eternity asked when she bunched up the hair once more. She wanted permission because the last thing she’d want is for someone to cut her hair against her will.
“Yes, that’ll do fine,” the neighbor said with a smile. “Tell you the truth I only came because you said you needed someone to practice on. If you really mess up I’ll get it fixed this afternoon. I was going to get it cut today anyways.”
Eternity chuckled, “well, if I cut it too long, I’m sure a professional could tidy it up and give you the short cut you wanted.” Eternity took a brush and started getting some knots out of her neighbor’s hair. She did not take very good care of herself evidenced by a couple pieces of bread that she found and tossed to the side.
After that she tried dividing the hair into sections. She had only ever felt it being done to herself before so finding where to actually divide the hair was challenging. Common sense told her that the top should be separated from the sides which should be separated from the back. She quickly realized that her this would be easier if she had a lot of clips to hold the hair in place after she divided it. She only had a handful to work with which was mildly annoying.
What was more annoying was that the neighbor kept trying to talk to her. It was hard work concentrating and Eternity fought to focus on both keeping up with the conversation and getting the hair to behave. Eternity was able to keep up only because she only listened for the main points the woman was trying to make and even then she had to ask her to repeat herself from time to time.
Eternity looked at the divided hair with a nervous look that she couldn’t hide. A shiver ran down her spine when she thought of how bad the haircut could end up looking if she wasn’t careful. Her neighbor spotted her expression in the mirror and asked, “is everything alright?”
“Oh, of course,” Eternity said knowing full well that she couldn’t lie worth a damn. Her mind scrambled to find an excuse and she stupidly said, “I’m not feeling well that’s all.” She rubbed her stomach with one hand and coughed into her opposite elbow. Eternity hated her own lie because she now had to pretend like she had a cough for the remainder of their time together.
Eternity went back to work on the woman’s hair, adjusting the divisions to look a little more even. After that, she began snipping away with her scissors, gradually transforming the woman's long locks into a new hairstyle. It was difficult enough for Eternity to realize that it would be a while before she could cut her own hair like this. She’d need an array of mirrors in order to divide her hair and look at it at the right angle.
The neighbor had remained quiet for a while but couldn’t help but talk some more because Eternity was taking her sweet time. The neighbor said, “I saw you with a cute boy the other trial.”
Eternity said, “mhmm, oh right, which one?” she spent her time with so many different men that “cute boy” didn’t narrow things down at all. She coughed a few times to keep up the lie that she wasn’t feeling well.
“Brown hair? Tall?” the neighbor said with a wave of her hands. “The one with the necklace.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Eternity said, “yeah, he was fun.” She smiled when she fondly reminisced about the handful of days spent with that boy, laughing and playing together, the silly jokes they shared, and the connection they had. She remembered the long conversations they had, the secrets they told each other, and the way their hearts beat a little faster when they were around each other. She recalled the fights they had and the way they would make up afterwards. Eternity could still remember the warmth of his touch, the sound of his laughter, and even his smell.
“Good memories huh? You still together?” asked the neighbor when she noticed Eternity was just staring blankly into the back of her head.
“Oh, yes,” Eternity said. “All things considered it was a good time while it lasted. It didn’t last very long though. You know how it goes.”
“Pfft, I wish I knew,” the neighbor said with a snort of laughter. “I don’t know how you do it. It feels like every time I see you it’s with someone else. If my parents saw me with anyone, period, they’d wring my neck! They want me married to a businessman.”
“Oh? There’s nothing wrong with a businessman. I think it’d be a dream to be able to marry someone that would provide everything you needed. It sounds like a good deal.” Eternity sighed. She doubted she’d ever find a wealthy man to settle down with, not that she thought she could ever stay faithful unless she really loved them.
“Good deal my arse!” protested the neighbor. “the rich ones are tough to look at. And all they want to do is talk about work. Believe me, I’ve talked to enough of ‘em.”
Eternity giggled. “Well of course, that’s the tradeoff. If you go make your own money you’re more free. Have you considered starting your own business? You could be the wealthy woman with any cute man you wanted.”
“As if. Father says I’m useless and it’s hard to disagree. I was raised to make basic meals and take care of animals and children. It’s hardly something I could turn into a business.”
Eternity shrugged. She didn’t know the first thing about starting a business nor did she have any intention of learning anytime soon. She didn’t even know what kind of business she could start. She knew in her heart that a larceny related business would never get approved by the merchant’s guild.
Eternity said, “sounds like what you need is to get married and get good at sneaking around behind your husband’s back. If you do it right you might even be able to have kids with the man you really want.”
The neighbor burst out laughing, “can you imagine? Ah, that’d be the dream. You’re crazy, you know that right?”
“Well of course I do,” Eternity said with a sly smile, “why do you think men love me?” They shared another laugh and then Eternity said, “I think I’m done. How does it look?”
“Not bad,” the neighbor said as she turned her head to either side. “You’re pretty good at this. Definitely better than I was expecting. Not as good as a salon but… good enough. I think you missed a few spots here but with enough practice maybe you could open up a shop someday!”
“We could open it together,” Eternity joked as she fixed some of the missed spots as best as she could. They chatted a bit more and the neighbor left. Eternity hoped that she’d been telling the truth because it always felt good to be good at something.
“Goodness that took a lot longer than I thought it would,” She thought when she remembered that she had so much more she wanted to get done. She’d have to hurry!
[Template credit to Pyrre]
