"We're begging you to kill the lights, kill the actor, kill the actress, or kill us all!" We all yelled along with the music. We were driving around town aimlessly. There was nothing to do today, and we didn't feel like seeing a movie or anything.
"So now what do we do?" Shane asked, turning down a street we had already been down 3 times. His parents were nice enough to pay for gas money, so, being the considerate teenagers we were, we were wasting it all to listen to music and kill a few hours.
"We could cut our hair," Mitch suggested.
See, we had a summer tradition. Every summer, we would cut each other's hair at least once, and give it a new style.
I looked at my obnoxiously long hair and nodded eagerly. I wasn't against haircuts or anything, I was just too lazy to get it cut. My mom always offered because she hated my hair when it was long, but she always cut it too short.
"I'm down for that," Shane said, his hair hanging down a little ways past his ears.
He made an illegal U-turn and drove us back to his house. We got out and followed him inside, grabbing scissors out of the kitchen.
We went out to the back deck and set up speakers. I sat on a chair, twirling my wavy locks arournd my finger. It was too hot out for long hair, anyways. No big loss.
"Where we gonna go? He's got us pinned. Baby I'm a little scared! Now don't you quit! He's sounded the alarm, I hear the sirens closing in. Our paper faces flood the streets," the music sang.
"Cut mine," Shane said, tossing the scissors to me.
I managed to catch them without cutting my hand off and went over as he sat down. I eyed it and shrugged.
"How short?" I asked.
"Not too short. I want it to still cover my ears," he said.
I nodded and got to work. Mitch mumbled along the lyrics as music played, watching me cut his brother's hair. When I was done, I nodded to myself. Mitch went inside and came back out with a hand mirror, passing it to Shane.
"Nice," Shane said, appreciating his hair.
"I don't trust Shane to get near my hair. You cut it, Jace. Same length as Shane's, maybe a little longer," Mitch said, shoving Shane out of the chair and dropping into it.
Shane pushed himself off of the ground, glared at his brother, and sat up on the deck railing. I got to work on Mitch's hair, handing him the mirror when I was done and admiring my own work.
Shane typically kept his hair the same length, even though he tended to style it differently. It hung a little past his ears, a nice length for him.
But Mitch used to keep his hair fairly short. He had grown it out a little, and I had cut it slightly shorter than Shane's. It looked soft and had a healthy shine. He looked up at me with those pale blue eyes of his, running a hand through his hair.
"Thanks. It looks nice. Want me to do yours?" he asked.
"Yea," I said, handing him the scissors and taking his spot in the chair.
"I'm going to chop most of it off," he warned me.
"Go for it. It's too hot out for it to be this long," I said.
He got to work and I watched as my hair piled up on the ground in an alarming amount. A couple of songs played out before Mitch finally stopped butchering my hair.
"Damn. You don't even look like you anymore," Shane said, letting out a whistle.
I picked up the mirror and admired my appearance. "I look like present day William Beckett," I said.
"He's your favorite artist, so I figured you wouldn't have a problem with it," Mitch said, shrugging and setting the scissors down. "Besides, I like you better with short hair."
I couldn't stop staring at my own reflection. Dear god; I was one attractive son of a bitch. Hey there handsome guy, I didn't realize you were hiding under all that hair.
"I'm sexy. I'm keeping my hair this short for a while," I said, setting the mirror down and standing up.
"You're welcome," Mitch said, leaning against the railing.
"$20 says my mom doesn't know who I am when she sees me," I said.
"Well, that was a fun way to pass the time. What now?" Shane asked, squinting up at the sky.
Mitch shrugged, kicking the pile of hair off of the deck. "I don't know."
Jasper came outside. He looked up at us and had to do a double take. "Holy shit," he said, eyeing each of us. "I faintly recognize these two. But who are you?"
"Very funny Jasper," I said, rolling my eyes.
"My handy work," Mitch said, raising his hand.
"Looking good, kid," Jasper said, punching my shoulder lightly.
"We're bored, dad. Give us something to do," Shane said.
"You could skateboard across the street. Or hideout in the tree house and tell yourselves that I don't know you're getting high up there," he said.
"We don't get high in the tree house," Shane lied.
"Oh yes you do. And one of these days you're going to fall out of the tree house and I'm not going to feel bad for you," Jasper said.
"I asked for something to do, not you to show us your heartless side," Shane said.
"Alright, alright. Like I said, you could skateboard. Or swim. Or go to the movies. Or be productive," he said.
"Ugh, I'm so bored," Shane groaned, leaning back at a dangerous angle on the rail.
Jasper reached forward, gripping Shane's shirt and pulling him up. "Don't kill yourself. Anyways, I came out here because I need Mitch's help. Come with me to the garage for a few minutes," he said.
Mitch got up and followed his dad back into the house. I took his spot, leaning against the railing and looking around, bored out of my mind.
"You're acting different around Mitch. Why?" Shane asked.
He acted oblivious, but the guy had been my best friend since we were in diapers. He noticed when I changed, even slightly.
I shrugged. "I don't know," I said honestly.
"Did he do something?" Shane asked.
I shook my head. "Nah, he didn't do anything. I guess it just kind of started randomly yesterday. I'm still trying to figure it out."
"Well, maybe ambushing the brat would make you feel better," he said, a mischievous grin coming to his face. "We have water guns and trees to hide in. Let's go."
I returned the grin and jumped up. We grabbed water guns froma little box on the deck and filled them up in the pool. We went over to the easiest tree to climb and pulled ourselves up and out of sight.
We waited, legs swinging off the branches. Finally, Mitch came out the back door. He looked curiously, walking to edge of the deck and peering over to see if we were hiding.
"Fire," Shane whispered.
We aimed and began shooting at Mitch. He yelped and jumped back, glaring up at us and ducking behind the deck. He darted over to the box on the deck, fishing out a water gun.
"Get him before he fills up!" Shane cried, hastily climbing out of the tree. I copied him and we charged at Mitch as he made a mad dash for the pool.
He ducked away from us as we shot at him again and dunked the gun into the pool, filling it up quickly. He rolled behind the deck railing and peeked over the top, aiming at me and shooting.
Water splashed into my face and I ducked behind Shane. Shane grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a tree. We stood up and fired at Mitch, aiming over the rail so that we could hit him.
We ran out of water quickly and cursed, ducking back behind the tree. Mitch was next to the pool, so he had the advantage.
"Let's charge him and dunk him," Shane said.
I nodded and we grinned, abandoning our water guns and charging out from behind the tree.
Mitch, realizing what was happening, tossed the gun to the side and scrambled to jump over the side of the railing.
We grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, trying to drag him over to the pool. He struggled against us, managing to slip free of my grasp.
"Shane!" he cried.
"In he goes!" Shane said, releasing Mitch and turning to me.
The brothers grinned and grabbed me, Shane getting my legs and Mitch getting my arms. I let out a yell as they swung me back and forth a few times before releasing me.
My limbs flailed and then I crashed into the water. I broke the surface and shook my hair out of my face wildly, coughing up water.
"You two suck!" I yelled, flipping them off.
"I'll go get him a towel. You get him out of there," Shane said and laughed, heading inside the house.
Mitch came over and helped me out of the pool. I resisted the urge to throw him into the pool and settled for shaking my hair off on him.
"God, you're like a wet dog," he said, jumping away from me.
"You're lucky I didn't have my phone in my pocket!" I said.
"We knew you didn't. None of us did," Mitch said. "They're all on the counter inside."
"Still," I grumbled, running a hand through my wet, and now short, hair. Mitch grinned. "It was payback."
"Oh yea? I growled, grabbing him and restraining his arms, swinging him towards the pool. He struggled against me and I stopped, glancing from him to the pool.
Now, I had throw Mitch into the pool god only knows how many times. I always picked on him and did things like that to him.
But I suddenly felt bad and released him. He looked at me, confused. He was used to me doing shit like that to him. When I had a chance, I took it.
"Are you okay Jace?" he asked.
"Yea," I said, wondering if I actually was.
"Drown me, slit my throat so lightly. Pick me up and drop me right into my grave. And now I wonder, sit alone and ponder, should I even bother when I see your face?" the music sang from nearby.
I mentally shook myself. There was no way in hell that I was getting feelings for Mitch. It wouldn't end well, ever. He was Shane's little brother. We wouldn't work out. Besides, Mitch was straight. He wouldn't want to get with me.
Shane came out and tossed a towel to me. I pulled my shirt and shorts off and dried myself off. I sighed.
"Shane, you're going to have let me borrow your clothes," I said.
"Yea, yea, yea. Go for it," he said. I shoved by him and went inside, heading to his bedroom. I pulled on dry clothes and slid down against his wall, burying my face in my hands.
I couldn't like Mitch. I just couldn't.
But I was acting the way I usually did when I had a serious crush going. I groaned and banged my head against the wall.
"Great," I said miserably. "I'm falling for my best friend's little brother. Fuck my overly cliché life."