Just Hold Hands

Chapter 3

Kate's house was lovely. It wasn't in Theo and Maria's part of town; it was a lot larger, featuring tall curved windows to allow beams of the gentle sunlight to bathe the room and clean shiny hardwood. It still felt homey, though. Curled up with her friends on Kate's couch covered in smooth maroon leather, Theo left like she was on Maria's massive ancient loveseat, playing videogames with Maria's little brother.

"You're sure about purple?" Maria asked, from Theo's left on the sofa. Kate grinned and nodded from next to Maria.

"Alien invasion, might die, purple hair."

"Fuck yeah," from Nora, all the way on the opposite end from Theo.

All four were wearing old shirts of Kate's dads. It's fine , she'd said, Don't get hair dye all over your clothes.

Nora had been wearing a floral sundress, full of soft pastel colors, and a leather jacket over. Theo had never seen her look like anything less than a badass. She'd since shed the jacket in favor of a comically large white tee-shirt, riddled with holes and bearing a graphic for some "Maxim Family Fun Day." Kate had revealed that the Maxims were not, in fact, in any way related to her.

Theo and Maria were each wearing shirts for universities that neither of Kate's parents had attended. Kate herself had refused to wear appropriate clothing, swearing to get purple dye all over her nice jeans just to "add character."

In the bathroom, Theo was tasked with mixing the bleach.

"You're doing it wrong," Nora said. She reached past Theo to fix the ratio.

"Right, you dyed your hair last year. Blue," She remembered, and blushed.

"Yeah. And I do my Mom's. Come help me apply it."

Maria was finishing sectioning Kate's hair and pinning the bulk of it back. "Ready."

Together they went through, bleaching each section until their clothes were dotted with the bleach. They put Kate's hair up and curled back up on the couch to watch TV. Kate flipped back and forth through the channels ("Just pick one, Kate!"), eventually pausing on a local news station.

"Hang on," she said, "Is that Cory? Like from physics?"

"Who?"

"Yeah, that's Cory. Wonder what he's on there for." She went back to flipping through.

"Kate, please. Please," Maria groaned. Kate switched the channel to Spongebob. "I'll take it."

One episode later, they were back in the bathroom to wash out the bleach. "Ow," Kate whined from the shower. "It's getting in my eyes."

"You get the towel when it's all washed out," Theo called, said towel in hand. She smiled as Kate groaned. The bleach had set into Kate's father's shirt, wildly distorting it, and she was feeling good. As Kate finished washing out the bleach, Theo stared off to the side, distracted by thoughts of bleach processes and blue hair. She quickly realized she was staring into the mirror, her thin dark bangs and uneven hair, and for a second she couldn't remember whose face she was looking at. She shook herself out of it and held the towel out to Kate.

Kate toweled off her long hair, then removed the towel to reveal putrid orange-yellow hair. She stepped in front of Theo to gaze in the mirror. "Yeah, I definitely need the purple now."

This time, Theo let Nora take the lead on mixing the dye, watching as she deftly mixed and began to apply. As Maria parted the hair, Theo held out each section for Nora to apply the dye to. Their hands brushed as Nora reached the ends. Theo looked to her, standing on her left.