Happy Endings

34. changes

"Oh silhouette, she's growing tall and fine. She's got my back. She'll follow me down every street no matter what my crime."

☼

Kellin Quinn held a pair of scissors in his right hand and a big chunk of his hair on the left, staring at his reflection in the mirror of his bathroom, squinting his eyes as he considered his next move.

"That's too much, Daddy!" His daughter protested at his side, making him look down to where she was standing on her step stool, giving him a funny look.

"You think?" Kellin lowered his hand, assessing the amount again. "I guess it would look alright."

It was a day off work for Kellin, one that he had been looking for for a while now that Penny finished all her classes and was on Summer break. He'd wanted to spend that entire Monday with her, catching up on things that needed to be done around the house, cooking all her meals for her, and playing any game she invented or wanted to try outside on the back porch.

But there was one certain activity he knew had to be done before they could go on about their day, and that was getting haircuts.

Kellin knew if he were a different person he would continue growing his hair out. It wasn't like it looked... bad. It looked okay, for the most part. But the bangs were starting to mess with his eyes and quite honestly, they looked unkempt. The hair at the back of his neck was also getting annoying, and the weather was only turning hotter each day. He wasn't meant to keep his hair long.

So it was decided, that morning after having breakfast, he grabbed the hair scissors and put a towel around his shoulders, of course, with the assistance of a little curious girl who also wanted to get her hair done after learning what Kellin was going to do.

"I think," Penny said, now making herself more comfortable climbing up the counter so she could reach Kellin's head better. "This much."

Penny grabbed merely an inch from the ends of his hair with her tiny fingers and nodded to herself, silently agreeing. Kellin let out a chuckle, looking at themselves in the mirror and finding the entire scene so comical all of a sudden.

"Well that's not much of a haircut, isn't it?" He grinned, analyzing his options now while Penny kept on touching all over his dark locks. "How about this much?"

He bargained a couple of inches more, going back and forth with Penny for at least five minutes before they settled on the ideal length of his hair and Kellin started his work. It wasn't that hard, he only had to point-cut each section of his hair calmly and patiently until he deemed enough.

When he was done, his new hairstyle went only two inches over his neck and it was still long enough to cover the top of his ears just like he liked it. His bangs were finally seeing better days too and overall he thought he did a good job.

He studied his reflection in the mirror again. He almost looked like the man he used to be, before everything. Almost.

Little steps, he supposed.

He barely thought about it now. It. Him. Same thing. Though he was finding out that intently trying not to think about something, was still thinking about it a whole lot.

He was still so tired.

They haven't talked again since the graduation ceremony a week ago—if that brief encounter even counted as talking. Sometimes he wished they did, but most of the time it was the opposite. He just wanted to forget everything.

That night, after he and his family and Noah's friend had their mini celebration at a restaurant, he did his best to avoid the stupid questions his cousin insisted on asking about Victor and kept his share of information to the most basic things. It wasn't like Noah was going to see him again or anything, but he didn't like that idea at all.