Looking Beyond

Chapter 5: Beer and Hair

     "I'll be honest, I really don't know you too well, Brea. What do you think we should talk about while we drink our beers, listen to Metallica, and attempt to avoid the amorous sounds of inconsiderate housemates?"

     "I don't have a clue. How about basic stuff, like hair? What's with the dreads? You've had them a while."

     Jacob took a swig beer. "I started to grow them just before my wedding." He sighed deeply. "I haven't gotten around to cutting them." He eyed the bun on top of her head. "What's the deal with you? Why do you always have your hair up?"

     "Once upon a time, I cut my hair to about my shoulders. I loved it." She placed her beer on the coffee table and began to unwind her hair. "The day I had it cut, Shane told me that girls looked better with long hair and that I was stupid for cutting it."

     "I'm guessing Shane was your high school sweetheart."

     Brea shook her hair out. "The one and only, but it gets better." I was seventeen at the time, and believed everything he said." She took a large swig of beer. "He told me that until it grew back, he couldn't and no other guy would find me attractive." She looked at Jacob and flicked her hair with her hand. "I haven't cut it since." She laughed bitterly. "Erik told me to leave it down tonight, because Trevor would like it. Go figure."

     "Why do you let it bother you after all this time?" Jacob probed, genuinely curious about his housemate's past.

     "My guess is because of the same reason you haven't gotten rid of your dreads. I'm afraid of change."

     "Well, from the little I know of him, I can safely say that it's probably a good thing you're no longer with this Shane guy."

     "I didn't leave him. He left me." She took another deep swig of her beverage. "I had driven to visit him and have a very special date. I was so stupid." She shook her head as she recalled the events that led her to where she now found herself. "I figured that we had been together for ages, so the next step would obviously be having sex." Jacob nearly choked on his beer. He hadn't expected Brea to be this open with him. "You okay there Jake?"

     He nodded. "Sorry, I didn't know how much we were opening up tonight. It's all good. I want to know what happened."

     Brea continued. "So I made this supper and brought it with me. I had even gone out and found this nice little number to wear for him. It was really pretty – it was a silky blue nightgown and matching drawers. It was simple, but I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing." I waited until three in the morning before I turned around and went home. Later that day, he called me while he had some friends over, and accused me of stalking him." Her cheeks flamed red. "When I told him what I had bought and what I was going to do for him, he laughed. He got his friends to laugh." She downed the rest of her bottle. "I did a lot of things I regret after that."

     "I'm a pretty laid back kind of guy, and what you told me makes me want to go kick his ass."

     "While I was trying to figure out where he had been, I called him mom. Would you believe that she told me that I was 'too nice of a girl for her son,' and that 'I deserved someone much better than her son'?"

     Jacob chuckled in disbelief. "She told you that?"

     "Yep." She popped the 'p' as she spoke. "Hey, do you have any more of this? It's pretty good."

     Jacob walked back over to the fridge and returned with the remaining six-pack. He again opened the bottle for Brea and handed it to her. "For future reference, asking me if I have any beer is like asking the Pope if he's Catholic."