The Little Shop

The Radio Host

The Radio Host, in which we have a serious discussion and go shopping.

CURLY

AJ is a girl. This is something I forgot when I woke up this morning. Or maybe I didn't forget that at all, and after I hit my head, I forgot that I remembered. Anyway, she is a girl and I am not a girl and I probably don't understand how she feels. I mean, we talk about divorced parents or fighting siblings as broken homes, but AJ's home is a whole different level of broken. We do have one very important thing in common. Our hair.

AJ's got long, ginger curls that spiral down her back in a huge tangly mess, and try as I might, I couldn't help her little hands guide the comb through the knot. So we called in Louis, our resident hairstyling expert, and he suggested that since the knot was at the bottom on her hair, we could go get a haircut. AJ looked skeptical about the entire idea, but after a minute or so of explaining that her hair would only be about an inch or two shorter, she agreed. 

The only problem was that we were busy. We had a radio interview to drag her along to in about six minutes that we might be terribly late for and hungry during due to a trip to the hospital and the jail. We did some digging, though, and found that just at the end of the day, before our dinner meeting, we had an open slot for her to get a haircut. So we had a plan.

For the time being, Zayn took it upon himself to attempt putting AJ's hair in a neat little bun on the top of her head... but when that failed, we called in our one and only reinforcement left; Liam, who was a cross-dresser in his earlier years. Okay, not really... but his sisters dressed him up like a girl, so he knew a thing or two about hair. Louis, after six of Liam's attempts, took over the hair styling. With uncanny ease, he twisted her hair around in his hands and tied it in place into a small little clump that resembled the too-perfect cinnamon rolls on the commercial. In short, he did her hair perfectly in no time flat.

I stood back, pretending to inspect his work, and then gave him an odd look, asking about how he'd done it. "What?" Louis asks, taking a defensive stance. I glance to my left to see Niall giving him a similar look. "I have four sisters, okay? I can teach you, if you want."

"I wanna learn!" Zayn says excitedly, clapping his hands and jumping up and down in place. AJ and Louis begin to laugh at virtually the same time, and their matching giggles are paired with the same crinkles by their eyes, proving the genuine-ness of it all. I heard Liam make a noise, the kind you make when you see a puppy in a teacup wearing a fez. That sort of sound.

"Not now, bro," Liam says, shaking off his cute coma. "We're going to be late. We're never late."

"Oh, whatever, one time being late isn't going to ruin our reputation forever," Louis grins. Then, as if Liam was the sensible mother and Louis was the fun-loving father Liam divorced and now only sees AJ on the weekends, he laughs and picks up AJ, resting her on his hip as he walks out of the room and through the kitchen, to the front door.

AJ giggles and runs into the hallway, where I am, Niall chasing after her. "Get back here," he laughs. I notice then that she's holding Niall's phone and laugh along. 

"No running near the expensive radio equipment," Marcy calls out. AJ and Niall both stop short like deer in headlights and look at her with wide eyes. AJ blindly reaches behind herself to hand Niall his phone, and they both turn on their heels and walk away with their heads bowed in shame.

"How?" I ask, turning to Marcy.

"It's a motherly thing. Maybe I'll teach you one day. Right now, you've got to get in there. No more hiding from the radio host," Marcy urges, taking hold of my shoulders. How does she know? Okay, so maybe last time we were interviewed here, the host wouldn't stop flirting with Zayn, and she makes me really uncomfortable. I mean, sure, she probably makes Zayn a bit more uneasy, but still.