Mesmerized | ✓

3

Yuli finally revealed his name to Carl after having been asked for it multiple times. He loved seeing his new friend struggle. It was one of his favorite activities, second only to learning as much as he could about the human world. Luckily, his brain was like a sponge and so it absorbed every little detail witch such accuracy that after watching a few films he was certain knew almost all there was to know about the strange world surrounding him.

He had spent the entire day lying on Carl's bed and staring at the screen of his laptop – and having Carl stare at him. Yuli loved the attention he was getting, and it was as if he was Carl's entire universe. Each of his requests was like a commend and everything he said was basically sacred.

"You need to take me to a nightclub. I want to meet a girl." Yuli said remembering that in the movies it was one of the many places where you could stumble upon the love of your life.

"You want to meet a girl?" Yuli smirked hearing the tint of jealousy in Carl's voice. "Why?"

Yuli shrugged. "Can't a guy want a girlfriend?"

Carl's cheeks turned red and he looked away visibly hurt. Yuli had to work really hard not to let out a laugh. He couldn't believe that humans were truly such pathetic creatures. "I guess." He said at last. "But I have a test tomorrow and I should study for it."

"No." Yuli said smiling the sweetest and most endearing of his smiles. "It has to be tonight." His voice was soft, yet firm. Not that it needed to be like that. He could say it in a whisper and Carl would still grand his wish without a single question.

"Okay." Carl said, as expected.

"I will need some new clothes for that." Yuli walked over to Carl's small closet and opened it to reveal a mess of clothes that had definitely not seen an iron in recent time. He picked up some of the shirts and closely inspected them. "None of these will do."

Then Yuli looked down at his hair and held one ginger lock between his fingers. "And I need to cut my hair." He concluded letting out a sign. The movies had also taught him that if a guy wanted to look desirable he needed to have neatly styled short hair. He glanced at Carl's hairstyle. He had dark brown hair, a little wavy but short. "Like yours." He said. "Can you do that?"

Carl's eyes widened out. "No." He answered quickly. "I've never cut anyone's hair in my life."

"Then can you take me someplace where they will do it?" Yuli asked, not understanding why everything in the human world had to be so overly complicated. He gave Carl a sweet smile to make sure that he wouldn't deny him.

"Sure thing." Carl mumbled, still deep in a trance.

"Marvelous."

And so Carl took him to the mall. Walking through the small town Yuli could hardly hide his disappointment. This place was no New York or Los Angeles – the loud and scandalous cities often featured on TV. No, this place was quiet and peaceful.

They visited various shops with clothes – more and less expensive. Yuli couldn't fathom how basically identical shirts could vary so much in price but if the films had taught him anything about fashion it was the a label on a piece of fabric could easily determine your social status.

So he told Carl to pay for the more expensive shirts and a few pairs of pants. The boy was a bit unwilling to do so at first but it wasn't all that hard to convince him. Soon Yuli was changing into the most fashionable clothes, ready to take on the world and make some girl fall for him.

Then it was time to visit the hairdresser. A lady with bright pink hair sat him down on a chair while Carl stayed in the back all the while with his eyes fixed on Yuli. The woman pumped his chair up which made Yuli look around frantically and grip the chair tightly with his hands. When he realized that nothing scary was happening Yuli looked at his reflection in the mirror, at the long hair that had been with him since birth. He couldn't even imagine himself without it but if cutting the hair would give him the attention of all the girls, he would not think about it twice.