RELUCTANT PRESS

hood and pat the rollers, pretending I was checking the drying process but actually giving myself an excuse to touch her and get close to her. Yes, I was smitten!

When she was dry I brought her back to the styling station and removed the net and rollers. Her hair hung in large round curls and I was shocked to find myself getting an erection! For the first time I really wanted to be a hairdresser if only to be able to stay close to Susie. Mom moved over from the other station to begin the styling process while I placed the other customer under the dryer. When I got back Mom and Susie were discussing how she would wear her hair. It hung to her shoulders and had been set with a flip on the end.

"I think it would look real pretty to pull one side back behind your ear and hold it with a fancy barrette," said Mom, holding the hair back so Susie could see.

"I'm not sure, Mrs. Norris. What do you think Danny?" I know I must have turned a bright red as both of them looked to me for an answer.

"Behind the ear looks good," I managed to say.

Susie sat in the waiting area while Mom worked on her mother and I could feel her eyes follow me around the room as I tended to the other customers. This was a whole new experience for me and having a girl so interested in me made me awful nervous. She called out a loud, "Bye Danny," when she left caused all the women to look up and smile knowingly.

-000-

The following Monday in school, Susie asked me in French class if I could use some help with my pronunciation and when I said yes, I was shocked by her response.

"Can you come over to my house after school. I don't have much other homework so we could spend the afternoon on French, or anything else that might interest you," she added coquettishly.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks Susie. Where will I meet you?" "Here's my address," she said, handing me a piece of note paper. "Do you know where it is?"

"Yes. It's only a few blocks from where I live. I'll be there by three, if that's OK?"

"Fine, see you then."

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RUFFLES & CURLES

By Kammi Morton

Wow! What the hell was happening? My heart was pounding with excitement at the thought of spending an afternoon alone with one of the most popular girls in school. Why all of a sudden was she showing so much interest in me?

Fortunately, Monday was Mom's day off so I did not have any house chores to do or dinner to prepare. I just told Mom that I was going to a friend's to study and rushed over to Susie's, arriving fifteen minutes early. She was home alone and we sat in the den and for the first half hour we did actually work on my French.

"I was so disappointed that you did not style my hair Saturday after going all the way to Lincoln," said Susie. "Ah, did you know that I worked in the shop?" "Yes, Linda Jones told me and I was looking forward to having someone I knew as my hairdresser, especially someone that I was in the same class with. But I found out that you were just a shampoo boy," she added, somewhat condescendingly.

In an effort to salvage some pride from this I said, "Well, it's just because you have to go to school and be licensed before you can legally do styling in a salon, but I can do it all and have been for several years."

Funny, for those several years I had done everything I could to keep anybody from finding this out and now here I was actually bragging about it. And I was instantly regretting my bravado, fearing that Susie would think me a sissy and want nothing more to do with me.

"Oh, I'm not sure I believe you, Daniel Norris," Susie said teasingly.

And I, blinded by love, took the bait.

"Well then, the next time you need your hair done, just ask me and I'll show you what I can do."

"Really? How about now?"

"Sure," I answered, now realizing what I had gotten myself into and that there was no way out. I would be the laughing stock at school when Susie told everybody that I was a sissy hairdresser.

She had jumped up and gone to her room to get her hair stuff and was back in a jiffy with a basket of rollers, pins, a comb, and a jar of setting gel. She sat in a side chair and had me stand behind and set her hair with brush rollers and

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