Just a Trim - 2. Chapter 2: A Guy Thing

“Jim!”

Jim started, awakened from the short doze he had been in. Chris’s voice sounded annoyed. Better check it out, he thought, jumping to his feet, and quickly going down the stairs.

When he entered the kitchen, he saw Chris in the small laundry room off the main kitchen, arms folded, looking at the washing machine. He had an inkling of what was coming.

“I thought you had fixed this a couple weeks ago,” said Chris. There was a small puddle of water below the washing machine. Apparently a washing had just finished.

“I thought so, too,” said Jim.

“Could you check it out again?” asked Chris.

“Sure thing,” said Jim. “Must have been those tubes I put in before. Looks like another trip to Home Outlet…”

Jim stepped into the bathroom, splashed some water on his face to wake him up, and then ran a comb through his hair, which had become a bit mussed during his nap.

“Be back in an hour,” he called, walking down the main hallway.

“Take your time,” returned Chris, as he opened the front door and left.

For a Saturday afternoon, Home Outlet was relatively quiet. There were very few customers in the plumbing section. The two sales clerks, Chad and Chris, were on the floor near the register, and register area, respectively. They had both been there for several months now, and had ‘bonded’ in a casual way. During ‘down’ time, they had gotten into casual chats easily, and considered each other ‘buds,’ in current terms.

Chad had made it clear, early on, that he was straight, but open minded. Chris, on the other hand, had made indications through what he said that he was pretty comfortably bisexual in his inclinations. This had made for some lively conversations, and good laughs.

As Chris was finishing up transacting a sale with a customer, Chad nonchalantly sauntered into the register area, and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

“Don’t look now, but I think your Mr. ‘Eye Candy’ from a couple weeks ago is in aisle J,” he said with a wink.

Chris perked up. “Can you cover for me?” he asked.

Chad nodded. “You owe me,” he said with a grin, as he took Chris’s place in the register area.

“You got it,” Chris said with a smile, “when Miss USA walks through those doors,” as he walked quickly to the restroom. Realizing he might not have that much time, Chris was mildly relieved when he walked into the restroom. No one there. He might take an extra minute or two, but he didn’t want to take much more…

Chris checked himself in the mirror, as he pulled out a comb. His straight dirty blond hair looked nice when combed out over his forehead, almost into his eyes, down the sides of his head over his ears, and down the back, over the collar. With no real part, it made him look more boyish than his twenty-two years. The comb easily glided through the silky strands, leaving nice shines in the hair along the upper sides, coming together towards the front left side of the front of his head, reflected from the light above the mirror. The front hair fell just over his eyebrows, then curving a bit to the side, almost covering his slightly deep set, strikingly blue eyes. When he was finished combing, he shook his head a bit, giving his hair an even fuller look. Putting the comb away, he thought, here goes, as he left the restroom.

He walked to aisle J, and sure enough, there was the guy had seen a couple weeks earlier. He seemed intent on some rubber washing machine tubes he was looking at. Chris’s guess was that he was the type who knew what he was looking for and didn’t need help, but there was no harm in trying…

Chris walked up towards him, paused a few feet away, and put his hand to his mouth, as he softly cleared his throat. “Can I help you?” he asked.

Jim, intent on the tubing he was looking at, was ready to shoo him off, when he glanced up, just to see who was asking. When he saw Chris, he took an obvious, but very controlled double take, and paused.

“Uh, yeah,” he said, as he looked back at the tubing. “I bought some of this tubing a couple weeks ago. My washing machine just had another leak. Is this all you have?”

“First,” said Chris, “Bring the other tubing back for a full refund. Also, I think we have something that might be better. Next aisle,” he said, as he cocked his head while looking at Jim with a grin, indicating for him to follow as he started for the next aisle.

Chris walked quickly to the next aisle, Jim close behind. Chris found a section of metal tubing, and pulled out one bag of tubes, based on what he had seen Jim holding.

“I think this may be better for your machine,” said Chris, as he showed the bag to Jim. Jim brought his hand up, closed to Chris’s hand holding the bag, fingertips barely touching. Chris could easily see Jim’s gold wedding band now, as he perused the description on the tubing bag.

“Gee, this looks a lot better,” said Jim with a grin, as he finished reading. “Why do you hide this stuff here?” he quipped.

“Different manufacturer, I think,” returned Chris, a bit sheepishly.

“Well, I think this will do the job,” said Jim, getting ready to head to the checkout. Then he paused, and took another look at Chris, this time directly in the eyes. He put his hand casually on Chris’s shoulder, and said, “You’ve been a big help.” Another pause and just a bit of a jump of the eyebrows. “Can I buy you a soda?”

Chris returned Jim’s gaze, while pondering the proposal. He didn’t want to get involved with a married man, but the boyish charm this guy was exuding was intriguing, and just a bit more than he could resist… What’s a friendly gesture, he thought… “Uh, thanks, that would be great. Let me just check with my fellow sales clerk, just to let him know I’m going on break.”

“Sure,” said Jim. “I’ll meet you at the concession stand.”

Chris walked quickly back to the register area. He gave Chad a small “thumbs up” gesture. “Cover for me for 10 more minutes?” he asked, holding both hands up for the fingers to indicate 10 minutes.

“Get out of here. Have fun,” Chad replied, waving him off with a smile.

Chris walked over to the concession stand, where Jim was waiting on the outer edge. When Jim saw him, they both walked towards it. As they got closer to it, and towards each other, Jim again put a casual hand on Chris’s shoulder. This time, he let his hand linger just a bit, before letting it slide slowly down his back, then putting both hands in his pockets.

After they had gotten their sodas, Jim led the way to a table with two chairs a little farther away from the concession stand itself.

“This ok?” he asked, with a glance at Chris, after putting his drink down, and pulling a chair out, to sit on.

“Great,” said Chris, as he put his drink down, and pulled out the other chair.

Jim sat down first, stretching his legs out to the side in a comfortable sprawl. Out of habit, he slowly ran his fingers through his hair, causing a lock to fall into his eyes. He gave a half-hearted flick of his head, in an attempt to get the lock of hair out of his eyes; having no success, he didn’t bother trying to remove it. Chris sat down in his chair, with a similar sprawl.

“So,” said Jim, as he sipped his soda. “How long have you been working here?”

“A few months,” returned Chris.

“You really seem to know your stuff,” said Jim with a grin.

“My dad was really handy around the house. It’s always been fun for me doing that kind of stuff, helping him out.”

“Specialize in any area?” asked Jim.

“Actually, I really like home construction, room additions, hands on,” said Chris.

“Hm…,” said Jim. “That can require some muscle. But it looks like you have that as well,” he said, noticing Chris’s build for the first time. “Guess your girl friend appreciates that.”

“No complaints,” said Chris with a smile, as he put his soda down on the table with a glance at it. A pause. “You look like you work out a bit yourself. Your wife must appreciate that.”

“No complaints,” Jim returned, with a grin.

Jim and Chris went on talking for a few minutes, establishing a small but definite rapport. When they got to the subject of movies, they bonded on a genre not common to men, nor their respective wife and girl friend. When Jim mentioned a current drama he had wanted to see, Chris perked up.

“I’ve wanted to see that, too!” he said.

“My wife is supposed to be out of town next weekend. Think you might want to see it?” asked Jim.

“Uh, yeah,” said Chris, thinking about it. “Of course I should get a haircut next weekend. I’ve been putting it off, never seems to be enough time. Then again, I don’t think my girl friend would like me doing it anyway. She likes my hair longer.”

“I hear you,” said Jim with a grin. “My wife’s the same. This morning, I tried to sneak out for one, but no way…”

Chris looked at Jim. “Some guys can get away with longer hair. It can look ok on a good-looking guy. Works for you,” he said with a smile.

Jim couldn’t help but blush a bit on that. “Likewise…,” he said, returning the compliment. Chris seemed to appreciate it.

“Look,” said Jim. “You probably have to be getting back to work. Can I get your number, so we can set up a time for the movie next weekend?”

Chris wrote his number down, and gave it to Jim.

Jim then noticed Chris’s store name tag, saying “Chris.”

“I’m Jim, by the way,” said Jim. “And of course, you’re Chris,” he said, as they both got up, with a very gentle brush of his name tag. “My wife’s name is Chris.”

“Great name,” said Chris, with a wink. “See you next week.”