The Dates.

I was dressed in the most fashionable outfit I've ever worn. From the top right down to the bottom, my clothes were crisp, smooth and okay, I admit it, a little cool. Maybe too cool for me. Jake had launched a pair of dark blue jeans at me, thankfully sparing me from the bright green trousers he'd forgotten to fold. Showing an unforeseen sense of fashion, he'd teamed the jeans with a plum and white checked shirt and a dark grey cardigan. My feet were lucky; Jake decided on giving me a pair of shoes that were nearly similar to the sort I usually wore. He told me that a radical change would have probably been too weird. Looking into the mirror, I couldn't see myself getting away with wearing stuff like this, radical or not.

"Hair." Jake announced, pulling Em off the bed where she had been quietly stacking the pictures of One Direction into neat piles.

He pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of his jeans and handed it to Em, winking at her.

"Remember what we discussed. This is definitely the way to go, don't let him whine about it - "

" - I heard that!" I shouted, pulling my eyes from my new clothes to see Jake hauling my computer chair across the room.

I gulped.

"What're you doing?"

Jake pushed the chair into the back of my legs and I dropped down onto it, staring around wildly.

"You can't expect her to cut your hair standing up, mate. You're a giant, she's only tiny."

"Cut?" I said weakly, looking up at Em. She was wielding a pair of scissors in one hand and some hair straighteners in the other. Jake slammed down a bag that was spilling over with hair products; a can of hairspray fell out and rolled across the floor before coming to a slow halt at my feet.

Em looked outraged. "You didn't tell him I was cutting his hair?"

I was starting to feel panicked. Jake and Em were hissing at each other under their breath, the words 'too much hair' and ' impossible to straighten' were the only ones I managed to catch. I could only stare down at that can of hairspray in complete fear. What if they shaved my head? I didn't want to be bald! My head would get cold!

Em sighed in defeat when she glimpsed my pale, clammy face and began to push Jake out of the room. He braced his arms on the door frame before she could shut the door on him and leaned in to kiss her. He didn't look like Jake the Goofball anymore though. This wasn't him messing around or cracking jokes. His whole face seemed to soften when he looked at Em, like she was the most important thing in his, or any, world. I felt like I was an intruder. I also felt a little angry at Jake; he knew I was going through this ridiculous make over and holding interviews to find someone. I wanted to be able to look at someone the way he looks at Emma. Maybe I'm being selfish? He's not doing it to rub it in my face or anything.

Jake poked his head around Emma. "Hey, Andy. Good luck with the hair thing. Em's kicking me out, she thinks you'll be calmer with me in a different room and away from sharp, pointy objects."

I grinned at him, dispelling any feelings of annoyance with him. It was unfair to blame him for my sensitivity.

With Jake finally gone from the room, Em rounded on me, her hands on her hips. Before she could say anything, I had to ask her a question that was freaking me out.

"Have you cut hair before?" I blurted, allowing her to move the computer chair so that I was positioned in front of the mirror.

She smiled at me in the mirror, scissors poised in the air. They caught the light from the lamp and flashed menacingly at me. I eyed them nervously as she replied.

"My aunt is a hairdresser. She taught me a few things." she explained. "Don't worry, Andy. I'm not going to go crazy, it just needs a trim for what I'm planning to do. If I left it how it is, it would be too long to style when I straighten it."

"Shouldn't - shouldn't you be washing my hair first?"

She grinned again, taking a metal fine tooth comb and pulling it gently against the back of my head.

"Your hair is curly, it's easier for me to get a better understanding of the length if I cut it dry. If I cut it wet, it might shrink up too much."

I eased back in the chair, feeling relatively happier. It sounded like she knew what she was doing, which is a deal more than Jake. I still can't believe I let a guy who relies on hats to brush my hair.

"I'm sorry about this. I tried to talk Jake out of it but he's really determined when he wants to be. He'd get better grades if he put as much effort into school work as he does with this interview thing." she explained. "I volunteered for this job, by the way. I figured if he couldn't even comb your hair right, I'd hate to see what he can do with a pair of scissors."

I nodded, grateful. "Thanks, Em. I owe you. I know you don't approve of this whole thing but it's just something I think I should do. What have I got to lose?"

She squeezed my arm consolingly and I reached up to rest my hand against hers.

"Really though, Em. Thank you."

Em took a deep breath, picked up the scissors and started clipping at my hair. My heart thudded. Okay, so maybe I was still anxious about this hair cutting thing. Unable to look up into the mirror, I stared at my knees and watched wisps of hair fall from over my shoulder and onto my leg. I needed a distraction.

"Hey, Em?" I asked.

There was a moment of silence, except for the metallic sound of snipping from behind me.

"Yeah?"

"Why Jake?"

The snipping stopped. I didn't feel embarrassed by the quiet; I'd known Em too long for that. In fact, in way of conversation, I felt more comfortable around her than with Jake. He was rarely serious, was always trying to make jokes and if I even tried to talk reasonably to him, he'd probably take the piss out of me. Em wasn't scared to relay her feelings to me so it was natural that I felt the same. She was sort of like my confidant, if I ever needed to talk to her about something.

"That's a random question." she finally said, sounding casual. A bit too casual, actually.

"Whoa, I'm not - it's not like that. I don't fancy you." I assured her, glancing into the mirror to check her reaction. If she was worried about the thought of dealing with a best friend who was admitting his feelings to her, she didn't show it. Her expression was blank. "That's not to say you're not pretty, you're beautiful actually. I mean, not in a way that I find you attractive but - "

Em laughed loudly and patted my shoulder. "Andy, calm down. You're not offending me but if you continue like that, I'm afraid you'll start to!"

My face flamed but I laughed along with her. "Sorry, if it makes you feel better, I think I had a crush on you when I was about seven but that quickly faded when I found out you'd broken the arm off my Action Man."

She slapped my back playfully before she carried on cutting my hair.

"That makes me feel loads better. I'm sorry for the Action Man casualty - I never knew it affected you this much." she joked.

"It broke my heart, Em. It really did."

We chuckled together and I posed the question to her again, thankfully the previous weirdness was now excluded.

"Seriously though, why Jake? How come you like him? I thought you guys hated each other."

Em threw the scissors lightly to my bed and picked up the straighteners, plugging them into the socket by the door. She waited for them to heat up and mused over my question.

"Well, I'm not really sure, you know. Did he tell you how we got together? Me going around his, confronting him? I think he liked the fact I had the balls to do that." she told me fondly.

I smiled at her, an unanticipated feeling of warmth spreading through me when I saw how happy she was.

"Yeah, Jake likes gutsy women." I laughed. "I actually think he was in love with Lara Croft at some point but then I told him she wasn't real so he had to move on. He was crushed for weeks after. threw out all the games and everything."

Em giggled and tested the straighteners for heat. She moved to the left of me and started pinching my hair between the tongs.

"It was kind of a shock when it happened, really. One minute I was shouting at him, telling him he was a jerk, the next he was kissing me. I noticed his face changing while I had a go at him but I didn't think it would be leading to him suddenly confessing his feelings."

"Jake's never been one for the conventional." I agreed.

"I guess I liked being swept off my feet. The thing with me and Jake was we never took the time to know each other. Sure, we knew who the other was but there was no knowledge there. We got talking after he kissed me and I found out that I actually kind of liked him. We have a lot in common, considering he acts like a five year old half the time."

We fell back into silence. I started to doze off, thinking about the interviews. Would I experience what Em and Jake did if I took more time with the girls? Lucy obviously seemed to find me fascinating so talking to her wouldn't be a problem; it was just getting her to shut up long enough that would be an issue. Angelica didn't seem the sort to want to have polite conversation, I got the impression she was more into the um, physical sides of things than anything.

God, how do you even react to a girl like that? Did she even know what I wanted? That I was looking for a girl to have a long term relationship with, not someone for the night?

Maybe she was just looking for fun. I really needed to talk to Jake about that...

"Okay, so you're done." Em declared.

I hadn't noticed but she'd crouched in front of me to style my hair. She was holding a pot of wax in her hand and was scrutinising her work with an unreadable expression. Man, I hope it looked okay otherwise this had been a waste of time for all of us. I couldn't see my reflection past her body.

"Jake - he's ready!" she called, standing up but still obscuring my view of the mirror.

Jake, apparently only on the other side of the door, bounded in. He looked at me, then at Em, then back at me. I didn't know what to make of it till his face split into a wide grin and he scrambled over to Em, lifting her off the ground.

"You're awesome! Did I ever tell you that?" he said, spinning with her still in his arms.

"No but I like it." she said, amused."Andy, have a look and tell me what you think. You're the one who has to like it."

I braced myself and tore my gaze away from my best friends. Just for the full effect, I stood up before looking at the new me. I probably should have stayed seated though because as soon as I saw my reflection, I almost stumbled over.

I looked, well - I looked cool. Em had styled my hair into a sort of quiff, which I know, sounds ridiculous but actually looks pretty awesome. My hair had never been this controllable or straight. In fact, if I couldn't see my own hand ruffling my hair carefully, I would have thought it was a different guy in my room.

I was speechless.

"Andy? Is it okay?" Em chirped.

I unwillingly looked away from myself and over to her and Jake. My lips pulled up into a smile.

"It's amazing, Em. It's really amazing."