Fix Me

Kali waited patiently on her front step for any sign of Josh. He said he’d come get her in the morning, and it was 8:42 am. Kali hated being rushed to class and Josh knew that too well. So where was he?
Right when she was about to go back inside and ask her father for a ride, a car pulled up in front of her house.
“Where are you going?” called a familiar voice.
Kali spun around and smiled. He was a truly faithful—if sometimes late—friend.
“I was starting to think you’d ditched out on me again,” she said. She swung open the creaky door she was so used to and got inside Josh’s car.
“Yeah…I’m sorry about that. It really was my mom, I promise.” Josh apologized. He tried to make it sound as sincere as he could.
“It’s okay, I’m over it. How’s your morning been so far?”
He smiled at her question, staring ahead at the streets. “Oh, it’s looking up.”

Solitude and quiet, that’s what Josh found in the library. He would’ve found peace too, if it hadn’t of been for his thoughts. However, he was feeling positive today; which was weird considering the events of the previous night. His thoughts thankfully reflected that to some degree.
How will I win her over? That was the main objective for him at that moment. He needed to get his best friend for years to fall for him like he’d fallen for her. It was definitely one of the hardest tasks he’d had to face in a long time. Josh didn’t want to flat out tell Kali how he felt. He was too afraid it’d ruin everything they already had between them. Despite his predicament and the consequences that’d arise regardless, he couldn’t help constantly wanting just that little something extra. He chuckled, remembering back in 7th grade when everyone had thought he and Kali were together. He’d gotten so worked up about it. He even remembered saying “Boys can be just friends with girls. There doesn’t always have to be something there.” Not long after he’d said that he’d ate his words.
Suddenly, Kali’s words from last night crossed his mind and he got an idea. Something new…it’s just good to expand your horizons sometimes. He’d show her just how outgoing and spontaneous he could be. If she could try new things, so could he. A plan formulated in his head and all he could think of it was desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Hey, you!”
Kali jumped at the voice yelling at her from down the hallway. He’d startled her. Lately he had a habit of sneaking up on her.
She turned to face him and he threw a charming smile her way. She liked his smiles. They were big and caring and honest and beautiful. Much like his heart.
The thing about Josh was, once you were past his faded band shirts, ripped jeans, converse, bracelets and spiky hair and straight through his ocean blue eyes, there was a kindness inside him that was beautiful to see.
“Thanks for the heart attack…what do you want?” sighed Kali, putting a hand on her chest to still her racing heart.
Josh laughed at her remark but dove right into the plan. “You’re coming with me after school, yes?” he asked. “Hint: that’s a rhetorical question; of course you are.”
Kali rolled her eyes at her friend. He could be a huge dork sometimes. “What are you up to?”
“I’ve decided to expand my horizons,” he beamed proudly. “I’ll meet you here at the end of the day. You’ll see what I have planned.”
“Should I be scared? I feel kind of scared.” She chewed her bottom lip. This could either be really good or really bad.
“Maybe…we’ll figure out the answer to that as we go along. See you then!” With a pat on Kali’s back he was gone.
What is this boy up to?

“Josh, why are we in a hair salon? You’re getting a haircut?”
Immediately after school had ended, Josh had dragged Kali to a small hair salon. He refused to tell her where they were going the whole ride there, and now that they’d arrived she was more confused than ever.
“No, no haircut. I’m looking for something…” Josh said absentmindedly. His eyes were scanning the shelves. Finally, a slow smile crept onto his face. “Found it. C’mere.”
Hesitantly, Kali stepped towards him. He was standing in front of permanent hair dye in a variety of crazy colours.
Kali raised an eyebrow curiously. “You’re…dying your hair?”
“Correction: you’re dying my hair. And, you get to pick the colours.” He smiled at her. She looked uncertain about the whole thing. “C’mon, Kali. I want to expand my horizons and a change in appearance could be just what I need! It’s Friday, we can do it tonight and you can stay at my house. If I don’t like it, I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
Kali eyed her friend for another minute or two. He had to be losing his mind. Finally, with a sigh, she smirked. “Alright, fine. Move over so I can pick stuff out.”
Josh moved out of the way and let her choose. She brushed a finger along the magenta dye and he winced. “No pink, Kali. That’s my one rule.”
“Aw,” she whined. After searching for a little longer, she finally picked a bottle and smiled victoriously. “This is definitely it.”
Josh saw the colour and smiled. “Blue. I like it.”
“You’re going to have to,” Kali chuckled. “Now, we gotta get a few more things if this is going to look good.”
After they’d made their purchases and were back in Josh’s car, Kali was reading the bottles of dye. “So is this all?” she asked.
“Nope, I have one more stop in mind.” Again, that mischievous smile appeared on his face.
“Will you tell me what it is this time?” Kali sighed.
“Nope; you’ll see.”
“Josh!”
“Look, do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Finally Josh came to a stop outside a popular piercing and tattoo parlour. Kali stepped out slowly and stared at the neon signs with wide eyes.
“Um,” she whispered, “what are you…uh…”
Josh walked in front of her and laughed. “Come on, Kali. Don’t be scared.”
“I think you’re taking this ‘expanding your horizons’ thing a bit too far…” she murmured as she reluctantly walked into the shop behind him.
Josh walked up to the counter confidently and smiled attractively at the inked girl behind it. “Well, hello there.”
“Hi,” she smiled back, “how can I help you?”
“I’d like to get my tongue pierced.” he replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Josh…!” Kali hissed. In her head, she continued, His mom is going to kill us…
“Alright, can I see some ID?”
Josh pulled out his drivers license. Not like he needed ID, he could get anything regardless. He could be manipulative and sneaky when he wanted to be.
“Cool.” The girl pulled out their selection of tongue bars to choose from and paper and a pen. “Just pick which one you like best then I’ll get you to fill out this form.”
While Josh was deciding and writing, Kali was walking around the small store, nervously chewing her lip. This was a bad idea and she should be doing more to stop it, but what could she do? Josh wouldn’t listen to her and it was much too late to try. Why did he suddenly want all these altercations? What could have possibly brought this on? Kali bought one new outfit and Josh fell off his rocker as a result. That didn’t make any sense. There had to be a deeper reason, but what? Suddenly someone tapped her shoulder and she spun around to see Josh.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean, this is a piercing, Josh. Your parents are going to completely flip.” That was all she had to try and drive him away from the piercing. It was really sad, actually.
“Yes, I’m sure. I think it’ll look good, don’t you? As for my parents, they’ll get over it.” Josh shrugged it off.
Defeated, Kali sighed. “Fine. But when you get grounded don’t come crying to me.”
Josh was just opening his mouth to talk back when a different girl called his name from the other room. “Josh? Are you ready?” she asked. She was pretty, too. Tall and thin with long lavender coloured hair and green eyes that were much lighter than Kali’s.
“Yeah,” Josh nodded almost too exuberantly. He pointed to Kali. “Can she come with me?”
“Sure, come on back.” The girl disappeared behind a wall and Josh and Kali followed her.
The room was slightly cramped. It was tiny to begin with, but the large, cushiony table pushed against the right wall didn’t help one bit. Intricate portraits and paintings hung on the bright green walls. The girl was putting on gloves and wheeling her cart of piercing utensils to the side.
Josh looked at Kali and bit his lip. He was really going to do this. It’d started out as just something to impress her with, but now he was kind of just plain excited for it. He was also a little bit scared, but he wasn’t about to admit it aloud.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Kali laughed, shaking her head.
“Oh, I know,” he smiled.
“Alright, are you set?” The girl asked with a friendly smile.
Josh hesitated for a moment before turning back to Kali. “Hold my hand.”
“Hold your…oh, don’t be a baby, Josh!” she giggled.
“C’mon, Kali! Just hold my hand, please.” He held out his hand towards her and she stared at it for a moment before taking it in hers.
“Wimp…” she muttered under her breath.
“Okay, now just stick your tongue out for me…” The girl held his tongue with a weird looking metal instrument. Then she grabbed a needle from behind her. “Ready? One…two…” Josh squeezed Kali’s hand fairly tight for a second as the needle went through and then it was over. He didn’t even wince when the girl put the bar through the hole. “There you are! Here’s a mirror so you can see if you like it.” She held a mirror up for him.
Kali couldn’t help but giggle. Josh was staring at himself as he stuck his tongue out. Although, as silly as the situation was, she had to admit the piercing looked good on him. It just suited him a lot better than she’d first expected.
“Whaddya think?” he asked, turning to face Kali. His voice was sounding odd already.
“I think I’m going to laugh at you later when you can barely speak.” she chuckled while she opened the door to the room.
“C’mon, does it look good?” he slurred.
“It looks very nice on you, actually. I like it. You just better hope your parents feel the same way.”
“I don’t care ’bout them,” Josh shrugged, “as long as you like it.”
Kali chuckled again and waited while Josh paid for his latest indulgence. Why would her opinion on a tongue ring matter so much?
They hadn’t been out of the shop for five minutes when Josh started whining, “This was a bad idea. My mouth hurts a lot.”
“That’s what happens when you force a needle through your tongue, doofus.” Kali rolled her eyes.
“I know, I know,” he sighed. “I just can’t wait for it to stop hurting.”
“To be honest, I can wait. You sound hilarious right now and it’s really entertaining.”
“Oh, wow, thanks.”
Through several complaints, I-told-you-so’s and laughs, the two made it back to Josh’s house. Kali was hesitant to go inside, worried of what Josh’s parents would say to them.
“Don’t worry about it; they’ll be fine. They don’t even have to know about the piercing yet. Let’s just go downstairs and chill until they leave and then we’ll dye my hair, okay?” He smiled at her, pulling her towards the door. “You can’t ditch out on me already. We have to go through this together. It’s what best friends do, you know.”
“Fine. Just try your best not to talk.” Kali agreed.
Once they were inside, they both kicked off their shoes and ran down the stairs into Josh’s room. Kali felt safer once she’d collapsed onto his unmade bed.
Josh laughed at her and sat beside her head. “You worry too much.” he smirked. “So what do you want to do now while we wait, hm?”
Kali punched his shoulder lightly. “Beat you up.”
“Why?”
“Because you pierced your tongue and now you want me to dye your hair blue. All because of something I said.” She smiled and shook her head at him. It was always a surprise with Josh.
“Well, it’s time for a change, that’s all,” he replied, lying down beside her, “and you said you liked the tongue piercing.”
“I do,” She turned on her side to look at him. “I just don’t want your parents to hate me. I’m guilty by association, you know.”
“My parents could never hate you. We’ve done plenty of stupid things and they haven’t done much more than ground us. Just relax; live a little, Kal.” His eyes shone with excitement.
“Oh, so now I’m living vicariously through you?”
“Let’s face it, you always have.”
“Hey!” Kali laughed and shoved Josh, nearly pushing him off the bed. “Jerk.”
Josh laughed at her, about to retaliate, when a door clicked upstairs. Moments later they could hear Josh’s mom’s car fire up and depart.
Josh turned to look at Kali with that mischievous smirk of his. “It’s show time.”
“Are you sure about this…?” Kali chewed her lip. This was her last chance to try and talk Josh out of it.
“I’m sure,” he replied, pulling the hair dye from the shopping bag. “To the bathroom!”
After several failed protests from Kali, hair dye bottles, gloves, and toothpicks used to scratch Josh’s itchy scalp during the process, the masterpiece was completed. Kali trimmed it a bit to add some much needed style and they were done.
Josh stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. He really looked different now. He felt different. His hair was black and blue now. It shone blue in the light and looked simply black otherwise. His eyes appeared a much lighter shade than before in contrast to his new hairstyle, and his tongue, although swollen, seemed to tie it all together. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled at his reflection.
“Wow, you outdid yourself, Kali.” He said in a near whisper.
“You’re just lucky I have the experience,” she chuckled. “Do you like it then?”
“Yeah, I love it. What do you think of it? Do you still think it was a bad idea?” He turned around to face her and leaned back against the sink.
“I will when your parents get home, I’m sure,” she answered, “but until then, yes, I love it too.”
“Oh, you love it, do you?” He smirked. “And you really thought it was going to be stupid.”
“I did not!” Kali sat on the counter by the sink and ran her fingers through Josh’s freshly dyed soft hair. She smiled at her work. She could really work wonders when she wanted to.
“You thought it.” He searched her eyes as he felt her fingers comb through his hair. The urge to kiss her was almost unbearable at that moment. She was so close, touching him, staring at him with those beautiful dark green eyes…No. Stop thinking about it. You can’t have her like that right now.
Snapping himself out of it, he cracked a grin. “Let’s scrounge up something to eat and then you can help me clean my tongue.”
“Mm, sounds like such great fun.”
Josh and Kali raced one another up the stairs and threw together some questionable sandwiches. They ate them while sitting on Josh’s countertop and indulged in cookies afterward. Kali couldn’t stop laughing at Josh while he ate; he was having difficulties with his new piercing. However, he suffered through it and accomplished what he set out to do. After they were done, Kali mixed together the sea salt and hot water rinse Josh was supposed to use to clean his tongue. He swished it around in his mouth for the recommended amount of time and spit it out with a grimace.
“That tastes disgusting,” He grumbled, filling up a glass with fresh drinking water. “Am I bleeding?” He stuck out his swollen tongue for her to see.
“No, it’s just red. That’ll go away. You’re stuck with it now; you can’t back out anymore.” Kali patted his arm and washed out the sink.
“I won’t back out anyways. I’m excited to play with it once it heals, if you know what I mean.” Josh winked at her.
“Gross. Have fun finding a girl who’ll beg you to use your totally-not-metrosexual tongue piercing on her.” Kali rolled her eyes and wrung out the dishcloth. She didn’t like talking about that sort of thing.
“Ouch,” Josh faked hurt. “It shouldn’t be that hard. Don’t you know someone?”
“No, I don’t.”
Josh sighed and sat back up on his countertop. “Alright, alright, I’ll shut up. I get the hint. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Kali tossed the dishcloth back where it was and leaned against the rim of the sink. The cool metal calmed her down and sent jolts through her fingertips. She looked at Josh with a furrowed brow. “Can I tell you something?”
“Of course, anything.” This was it. Josh’s plan had worked and Kali was falling for him. She was about to admit it all. He didn’t know if he was as prepared as he’d like to be for this. After all, it was something he’d fantasized about for an extremely long time. Regardless, he was anxious to hear it. He even got back off the counter to stare deeply into her dark green eyes. They were confused and behind them you could practically see her brain working hard to make words appear on her tongue.
“I’m expanding my horizons a bit more, too,” she finally began, her voice shaking.
“Oh? How?” he asked in a sweet, caring tone.
She took another moment to reply, clearly hesitating with her words. “I…well…I decided to agree to one date with Trace. I figured if I give him this one chance he’ll leave both of us alone, you know?”
Josh’s heart sank. It felt as though he’d been suddenly immersed in a cold, slimy, unpleasant substance and it was sucking him farther down until it began to suffocate him. His heart snapped apart in his chest and rolled around painfully. His breath caught in his throat and he tried so hard to keep his features well composed, but he knew he’d failed. The second she’d mentioned Trace’s name, he could practically see his face reflecting pain in her eyes. His hopes had never gotten crushed so fast before.
With a small gasp and another choke, he uttered the only word he could manage from his lips:
“…Oh…”