Page 73 of College Town

Tommy’s face gets so red he looks unwell.

Lawson spares him further humiliation, because no matter how much Dana encourages him to, he can’t hate or wish harm on the guy. “Obviously, breaking off the engagement isn’t an option.” He manages a grin. “And you’d be seriously stupid to break off with that one” – head tilt in Natalia’s direction – “when she’s the smartest person in the room.”

Tommy shakes his head, but the near edge of his mouth twitches, the ghost of a wry smile.

Natalia sends Lawson an unimpressed look.

“Okay,” Lawson lifts his coffee. “Setting aside everyone’s prejudices, is there actually a way to make me look like someone that nobody wants to mess with?”

~*~

People come to clear away the breakfast plates and spread, and Noah, Frank, and Mrs. Cattaneo leave. Paul stands at the doorway and gives the rest of them – Nat, Ray, Tommy, and Lawson – a bummed-out sort of look. He sighs, shakes his head, and leaves without saying anything.

Once he’s gone, Natalia stands and rubs her hands briskly together. “This will be fun.” She spins a chair into the center of the room and pats the back of it. “Lawson. Come.”

He goes.

The door opens, and in troops a man in a clean white shirt, bearing a leather Dopp kit, with a towel over his arm.

“Oh, shit,” Lawson mutters.

Natalia, Ray, and the man who is clearly some sort of Victorian valet, or high-dollar private in-house barber crowd around him.

Natalia rakes manicured nails through his hair and he fights back a grimace. They all ogle him, scrutinize him, trying to find fault.

“What do you think?” Nat asks.

“The sides have to go,” Ray says.

“Oh yes, definitely,” the barber/valet says, head tilting to a birdlike angle as he inspects Lawson. “A little longer in the front, perhaps? Like Mr. Cattaneo?” He turns his head, and steps back a fraction, and that’s whenMr. Cattaneojoins them.

Tommy moves to stand directly in front of him, and Lawson has never felt so much like a butterfly pinned to a board. He steps in close – too close – and when he reaches his hand forward, Nat draws hers back, and Lawson’s breathing hitches. Tommy hesitates, and makes eye contact.Is this okay?When Lawson bobs a nod, he rakes his fingers through the floppy front of Lawson’s hair, and all the nerve endings on Lawson’s scalp light up like Christmas.

He feels his eyelids flutter, and forces them open – which isn’t a good idea, because then he gets to watch a muscle leap in Tommy’s cheek; sees his throat jerk hard as he swallows. An audible click swells in the place between them, and Lawson wants to fit his palm over his neck, so he can feel the next dip of his Adam’s apple.

When Tommy speaks, his voice is all gravel. “Don’t get it too short. Soft waves up here, I think. We can gel it into submission, but it shouldn’t look like Noah’s.”

“I agree,” the barber says. “And the shave?”

Tommy tips his head and considers. “Close. Leave the sideburns.”

“Very good, sir.”

Tommy clears his throat and turns back to his desk.

Natalia winks.

~*~

His hair is cut and styled with brisk efficiency, and then a fresh towel is tucked around his neck and the barber pulls out one of those little brushes and a pot of soap. He uses a straight razor. It’s terrifying but fascinating.

Tommy takes a phone call quietly at the desk, and then leaves while Lawson’s getting a shave. Natalia and Ray pull up chairs on either side of him and keep up a steady conversation.

“Nah, it’s way overrated,” Ray says. He shakes his head. “And stupid.”

Natalia gasps dramatically. “You can’t say that! It’sCats.”

“That’s exactly my point,” Ray says. “It’s people dressed up ascats. Stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

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