He didn’t know exactly were to begin his little journey. But he figured the mall was a good place to start. He wandered around but nothing seemed right, the main focus of fashion seemed too tame in most of the shops. He was about to give up when he stopped in front of one shop called Skulls of Imps. It was dimly lit but he could see from the front window displays this was what he was looking for.
In fact he knew it was what he was looking for when he stepped inside and was greeted by a tall male dressed the same leather clad style as his cousin had been with the same belittling smirk. “ok, you turn right and go down 4 shops big sign can’t miss it…”
“Excuse me?” William asked, looking very confused.
“You were about to ask me where you can find The Gap right?…You turn..” he looked beyond bored with this conversation already…
“uh, no…” William cut him off, “I’m actually here to buy some new clothes.” the male raised his eyebrow in disbelief, “I’m looking for… well…” he looked down at his own clothes and shrugged, “Something not this…”
“Nothing we have here is …that…” he still looking at William like he was going to tell him this was some kinda lame prank. Then when no such thing happened he gave a deep sigh like he was about to take on a monumental task and moved to the nearest display, “First you need to start with the proper base….” he eyed William a moment then grabbed a pair of black jeans, and a black form fitting T-Shirt. “put these on in there…” he pointed to the changing room which was pretty much a wooden box with a curtain for a door.
William stepped out after changing, the sales person looked him over critically, “Loose the glasses…” William quickly removed his glasses as the sales person circled him. Stopping and pulling a blood red silk shirt from a hanger, “put this on over it…Don’t button it” he threw in as William started to do so. He then walked over to a display of heavy black leather work boots. “What size?” William told him he grabbed the proper size and tossed them to William, “Put those on too…”
After William was done he handed him a thick black leather belt, “put this on and tuck in the under shirt. He then nodded, “now do something with that hair and you’ll look half way decent…” William looked himself over in the mirror, he didn’t recognize himself from the neck down, but that was the point right? “Now would you like me to ring those up for you, or were we just playing dress up?” from the tone of his voice it sounded like this wouldn’t be the first time someone did that.
William tore his gaze from the mirror, “oh, definitely ring me up.” If this works out he will certainly be back. But this was good for now. After ringing up the clothes, and removing the tags the sales clerk suggested he wear them out of the store and burn his other clothes. To which William did wear the clothes right off but instead of burning his old ones he just had the sales clerk drop them in a bag for him. The clerk commenting if anyone saw this bag and looked inside they’d be ruined.
Spike took it to his car and put it in the trunk. He drove a 1959 DeSoto Sportsman in Starlight Black. He’d had it since high school. And although he could easily afford something newer he couldn’t part with his first car. But it is in better condition now that he could pay for professionals to fix it. He decided he didn’t need his glasses till he was going to leave, so he put them in their case and in his jacket pocket. Placing his jacket gently in the bag with his clothes. Closing the trunk, he decided, to take the clerk’s advice and do something about his hair.
He walked up to one salon and looked around, this place wasn’t exactly male friendly. Smelled of perfume and the decor was definitely feminine. He backed out. He saw a few more similar salons. He thought of going to his normal barber, but somehow he doubted he would find what he was looking for there. Finally he came across a salon with the neon sign Complete Overhaul. Under the store name was a smaller light up sign that announced piercing and tattoos also available. One of the stylist had bright blue hair and studs in his nose and eyebrows, to go with the whole line of them in his ears. William stepped inside.
The male stylist was working on shaving a rather intricate pattern in the customer’s hair. He paused at the sound of the door, “What ya lookin for? Hair is here, piercing and tattoos are up those stairs…” he said nodding towards the dimly lit stairs in the corner of the salon.
“I’m here for hair…” he didn’t get anything out passed that before the guy was yelling towards the back of the salon.
“Faith, you got a customer…So put out that damn cancer stick and get your ass out here…” he then returned to his work, leaving William to just awkwardly stand there waiting for this Faith person to show.
The brunette stepped out from the back. She was wearing tight leather pants and a black halter top that barely covered the necessary areas. Her dark brown hair fell around her shoulders. Her body was well toned and curvy at just the right places. Oh, she was definitely hot, or would be if she didn’t have the look on her face that was somewhere between boredom and threatening. “sit…” she barked at William, who did just that. “What do you want? I do cuts, dies, and weaves, You want fading or pattern work that’s Max’s territory and you’ll have to wait…” she said nodding to the blue haired man who without taking his eyes off his work smirked like he really doubted William was the fade type…
William ignored the man’s smirk, “I’m not sure what I’m looking for, I want different, something that goes with these clothes…” he sat there as she looked him over. Then nodded.
For the next hour he was at her mercy. He heard clipping and saw his locks fall away. Then she applied this really bad smelling stuff to his hair and told him to let it sit a bit. The whole time he waited, thinking maybe he should have been more specific. He didn’t want to end up with hair like the male stylist…
Soon enough she was washing the bad smelling stuff out and drying his hair not saying a word the whole time, while the male stylist next to them seemed to be a ease chatting with his clients. Her silence was making him edgy and anxious but he held still and just waited, telling himself for better or worse it would be over soon. Finally she was done as she finished combing some gel threw his hair. “Ok, done…” she sounded bored. Although she watched him closely for his reaction.
He turned and looked. She had cut off the excess length and bleached his hair. She then had it slicked back against his scull with gel. At first his eyes grew wide from shock. But then when he stood up and took a step closer to the mirror taking it in with his clothes even the stitches on the outside corner of his left eyebrow, it looked… right. His shocked expression slowly faded as he tilted his head a bit. Then one side of his mouth lifted in to a smirk. Which removed the last trace of William. He paid the woman giving her a huge tip besides.
He was walking the strip of shops when heard some woman comment on the “hottie” without turning his head he looked out the side of his eyes, to see a blond checking him out. So many emotions ran threw him, ending with panic as she walked up to him. “Hey” she spoke, “My names Harmony…”
He turned and looked at the blond trying his damdest not to show the nervousness that he felt, so he took a deep breath and smiled, “Hello Harmony…My name is…”
“William?!” he turned at the sound of his name to come face to face with the last person he wanted to see, Cordelia Chase.
“you know him?” Harmony asked Cordelia. Looking a bit confused as her friend did a remarkable imitation of a fish…
“I…I… Ya, he’s that friend of Buffy’s I told you about… But…” she shook her head trying to grasp the fact the guy her and Harmony had been checking out from behind the last ten minutes was the same fashion disaster she met the other night.
Harmony looked really confused now, “But you said he dressed like a nerd. That not even his mother could have dressed him worse…” she tipped her head in typical dumb blond fashion, “Funny he looks pretty hot to me…” she flashed him a flirty smile.
But William was barely noticing the blond right now. As Cordelia seemed to have finally processed the new information and was now looking him over with a critical eye. “you know it will take more then just changing your clothes to be up to her standards…”
“Whose standards?” he asked a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Cordelia rolled her eyes, “Please, she maybe blind but I’m not… You totally have a thing for Buffy…”
“I do not!” he denied cursing the blush rising across his cheeks. “This has nothing to do with Buffy, I decided it was time for a change…”
Now Cordelia smirked, “Ya, right. The only reason a guy decides it’s time for a change is if it’s gonna get him a girl or money, and unless your gonna get a job as a stripper or a bartender at a biker bar, I don’t see how this look will help you get money, but… getting the attention of one Miss. Buffy Summers on the other hand….”
Harmony who seemed to barely be keeping up, looked hurt, “You like Buffy? Why? She’s so…” Harmony scrunched up her face as she tried to comprehend a guy wanting Buffy over her.
“Look I don’t know what you think you know about me, I’m doing this for me and no one else. I’m tired of…” he just threw up his hands and turned to walk away, wondering why the hell he was trying to explain himself to her in the first place. So he left the two girls, not noticing Cordelia flipping open her cell phone the moment he was out of ear shot. Going to his car he opened up the trunk to retrieve his glasses from his coat. but the he paused.
Instead he reached for the black case he’d taken from his drawer. He opened it up it was his contact kit. He put in his contacts instead. While waiting till his eyes adjusted to the contacts being in, he closed up the case and closed his trunk. He was now ready to go…. But where?
He sat behind the wheel thinking. He then started it up. He was just driving around no particular destination when he looked over at a shop window and saw it. Quickly pulling over he walked over to the shop. It was black, leather, and perfect! He walked in to the shop and was greeted by a well toned male in his late forties. He was wearing faded jeans and a leather vest over a white T-shirt. He smiled as William admired the leather duster he had on display in the window. “She’s a beauty aint she?” William nodded. “She was a custom job. The guy never came back for her though… Because of that she is a little more pricey then the rest of my stuff…”
William didn’t care. This jacket called to him. He looked at the lining. Inside was a couple pockets one containing a Silver Flask. He pulled it out and looked at it. It had a picture etched on the face of an open scroll and a feather pen writing out the words True Poetry. He wasn’t a drinker but the flask brought a smile to his face.
“The flask is included, It was part of the custom job…” William smiled and nodded as he slipped the flask back in to the custom made pocket. “So what do you think?”
“I’ll take it…” he removed the jacket from the display and walked over and handed the man his credit card. As the shop owner rung him up, His eyes dropped on a flyer that was pinned up by the register. It was for a local bar called The Lair. He noted the address and wore the jacket out of the store. He loved the way it flared as he walked, it made him feel powerful, manly, bad…..
Jumping back in to his car he headed towards the bar he saw on the flyer. As he was pulling around back where the parking was located his cell phone rang. He flipped it open without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“What the hell is going on?!” a very irritated voice answered back.
“Buffy?”
“Yes, Buffy! What the hell is this I hear from Cordelia you’ve become a biker look alike?”
He frowned as he parked the car, “Gee I’m surprised her Royal Bitchness found the state of my wardrobe worth her precious gossiping time.” Whoa where did that come from? Did he say that out loud?
All the sudden her voice was soft, “Is this about what happened at the club?” Damn her! He didn’t want her to sound understanding, cause then he had no defense against her.
“No… yes… maybe… I don’t know Buffy, It’s a little to do with last night but not really. I…I ….I don’t know how to say this…” how ironic a writer who doesn’t have the words to describe his situation. “I’m doing this for me… and whether you understand it or not, I need this…”
There was silence at the other end. For a moment he thought he lost the signal, but a quick glance at his phone shown he had full bars, finally she spoke, “Still not fair…” she said in a pouty voice, “How come Cordelia gets to see your new look and I don’t….” he smiled at her antics. Knowing full well it was her way of relenting without actually saying so.
“Well, I wasn’t like I sought out her fashion advice, believe me… One of her friends approached me and she just happen to recognize me from the other night…” he still wasn’t sure how she recognized him when he barley recognized himself.
“Approached you?…. Like hit on you?….Who?!” if he didn’t know better he would have thought she sounded a bit jealous. He quickly dismissed the thought as wishful thinking.
“Some blond, I think her name was like Melody or something,” he’d been too nervous at being approached by her in the first place then when Cordelia made her presence known well the blond dropped of his radar completely.
“Harmony?! That…” she didn’t continue.
Raising an eyebrow at her reaction, “ya that’s it…”
Her voice soft again almost unsure, “What did you tell her?”
He frowned this conversation was definitely taking a weird turn, “Nothing really, I got into an argument with Cordelia and then left…. I don’t think I even said goodbye…” he shrugged.
“Don’t feel bad, Harmony would have been lost at the first big word you used…” she seemed a bit chipper. “So what did you and Cordy fight about?”
Everything he’d been thinking went out the window as Cordelia’s words echoed in his head, he swallowed hard, “n-n-n-nothing really… she just made some dumb comment about my change in appearance and I tried to set her strait but figured it was useless so I left….” he was so glad they were on the phone and she couldn’t see him blushing something fierce.
“what did she say?”
“Look, I don’t remember I was mad, stuff was said, can we just leave it at that?” he didn’t mean to sound harsh but there was no way in hell he was repeating that little conversation.
“Fine.” she paused again, “Can I see you? I swear I won’t be all judgy an stuff…Please?!”
He thought about it. He really wanted to have more of a test run before she saw him. But what the hell… it’s not like she was around the corner, if she met him here, he would have the time he needed to prepare himself. “Uh, if you want I’m at a bar called The Lair.” he gave her the address and some quick directions. Then after they said their goodbyes, flipped the phone closed.
Locking up his car he made his way around to the front entrance. He’d been distracted by thoughts of what he imagined Buffy’s reaction would be, he didn’t notice the car tearing into the parking lot. Not till he heard the screech of breaks just before it hit him.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
(The establishment names were made up by my brother and me [except for “The Gap”], so if there is truly shops by these names it is purely coincidental )