He had a few things to do. He had a list of small things to do for his mum, and he had to get some groceries for his mini-fridge. Even with a lock on it, Xander seemed to be able to get in and eat all of his self-bought food. William would never call Xander on it, because they were best friends. But William secretly hated it and made a mental note to buy dry foods so he could hide them where his roommate wouldn't think to look.
Plus, he had a date with Buffy coming up, he wanted to maybe pick something up for her.
He was still shocked by that. A date with Buffy Summers... it was almost unreal. He hoped it would go well...
More importantly, he hoped it wasn't a cruel joke.
He first went to the Espresso Pump and got himself a coffee, then he went to pick up his mother's dry-cleaning. On the way to the laundromat, his head started to get itchy, probably from all the gel Cordelia had put in his hair. He ran his fingers through his encrusted hair, loosening the hold the gel had and letting his curls spring free.
After all the gel was gone, he ran his fingers through it again, feeling all of the chunks that were missing. He stopped in his tracks and his cup fell to the ground, spilling its contents in front of his shoes as both hands flew up to his hair. 'WHAT THE HELL DID SHE DO?' His inner voice screamed as he stood there, shocked and fondling the ends of his hair. “I'm going to kill her!” he hollered.
Innocent passersby stared at the crazy guy who was yelling and touching his bad haircut. Some people shook their heads, some smiled awkwardly and rushed to pass him. William just smiled, a blush staining his cheeks as he picked up his now empty cup. He quickly threw it in the trash and bolted across the street toward the closest barbershop.
Of course, it had to be a women's salon, but he didn't care. He burst through the door, frantically looking around for a free mirror. When he found one, he ran over to it and checked out his reflection. There were small patches of his hair missing, easily fixable without losing too much more hair, but he was still ticked off. He sighed, vowing to have a little chat with Cordy as he walked to the front desk.
“Hey, Sugar! How can I...” the guy at the front desk looked up, his eyes bulging as he took in the condition of William's hair. “What the heck happened to you?”
William scowled, his hand went up to cover the mess on his head. “I... uh...” he mumbled, fidgeting under the man's stare. Finally, William rolled his eyes and his shoulders slumped. “Oh, sod it all to hell! I have a date with this girl who is way out of my league, a Halloween Party that my friends dared me to dress up as a punk for, and I let them do a makeover type thing on me. Now, I have a bad haircut and an even worse outfit and I just want it fixed,” he said in one rushed sentence, his lips curling into a pout when he finished.
The hairdresser giggled effeminately then walked around the counter, looping his arm through William's and ushering him to a seat. “Well then, let me fix this little mess up for you. No problem. I think I know something that can help your look out a bit, too.”
When William shot him a withering glare, the hairdresser put his hands up submissively. “Totally temporary, I promise. If you don't like it, I can change it.”
William slouched into the chair. Why not? Not like his day could get worse... And this guy was a professional. He wouldn't botch up his hair like Cordy had. Also, he would fix it if he did mess it up.
With his mind made up, William looked up at the hairdresser, reading his nametag. “Alright, Lorne. Have at it.”
Lorne clapped his hands together, rubbing them and smiled brightly at William. “Alright, gorgeous! Let's get crackin'!”
Lorne spent a good amount of time adding some sort of paste to William's head, saying comforting words and promises of a better look when it was all finished. William filled him in on the details of his whole situation, including how pretty he remembered Buffy to be, and his costume plan.
When his scalp started to burn, William became a bit frantic, but Lorne assured him it would all turn out fabulous.
Lorne finally rinsed the goop out, he put a blindfold over William's eyes so he couldn't peek, and then went to cutting.
William sat there, almost falling asleep in the chair as Lorne perfected his 'masterpiece'.
Finally, William felt a soft brush on the back of his neck, sweeping away any stray hair that didn't make it to the ground.
“Okay, now. I want you to know that you look simply marvelous, but it might be a bit of a shock to you. You told me that your friends wanted you to be punk, so I took it to the next level. On the count of three!”
Lorne untied the back of the blindfold. “One...” he stood in front of William, blocking any mirrors and removed the blindfold. “Two...” William looked at him expectantly. “Three!” Lorne spun William around to face the mirror, and William—to say the least—was shocked.
His hair was bleached. Platinum. White.
He just stared at himself, the soft looking curls were short, but still there and framing his face. The bleached color of his hair made his eyes and cheekbones stand out, making him look like he was a rebel. Even though he was anything but a bad boy, he loved it.
“You look like Billy Idol!” Lorne squealed, clapping his hands a couple of times. “So, do you like it?"
William stood up, slowly taking off the black vinyl cover then turned to Lorne. A slow smile spread across his face. “Lorne, you bugger! I love it!” William quickly hugged him, then turned back to the mirror, touching his hair for what felt like the millionth time that day. “How did you know it would look good on me?”
Lorne shrugged. “I had a hunch. Your cheekbones and those pouty lips reminded me of Billy Idol, so I went with it."
William nodded vigorously, he really did like it. Lorne chuckled then started walking toward the counter so William could pay. “I'm glad you like it! I was a little nervous, but I knew you would look good.”
William paid his total, still smiling proudly because of his new hair. Cordy was going to have a fit! He couldn't wait to show it off at the party tonight.
Now, all he needed was a nickname. He didn't think that he would get into this whole costume thing, but with the hair, he felt he could get used to it for the night.
“So, I never got your name when I was doing your hair...” Lorne asked, subtly hitting on the man in front of him.
“Sorry, mate. Don't swing that way, but the name is...” for some unknown reason, he thought of Drusilla. She always wanted 'Spike', maybe he could be that guy for the night? “Spike.”
“Spike?” Lorne asked, knowing that wasn't his real name, but he would go with it.
“Yeah. Name's Spike.”
William slowly walked up to his mother's house. He had made sure to do everything on the list. He knew his mother was going to have a fit when she saw his new hair.
He walked in and shut the door behind him. He set the stuff down in the hallway, and then walked into the kitchen, knocking on the door to announce his presence. “Mum?”
“Dear Lord, William! What have you done to your hair?!”
TBC