Chapter 8: Raymond

After he's dropped his new car off at his mechanics', he drives back out of town to his house. When we arrive, his dad's standing at the door.

"Jake! Your stylist was here twenty minutes ago!"

"Sorry Dad! Coming!" he calls back from the car.

As we're walking up his driveway to the front door, he nudges me with his elbow. "You're going to love my stylist. He's the best of the best."

I kind of nod, not entirely sure what I'm supposed to say. He looks at me and smirks as he opens the front door and lets me in.

"Aaaaand I told him I had a friend over, so he'll do you too."

I stop walking and turn to him, but he's already grabbed my wrist and started pulling me in the direction of the staircase. I try to dig my heels in, but it's pointless. And when I grab onto the railing, trying to get literally one second to ask all of the questions flying through my mind, he threatens to carry me. I cooperate very quickly (we're on stairs, and if he tripped or fell or went off balance, then both of us could break bones or get a concussion- or a subdural hematoma, which would be even worse).

The second floor of his house is huge and kind of like a maze, that's actually really simple. There's one big hallway, and all of the rooms branch off from it. And every once in a while, it'll turn a corner, but it never really splits off into another hallway. So it's really just a matter of counting the number of turns and doors that we pass before getting to the specific room that the stylist is apparently waiting in.

"Patrick, young sir! Where were you? You know how I hate to be kept waiting," comes a high, clear voice from the room that Jake turns into. I follow him and immediately come face to face with what looks to be the destruction left in the wake of a fashion tornado. Standing in the middle of it is a tall man (taller than Jake, which is amusing to me) who's dressed in skin-tight jeans and a multicoloured scarf. Jake grins at him immediately.

"Patrick, that's not bad. I'll use it tomorrow."

The stylist gasps. "Oh no you don't, Tyson! I want you to save that gem for a school day when you'll actually be seeing people."

"You got it."

"Really? Tyson?"

"No. Zach. I meant I'll save the name Patrick for a school day. Todd will make sure for you."

The stylist's gaze flicks to me. "Ooh, Todd. Come forwards, let me see your face."

I blink, then awkwardly shuffle forwards a bit. The stylist puts up a hand to stop me and comes over, examining me for a moment before looking back at Jake (Zach? Did he just change it?).

"Not bad. Not bad at all. You've done much worse, before."

My eyes go wide. "I-"

"He means to work with. I like challenging him to style my friends."

"Challenging is right," the stylist mutters. "You should have seen the guy he brought me last time- clearly, the poor soul had never seen a bottle of shampoo before." He 'tsk's.

"Todd, this is Raymond. He is, without a doubt, the most fabulous person I have the pleasure of knowing."

"Naturally. Pleasure to meet you Todd, you have a lovely face."

I blush immediately and blink, not sure how to take that. "Thanks?"

"I figured I should be nice to you this time," Zach says, still smiling at Raymond.

"It's the least you could do, after making me wait twenty minutes. And poor Todd looks like he just went on an expedition to Antarctica in a cheap t-shirt and shorts, so you were definitely test driving cars instead of showing up on time for me."

Zach's grin turns more to the one I know- the sly, smirking one. "I plead guilty."

"I hope it was at least worth it, and you'd better have brought me a picture."

"It was so worth it. It's gorgeous." Zach pulls out his phone and shows Raymond, who nods approvingly.

"Alright. I'll forgive you this time. Because you brought me a picture, and gave me the gift of Todd instead of whatever that other boy's name was."

I blush a little more as he ushers both Zach and I into chairs that are both covered in clothing.

"Alright. Todd, sit tight for a sec, I'm gonna put some torture cream on Zach before I get started on you."

"Torture cream?" My voice is a bit squeaky again.

"Pimple cream," Zach says as Raymond produces a small tube of cream and squirts a bit into his hand. "It stings because of the salicylic acid." I watch as Raymond swipes a bit across Zach's forehead, and he cringes. "Owwwww. Raymond," he whines.

"Don't worry Todd, you're not going to have to undergo the same pain as Zach. I'm allowed to inflict such agonizing pain on him because I've known him since he became rich, and he pays me to do so. Also, I have his parents' permission."

Once Raymond finishes with the 'torture cream' (with much whining and squirming on Zach's part, which is kind of entertaining), he comes over to me. He puts one finger under my chin and moves my head from side to side, inspecting my face (not the way Zach inspects people. More professionally). "Hmm. Alright. Alright. Okay. So, how in depth do you want to go with this?"

Zach stops whimpering (Raymond is making him leave the cream on for a few minutes) and looks surprised. "Wait, you're actually giving him a choice?"

"See Zachary, this is what happens when you bring me people with nice faces who understand the concept of hygiene. I give them options instead of just teaching them the very basics, like how to use shampoo," Raymond says, shooting him a look. "And stop touching your face."

"But it stings," he whines, and Raymond turns back to me, ignoring him.

"So?"

"Um... I don't really know..."

"How about you just let me do whatever I want, then?"

I look at Zach, who's mewling again, and decide to just agree with Raymond. "Um... sure?"

Raymond glances at Zach and smirks a bit. "Don't mind him. He can be a bit of a baby sometimes."

"It feels like my face is being assaulted by a hundred thousand needles at the same time!"

Raymond winks at me and proceeds to ignore him again.

He continues to appraise my face, hair and body type for the next few minutes until he finally decides that Zach's had enough of the torture cream and goes to take it off of him. I'm not sure if I should avert my eyes or not, so I do, until Zach finally lets out an unnecessarily large sigh of relief, and I glance back up at him.

"Thank goodness, that felt like forever. Do you have any idea how horrible that stuff is? It should seriously be illegal! It's essentially frostbite lotion!"

"Pipe down, honey. It's over, and you like this next part."

Raymond pulls out a new small tub of something, which he also smears onto Zach's face. Zach relaxes and sighs happily, practically melting on the spot.

"There. Am I forgiven?" Raymond asks when he finishes, wiping his hands off on a cloth. Zach nods, humming a little. "Good. Todd, you wanna push your chair through that door?" He points to an open sliding door, and I nod, rolling across the room. Raymond follows a moment later with Zach in tow.

The room that we're in now is a bathroom with several sinks. Raymond positions Zach's chair in front of one and gestures for me to align myself with the other. I do, and watch as Raymond washes Zach's hair in record time, alternating between shampoo, conditioner, and a couple other things (not necessarily in that order- I lose track around the third bottle). After running a comb through Zach's dripping wet hair, he comes over to me and repeats the pattern. Then, before I know it, we're back into the fashion room, where Raymond puts Zach and I next to each other, facing the wall.

Zach taps the back of my hand, and I look at him. His hair is darker now that it's wet, and it's combed back, a stark contrast to his messy, windblown look earlier. He's grinning at me pretty much the same way, though, which makes me a little suspicious. "This is the fun part. Are you ready?"

"Why? What's going to happen?"

He rolls his eyes, still smirking, and doesn't bother responding. A few moments later, I learn that I was almost right initially, when I came into the room and thought that this room was the destruction left in the wake of a fashion tornado. As it turns out, the fashion tornado is a multi-faceted styling hurricane: Hurricane Raymond.

What do you think of Raymond? How about Todd getting styled? And the millionaire randomly changing his name? What are your predictions for the next chapters? Let me know in the comments!

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