Lockdown! 09

Chapter 9

Last up, Tim stood in the kitchen, lost in his own thoughts. Being the type of person to always overthink things, he had been playing the events of the last few days over and over in his mind. Wishing that things had turned out differently.

“I’m surprised you aren’t trying to talk your way out of this like your friends,” Veronica said as she looked over at the sorry-looking man in front of her.

“It wouldn’t make any difference, right?” Tim replied in a monotone voice. “knowing you, you’ve already made up your mind.”

“No, I guess not. I’m just surprised, that’s all,” Veronica answered, almost feeling sorry for him.

(See image 12)

Of all of Paul’s friends, she had always liked Tim the most. He was polite and generally thoughtful, the complete opposite of the two people he spent most of his time with.

“Let’s just get this over with them,” Tim announced as he trudged over to the chair Veronica had set up.

Walking over to join him, Veronica switched on the camera she had set up earlier and looked down at Tim who stared back at her with a blank expression on his face.

“I’ve always wanted to ask,” she announced as she adjusted the focus on the camera. “Why do you hang out with those two idiots anyway? All they ever do is take advantage of you. You can’t like being the butt of all their stupid jokes?”

Narrowing his eyes, Tim took a moment to think. “It’s not that simple,” he replied. “I know it looks like they always make fun of me. But back in college, I didn’t really have any friends. Paul and Kamsi kinda saved me. They went out of their way to help me out. I was going through some tough times, and their friendship was the only thing that got me through it.”

“Hmm, but that was years ago,” Veronica countered, picking up a pair of tweezers. “You’re a clever guy. Can’t you see they’re dragging you down?”

“Owwww,” Tim yelped as Veronica yanked a few hairs from the underside of his right eyebrow. “Dam, that hurts.”

“Don’t be such a baby,” Veronica shot back. “And you still haven’t answered my question.”

“They’re like family to me at this point. Family sticks together, right?” Tim answered before letting out another little cry of pain as Veronica ripped a second lot of hairs from his thinning eyebrow.

“If you say so,” Veronica said, shaking her head slightly, “I just think you’d be better off away from those two. Look at the situation you’re in right now.”

Sighing, Tim gritted his teeth as Veronica went back in with the tweezers once again. “I’ve answered your question now I have one.”

“Go on,” Veronica replied, smiling.

“Why the camera are you planning to use the footage as some kind of blackmail?”

Veronica laughed. “Well, I guess I could if I need to, but that’s not the main reason.”

“So why film this?” Tim asked, looking confused.

“You can think of it as doing your part to pay the mortgage. We have to find some money from somewhere, right?”

Seeing the confusion on Tim’s face, Veronica continued. “It’s for my new business idea. I’m going to open an online salon. I can do house calls. Most of the real salons around are still closed due to the restrictions. I figure it might be quite popular.”

“I guess but why…” Tim stopped mid-sentence as a shiver ran down his spine. “No, surely you're not going to? You can’t!” he announced in a forceful voice suddenly having an awful thought. “You’re not really going to show people this, are you?”

“Oh sweaty, calm yourself down before I ruin your brows. I need models for my before and after shots. Do you see anyone else offering?”

“But… people will recognise us! We’ll be a laughing stock,” Tim declared, his face as white as a sheet.

“Hey, I’m not the one who wanted to play dress-up, “Veronica replied, shrugging her shoulders. “Besides, who cares? Apart from Paul and Kamsi. Who else do you know anyway?”

“That’s not the point,” Tim muttered. “You can’t use that footage without our permission. We can sue!”

“So sue me,” Veronica answered, moving on to his left brow. “The way I see it, your little stunt with Mrs. Morris will get you in a lot more trouble than I ever will. If I were you, I’d just accept the fact that for the foreseeable future, you’re no longer Tim. From now on, you’re Kylie.”

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Once again lost in thought, Tim was back in the kitchen looking at Veronica. The depressed feeling of earlier was still present but was now accompanied by an intense feeling of shame and embarrassment.

Blinking his eyelashes, they felt heavy and strange. In fact, everything felt strange. His lips felt sticky and tasted like sweet fruit. He could still feel a slight sting in his earlobes and eyebrow area, and from the corner of his eyes, he could see long shiny black hair framing his made-up face. Having already given it a little yank, he'd found to his dismay that the long synthetic hair was now firmly attached to his head. Not surprising after he’d just watched Veronica sew it in at a painstakingly slow pace.

(See image 13)

“Alright, beautiful, we’re done here. You know, I think I outdid myself," Veronica announced as she packed up her equipment. “Your new clothes are laid out on the sofa. Once you’re dressed, you can rest up in the bedroom for a while. I’ve unfortunately got more work to do.”

Tim offered no response. Instead, he glanced over at the flimsy-looking outfit he would soon be wearing and frantically searched his mind for a way out.