That Lumberjack Look

As Josh's eyes wandered around the restaurant, the line slowly moved forward. The patrons of the restaurant were your average mix of suburbanites. There were quite a few people on their lunch break... a handful of guys who looked like they were contractors... a couple of stay at home moms with their kids... Nobody really caught Josh's eye until a group of college guys came bustling through the door. They looked like your typical frat bruhs, and based on how much they were chirping at one another that is exactly what they were.

"What a bunch of douches." Josh thought as the line inched forward. Now standing next in line, Josh was pretty focused on the tasty tacos he would soon be devouring. "Listen to this shit." Josh turned his head as one of the college guys began blaring music from his phone. "What a douche..." Josh thought as he rolled his eyes at the bearded college guy. The woman in front of Josh finished her order and Josh stepped forward and placed his order. "These are going to be some tasty fucking tacos." Josh thought as the college guy's music finally quit playing. Josh glanced back over his shoulder. "The only redeeming thing about that guy is his awesome beard..." Josh turned back to watch his tacos being prepared.

As the tacos moved down the assembly line, Josh's face began to itch. He absent mindedly scratched his chin. "Huh I thought I shaved today." Josh thought as he noticed he had quite a bit of stubble. Josh had always been self conscious about his patchy facial hair. He could never grow a beard like the college guy had, and it always bummed Josh out. Josh paid for his food and took a seat at a small table by himself. Before Josh could take his first bite the college guys were back to making noise. Josh once again rolled his eyes and looked over at them. One of them was doing some generic TikTok dance, while the bearded guy was filming him.

"Wait..." Josh focused on the bearded guy. The guy's beard looked shorter and kind of patchy now. Josh absent mindedly scratched his face again. "What the fuck?" Josh thought as his fingers were now scratching a short, but thick beard. "No..." Josh's hands felt all over his face. "It's not patchy... It's thick... Is it getting longer?" Josh's mind raced as it felt like his new beard was growing longer. Josh's eyes darted back to the once bearded college guy. Patchy stumble now covered the guy's face.

"What the fuck..." Josh mumbled under his breath as he picked up a taco.