Waking up to his alarm

Ryu woke up to the beeping of his phone, the only electronic he could afford at the moment. He'd gotten one with one of his mom's ex-boyfriend wanted to impress her and get in her pants and decided that getting her kid a phone would be the rout in. Unfortunate for him the only bulge in his pants that she got intrested in was his wallet. Still Ryu got a smart phone so not much to complain about, except for the damn alarm.

Still,first day on the job and everything he might as well get there early. Wearing a shirt and some of his tight pants, looked himself over in the mirror and smiling a little, Ryu walked briskly for his first day on the job.

He entered the store just as Kathy flipped the open sign over. Entering the store he was greeted by the other hairdressers and as he turned to look at the counter he spotted Sydney standing there. Her eyes were looking somewhere far away before snapping back to him with a bright smile.

"Hey cutie, ready for your first day?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"It's going to be easy just wait for the customers to come in sweep up their hair when it becomes too much, don't disturb anyone and mop the place at the end"

"Alright, so I have to wait for the customer to arrive?"

"Yeah today there aren't many bookings, just walk in's. You know, the neighborhood is not really the most conventional place. Outsiders tend to stay away like they think Sweeny Todd runs the store but we have some regulars and some of the best equipment in the neighbouring towns so we get good traffic most days. Probably not today tho."

"Oh I see, you like it? Working here I mean."

"Yeah love it! Everything from the customers and taking care of their every need, making someone feel new or like art or like their true selves I've grown to love it."

"That's great!"

"What about you?"

"What about me"

"Tell me about you, mystery kid"

And so the day passed by, Sydney pushed and prodded until Ryu realised that he talked way more than he expected from his home, why he moved, where he studied, his relationship with his mom. By the time the first customer came in Ryu had shared more to this stranger than anyone else in his life and that was both terrifying and freeing at the same time.

Soon Sydney had to attend a call and Ryu went about his work. He kept to himself and the customers paid him no heed. He swept the hair and by the time Sydney came back he was getting the hang of it, not that sweeping and mopping were all that new to him.

On his way home Sydney stopped him.

"Hey it was nice talking you you today." She smiled and that made Ryu feel like he was lit up by a 1000 watt light.

"It's nice making a new friend. By the way I'm getting some of those videos we were talking about, I'll send them to you, show me your number"

Ryu was still stuck on the word "friend" and "number" some girl he met yesterday now considers him a friend and wants his number which seemed like a dream. He took out his phone and exchanged contacts with a dumb expression on his face and went home practically skipping.