Muscle Bimbo Ch. 06

Alex's eyes blinked open. Her first thought was: where am I? But an instant later, that thought was obliterated by a blinding flash as the light hitting her eyes triggered a throb of pain. Alex clutched her head and groaned. What the hell had happened? After a moment, it started to come back to her - the party, the drinking. The spin-the-bottle game. Alex groaned again, this time from crippling embarrassment. How could she have done those things? She remembered kissing Marie, and then being kissed by Fi, and then Kiyo licking something off of her... and then after that, it was all just a blur, although Alex felt certain something desperately embarrassing had happened. More cautiously this time, Alex opened her eyes, squinting to reduce the pain. She was in her dorm room. She breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been blackout drunk, clearly, but had somehow managed to get home safely. Gingerly, Alex crawled out of bed and onto her feet. Her whole body was tired and aching and uncoordinated. So this was what a hangover felt like, she thought to herself. Not being one for parties, she'd never experienced one before, but she remembered her mother's admonishments to drink lots and lots of water as an antidote. Somehow, she made her way to her bathroom and took a very, very long drink of water. The drink felt incredibly nourishing, but it barely took the edge off what she was feeling.

Alex went back into her room and slumped at her desk, and looked at the time on her computer. It was already 11 am! She sighed. She didn't even need to check her email to know that there was yet another message from Professor Sinclair, threatening her with dismal consequences unless she started to catch up on her work. Yet again, Alex had sworn that she would get up early and spend the day on her studies, but she could already tell that wasn't going to happen. Just looking at her screen was making her head throb, and the text was blurring together alarmingly. Alex sighed. As if her concentration hadn't been bad enough lately.

After a few entirely unproductive attempts to make herself focus, Alex gave up. She decided that maybe a little bit of fresh air and exercise might be exactly what she needed. She could go for a jog, and maybe pick up some coffee or some high-calorie foods on the way. That sounded perfect. If she couldn't get any work done today, she could at least do some exercise and help herself feel better. Once she made that decision, it was surprisingly easy for her to take another drink, fix her appearance, put on some appropriate exercise clothes, and head out of her dorm.

"There you are! I thought you were gonna flake on me."

Surprised, Alex turned towards Winter's voice. Sure enough, the goth girl was right there, staring at her with a bemused smile on her face. As always, she looked perfect. However much drinking and partying she'd done the night before, it didn't show. Standing there in the morning light, in a black dress and wide-brimmed hat, she looked so beautiful Alex couldn't help but blush. Then the significance of Winter's words dawned on her.

"Flake on you? What do you mean?" she asked.

Winter laughed. "You really don't remember? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You were a mess." Alex looked down, embarrassed. "We made plans together! A little date, yknow?"

"Date?" The word echoed in her head like a clap of thunder.

"Yeah. You know, just two girl friends having a good time."

"G-g-girlfriends?!" Alex's jaw hit the floor. What the hell had happened last night?

"Girl friends. Gal pals. Whatever." Alex let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Winter's manner was completely open, but Alex could have sworn there was a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Anyway, come on, let's get going! We don't want to miss your appointment. You're not really dressed for it, but I guess that doesn't really matter."

"What appointment?" Alex wondered how this had happened to her for a second time. How could she keep making plans with Winter and then forgetting about it? She really was turning into an airhead.

"At the hair salon?" Winter inspected Alex's face for some hint of recollection, but found none. "Wow, I guess you really were hammered. We practically had to pour you into the Uber." Winter grabbed Alex's hand and started to lead her away, but Alex held back.

"Wait, wait, wait. Why the hair salon?"

"We said we'd go together. Nothing major, just a little trim. Spruce things up a little bit." All of a sudden, Winter's face turned into a disappointed pout. "Why? Don't you want to come with me?"

"No, no, I do!" Alex replied enthusiastically. A hair appointment with Winter? It was a dream come true. She'd never really believed Winter would ever even know her name, but now not only had Winter invited her to a party, they were going to a hair salon together? Alex had to pinch herself to convince herself it was real. Admittedly, she still didn't understand why it had started happening in the first place, but she wasn't going to second-guess a stroke of luck like that. "Sorry, I was just a bit surprised, that's all. Let's go!"

Winter nodded and started to lead the way, Alex walking happily by her side. The salon wasn't far, Winter said. They made some light conversation as they walked - Winter seemed interested in how Alex's exercise regimen was going, and she teased her a little for how drunk she'd gotten and how she'd acted when dared to kiss Marie at the party. The good-natured teasing set butterflies fluttering in Alex's stomach. She asked Winter what had happened at the end of the party, the part she couldn't remember. 'Nothing much' was Winter's only answer.

The salon was about ten minutes walk away. It was one Alex hadn't heard of before, although it wasn't like she paid much mind to hair salons. She normally trimmed her own hair, keeping it in the same rough, inelegant non-style, although recently she'd been letting it grow and keeping it back in a ponytail. It was called 'Calypso Hair and Beauty,' and had the look of a classy, expensive, upmarket place. It was the kind of place that normally made Alex nervous, but with Winter leading the way she found it natural to follow her inside. The interior was just as classy - it was clean and clinical, with bright wood-paneled decor, comfortable-looking leather chairs, and soothing yet modern music playing from everywhere at once from unseen speakers. The place was almost deserted, which perhaps wasn't surprising for a mid-morning during the week, and as Alex glanced around nervously she realized that she recognized the only other person who was in there besides her and Winter: it was Violet, the goth-punk she'd met at Winter's party.

"Hey there," Violet said with a smirk on her face. "Glad to see you made it home in one piece... even if your head doesn't quite feel like it is, huh?"

Alex blushed. Violet was dressed in a professional-looking white uniform with a black apron, although her hair and makeup were just as punk as they had been the night before. Alex, though, find herself barely able to look her in the face. All she could think about was all the embarrassing things she could remember doing in front of her at the party. Violet sensed her embarassment and laughed good-naturedly.

"Relax, Alex. Believe me, the stuff you did was nothing I haven't seen before. Or done." That comment brought a smile of relief to Alex's face. At least one of Winter's friends seemed to be accepting her, and Violet's candidness made her feel a little better. She was pleased to hear that everything she'd done was considered just a bit of fun. "OK! Well, I'm the only girl in today, and you two are my only clients all morning. So, who's up first?"

Alex instinctively shrank away, but Winter pushed her forward. "Go on, Alex."

"Oh, um... but I don't even know what I want done."

"Don't worry," Winter said. "Violet is a genius with hair. Let her sort it out for you. I insist."

Alex's reluctance faded in the face of Winter's insistence, and she stepped forward and allowed Violet to guide her down into one of the salon chairs, and fix a hairdressing gown around her neck. Alex looked at herself in the mirror. Compared to Winter's and Violet's her hair did look a little plain and dismal, she supposed. Perhaps a bit of professional care was exactly the kind of thing she needed to feel better about her hangover.

"Hair of the dog," Violet prompted, offering her a shot glass full of clear liquid.

"I... don't think that's a good idea," Alex murmured.

"Believe me, it is," Winter put in. "It'll take the edge off better than any painkiller."

That was too tempting a prospect to refuse. Alex downed the shot. It was vodka, she guessed. It burned her throat, but she forced it down without choking. Almost immediately, the throbbing in her head eased. Alex blinked, surprised at the relief. Not only was the pain fading, she was starting to feel pleasantly light-headed. Violet took the glass out of her unresistant fingers, and Alex found it easy to sink back into the chair, her nervousness gone. Violet filled the basin underneath the mirror with water, and slowly turned Alex's chair around a hundred and eighty degrees.

"That's better, right?" Alex nodded. "Good. We're going to start by washing your hair. I've got some products that can give it a nice, deep clean. It's going to feel amazing, I promise."

Violet reached over to the light switch on the wall, and the light dimmed. Then, she started to tilt Alex's chair backwards, lowering the back of her head into the basin of warm water. Alex sighed happily as she felt the warmth start to seep into her head and through the rest of her body. Getting this kind of professional treatment was feeling so much better than she'd expected. It was incredibly relaxing to be able to just sit back and let Violet take care of her.

"OK, I'm gonna start rubbing some lotion through your hair," Violet said. She popped open a plastic bottle and poured some of the liquid within into the basin. A deliciously flowery scent filled Alex's nose. Violet reached down and washed her hands in the basin, stirring it to mix up a foam. Then, she started to methodically run her hands through Alex's hair, massaging the lotion through her plain brown locks and into her scalp. Almost automatically, Alex made an appreciative sound reminiscent of a cat's purr.

"Doesn't it feel divine?" came Winter's voice from somewhere nearby. Alex felt too spacey to open her eyes to find out where exactly.

"Yeah," Alex replied distantly.

"I love being pampered." Winter's voice had become soft and soothing. "Sometimes, I like to just close my eyes so I can really focus on enjoying it. I find myself almost dozing off because it feels so wonderfully relaxing. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"Mhm." Almost without her really being aware of it, Alex's eyelids started growing heavy. Bit by bit, they fell closed, letting Alex better experience Violet's talented hands playing across her scalp.

"That's it," Winter said encouragingly. "It's almost like you can feel the lotion sinking into your skin, making it feel all sensitive and tingly and nice, isn't it? It's so soothing."

"Mmm." Alex's affirmative response was weaker, and took more effort to make. Alex could feel the lotion sinking in, exactly as Winter was describing. It was incredible, almost like a drug. She'd never dreamed that just having something massaged into her head could feel so blissful. She was starting to understand what Winter meant when she'd mentioned dozing off. She could easily imagine doing it, even though she'd only just woken up. It seemed so easy, with her head floating in warm water, being massaged and pampered so skillfully.

"You know, you can just drift off, if you want." Winter's voice was so soothing and melodic, and almost seductive. It sounded like a lullaby, or perhaps a siren's song. "You don't need to do a thing. Violet will take care of you, and I'm here to watch over you. Doesn't that sound nice? You can just go to sleep, and when you wake up everything will be better."

Alex didn't say anything. She couldn't. Her awareness was already slipping away, being massaged away by Violet's fingers and Winter's words.

"Perfect. You're doing wonderfully, Alex." Winter's praise brought a warm glow to Alex's cheeks, drawing her further into her trance-like stupor. "All you have to do now is let go. Can you do that for me? Just let go, and sink."

Alex let go, and everything went dark.

***

Alex knew that not much time had passed by the time she opened her eyes again. Even after her eyes opened, it took several long moments before she really roused herself. It was like she was waking up from a deep, deep sleep. She reached up and rubbed at her eyes blearily, struggling to keep them open, but they snapped wide when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

She had blonde hair.

She did a double take and pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Her hair was blonde. It wasn't merely a few shades lighter than it had been, enough to perhaps take it across the threshold from mousy brown to sandy blonde. No, it was a bright, platinum blonde. Even after she'd made certain it was real, Alex struggled to believe it. How could it have happened? She had no memory of bleaching her hair. But then she remembered where she was: the hair salon. Violet must have bleached her hair! But why? Why hadn't Winter stopped her? What was going on?

"W-what the hell..." Alex breathed, her voice weak, yet urgent.

"You're awake!" Alex turned to see Violet rise from a nearby chair. "Well? How do you like it?"

"How do I..." Alex was speechless. She hadn't asked for this! What had Violet done to her hair? "Why did you do this?"

"What do you mean?" Violet's brow furrowed in confusion. "You wanted this."

"I... What? No." It was a little difficult for Alex to remember, but she was sure she hadn't wanted her hair bleached. "No, I didn't."

"No?" Alex turned at the sound of Winter's voice and saw the goth girl looking as poised and elegant as ever, with an expression of curiosity and amusement on her face. She seemed to be studying Alex, and a chill passed through Alex momentarily as she was struck by the notion that Winter looked like a young girl studying an insect she intended to poke with a stick. Try as she did, she couldn't quite shake the feeling, but she told herself that Winter must just be looking keenly at her new hair. "But Alex, don't you remember? You asked for this."

"No, I-" Alex's denial died in her throat as she felt Winter's words settle across her mind like a thick, heavy blanket, smothering her thoughts. Was that right? Had she asked for it? A moment ago, she'd felt sure she hadn't, but now her head was all mixed up. Why would Winter say that if it wasn't true? Winter was never wrong, not like that. If Winter said it, it had to be true. Yes, it was coming back to her now. She'd asked for it. She'd told Violet she wanted her hair bleached platinum blonde. "Oh yeah... I remember now. You're right."

"That's right," Violet said. For some reason Alex couldn't guess, she was grinning wolfishly from ear to ear. "How could you forget about that?"

Alex blushed fiercely from embarrassment and dropped her gaze. "I guess I was... still sleepy."

Violet laughed. "Sure. You know, you can be pretty dumb sometimes, Alex."

Alex blushed even more fiercely.

"I think it looks good on you," Winter commented. "It was definitely the right choice."

Alex smiled shyly. Winter thought she looked good? She looked at herself in the mirror. She supposed her new, platinum blonde color was quite flattering. It struck her as fashionable, or at the very least, something that stood out. That had to be an improvement over her natural, plain brown. Her confusion and dismay were fading. Maybe she'd made the right choice after all. That thought still didn't quite sit right with her, however. She knew she'd asked for it, just like Winter had said. She could remember that now. But the other pieces of her memory didn't fit neatly with that. In particular, she couldn't remember why she'd asked for it. There had to have a been a reason, even if it was something pretty superficial, but Alex couldn't remember anything like that. The more she pondered, the more it started to bother her.

"Yeah, it was," Alex said eventually. "But... it's weird. Why did I want platinum blonde hair? I don't really remember ever thinking about it before."

"That's strange." Winter's face morphed into a frown, although her smile never quite disappeared. "I remember last night, you were talking about how you really wanted to go blonde."

"I... I did? Oh... yes, I did." It was only as Winter's words settled across her mind that Alex remembered it. Just like Winter had said, at the party, the topic of hair and hair colors had come up. Perhaps because she'd been drunk, Alex had started rambling about wanting to bleach her hair. How could she have forgotten, when it had so clearly happened? The new, sudden memory felt real... except for all the ways it didn't. It was like Alex was remembering a dream that was just as vivid as anything else she remembered. That didn't make any sense, though. Alex shook her head rapidly, hoping to wake herself up a little. No, it had to have been real, or it the memory wouldn't be so vivid, and Winter wouldn't have mentioned it. The pieces were starting to fit together now. Yes, she'd wanted blonde hair. Of course she had, it was so bright and pretty and glamorous, and she'd thought it would suit her.

"In fact," Winter continued, her smile growing. "Didn't you say you'd always wanted blonde hair? You made it sound like a real long-term desire."

"That... well... I s-suppose." More memories were filling Alex's mind. They were new, but old at the same time. They felt fresh, but they were coming from a long time ago. She had a distinct memory of her bedroom from when she'd been a lot younger, before she'd moved town with her family. Now, there was a little detail that hadn't been there before: a pinup poster of Marilyn Monroe hanging on the wall. It must have been there before, Alex reasoned. She must have just forgotten about it, but now that she was remembering it, she couldn't imagine how. She'd spent hours staring at it, in awe of Marilyn Monroe's glamour and mystique, and above all, her hair. Maybe that had been the start of it. Ever since then, for her whole adolescence, she'd been crushing on blonde girls and obsessed with blonde celebrities. Something about the way people looked at and talked about blonde hair was endlessly fascinating. It was so beautiful and feminine and sexy in all the ways Alex felt she wasn't. She'd always longed for blonde hair, but her parents hadn't allowed her to do anything about it, and even at college, away from her mother's watchful eye, she'd been much too nervous. Until now. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Alex felt embarrassed suddenly that Winter new about her lifelong obsession.

"Nothing to be shy about. I understand." Winter's voice dropped into a conspiratorial tone. "Blondes have more fun, right?"

"What do you... Oh!" Alex turned bright red. "No, it's not like that..."

"Sure it is," Winter overrode her hesitance with irresistible confidence. "Hey, I'm not judging. Nothing wrong with wanting a bit more fun, or maybe even to be a little bit of a dumb blonde for a change."

Alex was so embarrassed she couldn't speak, only make strained noises. Her first response was denial but as Winter's words kept echoing in her ears, that seemed less and less plausible. How was Winter doing this? It was like she was telling Alex things about herself that even she didn't know. Her words were weaving old memories back into her mind, memories that felt foreign but were too forceful to be anything other than the truth. Alex could remember how, when she'd asked her mother if she could bleach her hair for her eighteenth birthday, her mother had chastised her by warning about stereotypes of dumb, silly, slutty blondes. Alex had pretended to be appalled, but secretly she'd been excited. She'd raced back to her room to do some frantic internet searches, and what she'd found had shocked her and aroused her in equal measure. That had kicked her blonde obsession into overdrive. Ever since then she'd been completely enthralled by not just blonde celebrities, but blonde girls her own age. She started noticing her people treated them and how they acted, especially the pretty, popular ones. They had such power, such magnetism, such confident control over their own sexuality. Most of all, they got to be dumb and silly instead of being mocked or lectured for it, they were adored. Alex could only envy them.