PART 40
Once again Kathy led her brother into Miss Andrea’s salon. In no time at all, Josh and Kathy were paired up with Denise and Rachel, the nail techs who would do their mani/pedis. Instead of returning to the hair styling stations, Josh soon found himself sitting in a big elevated salon chair near the front windows. Kathy was in an identical chair a few feet away while his mother sat in the waiting area where she could see everything. Both nail technicians were attractive young ladies in their twenties, and soon Josh had his hands and feet soaking in small tubs as the ladies prepared their tools.
Denise spoke first, “I’m Denise, Josh, and I’m going to take good care of you today. Andrea has told me ALL about you.” She continued with a warm grin, “By the way, I love your hair! Those curls are just too adorable!” Next she asked, “Is this your first nail appointment sweetheart?”
Josh felt his cheeks warming as he replied. “Uhh yes it’s my first time, uhh with my nails and everything,” he managed to stammer. He had barely had time to get used to his new girly curls, and the next step of his sissification was already underway. He cringed as Denise pointed out his “adorable” curls.
“Well you can start thinking about the color polish you’ll want, honey, because we have lots of choices,” she said eagerly,” and I know you’ll want your first time to be extra special!”
Josh looked helplessly over at Kathy, and he saw she was listening to this exchange with a grin. She mouthed something to him and nodded her head excitedly.
“Uhh I guess I’d like pink,” he said without much enthusiasm. “Uhhh pink please Miss Denise,” he added quickly as he caught his mother’s eye. He knew he was expected to be sweet and polite. Gwendolyn smiled approvingly at her feminized teen as she watched his next step into girlishness begin.
“Of course he’ll want pink,” Kathy chimed in, “It will match his lip gloss.”
Denise continued with a smile, “Oh but Josh we have more than 20 shades of pink to choose from, so you’ll have to be more specific,” Denise explained. She stepped to a large bookshelf holding what looked like at least a couple hundred bottles of nail polish and selected a tray full of pinks. “You see we have Baby Pink, Coral, Fuchsia, Cotton Candy, Sunrise, Rose Pink, Bubblegum Pink, Spring Plum and several more to choose from! I’ll just set these here so you can think about it while we start working,” she said with a twinkle. She placed the tray of glistening pink nail polish bottles on a small stand right in front of him.
Kathy giggled a bit and said, “Decisions, decisions… they’re all so pretty!”
Chagrined, Josh felt his little man stir. His self-consciousness only increased as the ultra-feminine nail polishes seemed to beckon to him. It drove home the inescapable fact that he would soon have a complete set of prettily painted fingernails and toenails. It only heightened his sense of embarrassed anticipation and he squirmed uncomfortably.
He sat wordlessly as Denise took his hands from their soak and carefully dried them. He had to admit it felt nice to be pampered as she trimmed his cuticles and then carefully clipped and buffed his longish fingernails into graceful, feminine ovals… first his right, then his left. She used a block to buff the nails to a high shine even without any polish.
“Now for your basecoat,” she explained to the increasingly nervous teen. His heart fluttered a bit as she applied the first strokes of clear basecoat polish to his right hand. The polish felt strangely cool on his nails, and he immediately smelled the distinctive odor of the nail lacquer. “This basecoat will strengthen and reinforce your nails to prevent any chipping or splitting,” Denise added helpfully.
The boy was surprised when she pulled out a small gadget which she guided over his right hand. When she switched it on, it emitted a bluish light. She noticed his confusion and said, “Oh Josh this is an LED nail dryer lamp. We use it to cure each coat for about a minute.”
“Ohh…?” he replied, still not quite understanding.
“Josh,” Kathy piped in, “we’re getting gel nails. “They are SO much better than regular polish!” she said cheerfully.
“That’s right Josh,” Denise added. “Some people call it ‘permanent’ nail polish,” she went on. It’s not truly permanent, but it bonds with your nail and will last several weeks or even a month without peeling or chipping! So make sure you pick a color you like because you will have it quite a while!”
The other nail tech, Rachel, spoke next, “But it’s really tricky to remove without ripping up your nails. You can’t take it off with nail polish remover alone. Best to return to a nail salon for that otherwise you could even rip a nail off and hurt yourself. That’s why people call it permanent!”
“Permanent nail polish!” Josh thought in horror. “Weeks with pink painted nails?” His stomach seemed to drop as she repeated the process on his left hand. He couldn’t get the word “permanent” out of his mind as Denise continued to work. Just like his new permanent curly hairstyle, now his nails would be permanent too.
His mother spoke up again, “Oh we won’t need to have it off anytime soon, so they can both enjoy their lovely mani/pedis until they need a maintenance appointment.” Gwendolyn added breezily. “Won’t that be lovely, Joshy?”
As the full gravity of this process sank in, Josh could only reply weakly, “Oh yes Mommy that will be wonderful.” The stress of the moment brought his little man to life. He reddened with embarrassment as this essential part of him seemed to somehow crave his sissification in spite of himself. In short order, Denise repeated the process of drying, clipping, and filing his toenails as well. She slipped pink foam toe spreaders on each of his feet, and soon all his toenails and fingernails glistened with a shiny basecoat as well. He felt so sissyish and trapped at this point. When Denise picked up the tray of pink nail polishes, Josh knew what would come next.
“Decision time sweetheart!” Denise announced. Kathy looked on and his mother stood and stepped closer to get a closer look. “What color should we go with?” Denise cheerfully asked.
Josh froze. He didn’t want to pick any of them. He was beet-red at this point. Kathy finally rescued him, “What about the last one on the right at the top Josh?” she suggested helpfully.
It seemed to break the spell, and the blushing boy said, “Sure can I see that one?”
Denise replied, “Oh that’s one of our most popular colors with the young girls. It’s called Baby Pink Sparkle. It’s such a delicate and sweet pink color with a touch of iridescence that makes it shimmer nicely and catch the eye. Very pretty.”
After a long moment’s hesitation, Josh said simply “Okay.”
Gwendolyn, however, was not satisfied. She cleared her throat purposefully. “Josh, honey you know we’ve talked about this. You should be more clear so Miss Denise knows exactly what you want.” The slight tone of reproach was back in her voice.
Josh knew the type of answer that was expected. After all, this was all his choice. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Yes Miss Denise, I would please like the Baby Pink Sparkle polish. It’s so pretty!” Once again, he was amazed and dismayed at how easily the flowery words seemed to jump from his mouth.
Denise beamed brightly and said “Of course sweetie. Great choice!”
Everything after that was a blur as the subdued boy got two coats of lustrous Baby Pink Sparkle nail polish on each nail plus a shiny protective clear topcoat. Each coat of polish was cured and bonded with the LED light machine which reinforced the permanence of the process to him. He barely registered that Kathy chose the same color so they would match “just like sisters.”
As they finally departed the nail salon after a full day of beauty, poor Josh’s emotions were again on edge. He was sinking ever deeper with no apparent way back. He was only momentarily distracted from his shiny pink nails when the gentle breeze caused one of his new bouncy curls to dance across his forehead. The boy in the cute romper dress and adorable curly hair was lost in thought. Every time he glanced down, he saw how his dainty white sandals complemented his pretty nail polish. His “permanent” nail polish. He sighed again.
Gwendolyn smiled. In her mind, the theme of the day had been “Permanence.” She was very pleased with the results. “No half measures,” she thought to herself.
Topic: New Arrangements for Josh (Read 119103 times)
