9. Willow
WILLOW
“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Willow, would you chill the fuck out?”
“I just stabbed my eye with the fucking mascara wand,” I groan as I try to open my eye to see the damage.
Black mascara is on my eye, like my actual fucking eye. It burns as I rapidly try to blink it away. Tears build and fall, causing my eyeliner to smudge and run down my cheeks.
“Hold on. Let me help,” Jenna scolds as she tries to dab my face with a tissue.
“It’s no use. I need to wipe it all off and restart.”
“No, you don’t. You can just do a smudged look. Darker with a smoky eye shadow. It’ll look hot.”
“But…that’s not…” I stop.
The pain in my eye is finally going away. The tears have stopped falling, and I only mildly look like a raccoon.
“Not what, babe?”
“I never do my makeup like that.”
I’ve always done my makeup simple, restrained, and unnoticeable.
I’ve always tried to blend seamlessly into a crowd and not bring attention to myself.
She’s the striking one with the dark, bold makeup that screams confidence.
Me? I’d rather go without any makeup, but if I don’t at least semi-line my eyes, I look exhausted.
“Well…you also haven’t dated anyone in a long ass time. You haven’t had sex in…”
“Please stop.”
“Sorry. I’m just saying, maybe it’s time you shake things up. You don’t have to go with a look that’s as dramatic as mine, but something in between.”
I stare at my reflection. The eyeliner is already smudged. I’d just have to clean up the lines on my cheeks from my tears. She could add a wing to the ends…Maybe.
“Okay. Will you do it?”
“Fuck yeah, I will. Oh…What do you think about a different outfit to go with the new makeup?”
I glance at my outfit. I chose a simple one for the date. We’re going for burgers, so I highly doubt it’s going to be fancy. I have on a pair of cream-colored dress pants with a matching jacket. A white tank top is underneath, and I think I have a pair of heels that match the outfit downstairs.
“What’s wrong with my outfit?”
“Nothing, babe. Just…aren’t you going for burgers? You don’t want to get sauce on this fabric. It’ll stain and never come out. Here. Give me a second.”
She stands and rushes out of the bathroom. She dragged me into here earlier to do my hair. Hers has a built-in vanity and a floor-length mirror to check everything. Plus, the lighting is a lot better in here.
“Here. What about this?”
I stare at the outfit she’s holding out to me. It’s the black dress she designed two months ago. I wore it in the house so she could get the sizing done, but never out in public.
It’s shorter than any of the dresses I wear, with the hem barely reaching my mid-thigh. The arms are lace. The neckline is plunging, and it has a tapered waist that only accents my curved hips. She always tells me how jealous she is of my hourglass shape.
“Jenna, I can’t wear this. What if I get something on it?”
“Listen, Willow. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I designed this literally for you. Every detail I did was to accent your figure. I was going to give it to you as a Christmas present, but since you’ve been such a good girl, Christmas came early. Ho. Ho. Ho, bitch.”
We both crack up at the way she cringes at the words that just came out of her mouth. She hates the term good girl. One of her exes would always say it to her, but the way he said it made her feel like a dog, not sexy in the slightest.
“So, what do you say? Can I make you my doll for tonight? I’ll do your makeup. You can wear your Christmas present early. I even have a pair of shoes you can borrow.”
I close my eyes for a second and remember the way I felt in that dress when she was fitting it to me. I felt more confident than ever. I felt beautiful. I felt…sexy. Something I’ve honestly never felt before.
“Fine,” I groan teasingly, then laugh at her excitement.
“Yay. Thank you! I’ve been dying to try this eye shadow palette on you.”
She quickly spins my chair away from the mirror so she can be in full control.
I glance down at my phone to check the time and see if Noah messaged again.
He hasn’t. The last thing I sent was my address, and I told him to just text when he was here, and I’d come out.
That way, he wouldn’t have to get out in the cold.
“You'd better hurry, Jenna. It’s already 6:15.”
“Listen, babe. You can’t rush perfection. If Mr. Delicious gets here early, he can wait in his car. Trust me, when he sees you in that dress, he won’t even remember how to speak, let alone tell time.”
“I think you're delusional.” I laugh while closing my eyes so she can work on my eyeliner.
“Nope. Not delusional. Just confident in how fucking stunning you are.”
I can’t help as the corners of my lips try to curl into a small smile. I’ve been told that I’m cute all of my life. Cute is something you call a pet, but stunning? I’m not so sure about that.
“You do have condoms for tonight, right?”
“What?” My eyes snap open to see her looking at me with a shit-eating grin.
“Nothing. I was just seeing if you were still paying attention or if you were daydreaming.”
“I was paying attention.”
“Oh, yeah? Then what did I say?” she asks as she places her hand on her popped-out hip.
“Something about you being delusional?” I laugh, and she rolls her eyes.
“No. I asked if you wanted to borrow a purse.”
“Oh. Uh, no, I think I have a black clutch that will go well with this.”
*Ding*
Noah
On the way.
“Shit. He’s on the way.” I sound panicked, but Jenna looks calm as she closes the mascara cap.
“No worries. You just have to get dressed now.”
“You’re already done?”
“I told you, you were in la-la land. I’ve been talking to you for the last five minutes, and you’d only occasionally make the smallest ‘mhm’ noise, so I knew you weren’t paying attention. Ready to see what I did?” Her smile is lighting up her face.
“No. But go ahead.”
“Rude. But I forgive you only because I love you so damn much. Okay. Three…Two…”
On one, she spins my chair back to face the vanity, and my jaw drops. I don’t even look like me. I mean, I do…but…
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
“I know, right. You can say it, I’m fucking brilliant. I’m an artist. I’m…”
“Amazing,” I cut her off. “Holy shit, Jenna.”
My hair is down now, hanging in loose curls and framing my face. My green eyes pop with the dark, smoky cat eye she gave me. The inner corners are highlighted, making the green stand out even more. My lips are no longer bare; instead, they have a mauve tint that shines.
“See. I told you you’re stunning. Now come on. Go get dressed. Noah’s going to be here soon.”
“Thank you.”
“You can thank me by going out tonight and having an amazing time. Don’t come back till the early hours of the morning. Oh, and for God’s sake, promise me that if that man tries to kiss you, you let him.”
“I promise.”
“Damn, you promised fast. He must be really hot.” She waggles her eyebrows at me and laughs before walking out of the bathroom.
I follow her into her room and look at the dress she’s laid out on the bed. I can hear her humming as she goes down the steps to the main floor. She’s probably going to creep out the window, waiting for him to pull up.
I quickly go to my room to grab a pair of tights and my black, round-toe, stiletto pumps.
I bought them on clearance last black Friday, but never had a reason to wear them until now.
When I return to Jenna’s room, my heart is racing.
What if he doesn’t like the way I look? This is the opposite of what he saw this morning.
I’m going to look like a completely different person.
After I finish getting dressed and slip on my stilettos, I glance at the stranger looking back at me in the reflection. It’s me…but at the same time it’s not. It’s the woman I always saw inside my head who I’ve wanted to be for a long time, but I was always too afraid of standing out.
A rush of footsteps up the stairs is followed by Jenna crashing through the door.
“Holy shit, woman. Number one, damn. I don’t even recognize you. Whoever designed that dress must be a fucking artist. And second of all, your Prince Charming is here. You did not tell me he drives a fucking MC20.”
“I don’t even know what that is,” I say as I pick up my black jacket. It hasn’t snowed yet, but you can feel it in the air. It’s coming.
“A Maserati. You know, super expensive, super fast, and super pretty…”
“I got nothing.”
“We really have to get you out of the house and into the real world,” she groans as she rolls her eyes at me.
“Hey, I get out of the house…”
“Courtroom and the Law Library at Wayne doesn’t count,” she cuts me off.
*Knock* *Knock*
The sound of him knocking on the front door is enough to make my whole body start to feel jittery from nerves.
“I told him to just text me when he got here.”
I try to rush down the steps as fast as possible in these heels without breaking my neck.
“You think Mr. Bigshot would dare let you walk out of the house on your own?”
“Mr. Bigshot?” I whisper as we get to the landing.
“Yeah. The dude’s a lawyer and drives a fucking Maserati. Mr. Bigshot.”
I quickly turn away from her and open the door.
Noah is standing there looking even more perfect than this morning.
He’s wearing a black button-up shirt tucked into his dark jeans, and a black leather jacket.
His black hair isn’t slicked back like this morning; instead, it hangs in a tousled, almost bedhead look that makes him look less intimidating, even when his broad shoulders nearly block the entire doorway.
“Hi, Noah.”
I finally snap my mind out of the trance I was in to say hello, but then I notice he’s staring at me the same way I was just staring at him.
His dark eyes roam over me, and I swear I can feel the heat of the flames dancing in his eyes as they lick against every inch of my body.
“Wow…” His voice is low, almost raspy, when he finally speaks.
“Wow?” I ask, almost nervously.
“You look amazing, Miss Bennett.”
“Willow. If I can’t call you Mr. Anderson, you can’t call me Miss Bennett.”
“You can call me whatever name you want, Willow, just as long as I get to hear your voice.”
Jesus. Christ.
My mouth is suddenly too dry to speak. Thankfully, Jenna is nosy and likes to break the tension in a room. She clears her throat and thrusts her hand out for Noah to shake.
“Hi. I’m Jenna. Roommate, best friend, and body removal if necessary.”
Noah glances at her hand and smirks before shaking it.
“Nice to meet you, Jenna. Don’t worry, your best friend is safe with me.”
He gives her that smile he gave me earlier at the office. The one that caused my knees to stupidly feel weak.
“Mhm. That’s what all serial killers say. So where are you guys going again?”
“World's End Burger Bar. What time should I have her home?” he laughs, playing along with her joke.
“Hmm…Two? Three at the latest?”
I glance at her with wide eyes, but she doesn’t even crack a smile. She looks dead serious.
“Three could work. Just depends.”
“On?” she asks.
He tilts his head at her, and I can feel a strange warmth spreading through my stomach as his eyes fall back to mine.
“If she wants to come home with me.”