Page 18 of I Never Stopped Loving You

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.”