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“Don’t waste food,” Eden groaned.
Then, a knock was heard on the door; she froze.
“W-what?”
“It’s Jack, hun. Open up.”
She frowned but went to open the door. What was Jack doing in Dante’s apartment?
To her surprise, it really was her friend who stepped into the bathroom, checking her from head to toe and carrying a little vanity case.
“Jack, what are you doing here?”
“A rescue mission, from what I can see! Girl, you drank last night, didn’t ya? Look how puffy your baby cheeks are! Damn, you’re lucky I managed to find or borrow some makeup for ya! I mean, I can’t make a miracle happen but I can probably avoid you looking like you were just forced into this... You weren’t, right?
As much as she was surprised to see Jack, Eden felt a bit better. The tall guy was such a down-to-earth and normal person compared to all the mafiosos and hackers, it felt like he was the last bit of normalcy in her very complex world. Eden chuckled nervously and sat on the toilet seat.
“No... I mean, yes, I agreed to it... Did Dante ask you to come?”
He rolled his eyes, and put the little vanity case on the bathroom counter, quickly taking the makeup to sort it out and checking her face.
“Oh, babe, you don’t actually think I’d miss this, would ya?” he sighed. “I mean, it might be a small wedding ceremony or whatever, but it’s still my honey girl Eden’s wedding! Here, put a bit of this on. Did you even wash your face yet?”
For the next ten minutes, she let Jack nag her about her skin and pick her makeup, letting him do pretty much all of it himself. Despite his usual extravagant tastes for himself, Jack was a real artist in his own right. Unlike Eden who had never mastered this art, he could apply any kind of makeup in no time as if he had spent hours doing it. When he was done a few minutes later, she could barely recognize her puffy, sleepy face from just before. Her skin looked very smooth and delicate now, flawless, and he had somehow enhanced the shape of her eyes and brows and added a simple, magenta-pink tint to her lips. It wasn’t too much at all and looked very natural. Eden blushed a bit, feeling like she hadn’t looked this pretty in a while; it made her a bit self-conscious about what Dante had been seeing all this time...
When he was done, Eden begged for a bit of privacy to pee, which she hadn’t been able to do since getting up. Hence, Jack took the dogs with him, and she caught a couple of seconds alone. Her heart was still beating fast, but now, there was a hint of excitement to it. A wedding had never really been part of her plans. She had the faint memory of wanting someone to spend the rest of her life with, but over the years, it had become nothing but a strange desire that would never really go away despite how unrealistic she convinced herself it was. How ironic that now it was almost taking her by surprise...
When she left the bathroom, she was surprised to find not Dante, but Jack, and this time Circé too, both waiting for her in the room. There was a little pile of clothes on an armchair which they seemed to be arguing about until they noticed her.
“Finally!” said Jack. “Come on, honey, come over here. Get in front of the mirror.”
“Good morning, Eden,” said Circé.
Although she knew the witch-like hacker had been up for hours, she didn’t have the smallest trace of fatigue on her face; Eden wondered if she was used to sleeping very little, like Loir...
“Alright, so we obviously had no time to find a decent dress since you guys are in such a rush and clearly have no consideration for traditions, but we dove through your wardrobe and made a selection. So now, you try it on!”
“...All of this?” Eden muttered, a bit shocked.
There were at least ten to twenty different outfits! Circé smiled.
“Jack and I just made a selection, but feel free to pick whichever you like most. It will be your wedding dress, after all.”
“Pick yellow!” shouted Loir in her ear. “Yellow is like a lemon! It makes everybody happy!”
Ignoring him, Eden began looking through the pile. There wasn’t even anything yellow; in fact, she could almost tell who had picked what between Jack and Circé. The first had chosen very feminine outfits, with pastel or cream colors, all close to what a white wedding dress would have been. The other outfits were all much more intricate, a bit sexy even, and in darker colors. Eden began genuinely trying to look through the pile, eliminating a few things without thinking twice. Eden had never been very into dresses anyway, she felt like most of those would have been awkward on her. For some, Jack and Circé argued for her to try anyway, so she didn’t resist. In the end, the pile had gone from the original sixteen outfits to a solid eight, which was already more manageable. She began trying them on, and four of them were ruled out because of a size issue, then two more because Jack put what he called his “bridesmaid veto” on it. Hence, Eden was soon left with a simple, sleeveless, fitted, dark pink bustier dress, and a pastel pink one that was very layered with a puffy skirt and an embroidered lace top. She tried both, not finding either of them to particularly stand out. The first dress was pretty but a bit too strict, and the second showed a lot of her skin and felt too bubbly. When she had given her opinion to Jack and Circé, the two exchanged a glance. She was once again surprised at how close they had gotten.
“...Can it work?” Circé asked.
Jack was pensively rubbing his index on his chin, frowning while staring very seriously at the dress on Eden and the other one on the side. He took a deep breath, but finally nodded confidently.
“Yeah, I’ll manage. Just ten minutes and a decent sewing machine should be enough!”
“Alright then. Eden, come sit here.”
Intrigued, Eden obeyed and sat on a stool facing the window while, to her surprise, Circé began combing her hair for her. She could feel the hacker’s fingers playing with her strands of blonde hair, and hear Jack grunting and complaining in a low voice, busy ripping and stitching fabric somewhere behind them.
“I’ll lend you some hairpins,” said Circé. “It won’t hold for long, but it will be fine for just the ceremony, alright?”
