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Adaine smoothed down the front of her dress for the 54th time. She still wasn’t sure what to think about it; it was very far out of her comfort zone to wear something like this. The dress wasn’t exactly risky, it wasn’t even particularly revealing, it was just… a dress. Yellow, knee-length and a little flared, that was it. And yet, it felt strangely special. Maybe because her parents would never have allowed her to wear something like this.
There was a soft knock at the door. “Adaine? Are you finished?”, Aelwyn asked from outside the door.
“Yes. Yeah.”, Adaine replied nervously, and quickly stepped into the shoes she had borrowed from Aelwyn for tonight: a pair of golden high heels. She immediately wobbled, and caught the edge of the bunk bed as Aelwyn entered.
Her sister gasped when she saw her. “Adaine, you look beautiful!”
Adaine felt herself blush as she was still trying to right herself. “Do you think so? It’s so tight, and short and the shoes…”
Aelwyn gave her another once-over. “The dress looks amazing. Take the shoes off for now, you can put them on in the car.”
Adaine did, thankful to step out of the wobbly high heels. Aelwyn was still looking at her thoughtfully.
“What?” She sounded a bit snappier than intended- it was the nerves.
“Can I do your make-up?” Aelwyn reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Adaine’s ear in a gesture that was tender and new between them.
Adaine hesitated. “I- I don’t ever wear make-up, I don’t own any.”
“I could use some of mine.”, Aelwyn suggested, gesturing to a bag that sat on top of a dresser on the other side of the room.
“I don’t know, Aelwyn, I don’t think your make-up is my style…” Adaine felt a familiar anxiety rumbling in the pit of her stomach. She’d fought dragons and killed her own dad, and this was what she was nervous about?
Her sister rolled her eyes a bit. “I won’t put pink lipstick on you, dummy. Here’s an idea: we’ll put it on now, and if you really don’t like it, you can wash it off before we leave, alright?” Aelwyn reached behind herself to grab her make-up bag.
Adaine bit her lower lip, hesitating again. It was true, she could always wash it off if she didn’t like it. “...okay.”
Aelwyn maneuvered her to sit on the bed, and then took a seat opposite of her. “Close your eyes.”
Adaine did, and then it was quiet between them apart from the soft noise of the brush hitting the side of whatever make-up container Aelwyn was using right now.
“...I’m not using foundation, okay? Your skin is nice enough without it. Just some blush right here.” The soft bristles of the brush tickled the apples of Adaine’s cheeks.
“...and some eyeshadow. Don’t startle.” It was a weirdly nice sensation, kind of relaxing. Adaine felt the knot in her stomach loosen a bit.
“Open your eyes.” Adaine did. Aelwyn sat closely opposite of her, looking at her quizzically. “Hm. Your eyes look really pretty with these warm colors. Let me just add some gold maybe…”
Adaine closed her eyes again and let Aelwyn do her work.
There was some commotion downstairs, probably the others getting ready as well.
“Okay, now for the mascara. Look up.” Having something so close to her eye was a bit startling, but as Aelwyn slowly dragged the mascara wand over Adaine’s lashes, Adaine realized that she trusted her sister not to hurt her.
“Alright, we’re finished!” Aelwyn rummaged through her bag for a hand mirror, presenting Adaine with a close-up of her own reflection.
There was no pink lipstick. In fact, it wasn’t flashy at all- there was a bit of red on her cheeks, making her look healthy, and some earthy tones on her lids, making her eyes look a little larger and accentuating her eye color. The mascara made her lashes look much longer.
“Do you like it?”
Adaine swallowed. “I like it.” She looked up to meet her sister’s eyes. Aelwyn quickly fashioned her emotional smile into a self-satisfied one.
“Yeah, I did a great job.”
“You did.”, Adaine replied, and then pulled her big sister into a hug. “Thank you.” Aelwyn let her, wrapping her arms around her, careful not to touch her face.
“You’re welcome.” Aelwyn tried to mask her sniffle by pressing a quick kiss to the top of Adaine’s hair.
They hugged for a moment, before Aelwyn pulled back. “I’ve got to get ready as well.”
Adaine, reminded of this fact, let out a groan. “Ugh, I can’t believe Fabian asked you and you said yes.”
Aelwyn gave her a sassy little shrug. “We’re all going as friends, aren’t we?”
“Yes, because I really don’t want to think about you and Fabian being anything but!”
Aelwyn laughed, throwing back her hair. “We aren’t, really.”
Adaine gave a disgruntled little “Good.”, and stood. The golden high heels were glaring at her from the side of the mirror.
“...I really don’t think I can walk more than a few steps in those without breaking my ankle.”
“Hmm.” Aelwyn was already in the process of giving herself extremely pointed eyeliner. “Just put on some white trainers, that’ll look cute.”
“Won’t that look weird?” Adaine nudged the high heels with her foot.
“No, it’ll look really cute. Especially if it makes you feel comfortable.” Aelwyn grabbed some red lipstick from her bag. “You know, being yourself and all that.”
Adaine couldn’t help but laugh. “Ew, being yourself sounds terrible.”
Aelwyn gave a little shrug, and a wicked little smile. “I don’t know, I’m starting to like it quite a lot.”
Adaine felt her own smile widen as she looked at her big sister. “So do I, actually. Can I borrow your white sneakers?”