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“There,” Stella said, wiping off the small smudge of red under Jane’s bottom lip. “Take a look.”
She watched as Jane opened her eyes and took in her own reflection in Stella’s gilded vanity mirror.
Jane was always pretty, of course, but hers was the fresh beauty of youth and health and mischief, charming and unstudied.
Now, with her coal-dark eyes, pale cheeks and deep red mouth, she looked seductive. Downright lethal.
The false lashes fluttered against her cheekbones when she blinked against the light, and her lips parted in surprise. Stella had picked the dark, blood-like shade she’d worn in “The Vampire’s Broken Heart,” which she knew Jane liked especially.
“Oh, wow,” Jane said. Even her voice sounded different, more sultry. “I don’t look like myself at all!”
Stella took a step back to admire her work. Jane had refused to wear one of Stella’s wigs – “He won’t even recognize me!” – so they had done her hair in a retro style, flattening her usual swoop to her forehead as an elegant curl. She was already wearing the dress they had picked together from the “Already Worn Once” closet, a long black number with a daring hip-high slit that had hung elegantly loose on her own body but hugged Jane’s breasts and hips to a rather different effect.
She quieted the pang of jealousy that was threatening to rise and focused on the task at hand. Something was missing, still.
“Don't move,” she said, although Jane was so enraptured by her own reflection that there was no risk she would, Stella thought.
She wandered over to the accessories wardrobe and opened a few drawers until she found what she needed.
“Alright, come here,” she called, just for the pleasure of looking at Jane walking her way. She was barefoot, the silk of the dress hem pooling around her feet and dragging on the heavy carpet.
Stella placed the feathery shawl around Jane’s shoulders, letting her fingers graze her skin as she arranged it perfectly.
“Perfect,” she breathed, dragging her eyes over Jane slowly, taking her in – her flawless skin, the flush on her neck, the points of her nipples visible through the silk.
She was about to reach out and brush a loose strand of hair behind Jane’s ear when Jane broke the silence with a breathless giggle.
“God, I’m not late, am I?” she said, and rushed back to the vanity, rifling through her bag for her wristwatch. It was too cheap to be worn with this outfit, and Jane wouldn’t accept Stella’s gold-and-diamond piece, so they had compromised.
“Plenty of time,” Stella said dismissively. She desperately craved a cigarette and a glass of whisky. “You’re taking the car.”
“Oh, no, really, Ma’am, I couldn’t–”
“Pshhhhh.” Stella brushed aside the protest. “We’ve discussed this. You can’t let a man that handsome wait for you too long by himself. Anyway, taxis won’t come all the way out here, and if you think you can walk as far at the monorail station in those shoes, then you really shouldn’t be wearing them.”
Plus, she would get mugged – if not worse – before she was halfway there. Stella had heard the news, it was all they were talking about these days.
“Promise me you’ll take the car. And if you don’t go home with him – don’t make that face – then you take the car back here. Promise me, Jane.”
Jane looked hesitant, but she nodded in the end.
“Thank you so much, Ma’am. You really didn’t have to–”
“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. It’s not often I get to play dress-up with someone else as my doll.”
Jane giggled again, and then she grabbed her things – the heels, the bag stuffed full of the cheap trinkets she insisted she would need, plus the baton of lipstick Stella had placed in there earlier – and started for the door.
She stopped in front of Stella, her eyes sparkling with excitement, and threw her arms around her, hugging tight. She was wearing the perfume Stella had gifted her for the holidays. She felt so alive, flesh and blood and hope. With each passing day, Stella felt more like a collection of bones hidden behind expensive clothing.
“Have a good night, Ma’am,” Jane said, and then kissed Stella’s cheek, and then her lips.
“I won’t,” Stella replied, and Jane rolled her eyes, shaking her head fondly. “But you, have a great night. And don’t drink too much, so you can tell me about it tomorrow. In detail.”
“I will!” Jane called, and then she half skipped out of the door, somehow avoiding tripping over the still too-long dress.
Ah, the wonders of youth. Stella licked her lips, collecting the taste of the dark lipstick, and then went to the dresser to pour herself her first drink of what would undoubtedly be a very long evening.