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Music played from my phone, some random song I had saved, filling the confines of my bathroom. Slow breaths passed from my cherry-painted lips as I weaved my hair into intricate braids.
It was Saturday, which meant that the so-called victory party Stark was hosting to commemorate our retrieval of the sceptre was happening. I had an inkling it was more of an excuse to let loose and socialise than it was about the sceptre.
Natasha began humming along to the song. Her voice sounded velvety and charming.
I watched through the mirror as she poked her earrings through her earlobes and smacked her scarlet lips together. She adjusted her fiery tresses, neatening up her pin-curled hair that nearly reached her shoulders. I thought Natasha looked beautiful as she matted down her black skirt that fell to the bends of her knees. There was something so effortlessly classy about her.
"Well, I'm done," said Natasha. "Figured out which dress you wanted to wear?"
I tied off the ends of my hair with clear elastics before running my hands over my bare sides; I was only wearing my nude undergarments. My options for the night hung from the glass door of my shower, drenched under the golden sun's setting rays. I rested against the stone counter, crossing my arms.
One dress was a simple black A-line dress with a translucent corseted bodice, thin straps holding it up. The tulle skirt fell to the middle of my calves, intending to make me look taller than I already was. The other dress donned glaucous-coloured silk. The slip dress fell loosely over my hips until just above my ankles, a slit slicing up to the middle of my right thigh. That one was far more simple than the black one, though just as lovely.
When I was about to select my dress, the soft music from my phone cut out abruptly. It was replaced by the buzzing and chiming of a ringtone. I knew by the sound that it was Nikolai. My only question was why he was calling me at this time of day, especially since it was well into the early morning for him.
Natasha glanced at the screen out of curiosity. "Oh, it's Niko!"
I snatched the hanger displaying the black dress and draped it over my forearm. Before I could say anything, Natasha had already pressed the green button on the screen.
"Elsking!" Nikolai's voice blared through the speakers, his pixelated face invading the expanse of the screen. His notably green eyes widened when he realised that I had not been the one to answer, but rather Natasha. "Oh, Black Widow lady, hello!"
Natasha greeted him. They weren't particularly close, but they knew each other from the times I would visit Uncle Clint, and Natasha would happen to be there too. She didn't seem to mind how Nikolai was yelling through the phone, perhaps to talk over the raucous music that pounded behind him. I knew already that he was out partying.
