Closest To Heaven That I'll Ever Be

31. Can't Get Over It

By the time we made it upstairs, my bedroom had stopped belonging to me.

I wasn't entirely sure how it had happened.

One minute, the room had been exactly as I'd left it that morning—bed made, dressing table tidy, clothes folded neatly over the chair because I hadn't quite gotten around to putting them away.

Twenty minutes later, it looked as though a particularly glamorous tornado had ripped through it.

Dresses were hanging from my wardrobe doors. Shoes were lined along the floor. Daphne had somehow taken over half my dressing table with enough jewellery to stock a small boutique, while Laurie had emptied an alarming collection of cosmetics across my bed. Pansy's contribution appeared to consist of three bottles of alcohol, four glasses and an enchanted mirror she'd propped against my pillows.

I stood in the middle of it all, staring. "How did you bring this much stuff?"

Laurie looked up from where she was kneeling beside her bag. "We didn't know what we'd need."

"We're going out for one night."

"Exactly."

"How many nights do you pack for normally?"

"Don't judge me, Peach."

"That's my nickname," Pansy complained from the dressing table.

"No, Posy is yours."

Daphne looked between us. "When did this happen?"

"Lunch."

"And we're keeping them," Pansy announced.

Apparently that settled it.

I'd gone downstairs for glasses and returned to discover that Pansy had found the Firewhiskey Draco had left behind, Daphne had discovered a bottle of wine in one of the bags and Laurie was attempting to convince both of them that cocktails were a much better idea.

"We haven't even left the house yet," I pointed out.

"Exactly," Pansy said, as though that somehow proved her argument. "This is the important part."

"The getting-ready part?"

"The getting-ready part is sometimes better than the actual night."

I frowned.

She gasped. "You've never done this before."

"I've gotten ready before."

"With friends."

Oh. "No." The word came out more quietly than I'd intended.

For half a second, the room changed. Then Pansy simply poured something sparkling into my glass and pushed it towards me. "Well, you're doing it now."

I smiled. "Apparently."

"And you're going to enjoy it."

"That sounded threatening."

"It was."

I laughed and took the glass.

Within another half an hour, I understood what she'd meant.

Music played from the wireless on my windowsill. Laurie sang terribly along with almost every song while curling sections of Daphne's hair with her wand. Daphne kept swatting her away whenever she got too close to her ear. Pansy had taken control of my makeup after declaring that my normal routine was criminally boring, while I sat cross-legged on the floor with a drink in my hand and tried not to move every time she threatened me with eyeliner.