Giving Fantasia: The Taking Fantasia Sequel

Chapter 27: Kind Of A Big Deal

Chapter 27: Kind Of A Big Deal

"Hat on...hat off...hat on...hat off...hat..."

Wendy paused. She stared into the mirror, bowler poised over her head.

Disgusted, she swept the hat across her reflection.

She looked terrible! She looked terrible, awful, ugly! She hadn't been sleeping well and it showed - sallow skin and dark circles under her eyes. Dreadful. She hadn't been eating well and it showed - shapeless corset and thinly filled chemise. Unattractive. There were wrinkles in her skirt, runs in her stockings, blemishes on her boots, and her dratted hair would not curl correctly under her hat!

More than ever Wendy wished for a sister. Mrs. Hawkins had already left for King Arthur's castle with Michael and John, and Wendy was not about to ask Jim for hairstyling advice.

Wendy huffed. She could imagine Jim's response. 'You look fine. Jesus let's go.' Easy for him to say: Jim was handsome. He didn't have to worry about 'looking fine' - he'd already seen Ariel. They had already reunited and picked up where they left off. Jim didn't have to worry about what Ariel might think, or where their relationship stood, or if she still loved him, or...

Wendy kneaded her forehead. She was so nervous. So incredibly nervous. The ambiguity of what Peter might think when he saw her...it was agonizing.

Wendy ran her fingers under the faucet. She dabbed her eyes and returned to the mirror.

"Don't get emotional." she said, trying to stay sensible. "Just fix it. Just..."

Wendy smoothed her hair. She plumped her bow. Again, she appraised the hat on and off, on and off, on and off...

It was no use. Giving up, Wendy lowered the bowler. She looked dreadful. She looked like...

....a twelve year old.

Wendy flinched, Jim's voice in her head. He'd had only been teasing. But there was truth in jest. Her figure was unceremoniously flat.

Dismally, Wendy tightened her corset. She hadn't much to boast. And what she had would surely go unnoticed.

Unless...

Wendy bit her lip. She fingered her corset. Tentatively, she tucked a thumb behind the breast-line. Experimentally, she lowered the bust. Maybe if she...?

"What are you doing?"

Wendy ripped her hand away.

Jim was standing at the bathroom door. He was wearing his graphene spacer suit (King Arthur had requested the guardians dress in their usual fashion), and the robotic accoutrements made him look like a cyborg. And the way he was observing her, Wendy was sure that lasers were burning from Jim's eyes.

Refusing eye contact, she began fussing with her hat.

"It just won't fall right, will it?" Wendy stammered, hoping to distract Jim from her corset. The bust was indecorously low. "My hair, the hat. I just can't seem to get it proper."

Jim's eyes flicked, reading her behavior.

"Nervous? About meeting him?"

Wendy pretended to misunderstand.

"Well, Arthur is king now. And --- "

"I meant the other him." Jim said. "Your him."