My Covert Bodyguard

39: Meeting the Fam

When the door shut behind me, I let out a deep exhale and jumped onto my new bed. Everything was happening so quickly, I just needed a moment to take it all in. This was going to be my life now—all of this. And who knew how long I'd be there. A week, and they find out I'm a fraud? Half a year, or two, or forever? Suddenly I missed my family dearly, and not just the my relatives (though I guess I was surrounded by them now). No, I missed Brook, and Mikey, Theo, the Office, and Kyle—Kyle. How was he now? Was he worried I was dead by now? I wanted to talk to him, just for a second, only for him to be at ease that I was going to be alright. The guilt of how I could be making him feel stabbed at my heart. But besides that, I found myself increasingly anxious at the thought of "training with the recruits" tomorrow, and basically, until I left. And the idea of not seeing everyone I was close to, for however long, terrified and stressed me out like never before.

I wanted to cry for the sake of crying, but I couldn't yet, so I decided to take a nap before the family dinner "just for me". There was still daylight outside, so I figured I'd have a few hours to escape my thoughts and rest.

It felt like a blink of an eye when Melissa was shoving me awake.

"Miss, I have to get your ready for the dinner. I wanted to let you sleep in as much as possible, but you need to leave in twenty minutes."

I groaned, but rubbed my eyes and complied. I stood up as Melissa grabbed my hand and dragged me to the makeup stand already set up with high quality makeup and a trifold mirror. I stifled a yawn as Melissa worked magic on my face and hair like she had done many times before. This familiar routine made me feel slightly comforted, and I was endlessly grateful Melissa was here. 

When I was awake enough to register what Melissa was doing, I noticed she had dressed up my face with trendy nude colors, and a perfectly winged cateye. She had also applied subtle contour to make me look mature. She curled my hair loosely to make my flat, boring hair reach the prime of its sexiness. 

"Thank you, Melissa." I said, turning to her, truly meaning it. Without this, I would have looked like a scared, exhausted nightmare, but this makeup polished up my exterior as well as boosted up my confidence.

"Don't thank me just yet." She said regrettably, pulling out a dress from my closet. "Miss Roselle has asked for you to wear this."

I eyed the dress. It was—gold. Glittery, dramatic gold. The entire thing. I guess the shape was nice, with a classy boat neck and cinched at the waist, and flowing all the way to floor like a waterfall of pixie dust, but it was definitely not my style, and Melissa knew that. It was the kind of dress that Rebecca Amador would wear—and totally nail—but me, I liked more subtle hues that would go well with my dull-colored hair and eyes. 

"Do I have a choice?" I asked, eyeing the dress with uncertainty.

"I'm afraid not." Melissa said, and I sighed and took the dress from her.

Just as Melissa zipped me up, I heard the beep at my door meaning someone had keyed themself in. My heart skipped anxiously at already seeing Roselle, but I turned around and sighed in relief to see Ollie. Melissa smiled warmly at me and excused herself. 

My relieved eyes met very amused ones. "Wow, that's gold."

I grumbled. "Is it that bad?"

Ollie frowned and shook her head, inspecting me. "No, you're pulling it off. It's just a classic Roselle color. If you haven't noticed, green and gold is her thing."

"Yeah, I figured. I'll just fit right in." I said sarcastically.

Ollie smirked. "Oh god, you won't want to. I can't believe you're going to meet the family. Although, you should be fine because you have the classic Scarlett eyes."