Ready? Not Really.. (Fem USUK) •IN EDITING•

Alice

Maddie made her entrance quite well known. "Hey, beauty queen!" She shouted surprisingly loud and grinned down at me. I smiled back, which immediately set off Lovina, who was trying to fill in my eyebrows, into a flurry of curses as she tried to find a makeup wipe to correct her mistake. Her sister, Feli, had been waiting for her curling iron to hear up so that she could transform my permanent bed head into perfect ringlets. At least, that's all I could gather from the sisterly bickering and anxious chatter. Honestly, as long as I wasn't left to my own devices, I could care less what they caked on my face. "You're already looking gorgeous."
I rolled my eyes. "As if. I only have foundation on."
Maddie shrugged and ruffled my hair as she walked behind me. "You always look good. Trust me. I have to listen to Amelia babble on about you at least fifteen hours a day." She rested her shoulders on the back of my chair and looked at my reflection in the small mirror in front of me. "Hey, you already have blush on?"
I gently touched my cheek. It felt like it was on fire. "Ah, no."
"Oh." Maddie raised her eyebrows. "You realise that Amelia is going to tell you she loves you, right?"
My heart started to beat rapidly at the thought. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror. "Yeah."
"That means that you have to believe her, okay? She isn't bullshitting you."
"Okay."
"Alice." I looked up at Maddie. She looked serious, all playfulness gone from her expression. "You're my best friend and I love you. Please don't hurt my sister, okay? Listen to her. I have to almost physically drag her there because she is so scared to do this."
My eyes widened. "She's scared of.. of me? What could I possibly do?"
"Reject her."
"Oh." I wrung my hands in my lap anxiously. "Well, that won't happen."
"I know. I'm just telling you. Just..." she sighed. "Don't hurt her. Don't laugh or anything. And tell her the truth, too."
I crossed my ankles and swallowed hard. Telling Amelia the truth would be difficult and mortifying. Would she want to know how long I've been in love with her? I didn't even know myself. Loving her seemed as normal as breathing at that point. I woke up and went through my day normally, and Amelia would either be there or occupy a portion of my thoughts. I don't remember a time when that wasn't the case. And my feelings? I felt like punching a wall and kissing her and yelling at her for messing with my head and never leaving her side.
That made me sound scary, I admit, but it was true. Amelia was something else. She was intoxicating and infuriating and an overall pain in the ass, but she was absolutely stunning. The idea of living a life with her completely gone seemed... dreary.
"I just really love her," I said softly. "That's the truth."
"That'll work," Maddie reassured me.
"That's really sweet!" Feli chimed from the corner where she was checking the heat of the curler. It touched her hand, and she immediately yelped and stuck her hurt fingers in her mouth.
"Yeah," I mumbled in embarrassment.
Lovina huffed in annoyance. "Okay, super adorable, but can I please do my job?" She looked pointedly at Maddie. My friend backed away from me with a smile. "Thanks." Lovina took Maddie's spot and started putting a dark coloured eye shadow on my eyelid, hindering my eyesight temporarily.
"I'm going to get get Ames ready," Maddie said cheerfully as she left the room. "Good luck!"
Yeah... I would need a hell of a lot of luck.
"Ow! Christ!" I snapped when Lovina poked my eyelid with the brush too hard. "Be more aggressive, why don't you?"
"I would love to be, thank you," she said sarcastically.
I sighed. How fortunate of me to be have my makeup artist the absolute most pessimistic girl on the planet.
~•~•~•~
An hour and multiple arguments later, my hair was in small, perfect ringlets, and my makeup made me seem like a completely different person once more. It worried me that I looked so different. Maybe it would away Amelia into liking me for just my appearance... one that I wouldn't keep after the recital. I looked beautiful, but I wasn't. My tired bags and childish freckles were just hidden under layers of foundation and powders.
"You look amazing!" Feli squealed happily, bouncing around me to catch every angle. "Perfect! Lovina, you did wonderfully!"
Lovina rolled her eyes. "Of course I did." But she watched her sister fondly as she continued to compliment me.
"Oh and your hair! I am so sorry it does not look as wonderful as Lovi's makeup," Feli apologised, her face falling. "I did try my best, but I didn't do very well." My hair looked amazing, so I was utterly confused about what she was talking about.
"It.. it's fine, really. You did really well, Feli," I reassured her slowly. Feli brightened up and held her curling iron proudly. I noticed that tears had been welling in her eyes, and I wondered how upset she must have truly been for thinking she had done a poor job when I couldn't have gotten any better haircut anywhere else for hundreds of dollars. Strange, but everyone in this school was strange. "I do need to get going though." I looked at the alarm clock on Maddie's bookshelf. It was already five minutes past the time I wanted to get to the theatre to get changed.
"Oh!" Feli jumped out of my way as I rushed to get my dresses. "Did I take too long? I am so terribly sorry..." Lovi elbowed her in the ribs and grumbled something inaudible to her sister. Feli looked hurt and rubbed her side.
"It's fine. I don't care. I just have to go." I picked up the hangers and rushed out the door. "Thank you so much, guys!"
~•~•~•~
I trudged down the hallway and knocked on my closed door. Maddie and Amelia had been talking, but their voices died down at the sound of my fist against wood. "Coming!" Maddie shouted.
"I'm going to strangle you if she sees me," Amelia hissed. She had been trying to be quiet, but quiet wasn't exactly her forte. I covered my mouth and giggled. I saw no reason for being kept from Amelia, but I guess she was really adamant about now letting me see her until the recital was over. Not sure how I would avoid her beforehand, but I would try my best.
Maddie quickly closed the door behind her and leaned against it with a sigh. "Let's keep me alive, shall we?" She tilted her head and admired how I looked. "Wow. You look..."
"Not like myself," I interrupted, looking at the ground and scratching my neck.
"Great," Maddie corrected me. "You look really great. Trust me." She started to say something else but was quickly interrupted when something buzzed in her jean pocket. "Shoot, one second." I rolled my eyes and looked at the whiteboard outside the door to my room. Someone had written 'dyke' under my name. I wiped it away with my hand. I never understood who had the time to bother writing insults to me. "Okay, so that was Gil."
"Oh," I said simply.
"She's coming. Is that okay?" Maddie asked.
"Uhh.." I thought for a moment. "Is she leaving now? Are she and Amelia okay together? I would imagine their personalities crash..."
Maddie smiled and tucked her phone away. "Nah, they're good together. Ames hooked us up, remember? And Gil is ready." She sighed dreamily. "I've never seen her in a skirt, much less a dress..."
I clapped my hands in her face. "Focus! You can moon over your girlfriend later but I am super late!"
Maddie shook her head. "Oh, uh, yeah." She fished her keys out of her pocket. "If you want, I can drive you to the theatre with Gil, and we'll meet you after the show and... y'know, after Amelia-"
"Please don't say it out loud," I begged her, clasping my hands together. "I'm already freaking out."
She smiled gently. "It'll be okay. I promise." Maddie knocked on the door. Amelia grunted acknowledgement. "Hey, Ames? I gotta go drop off Alice, okay?"
"Get us good seats, Mads!" We started to go down the hall when Amelia shouted, "Good luck, Ally!"
I felt warmth throughout my body and, I was suddenly reminded how fond I was of Amelia. Hopefully, we would be dating by tomorrow. Years of waiting and feeling hurt and confused all lead up to this. I was grinning when Maddie took me by the hand and rushed us out the building.