When I Met Tom (A Tom Hiddleston Fan Fiction)

Chapter Twelve

‘Perfect,’ said Sarah, placing the can of hairspray down on the counter, ‘You can open your eyes now.’

I opened my eyes slowly, trying not to breathe in the hairspray in the air around me.

‘Right, let’s get you into that gorgeous dress,’ squealed Alice in excitement.

Right now Alice seemed more excited than I was about this whole event. I nodded and she skipped off to collect the dress that was hanging in the other room. After a few seconds she delicately walked back in carefully carrying the dress in the protective cover over both of her arms.

Alice hung it on the curtain rail and Sarah went over to help undo the zip on the cover and pull out the precious material.

‘Oh my goodness, that dress is amazing!’ gasped Sarah, ‘That is some serious sparkle you’re wearing tonight!’

‘Is that Elie Saab?’ asked Alice, ‘I swear I saw that in Vogue last month.’

‘It is,’ I smiled, walking over to them.

‘It is incredible! I’m so jealous that you get to wear this tonight.’ Alice added.

After the ladies stood in silence, just taking in the beauty of the dress, Sarah snapped out of the moment and said, ‘So, shall we get you into this? Then you can see your hair and make-up.’

‘Let’s do this,’ I said, taking deep breaths, still feeling panicked.

Sarah and Alice both helped me carefully into the dress and did the side zip up really slowly, so as not to catch any of the fabric or embellishment in it.

‘You’re all done,’ said Alice, ‘You want to take a look?’

‘Come on then,’ I smiled nervously back at her, and I think she sensed my current feelings.

‘You look stunning, Charlotte, you truly do. Don’t look so frightened sweetie.’ Alice whispered to me, leading me over to the full length mirror that was on the wall in the open hallway.

I hadn’t seen anything that they had done, not my hair or my make-up. All I’d seen was the clear but shimmering nail varnish I had painted on my fingers and toes, and I knew that my hair was up, that was it.

I walked over to the mirror looking at the floor, not really wanting to look up, but I knew that I had to. I slowly raised my head and looked straight into the mirror. And there I was.

The dress was a truly remarkable creation, and it fit like a glove, perfectly. My make-up actually made me look like the movie stars on the red carpet, with flawless skin, highlighter and bronzer in all the right places, a lovely pink blusher on my cheeks, a nude glittering eye shadow smoothed across my eyelids with some incredible false eyelashes that were quite natural but really stood out. My lips were a very natural shade of pink. Then there was my hair.