Learning to be Beautiful

Learning to be Beautiful ~25~

It felt as if, to me at the very least, as soon as the fashion show began, it ended. I was only on the walk twice--once in a dress, and the second time in a sort of pantsuit thing--but by the time the thing was over I felt totally drained. I so relieved when I was finally able to collapse back into the makeup chair to rest for a moment while one of the hairstylists pulled out the numerous bobby-pins and brushed out some of the stiffness from the mounds of gel and hairspray they had placed in my hair. Somewhere between taking out the very last bobby pin and getting my hair brushed out, I fell asleep.

 “Of course, your majesty,” Linc mocked in that infuriatingly beautiful British accent. Even his voice was more beautiful than mine! I was halfway out of the hall of small changing rooms when he added something on, “Just know that I will never try to apologize to you again.”

I hesitated for a moment; did I want him to apologize? I turned back to look at him, one eyebrow arched. “Apologize?”

Linc moved out of the dressing room, the red, velvet curtains brushing his dark brown hair back momentarily before it settled perfectly back into place. “Obviously,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Why on earth would I have followed you in here otherwise?”

I had no answer for him; I didn’t even know that he had followed me in here.

“You followed me?” I snorted, “What the heck are you? A stalker?” Definitely not one of my best come-backs, but under the circumstances, I thought it was pretty good.

“Would you like an apology or not, Ms. Palmin?” He sighed, words rolling smoothly off his tongue and sounding sweeter than honey. I wondered how many times he had practiced it on other people to make it sound so sickeningly perfect.

“That really depends; will it be sincere?”

“The sincerest.” He assured, dipping his head again.

Liar, ran through my head.

“I’m not completely devoid of gentlemanly tendencies, you know,” Linc commented casually; leaning back against a wall, arms crossed over his chest. “It’s not just my accent you American women find charming.”

I frowned at his arrogance, “Who would ever find you charming?” I sneered.

...

"You're the most bizarre girl I have ever met, do you know that?" Linc asked conversationally as he took another swig from his shot glass, emptying it in one go. "When I'm drunk, most people run away from me, but you..." he waved his arm in a large sweeping motion, "you just won't leave me alone no matter how much I beg you to."

He slammed the small glass down on the brightly-lit white bar-top and waved at the bartender for another. "You..." Linc wagged his finger at me with a shrewd smile twisting his lips, "You like me."

I groaned and ran a hand down my face exasperatedly, "How many of those have you had?" I had already counted four since I had sat down next to him, and with every shot, his words blurred together more.

Instead of answering me, Linc continued on this little tangent, "You think that I am a stud muffin." He declared loudly, gaining the attention of Callie who was standing a few feet away. She glanced over at us, spotted me and waved her hand wildly over her head a gigantic grin glued onto her face. "You think..." Another gulp, another shot. "That I am a sexy beast of a man." He smirked at his own drunkenly slurred words, and poked me in the arm forcefully, "Don't you? That's why you won't leave me 'lone. You think I'll confess my undying love for you while I'm drunk." He pulled back suddenly, his chin sinking into his neck so that it seemed like he had two chins instead of one, "Well let me tell you, missy..." He thumped his chest forcefully with a fist, "This guy, don't love no one."

...

“Ms. Palmin, to repay me for spoiling my shirt, you will tell me what is wrong.” Linc’s tone was playfully serious as he tried to lighten the mood.

“I…I just…” I sighed and wrapped my arms around my torso again. “I don’t feel beautiful enough.” My confession was whispered, and directed towards the floor but he somehow still managed to hear it.

“Ms. Palmin, where on earth did you ever get that idea?”

My head jerked up in surprise as he said that, “What?”

He smiled gently as he placed one hand on my shoulder in a brotherly manner and peered sincerely into my plain brown eyes with his brilliant emerald ones. “Aislyn, whoever told you that you weren’t pretty enough was dead wrong.” Linc sounded uncertain about what he was saying, but sincere. “You are a beautiful young woman, and if Pierre was auctioning off your dances tonight the men would line up for miles just to have a chance to dance with you.”

I laughed a little bit at his exaggeration, but it came out as a sort of half-hiccup. “You don’t need to—“

“Lie? But I’m not. Can’t you see it, Ms. Palmin? You have beauty, charm, charisma; the only thing you’re lacking is self-esteem.”

Another hiccup and a smile, “Tear-ruined make-up and all?”

Linc grinned at my attempt at lightening the mood, “Tear-ruined make-up and all.”

...

"Oh yes, you seem completely competent when it comes to these sorts of things." His mocking words were off set by a condescending eye-roll. "You're a klutz, Ms. Palmin. A klutzy, incompetent, impossibly stubborn, idiot girl. That's the long and the short of it."

His words stung, especially considering my feelings for him, and I felt my eyes starting to sting as tears pricked at them. "I hate you, Linc Kingsman."

A snarky smirk lifted one corner of his lips. "Such fierce words from such a little girl. If that's true, then why did I wake up to you by my bedside the last time I was drunk, eh?" I gasped; he remembered that? "That doesn't seem like something one would do for someone they supposedly hated."

"I-I..." I was at a loss for words. "I don't have time for this." I bent swiftly to gather up the shoes, then prepared to march out of the room and up to Pierre to tell him that I wasn't going to deal with Linc any longer, but Linc's next words stopped me from moving another inch.

"I think it's time we come to terms with our feelings for each other."

Come to terms with our feelings for each other. Feelings... each other...

Someone shaking my shoulder roughly suddenly snapped me out of my memory-dream-thing, and I heard laughter as I spazzed and fell out of the chair.

"Nice landing there, Ais," Gavin chuckled from behind me. I threw a nearby hairbrush at him.

"Shut up, you big lump. You scared me. I was sleeping." Giving into my childish urges, I stuck my tongue out at him only causing him to laugh at me again.

"Ouch. A lump? You're so mean to your best friend." Grinning wildly, the lump extended one of his large hands out to me and, when I took it, hoisted me upright.

I laughed and hugged him tightly, "You know I love you, Gav."

My best friend's laughter shook his entire body as he hugged me back. We stayed like that for a few seconds when an uncomfortable cough sounded from behind us.

"Linc?" The confusion in Gavin's voice was apparent and when I found out who it was behind us, I instantly sprang backwards, removing myself from my friend's arms. Gav shot me a weird look before speaking again. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here, Mr. Vice. Though, more specifically, I came here to speak to Ms. Palmin." Linc's dark eyebrows were high up on his forehead above his green eyes as he basically asked Gavin to leave. "Privately."

Gavin coughed awkwardly before stepping back from me, "Yeah, sure, 'course."

I turned away from Linc and kept my gaze fixated on Gavin's back as he walked out of the room. Perhaps I wouldn't have felt so terribly uncomfortable being in a room alone with Linc if it weren't for my dream, but I couldn't make myself face him until it was absolutely necessary. Finally, I no longer had an excuse not to look at the the Brit behind me, and I turned back around.

"What's up?" I tried to keep my tone light and care-free, hoping desperately that he only wanted to talk to me about a really minute thing.

He didn't answer, but walked over to one of the nearby makeup tables and picked up what I think was a hair straightener. He seemed to examine it closely, taking in every single detail, like he couldn't face me. Was he just as uncomfortable around me as I was around him?

Finally, he set down the flatiron and his eyes shot up to meet mine. "Do you remember what I said earlier?"

A blush rose to my cheeks. Of course I did... but I didn't want to say that, so instead I said, "You said a lot of things earlier."

"I mean about..." Linc swallowed heavily, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly. He was nervous--just as much as I was. This was totally un-Linc-ish. His voice dropped in volume, and he tore his eyes away from my face. "I mean about coming to terms with our feelings for each other."

His words brought a fresh flush to my cheeks, "Ye-es..." I murmured slowly, looking down at my stiletto-covered feet.

"Good."

And in that one moment, when I was least expecting it, Linc closed the spacial gap between us and kissed me.

///

Dedicated to a_colorful_dreamer because she asked me for an update, and that's pretty much the only reason I wrote this today. XD Haha, I don't like this chapter much; it's short and it's awkward, and blah. But hey! It's an update, right? I'm not entirely sure that there will be another update in June--I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month and I really want to actually win this time. :P I'll try my best to update though!(: Up next: Fly With Me update! :D