Unexpected

Costumes and Accessories

"Seriously, Penny, how long are you going to hide in there?" Natasha's voice was a mixture of amusement and exasperation as she knocked on the hotel room's bathroom door.

"I'm not coming out."

I could hear her sigh loudly before the doorknob to the bathroom jiggled behind me. I thanked the Lord silently that I had locked the door when I'd come in here to change. My eyes wandered back over to the mirror above the sink. My reflection looked back at me with the same expression of overwhelming embarrassment that I was feeling. My cheeks were bright pink and my arms were crossed in front of my chest like I was subconsciously trying to hide my cleavage. The dress I was wearing certainly wasn't doing a good enough job of it!

Once our team had landed in St. Petersburg we were driven to this hotel that was just a mile away from the targeted club Natasha and I would infiltrate as party girls in order to get close enough to Derek Anton to gather the information we needed from him. Unfortunately for me, being a party girl, especially one that would actually be able to get close to the sleazy businessman and proxy, meant that we had to dress the part, and that's what had me all flustered and embarrassed.

"If you don't open this door, Penny, I'm going to just pick it you know." Nat threatened, her voice only slightly muffled by the thin wood of the door.

"Fine." I rolled my eyes, my shoulders slumped in defeat as I turned away from my reflection, unlocking the door with a click, and allowing it to swing open to reveal Nat.

She definitely looked the part of a party girl in her outfit which was a burnt orange high-waisted, flowing miniskirt, black-tinted nylons, and a black, halter crop top that showed off the curves in her figure marvelously and exposed her midriff and her shoulders in a rather salacious way. The only thing that messed up her look was the fact that she had a bundle of blonde, beach-curled hair hanging from her fingers like some grotesque purse or a prize from the scalping of a bleach blonde. Her eyes scanned me up and down once, appraising me before she smirked.

I followed her gaze down my body which was clad only in a silky black dress that clung to my body. Its spaghetti straps hardly supported my chest that was being squeezed up into an abnormally perky position by the push-up bra that Natasha had handed me with the dress to help complete my costume. Under her appraising eyes I tried to pull the hem of the dress further down my thighs since it stopped way too close to my butt in my opinion, but that action only pulled it down, exposing my chest even more. Why couldn't I win?

Before she could utter something to tease me, I shot out, "Why did I even bother packing my combat suit?"

She was obviously enjoying my embarrassment far too much, her mirth showing in how the corner of her mouth pulled into a quick smirk again before she pulled herself back together to quip back, "No one told you to bring it."

"No one told me anything before I was packed away on that quinjet!"

"That was sort of the point, but Penny, you wouldn't have agreed if we hadn't, but we really do need you on this mission. No one else can do it, and anyways, you look hot!"

"I look like a hooker you mean." I bemoaned as Nat pushed her way into the bathroom, dropping a large bag of makeup on the sink counter along with her wig.

"Well, not quite yet." she laughed before snatching up my wrist and guiding me to sit on the lid of the toilet. "A little makeup will help with that."

I had hoped that my usual mascara and eye liner would be enough, but apparently not. Natasha brought out an array of brushes and powders, commanding me to tilt my head up and to pucker my lips and close my eyes and bat my lashes and suck in my cheeks all in due time as she painted my face. I complied with each of her demands as she stood over me.