Static Hearts

A glamorous preparation

"What are you spacing out for?"

His voice reached her while she was immersed in thoughts of the past, standing there dazed as Greg harshly dragged her towards the living room, carrying on with his reproachful remarks.

"Your hair is a mess. Get out of that hoody before I burn you with it. Why are you still wearing your boots???" After inhaling a mouthful of oxygen, he continued: "I thought we agreed on something. Is it that hard to come on time for once? Do you have any idea how long Finn has been waiting for your sorry ass?"

Beyond the roughness of his voice and peremptory attitude, he actually resembled a stressed, panic-stricken person who kept looking at the watch every two seconds. The messy hair perfectly displayed the agitated state Greg was in, while a bowtie hung around his neck like a collar. Judging by the ruddy complexion and unbuttoned shirt he was probably late as well.

To Finn this all scene looked like a father coaxing his child. The whole affection display was sweet enough to make him smile.

"Huh?" Reina, however, seemed to just have noticed  someone else's presence in the room. A young male with bleached hair and a weird fashion sense was holding a bag full of makeup materials, which colors were perfectly exhibited on his face. With pierced eyebrows and smokey eyes, he was looking fondly at her.

"Oh. Greg I didn't know you swing that way." A noise of fallen boxes was heard followed by a painful groan, indicating that someone tripped.

"He's your hairstylist, you idiot!" He yelled from the other room. 

"Come on sweetheart. Let's make you look beautiful." Fin took a brush and approached her unaltered, still keeping his lips upturned.

"Who's your sweetheart?" she uttered in annoyance. He didn't pay much attention to that, sticking up to his professional attitude, and starting to carefully brush her hair.

Greg's apartment was located in a desolated and filthy neighborhood, part of the city's northern region. Its dark alleyways were what would be considered a breeding ground for evil. Here and there, people were killed every hour, while someone experienced violence every minute. Most of the city's scum was gathered in the place where her best friend has been living for two years. Fortunately, his landlord was a sweet and generous old lady who gave him a shelter when he needed it, making this shabby apartment his temporary house; a fact which Greg was surprisingly comfortable with.

The upper interior surface of the living room was covered by a deep shade of crimson. It was not clear which designer's bad taste led to that, but now every time she visited Greg's house craning her neck to look up at the ceiling was unavoidable. So ridiculous.

"By the way..." his head was peeking from the bathroom "I need you to tone it down a little the next time you come." Since Reina was prohibited from leaving the house unescorted, for particular unimportant reasons, Gilles accompanied her every time she came here. But for a young teenage girl to come to this area attracted a lot of attention. That led to a big ruckus when Gilles dealt with them one by one.

"We got 23 complaints from the other residents." By complaints, he meant punches because people in this area didn't want to waste a precious renewable resource like paper for a simple complaint. Banging the door is much easier.

"Oh," she exclaimed in surprise. "Would you look at that?"

Let's just say that Greg's neighbors often made a 'petition' to kick him out of his house. It was hilarious watching him trying to cover the bruises with Jasmine's powder.

"Look what I've got for you!" His voice laced with excitement rang through the room. A breathtaking gown was unveiled to their disbelieving eyes.

The dress was a pure white color with grey highlights and lavish appliques of black beaded details that created an extra touch of femininity. Made by a luxuriant fabric with flower patterns, it had a meter of trail at the back delineating elegance and sophistication. Two bold colors, black and white were blended to create an unspeakable sense of harmony.

"I found it in your mother's wardrobe. Thankfully it was well covered or it would rust together with the other clothes." He said proudly while secretly admiring the mental strength he had to look for hours inside a dead woman's closet. "You like it?"

"It's just a dress." Reina was never fond of extravagancies or sparky things. Based on that this was chosen as the perfect outfit because it was special but at an outstanding level of simplicity. "But yeah, I like it."

"Then you have to like these too." A pair of strappy heels were boldly standing under the dress as if nothing else could suit them better. Greg also extended her some small pieces of jewelry, which absence would be harshly reprimanded by Camille Ricci.

"Well somebody did his homework." She raised an eyebrow to all this unsolicited endeavor.

"I still remember the stunt you pulled last year, that's why." And so he shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Eight minutes later she was ready to go.

"Sweety you are one of the scarce amount of people I don't have to work on." Finn commented as he gave the final touch to her makeup. "Unlike your escort."

Greg was still trying in vain to fix that messy hair, his hands sweating in tension. Reina drew closer to him and started securing his bowtie.

"Remind me why am I doing this again?"

"Because I need you." She answered simply.

"Does this mean I should ignore your family's death glares?"

"Yes. Because you don't have to please anyone." After giving his head a stroke they left the apartment not bothering to lock the doors. There was nothing to steal anyway.