Egyptian Vanity

Saturnalia

I was wrong when I thought Hajra was as crazy as she was going to get. Fayez had sent out a text the morning of the party, telling everyone that worked in the kitchen for that day had to report to Hajra at five in the morning. That wasn't even the worst of it. The night before we were in the kitchen until midnight, preparing everything to finish the next day. The amount of food that Hajra had was insane.

It was currently one in the afternoon right now and I had been slaving away making many dishes with the most kitchen savvy maids. Hajra had persuaded Fayez to let the trustworthy maids help in the kitchen. At least that is what she told me but in my head I knew how the persuasion went and it wasn't anything sweet in the least. I could just imagine how loud Hajra had yelled at Fayez before he caved and gave her what she wanted.

I slid a tray of cupcakes into the oven when Hajra walked over to me. "My Ella, you've been such a help to me today." She said with a hint of pride in her voice.

"It's no problem. You know how much I love being in the kitchen." I dusted off my hands and placed them on my hips.

"Lily told me that you're going to the party with her tonight." She said and leaned against the counter. "You should probably head up and start getting ready."

"Oh, I couldn't do that to you." I gestured around at all the unbaked dishes on the counters. "You still have so much to do."

Hajra waved me off, "I've managed these parties by myself for years, darling. Go ahead," she urged and led me out of the kitchen. Before I could utter another word the door closed in my face. I let out a small laugh at how humorous I must have looked as Hajra slammed the door in my face. So off to my room I went.

I checked the clock and saw that I had about two hours to get ready before the guests started to arrive. I started with drawing myself a bath, putting in the oils I knew would make me smell delectable. My goal was to make Logan drool, something he deserves. Before I could step into the water there was a knock at my door. My brows furrowed in confusion, who could be at my door right now. I wrapped myself in the robe before padding to the door and opening it.

"Lily? What are you doing here?" I asked, stepping aside to allow her to enter. She had two dresses on hangers in her hands, swinging them around in my face.

"Which one do you want to wear? I think both of these will suit you perfectly." The one on the right was a tight, silver, body con dress. The other was a long, satin red dress. Both were truly beautiful but the red one was calling my name. I hadn't ever worn something so elegant. I quickly pointed to the red one which caused a bright smile to cover Lily's mouth. "Good choice." She laid both dresses out flat on the bed before turning back to me.

"You need to shower, I can smell whatever you were cooking in the kitchen on you."

"I was just about to take a bath actually."

"Perfect! Okay, I'm going to get ready. I'll come get you before I go down." I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was too excited which was apparently contagious because the longer I thought about it, the more excited I became.

"Sounds good," I reply while closing the door. I check the time again and see that I'm running out of time. I quickly race to the bathroom again and take the quickest bath I've ever had. I'm surprised I didn't cut anything as I shaved everything. I quickly applied masks to my face, not waiting for them the dry before washing them off.

I drained the tub and dried off my body with haste. I checked the time once again and saw that I had less than an hour to get dressed. I got to work on my makeup, which wasn't much. A little concealer, mascara and to tie the whole thing together, some dark red lipstick, the good kind that doesn't come off easily.