A Week With the Hollands

Chapter Nine

     Day six.

     Monday.

     I woke up with my hair in my mouth. I pulled it out and sat up. Then I realized: I was on the couch. I had fallen asleep with my head on his shoulder and my arm wrapped around his torso. His arm was draped across my legs.

     I looked at Tom. He hadn't woken yet. But I heard voices in the kitchen. His parents must've discovered us but didn't wake us up.

     The storm of butterflies dominated my entire body. I tried to move so that I wouldn't wake him up, but his eyes fluttered open, and he smiled at me.

     "Good morning, darling."

     I grinned. "Good morning, darling," I repeated.

     I had no idea if we were both just full sending to the thought of being fake fiancés, or if we both actually meant to say it. It could be both.

     We stood and walked into the kitchen, where Nicola and Dominic were. "Ah, so the love-birds are finally awake," Nicola said.

     "We fell asleep on the couch," Tom said, rubbing his eyes.

"What time is it?" I asked.

Dominic answered, "Almost one o'clock. You two must've had a pretty late night." He sipped his tea and gave us a look, raising his eyebrow.

Tom's eyes said it all. "One o'clock? I've never slept that late in my life! Why didn't you guys wake us up? We've got so much to do, getting ready for the party tonight and-"

Mrs. Nicola cut him off. "No, we've got so much to do preparing for the party. The happy couple has to do nothing but show up."

"I can help with anything," I said, trying to pitch in.

Nicola walked over to me and placed a hand on my back. She walked me to my bedroom and closed the door saying with a smile, "All you've got to do is get ready, honey. The guests will be here at 5:30."

So I took a shower and shaved and exfoliated and moisturized and did basically everything I could to get my skin looking good. After about an hour, I put a robe on and started to do my makeup.

     I tried not to put too much, but I also tried not to put too little.

     It came out looking the exact same as it did every day of my life.

     I guess that was okay.

     Then I moved on to my hair. I wore it curly every day, so I wanted to do something different with it. But for some reason I just didn't feel like straightening it. And I couldn't put it in a ponytail because ponytails just didn't look good on me. Maybe a bun.

So I tried a bun. After seventy-four tries, I couldn't get it right and my arms were aching. So I deserted that plan.

I curled it.

Like I did every single day of my life.

I guess that was okay.

I didn't put on my actual clothes until around five. I didn't want to get any makeup on it because it was white, and I didn't want to crimp it up or make it smelly.

     So when the time came, I slipped into the elegant white pantsuit that I'd brought for the engagement party. It was honestly very beautiful. And once I'd put it on, I felt like a princess. I put on some earrings and my ring, but something still felt off. I decided then to put on some red lipstick. That really changed things. It looked one hundred times better then.