I Love You, Always

Chapter 9

"Ugh," Lexy groans as she brushes loose foundation across my cheeks. "I'm so jealous of your complexion. Your skin is always so nice." Honestly, I'm barely awake. Lexy woke me up probably about half an hour ago to get ready for the day and I'm still trying to fully wake up. We went to bed pretty late, then I took a Xanax, so it left me feeling even more groggy. I merely hum in response, too tired to be able to form coherent words.

"Still sleepy?" Lexy giggles and I just nod. "Dev's been asleep forever. You think we should wake him up too soon?"

"You can," I mumble. I hate waking Devyn up. I usually leave that job to Derrick.

Lexy hums. "Maybe when I finish your makeup."

"What's the point in putting makeup on me anyway?" I ask. I never understood the appeal of it. Perhaps that's because I can't see the outcome, but the feeling of it isn't that great. It feels like I have this thick substance coating my skin and it's kind of tacky. The bristles of the brush leaves my face and I feel something glide across my right eyebrow.

"To enhance your features," Lexy replies. "Honestly, you don't even need it, but you look really good with it. If only you'd go out without your glasses and let everyone else see just how good it looks."

Yeah, that's definitely not happening. There are only a few people I'm comfortable with seeing me without my glasses, the general public is not included.

"Yeah, no."

"Why not?" There's a whine in Lexy's voice. "I don't get why you hide behind them so much. Seriously, you have the prettiest eyes." What feels like Lexy's thumb presses against my cheek, just under my right eye. "It's a shame you hide them so much."

"What even makes them pretty?" I ask. I'm genuinely curious to know, especially since I can't see them myself. "Can eyes be pretty?"

"Most people have the standard blue, green, or brown," Lexy begins, "and those can all be very pretty in their own unique ways, but yours are different. I guess a lot of people would classify them as being brown, but they're more like an amber color, which is really weird considering your blond hair. You don't see that combo too often, to be honest. I think you'd get compliments all the time if you showed them off."

I'm okay with not being given compliments all the time. That means people I don't know will talk to me, which isn't something I'm good at doing.

"I guess I feel somewhat special that you trust me enough to not wear your glasses around me, but I don't think you should hide behind them so much."

A lot of the time I feel naked without my glasses. Even sometimes at home when I'm only around Derrick and Dev I feel self-conscious without them on. Wearing them makes things easier for me, especially when around people I don't know. I can control where I'm looking when people do talk to me, at least a general direction, but I know it would be awkward to talk to someone when I can't make direct eye contact with them. Apparently that's a thing people tend to do when they talk to each other.

Lexy sighs. "Seriously, Dami, what's your secret to flawless skin? You gotta tell me."

At that I chuckle. "I don't really know," I admit. "I just wash my face like most people do, I guess."

"You're so lucky you're not prone to acne, for real. It's a bitch to deal with. To top it off, you even have these adorable freckles on your cheeks and nose. I almost feel bad covering some of them with foundation."

When Lexy says stuff like this to me, it really makes me wish I could see my own appearance. I genuinely have no idea what I truly look like, which makes it difficult to believe her when she compliments me like that. Still, it does make me feel good when she does compliment me, since I don't hear those things very often from other people.