"I put on makeup to express myself. I could care less about my so-called insecurities."
Aura Chandler was so sure she had her life figured out. After securing a photoshoot gig with up-and-coming musician Lacey Redd, she was convinced she would get d...
IT WAS SAFE TO say they went back to their depressing lives without seeing any cuties, but that didn't stop Corey from making that the best evening they could have.
He welcomed her into his home, which felt empty as she stepped in. He reminded her that his family was out vacationing without him. The place was twice the size of Grandma Ruby's house. She didn't recall ever going there as a child, so she wondered if they moved or if she never visited him for playdates years before.
No matter the reason, she liked the way the house was decorated. It was mostly a wooden palette with lots of warm browns and sand colors. Corey placed his keys over the kitchen counter, and asked if she wanted anything to drink, like a good host.
She declined, and soon they were a laughing mess on the living room floor, tears running down their faces as they watched funny videos on the internet. Just when she thought she was done laughing, she would take a look at Corey, and die again.
They spent over twenty minutes trying to recuperate themselves.
"Goodness, we're full-on adults," she muttered. "Let's be mature." They had a moment of complete silence until Corey snorted, and they fell into another laughing fit.
"Corey!" she complained. He responded with more laughs. She stood up, attempting to not look at him and fall right back into the hole. "I'm going to the bathroom."
She stumbled on her way into the hallway. In between his guffaws, Corey gave her directions to the bathroom. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and opened the door that led to her escape from whatever lunatic spell had befallen upon them.
After a few minutes, Aura regained her composure. When she walked out, it seemed like Corey had too. They took a look at each other before having to swallow down the laugh that wanted to erupt once more.
"Okay!" Corey smacked his thighs. "Let's do something else."
Aura bit down on her lip, fumbling with her nails as she sobered up entirely. They sat, again, on the living room floor as Corey scrolled through video recommendations. They delved into the beauty corner of the internet as he smirked over at her. Her cheeks reddened as he picked a random video that was currently getting enough traction.
"Do you know this girl?" Corey asked. "Elaine Cavette. She has a pretty good following."
Aura shook her head. It was the first time she saw her.
Elaine greeted her viewers with a bright smile and a bare face. Her blonde hair was up in a bun as she introduced the purpose of that video, to create a purple graphic liner tutorial. Immediately, the video cut to her applying her primer all over her face.
Aura was enthralled. Whenever it came to beauty, she was into it. She watched as Elaine took her foundation and blended it into her face.
"She's cute," Corey commented.
"She is," Aura agreed. "I wonder why I've never seen her before."
Elaine reached for her purple eyeliner after mapping out what she wanted to do with brown eyeshadow, and went over it. The look was fun and bright, which brought out the hazel of her eyes. She completed the look with wispy eyelashes, and proceeded to do the rest of her face makeup.
"She's good," Corey said. "Can you do that?"
Aura nodded. It was a simple and cute graphic look. She loved doing those, so she was sure she could recreate it if she wanted to.
"I haven't done a graphic look in a while though," she started, still staring over at Elaine as she said her goodbyes. "I've been focusing on fantasy looks this summer."
"You should do, like, a pretty and ethereal look once while you're here so I can see you go all out," he suggested. He nodded as she chuckled.
"I'll try to do a little something before I leave for Cali," she promised. Her phone buzzed again. She thought it would be Gwenn with more questions about the Aphrodite's Gaze issue, but it was Tyson.
Tyson: Hey, wanna hang?
Aura smiled at her phone, making Corey raise his eyebrows and ask who was texting her. She waved him off.
"It's just Tyson," she replied. "He's asking to hang. Should I invite him over?"
Corey studied her as she bit down on her lip. His expression was unreadable as he shrugged.
He grinned. "Sure, I'll invite everyone else, and we'll make a party that'll piss Mr. Gonzalez down the street."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
