The heart of Cleopatra

Arcane beauties

Chapter forty five

"Remind me why we don't attend galas more often?" Lola asked as she sipped her sparkling water as if it were champagne. Cleo glanced at her best friend in the mirror.

"Because we're only going to stop the dead-pool we seem to be the stars of." Cleo replied with a sarcastic grin, Lola rolled her eyes and walked away in her black robe.

It was the day of the royal gala. The girls had taken over the biggest room in the Valencia residence to get ready. Cleo and Lola had been in love with the walk in wardrobe and the huge room attached since they were kids and today it was all theirs. Since the gala is a very formal event they needed to look the part. The getting ready process was a guilty pleasure of Cleo's, from her personality you wouldn't take her for a super girly girl, but she's always one for proving assumptions wrong. Cleo carefully straightened her thick dark hair, she combed her fingers through to style it to perfection. Her brown eyes sparkled thanks to the smoky eye shadow accentuating them. Her skin glowed with the help from her inner artist. She looked at her reflection and smiled, she had seen herself so unhappy and drawn in the last year but now she looks like the most confident woman to walk the earth.

"I swear you were a makeup artist in another life." Lola groaned from her personal station. The bright lights around the mirror made her frowning expression clearer than ever.

"Oh be quiet, it's not as if you're a total amateur." Cleo said as she moved to stand behind Lola's chair. She toyed with some of the pin curls Cleo had put in for Lola, her blonde hair takes half the time Cleo's does so she decided to do curls. Lola's make up was near perfection, her colour choices were subtle but her bone structure is a work of god alone.

"Dress time?" Cleo asked as Lola sprayed her makeup in place. Lola squealed in excitement at the mention of the most important part of the process.

They took their dress covers into the other room and unzipped their chosen gown. Lola chose a deep burgundy floor length dress that flowed from her waist. It was a dress from the collection she tried on at Madeline's palace, as soon as she tried it on they all knew it was the one. Cleo hadn't yet seen the dress she was going to be wearing, yet another risk for the evening. Madeline had picked it out herself, she brought it to Arcane at the birthday meal. Cleo was tempted to peek but ultimately, she trusted her Mum's judgement. She took a deep breath and slowly pulled the zip to the bottom of the cover exposing an emerald green satin dress. Her jaw nearly hit the floor at how beautiful it was. Emerald green has been her favourite colour since she was a baby, her room was painted the same shade and even her cars had a touch of green in them somewhere. Knowing Madeline picked this for her suddenly meant so much more to Cleo. The girls slipped their dresses of the hangers and carefully stepped into them. They took turns at zipping them up, Cleo did Lola first and turned for the favour to be returned. The stunning famous Arcane duo admiring their attire in the large mirror hardly recognising themselves. Cleo had feared she wouldn't ever had the chance to do these types of things with Lola when she had to leave Arcane but the painful thought was no longer relevant.

"I'm sorry but when did we get this hot?" Lola asked, cheering their stunning bodies. "You look breath taking, I'm tempted to forget about Jax right now." She said as she looked Cleo's tight waist and flowing full length gown up and down.

"Well you might change your mind when you see him in a suit." Cleo replied making Lola smirk, Jax will forever be her weakness. "But just for the record I think you might be the most stunning thing I've ever seen." Lola winked at Cleo's compliment. They returned to the main room and started accessorising.

"Hey, can you help with this?" Cleo asked as she took a silver necklace out of a black velvet box.

Lola furrowed as she saw the jewellery. "You aren't wearing Zeus' chain?"