Graceful Deception

Chapter 11

As promised, friends! Another chapter for ya! Do enjoy :)

Chapter 11

“Is this really necessary?” I said, frowning at myself in the mirror as I lifted a hand towards my hair, intent on finding out if it really was as soft as it looked.

“Don’t touch,” my stylist for the night, Serenity said, slapping my hand a little harder than I thought was needed.

“You could’ve just asked,” I grumbled, rubbing the back of my stinging hand.

“Why? You haven’t done a single thing I’ve asked since I walked into this room. Why would you start now?” she said, glaring at me in a less than serene way.

Actually, she looked like she was fantasizing about throwing me out of the nearest window.

“I haven’t been that bad,” I said, unable to hold her gaze.

“Keep telling yourself that,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes before bending to gather her equipment. “You’re done. Try not to screw up your make-up until you at least get to the restaurant,” she said with one last look at the masterpiece she’d created on my face. “God, I’m good,” she said, her lips moving slightly in what I suppose was her version of a smile. Did she not have teeth?

“Keep telling yourself that,” I said to the back of her head as she walked out of my hotel room.

My half smile faded as I looked at myself in the mirror once more. Serenity was kind of annoying, but she wasn’t a liar. My eyes looked darker and greener at the same time and my skin looked totally flawless. My lips were a deep red colour that made them look full and pouty. My hair was loose and straight and it hung down my back perfectly. I couldn’t have duplicated the look if I took twenty years of beauty school.

But the real show stopper was the dress.

The damn thing was ridiculous and outrageous and way too much for a stupid dinner but it was a work of art.

It was black and it was made of a material that somehow reflected the light but seemed to suck it in at the same time, like a black hole. It was shimmery and ethereal looking and the dark colour made my pale skin glow. The neckline was relatively modest but the back...

There was no back.

I twisted and winced at all the exposed skin there, wondering if someone had ran this by my father before forcing me into the contraption. I mean, did he really want me to go to a fancy dinner with his producers in a dress that was missing half of it?

When I’d mentioned the oversight to Serenity earlier, she’d given me a disgusted look and said, “It’s de la Renta.” The ‘bitch’ at the end of the statement was implied.

So, with one last look at the stranger in the mirror, I walked out of my hotel room, doing my best to glide even though I was wearing heels that were extremely unnecessary considering my already ridiculous height.

I tried not to fidget on the elevator ride down to the lobby where the rest of the band was waiting but I kept catching sight of myself in the reflective surface of the sliding doors and it was freaking me out. I wasn’t used to the stylists dressing me up in anything so...sophisticated. They were usually going for cute and innocent.

This didn’t quite fit those criteria.

Planting a serene look on my face, I straightened my spine and held my head high when the doors slid open, revealing the extravagant lobby in the overpriced hotel we were staying at.