Unmuted

Unmuted- Chapter 3

"C'mon just breathe, you'll do fine."

I pivoted in his direction and shot him the dirtiest glare my face could create at that moment. With my left hand on my heart and my right hand over my stomach I responded, "Breath? Yes, that is an easy thing for you to do at the moment."

His musical laughter sounded around the small dressing room. "I think you're just overreacting."

"And you are underreacting," I shot back.

"It's not like this is the most important performance of your career."

I felt my eyes attempt to pop out of their respective place on my face as I grasped his words. "It is the most important performance of my career!" I exclaimed.

I watched as his face scrunched up in distaste. The door to the dressing room opened and in walks in Myla; the woman my mother hired to do my make-up for every one of my performances. Myla was a quiet woman who was not comfortable in social situations, especially around men. She was small with big feet, and her hair always laid limply at her shoulders. She was from the Philippines, and had been "imported" here on a fish boat.

I sat straight in my chair and face the giant mirror that I sat in front of. My eyes attached themselves to Jordan's before I watch him move away from his position next to me and onto the couch on the other side of the dressing room.

Normally when Myla's around we make sure not to have any form of verbal communication, but about halfway through my beauty transformation I heard Jordan say, "I think you're too young to have a career..." He sounded as though he were thinking out loud to himself (something he did often). I decided to act as though I had not heard his inquire. He knew I hated whenever he brought up the subject. I saw him sit up from his sprawled position on the couch and caught my eyes reflection again.

"Yes?" I asked him as though I had not heard him speak before. I noticed Myla's hands began to shake a bit as she reached over for another tube of some sort of cosmetic product.

"I think you're too young to have a career," he repeated.

I inhaled a gulp of air that almost caused me to choke. I adverted my eyes to something other than his, before replying. "Oh," was all I managed to come up with, before Myla rubbed some moist product on my bottom lip.

"Oh?" I heard his movements as his feet brought him closer to where I sat. Before he could make it though, Myla had let out a low screech that seemed to have echoed through the whole room, before she ran out the door grabbing her things along the way. We both watched after her, frozen with shocked expressions. It took us a few moments before we could process what had happened.

"Look at what you have done," I accused Jordan without granting him a glance. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and noticed that only one of my eyes were outlined and done, how they were suppose to be, whilst the other was bare and dull -- my skin tone.

I heard him sigh behind me. "Here," he began as he grabbed one of the eye wands that Myla was using.

"What are you--"

"Shut up, Bunny." I gasp at his words. I glare at him, while he rolls his eyes. "Just let me help you," he demands. I crossed my arms displeased, but I let him continue anyway.

He unlocks the door to his home and gestures for me to go in. I walk through the front door and into the entrance hall. I walk to the center of the room, and inhale deeply as I hang my head back with my eyes closed. Rustling comes from behind me, and the clamour of keys colliding with a glass surface. "Sit," his voice sounds from behind me.