Strays

Chapter 26

The day after her birthday, Lindley had promised Dean that she would drink by the fire pit and spend the night. He may have thought that was a clever way of disguising a surprise party, but Lindley knew exactly what she was getting into—which is why she went over to ME and Wyatt's to pregame, otherwise known as Mary Elizabeth doing Lindley's hair and makeup while the two of them drank an entire bottle of wine.

"It's nice of you to pretend that you don't know about the party," ME joked as she ran a curling iron through Lindley's hair. Lindley was already on her second glass of chardonnay. "I'm surprised you didn't try to shut it down immediately."

"It's my last birthday here," she shrugged, taking another sip. "I figured, why not give the people what they want." ME laughed while letting down another section of Lindley's hair to begin curling that area.

"Wyatt and I are supposed to meet y'all there," she informed Lindley. "I think Wyatt's excited to be a part of the party rather than serving the party. Play a couple rounds of beer pong with him, will ya?"

"Me and Wyatt versus you and Wren?" Lindley asked, the question out of her lips before she was aware of what she had proposed.

"Yes!" ME agreed, eyes wide and excited. "I knew you were asking me to do your hair and makeup for a reason. You want to impress Wren."

"I kind of just missed it, too," Lindley told her, swerving the Wren conversation. "Do you remember when I was a kid, and I used to come over here and ask you to do my makeup?"

"Yeah," ME answered warmly. The reason behind the makeup sessions was not nearly as nostalgic to them as the time they spent together. ME had taken Lindley to CVS to try sample after sample before buying Lindley her first ever makeup kit. "Although I'm sorry for that phase when I thought that blue eyeliner was a look."

Lindley laughed, "Anything you put on me, I thought it was beautiful. I was like, 'I'm going to get so many tips at Mama's today!'"

"Who's gettin' tips for doin' what?" Wyatt asked, walking into the room wearing a pair of wranglers, his full quill ostrich skin cowboy boots, and a plaid button down shirt.

"Oh, wow," Lindley called, clapping her hands without moving her head as ME finished the last of her hair. "You're breaking out the ostrich skin for lil' ol' me?"

"You look good, baby," ME told him, reaching over to kiss him as she put down the curling iron and fluffed up Lindley's curls so that they hung loosely around her face.

"Are you trying to redeem yourself for being sick and gross last time you saw Wren?" Wyatt asked Lindley, reaching for the wine bottle on the counter.

"No!" ME snapped as she snatched the bottle back to top off her glass. "This was purchased exclusively for the women who don't like Keystone light." She handed the bottle to Lindley, who indignantly refilled her now empty glass three quarters of the way to the top.

"Yeah, I need this." Lindley rolled her eyes as she took a generous sip from her newly filled glass. "Buzz off."

"Well, hurry up," Wyatt complained, not a fan of the two women in his life teaming up against him. "Wren's going to be here any minute, so if you're going to pull that off as a natural look, you'd better chip chop chip."

Lindley's eyes went wide and ME had to snap her head back into place as her model moved just as she was about to apply blush. "He's meeting us here?"

"Yes, and if you quit moving, I can be done in like three minutes." ME focused as she painted a dark taupe lipstick over Lindley's lips.

"Last time I saw him, I stormed off awkwardly and haven't spoken to him since," Lindley said quickly, once ME was done with her lips. "I was hoping to be much drunker by the time we ran into each other, if he even came tonight." Lindley reached for her wine glass and took another full sip.