25 days of cadnis + twins

day 9: playing christmas music

Layla giggles at herself in the mirror, touching one of her red lips. Janis smiles back and kisses her cheek. "Good!"

"Good," Janis echoes. "Are you ready for the fun part of being a dancer?"

"Fun pawt?" Layla asks, tilting her head. Janis turns her back to face her and brandishes a bottle of setting spray.

"Close your eyes," Janis says. "And take a deep breath."

Layla does, and Janis spritzes her with the setting spray. Layla winces as the strange texture hits her face, but giggles once she's completely set. "Tickles."

"It does tickle," Janis chuckles. "Alright, now a few more things."

Layla gets to see herself in the mirror again as Janis slicks up her braids with some gel to keep any flyaways down and then douses her with a healthy dose of hairspray. Leo coughs a little bit from next to them.

"Sorry, Bumblebee," Janis chuckles. "Alright, Bug, you're done! Come here, Bee."

"Mommy?" Leo asks once her blush has been swiped on. Cady takes the pallet and puts it in her bag to bring with them just in case.

"Yeah?"

"Wha's the tap-tap for?"

"Tap-tap?" Janis asks. "What do you mean?"

"Like, um..." Leo says. She looks around and reaches over to grab a beauty blender. "Dis."

"Oh," Janis chuckles. "That's called a beauty blender. It's like a fancy sponge, you use it to put on some kinds of makeup. Like foundation, or concealer."

"We don' get boundation?"

"You don't need it. You don't need any of this stuff," Janis huffs slightly as she puts on Leo's mascara. "Foundation would cover up those beautiful little freckles! We can't have that!"

"Oh," the twins say at the same time. Layla asks, "Whaddabout Mama's freckles?"

"I don't usually wear foundation either," Cady explains, holding Layla on her hip. "I do sometimes if I'm going somewhere super fancy. But I don't like the way it feels, so I don't wear it very much."

"Oh," the twins say again. Leo purses her lips to get her lipstick put on, and the tube gets passed over to Cady along with the mascara. Janis quickly finishes her hair, and then they're set to go.

"Okay, my tiny dancers, go get boots and coats on," Cady says, patting two little tutus to send them on their way. She chuckles as their braids bounce slightly when they run.

————-

Leo clings to Janis' hand when they make it to the performance venue, and Layla also isn't willing to stray too far from Cady. There's lots of frazzled parents and other relatives running about with hairspray and bobby pins and whatnot, and lots of big kids in different costumes.

The twins relax a little bit when they find their own class and see their favorite teacher. Cady and Janis help unzip their coats and swap out four little boots for ballet slippers. A final adjustment to some tights and leotards is done, and then the twins are recital ready.

"You girls get to stay with Miss Frost, she'll show you where to go and what to do, so listen to her, okay?" Cady says.

"Okay Mama," her twins say.

"Good girls. Mommy and I are gonna be in the audience watching you, you're gonna do so good! We'll be back to get you after and then we'll go celebrate," Cady says. She gives each of them one last kiss and hug, followed by Janis, before they head to go find their seats. They wave to the girls until they're out of sight and head into the main hall hand in hand.