Undateable

Thirty-Four

Kaia's POV – 48 more days

In my mind, I fall into a tragedy realising how much Aunt Meredith influenced my way of thinking. I curse at my own subconscious mind for ever asking: 'Does this dress make me look fat?' I glance at myself with shock horror, unable to comprehend that I am capable of caring about my own appearance. How is this possible?

"What are you doing to me?" I whisper, barely inaudible, to Aunt Meredith.

Aunt Meredith giddily approaches me with two types of earrings. Because Aunt Meredith, I have found the joy in applying make-up. I don't apply it because it makes myself look prettier and hide all my insecurities, but for the fact I can create something with a few things to accentuate a certain feature about myself. Make up can change a person's face, but it's fun.

Aunt Meredith started teaching me the basic of applying make-up. Prior to my lessons, I only knew how to apply foundation and eyeliner. But then she taught me how to mattify my foundation, how to create wing eye liner and make sure it looks like I have a nose after applying foundation.

But I still hate the dresses. Perhaps that's my insecurity – my body. Well, there's nothing about it I want to change but that doesn't mean I want to show people my body. I look at the two earrings in Meredith's hand.

"Which one do you like best?" she asks.

I glance at my outfit. It really makes my but look huge. It could be described as a mermaid dress where the tight figure gave up at my waist and puffs out, making it look like my butt made this dress puffy. It's not very comforting. It's not too puffy to make it obvious that it's the dress – it's slightly. This dress is obviously designed for someone with a longer upper body.

"I don't like this dress," I comment.

Aunt Meredith rolls her eyes. She's probably sick of hearing me say this so many times. "What don't you like about it now?" she asks.

"I look fat."

She frowns. She takes a few steps away and glance at me. "I see what you're talking about but that can easily go away once you wear heels," she comments. My eyes widen. Heels, inside the house, again?

"Don't make me wear heels – I might injure a person." I still haven't perfected the art of wearing heels. It's so difficult. My feet are always dying.

Aunt Meredith huffs, "Why are you so against anything feminine?" she asks, accusingly.

My eyes widen with shock, "What are you talking about? I don't hate things feminine," I mutter.

"You hate anything I want you to wear. You hate heels, you hate dresses and you hate trying to look good," she complains. "You kids these days; calling yourselves a feminist but you hate everything feminine and desire the masculine attributes."

Wow. This is getting really deep.

"Not entirely true. I think some men's inability to multi-task is hilarious," I smile. "I mean, have you seen Kieran trying to send a text message while watching a movie?" I laugh.

Aunt Meredith doesn't laugh and I stop laughing immediately. I'm exactly what she used to be like, so why is she trying so hard for me to change? What did she hate about herself so much that she doesn't want me to go through either?

"Aunt Meredith, I like comfortable clothes because that's how I was raised. I never liked itchy things and mum knew that. I also lived in Australia where comfort is a very common attribute shared by many. We wear thongs – I mean flip flops or sponge sandals, whatever you call them – to the shops," I explain.