"Jesus Christ Lyds, its a formal, not a wedding!"
Ariel McCall sat uncomfortably in one of the excess bedrooms in the Martin house. It was double the size of hers, with floor to ceiling windows and high ceilings. The floor was hardwood and the walls would have been white if they were visible. Every surface of wall that wasn't covered by mirrors or paintings of Marilyn Monroe was decorated by shelves and shelves of makeup. There was even an entire wall devoted to nail polish. Racks of designer clothing were color coordinated and the furniture was the color of pale rose.
Ariel sat at a desk, or a "vanity" as Lydia had called it. It was equipped with a large mirror and bright lights, as well as a frightening array of beauty supplies. Ariel had been sitting in the chair for a solid 45 minutes, with Lydia putting various things on her face and Allison doing something with her hair. She had no clue what was going on, but knew enough to want to get the hell out as fast as possible.
"Shut up and let me put on your lip gloss." Lydia rolled her eyes, her patience wearing thin as Ariel squirmed. She and Allison had finished early and devoted the rest of their time to getting Ariel ready, especially after she had shown up in a sneakers and a makeup less face. Apparently, Ariel was expecting to go to the formal dateless and wearing hobo chic, as Lydia had dubbed it.
"Didn't you already put that on? Like three times???" Ariel was close to losing it. When Lydia approached her lips with a tube of shiny liquid, she jolted away, only to get the burning end of a hair curler seared into her scalp. "Agh!" The pain was fleeting, only lasting a few seconds before it healed, but it brought tears to Ariel's eyes.
"Oh sorry!" Allison hissed, pulling the iron away from Ariel's head.
"Don't you dare cry and ruin my masterpiece!" Lydia was ruthless. "And I haven't put lip gloss on yet! It was a lush lip scrub, then lip liner and then the liquid lipstick. Now stop moving!"
"What the..." Ariel chose to shut up, allowing Lydia to lather more stuff on her lips as opposed to arguing. "Is this necessary?"
"Of course it is!" Allison cheered behind her. She met Ariel's eyes in the mirror and gave an encouraging grin. "You're gonna look beautiful!"
"I don't have anyone to look beautiful for." Ariel shrugged, shaking her hands to dry out her nails. They were painted a off white color that contrasted well with her skin and painting them had been the only thing that kept her in Lydias makeup chair. "Even if I did, who the fuck needs four layers of stuff on their lips?"
"Don't remind me." Lydia hissed angrily, rooting around in her vanity. "I cannot believe you're going alone. That's so lame!"
"Just because I'm not some jocks arm candy? Trust me, I've had enough of overconfident, egotistical, manipulative, lying, psychotic, murderous..." Ariel trailed off as she noticed the wide eyed looks she was getting from her friends. "I mean, boys suck! Ha, ha... haaaa."
"I have to agree with you on that." Allison nodded and the girls mentally agreed to not mention Ariel's accidental impassioned rant against murderers. They didn't need to know about her extremely complicated relationship with the Beacon Hills serial killer. "No offense Ariel, but your brothers an idiot."
"None taken." Ariel snorted loudly. "Scott can barely tell the difference between a girl and a strawberry. That's why I was so surprised when he started dating the nice new girl."
"You think I'm nice?" Allison grinned happily. She hadn't had much of a chance to bond with her ex boyfriend/ current crushes sister and she'd desperately wanted one. It was still awkward, as she had broken up with Scott, but Allison was overjoyed that Ariel was being nice to her. She'd been intimidated by the brash and sarcastic girl when she first met her, but Ariel was proving to be very easy to get along with.
"Of course you are, you're a freaking angel." Ariel hadn't really meant it as a compliment- literally everyone in the school called Allison the nice new girl. But she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to bond with her brothers ex girlfriend. They were obviously going to get back together- Ariel wasn't a mind reader but she had two eyes and could see their complete devotion to eachother. And as Scott's older sister, it was Ariel's job to befriend his girlfriends so they could gang up on him. "Scott is really lucky to have you."
"He's lucky to have you too." For a second, both forgot that Allison and Scott had actually broken up. "I've never seen anyone make him laugh more than you. You make him really happy."
"Okay, are we done with this emotional moment?" Lydia cut in, holding up a sort of metal device. "Because I need to do Aris mascara and I cannot have her crying it off."
"What the- get that thing away from me!!" Ariel jumped out of her seat, putting distance between her and the metal thing Lydia was holding up at her eyes. Allison chuckled, backing away and turning the curler off but Lydia looked less than amused.
"It's called an eyelash curler." Lydia dead panned. "It curls... your eyelashes." Her tone was patronizingly slow.
"Um no, I'm pretty sure that's a medical torture device and I want no part in your sadomasochism." Ariel shook her head, backing away as Lydia took another step forward.
"Ariel Peyton McCall, you get your ass in this seat right now." Lydias voice was strict and she looked ready to murder Ariel. Allison took a few steps back, receding to a plush couch to watch the encounter.
"That's not my middle name." Ariel jutted her chin up defiantly.
"Get over here." Lydia was at her wits end with Ariel. How in the hell did she not know what an eyelash curler was?
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"Now." Something in Lydias eyes told Ariel that there was no use fighting. Relinquishing, Ariel slumped back down in front of the vanity. Lydia made quick work of her eyelashes, curling and brushing and mascaraing within minutes. Granted, it wasn't without difficulties, as Ariel made a variety of snarky comments and flinched at least five times.
"There! Now you look less like a homeless goldilocks and more like a post shoe fitting Cinderella!" Lydia smiled happily, motioning for Ariel to take a look in the mirror.
"I've had enough Disney references in my life thanks- oh wow." Ariel's voice wavered as she took a good look in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a curled pony tail, with artfully messy strands hanging around her face. Her skin shone, a flawless tan coverage over her various red spots and dark circles. Darker shading accentuated her high cheekbones and thin nose and a light dusting of blush brought out the color of her cheeks. Her eye lids were dusted with a variety of browns, shading to create a nude smokey eye. The eye liner and mascara accentuated her eyelashes and made them look as if they went on forever. Ariel's lips were painted a pale dusty rose, over lined slightly to accentuate her pout.
"Is that me?" The girl staring back at her in the mirror was beautiful. She looked as if she dined with the queen of England and fielded calls from wealthy suitors all day before laying down and having a nice long beauty sleep. She looked as if she played badminton in a garden full of rose bushes and trimmed hedges, not shifted into an overgrown hairy beast every once and a while.
"You look amazing, Ariel." Allison smiled. Her makeup had been done before Ariel had even arrived, silvers and blacks accentuating her big eyes and pale skin. Her dress was a short silver ensemble, which had apparently been picked out by Peter. All in all, she looked great and Ariel was sure that Scott would be knocked off his feet.
"Of course she looks amazing, I didn't spend all that time trying to make her just mediocre." Lydia was dressed to the nines and of course, no one was surprised by this. Ariel estimated she'd spent more than a normal human beings monthly paycheck and she was afraid to ask because she had a sneaking suspicion that it was actually more than that.
Her dress was a pinkish pearl color, a gorgeous satin material that was complimented by a black bow tied around her waist. It flowed down above her knees as "no one wore a floor length gown to a formal unless they were a friendless idiot" and her pale legs were shining with plenty of sparkly lotion. Dainty feet were enclosed in black heels so high that Ariel was sure an ankle would break tonight. Her hair was flawlessly curled, with a black accessory pulling part of the strawberry blonde locks away from her face. She looked beautiful.
"I never doubted you." Ariel smiled wanly, making her escape from her seat. The tight dress had bunched up at her waist and she straightened it, running her clammy hands over the wrinkles. It was a baby blue color, with thin straps and a cinched waist. It flowed out slightly around her hips, gathering back right below Ariel's knees. She rather liked it, especially for being on sale and her not even having looked at it before she bought it. In her haste to refuse Peters advice, she'd actually made a good choice for once.
"You guys look great." Allison smiled warmly, pulling out her phone. "Now it's time for pictures!"
"Yes!-"
"Wow, look at the time!" Ariel let out a nervous chuckle. "I have to go feed my cat!"
"Ariel, you don't have a cat." Lydia raised a brow. Ariel hummed in response, teetering past her in a pair of nude stilettos she had been forced into.
"Yes I do."
"Ariel, we know you don't have a cat." Allison chuckled.
Grabbing her bag, Ariel stood up and smiled awkwardly at them. Allison was eyeing her in amusement and Lydia looked about ready to take the bejeweled choker she had wrangled Ariel into and use it to strangle her. "Uh... his names Sebastian?"
"Just get out." Lydia rolled her eyes. "You don't have to take pictures with us, but you better be at that dance, wearing those heels and don't you dare touch your makeup!"
Ariel nodded quickly, saying her goodbyes before running/teetering out of the house. It wasn't specifically that she didn't want to take pictures. She didn't, of course, but it was also nearing 6:30 and she had somewhere to be.
Her Honda looked out of place in Lydias affluent neighborhood. The small blue car was dwarfed by the luxurious range rovers that drove by, but Ariel paid them no mind. Instead she opened up the dented trunk. Or at least tried to.
The metal door wouldn't budge, stuck tight. With a sigh, Ariel wrenched at it using werewolf strength, which resulted in the door flying up so far it almost broke off its hinges. Ariel tutted at her little car, sending it a disapproving look before throwing her bag in the trunk.
The light was fading, but anyone with two eyes could see the distinct outline of a black sweatshirt, black pants, hiking boots and a syringe of clear liquid.