Letty's POV
My head was aching when I got up the next day but miraculously I wasn't sick. Mia was as sick as a dog and vomited for hours. I left her in bed for a couple of hours and brought her a fresh glass of water every hour.
Instead I tidied up a bit and opened windows getting rid of the smell of vodka and vomit. I sprayed air freshener to mask the scent. I ended up outside and tinkering at Dom's Escort. She needed something more. NOS. A good fuel injection system would help that. I pondered over how to go about it for a bit then realised how. Electronic fuel injection. I'd do it gradually and spread the cost out.
As I walked back out of the garage with grease stained hands and a now grey spotted tank top I returned to the house. Mia was sat at the table now, struggling over an English paper.
"Girl, it's still going to be there in the morning!" I reminded her. She'd spent the whole day yesterday studying from the time I left until the time I returned. That was the best part of twelve hours.
"It's only two more paragraphs," she sighed.
"When is it due?"
"Tuesday." She sighed as she thought then I watched as the pen streaked across the page, despite her rush her writing still looked good. I admired her dedication. I'd never liked school enough to study as much as Mia did.
I went and changed out of my dirty tank top into a hoodie and threw the tank top into the wash. Pulling the bobble out of my hair I felt my wavy hair fall to my mid back and I shook it out gently. My phone caught my eye, it lay abandoned on my dresser usually all day on a Sunday. I pressed one of the buttons carelessly to see if I had any messages from clients for appointments this week. Only two and they'd be able to be slotted in on Friday so I replied quickly. The date caught my attention. November 27th. Less than a month to Christmas. Mia wouldn't be looking forward to Christmas but there was no reason for this Christmas to be sad. It could be fun. Perhaps Santa could come again. I could maybe spare a couple of hundred of Mitchell's money and splurge for once. It was for Mia after all, she cooked for me every day and I'd never came home to no dinner. She worked damn hard. Yeh I could splurge a few hundred on her. Just this once.
"Mia! I'm going out for a bit!" I yelled to her from the bottom of the stairs.
"Okay!"
That was easy I decided as I stepped out into the drive. I took Mr Toretto's Mustang with me into town and when I arrived at the shopping centre I really decided I didn't had a clue what to get her. Aimlessly I walked around completely amazed by the amount of clothes in shop windows and the different styles. I went into a few shops only to be frowned at by posh sales women. Maybe this was a bad idea. I gritted my teeth and carried on, no I had to do something nice for her.
One shop caught my eye and my stomach ached as I looked at it. It was a really girly shop. Makeup. As I cautiously made my way towards it I felt out of my depth. I knew nothing about makeup and it was soon going to be very obvious to the women who worked there. Walking through the door of the store, the smell of makeup hit me. The powdery smell of chemicals paired with the overwhelming perfume of the saleswomen overpowered me. This was foreign to me. Definitely in way over my head.
"Hello," one lady chirped. She wore a black blouse which was unbuttoned one button too far exposing a generous chest which she seemed to make sure I'd get an eyeful of. Her skirt was tight and her feet were swollen in the heels she wore. Beneath her heavy makeup I could see spots and wrinkle lines. I'd put her in her late forties but as a woman who desperately tried to look younger. Suddenly wearing no makeup and jeans and a hoodie all my life seemed really appealing.
"Hey!" I replied with a forced smile. I was way in over my head here and was scared to admit it.
I peered at the rows and rows of makeup and a frown creased my forehead as I read the names of some of the products. What the hell was a contouring palette? Bronzer I'd heard of. Blusher, okay I knew what that was. Eyeliner, black eyeliner was an essential, wasn't it? Foundation. Mia wore a beige colour, I knew that from shopping lists. Eyeshadow palettes confused me. Some were advertised as day palettes and others night palettes. What the hell was the difference? The only difference I could see was that day palettes seemed to be lighter and more shimmery colours than night palettes which tended to be solid and dark colours. The prices were incredible too one pot of concealer was twenty four dollars and I doubted it would last long. The notion of conceding defeat crossed my mind several times but I decided not to quit because I wasn't a quitter and never had been.
"Need help?" The woman asked.
"Yes please," I admitted. "I'm shopping for my friend for Christmas and I don't have a notion what to get her."
"What does your friend usually wear?"
"Mia doesn't go in for a lot of makeup daily but when she goes out she wears eyeliners and shimmery eyeshadow, blushers. You know," I said before shrugging hoping I wouldn't get asked any follow up questions.
"How about our day to night palettes? They have the light colours for daytime and darker shades for night time."
The woman led me over to look at those. Again I was baffled that there were four different ones. Totally confused I had to start looking at them one at a time. I picked one which had four bronze sort of colours I'd seen Mia wearing during the day and then a few shades of grey and black at the other side for night time use. In between were purple colours which got darker as the palette progressed from day to night. That palette alone was thirty nine dollars.
"Yeh that one," I said pointing at the palette. Star, I think it was called.
"Of course, anything else?"
"I was thinking maybe an eyeliner or two?"
"Yes what colour?"
"A black one and maybe a grey one?" I suggested but I didn't have a clue.
She dragged me back to where I had started and I looked at the eyeliners again. This was so difficult and draining. I could look at car engines all day and not feel half as drained as this but this was mentally strenuous.
Finally I picked two, charcoal and ash grey. Twenty five dollars shot to hell there for two pencils.
The lady bustled me on to mascaras and I picked a black one, went with everything but was fifteen dollars. She convinced me to buy a contouring palette and brush and even explained to me what that was but I stopped listening. I didn't care what it did. That was another forty dollars right there.
I selected the beige foundation. Twenty seven dollars blown up right there. It was freaky how this stuff ate money. A bronzer and blusher palette set me back another thirty dollars. A pack of brushes set me back another sixty. I drew the line then as the bill was rapidly adding up in my head and was terrifying me a lot. Two hundred and nine dollars burnt up in little over an hour. That scared me.
"Would you liked this wrapped?"
"Yes please," I requested.
The lady wrapped it carefully, placing it in a grey box with the company's name embossed on it in white writing. She used fancy paper for me and tied a bow and everything around it. The box looked pathetically small when handed to me. What a waste of money! I paid her her money and took the bag with the wrapped up box and left the store. When I escaped I realised the sweat had been dripping off me and I could feel it on the nape of my neck.
That was enough for one day I decided. I hid the box in the back of my wardrobe beneath a stack of clothes. Hopefully that was a good start to Christmas shopping.
The next few weeks dragged by. I'd gotten a few more bits for Mia for Christmas. I'd seen shoes in a sale which I knew she wanted, silly red heels which would cripple her later, but they might make her happy for now. One of her favourite shops was able to point me in the direction of a dress she'd wanted but hadn't bought. It was a bodycon dress, or so they called it. I had to admit it was lovely but I failed to see the point. It was a baby pink and had lace sleeves. It was beautiful and something she'd love. I'd been able to pick up smaller things too like hair products that I knew she liked, bath stuff and the like cheaply as I saw it. I'd spent four hundred dollars and whilst it had hurt to spend money so frivolously I'd decided it was for the greater good of my best friend so I couldn't hate myself too much. I'd cut back on things for myself like buying parts for the Escort, I'd have to pick that up again after Christmas. I'd stopped drifting and so on because it burnt through tyres and some things had to give to get other things.