Sometimes

Chapter twenty-three

I sneezed as the smell of hairspray flew up my nostrils.  Cassie was using way too much.  I squinted up at Leanne to see that she was holding her nose too.

    “Don’t you think it’s bad if you breathe too much of that stuff in?” I asked, waving a hand in front of my face to waft the fumes away from me. 

I saw Cassie shrug in the reflection of the mirror she’d sat me in front of.  “Uh, probably.  But I use it every day and I’m fine.”

    “Right.”  Leanne was holding in a laugh and I shot her a scowl. 

    In order for her to be able to help me get ready for the gig, Leanne had had to drive me over to Cassie’s house.  I’d convinced Leanne to stay, pointing out that we wouldn’t be long, but an hour later and Cassie had only just finished my hair.  Now I knew why she’d told me to be over at four.  The gig started at nine and there was no way that I could see this taking less than two hours.

    Leanne had settled herself on Cassie’s bright pink bedspread and was now flicking through a magazine with a look of disinterest on her face. I’d give anything to swap places with her now, though.  Who knew having your hair curled would hurt this much? 

    “I’m almost done,” Cassie said as she practically pulled a clump of my hair out.  I winced and she caught my expression.  “Oh don’t be a baby, H,” she added. “I do this most days and it doesn’t hurt at all.”

I wanted to reach up and rub my scalp but I knew Cassie would only swat my hand away.  With a look of intense concentration she was now rooting through the biggest make-up bag I’d ever seen.  My eyes widened as she pulled out bottles and tubes and God knows what else. 

    “We’ll start with your foundation,” Cassie said more to herself than anyone, but it was enough to make Leanne snap her gaze up from the magazine.

    “Harri doesn’t need any foundation,” she said, dropping the book onto the floor with a pile of others. 

    “Not even to cover up the spots?” Cassie asked, pointing to my nose. 

I leaned forward in the chair and frantically studied my nose.  Cassie was right.  I hadn’t even noticed the huge group of spots threatening to ruin my evening with Sonny.  And the rest of the band, of course. 

    “Harri doesn’t have any spots,” Leanne replied, getting up to stand on my other side.  “Not anything majority noticeable anyway.”

I sat back in my seat and frowned.  Thanks Leanne.   I couldn’t express my concerns about Sonny not liking me with Leanne here, but there was no way I was going without some sort of cover-up on my face.

    “You could just use a little bit,” I suggested.

Leanne shook her head.  “Not if it comes in a shade of orange, you don’t.”

Cassie was still holding the bottle of foundation in her hand and I glanced at it to see that Leanne was right.  The shade was more than likely called ‘Tangerine.’

    “But it’ll look nice,” Cassie tried.  “I’ll only use a little bit.”

Cassie never used a little bit and I found myself recoiling away from the bottle in her hands as I remembered something that Aiden had said.  Sonny doesn’t like girls who wear too much make-up.

    “How about using a touch of concealer?” I said.  “Just around my nose and maybe my chin.”  I looked at Leanne to see her biting her lip.  She’d said on the car journey over that she wasn’t going to let me leave Cassie’s house looking like some sort of make-up canvas, whatever that was, and I could see it in the way she was looking at me that she wasn’t too sure about the concealer either.