Trying out make-up

"Where to first, Willow?" Jen asks from the driver's seat.

"To the mall. You get to help me pick out make-up colors."

"You're deciding on make-up two days before the wedding?" Jen asks. She frowns a little. Though she likes to be impulsive, she has an old Girl Scout's instinct for being organized and prepared.

Jen puts her car in gear and sets up to turn toward the expressway. "Golden Oak Plaza?" she checks.

"The other way, Jen," you say. "We need to go to Wallstone Mall. Anyway, we had a little color scheme change," you say. "The dresses are still fine, and the decorations are taken care of, but you know the flowers I was talking about?"

"Mm-hm. Peach blush roses?"

"There was some kind of mix-up with the florists, and they ended up with green roses instead."

"Green roses? Who ever heard of green roses?" Jen asks. "Can't they fix it?"

"Not in two days. So we're going with red instead. At least the dress thing worked out," you say.

"Yeah. I can't believe they got your measurements so wrong. Still going with the underwear plan I suggested?" Jen digs.

Your ears feel hot. "Mm-hm," you reply. "Silk mini-skirt slip in place of panties." Your nipples perk up and you feel damp between your legs.

"Oh you kid!" Jen says. She laughs. "That's a girl! Just don't smirk at your mother-in-law."

"Alex's mom probably wears the same in black," you say. "She pretends to be so proper and 'Oh, that's just not done dear', but what he's told me about her..."

"Meowww!" Jen says. "So she's rich and self-indulgent. Nod and smile just like you've been doing for the last two years."

"So I was going to have Barbara do me..." you begin.

"I like your friend Barbara," Jen breaks in. "If I were ever going to have someone do my face..."

"But Alex's mom insisted I go to Bella Antonia for make-up. We're just going to try on a couple of looks, then I'll be back on the wedding morning so they can put on the real face," you say.

"Nod and smile, Willow," Jen says.

"Oh, and my mom said she might try and meet us for lunch at the mall," you say.

"I like your mom. Weren't you going to have her be the minister?" Jen asks. You cough. "Okay. Not in your mother-in-law's church," she says.

The Wallstone Mall is busy today. Lots of shoppers, lots of families dragging complaining kids around. Bella Antonia has a corner space in the third floor of the big indoor mall. You go in for your appointment, the artist is friendly and works fast, and Jen helps you decide on your look. You still have a little time on your appointment, and just for fun, you ask for a geisha look. The artist laughs and gives you a white, rice-powdered face, ties your hair back severely, and gives you eyebrow spots halfway up your forehead, and gives you wet-look red lipstick.

"God, Willow," Jen says, laughing. "I wouldn't recognize you! Your mom wouldn't recognize you!"

You wander the mall, browsing, since it's still early.

"Hey, Willow," Jen says. "Isn't that Alex in that tux shop?"

You look where she's pointing, but you only see the back of a man heading for the rear of the store.

"Let's go see," you say. You and Jen head into the shop and find that the man is getting a fitting in the back room. You walk back through a curtain to a large, dim room with racks of suits and trousers with tailors' chalk marks and order tags. On each side is a curtained alcove with a low carpeted pedestal for fitting pants cuffs. You can see under the curtain that there are mirrors in the alcoves. There's also a door to a rest room.

You see two pairs of shoes under the curtain of the right alcove, a larger pair of dress shoes standing, a smaller, slimmer pair kneeling in front of the larger pair. There are some quiet sounds of fabric against fabric. Is that Alex standing up? Looks like they might be his new shoes.