"Sit still!" Claire scolds playfully while fiddling with my hair.
I grumble but obey, slumping down into the fluffy gray chair situated across from my vanity.
"How long is this gonna take?" I question dreadfully.
She shrugs. "4 hours, give or take." She replies, nonchalant. My eyes widen in a mixture of horror and shock.
"Please tell me you're joking." I whine, slouching back more into the chair.
"Nope." She replies, popping the 'p'. I groan and throw my head back. It's only been 10 minutes since I showered and I'm already done with this shit.
She smacks my arm lightly. "Stop moving! You'll get burnt!" She warns, a blow dryer hanging obnoxiously in her hand.
I look up at her and frown. "How can you even get burned with that?" I retort.
She rolls her eyes in frustration. "Just stop squirming!" She shrieks.
"Okay, okay." I grumble, putting my hands up in mock-surrender.
She swiftly separates my dripping hair into sections, tying up the ones that she isn't focusing on with various claw clips. She takes the violent blow dryer and twirls a particular strand around her fingers, beginning to dry it.
Once she's done so with my full head of hair, loose curls flow around my shoulders. I begin to finally stand up from my chair, my ass is literally numb, when a small hand forcefully smashes me back down against the chair.
I look up see her Claire with a grin, holding a small, golden/white bundle in her hands. "I'm not done yet." She declares.
Before I can get yet another groan of protest out, my hair is being tugged painfully in all different directions. Two strands from the front of my head are pulled back and twisted slightly, before I feel Claire place the bundle in the swirl of hair.
When she's finished, she spins me around in the chair so I can see the back of my head in the mirror. A golden wire that loosely represents a plant is placed delicately in my hair, and despite the fact that it hurt like a bitch to put in, it does in fact look beautiful.
I stand up from the chair and give Claire a satisified smile, which she returns with an even broader one.
Something clicks in her face and she suddenly squeals and claps her hands, all while simultaneously spinning in a small rotation giddily. "Now for the fun part!" She exclaims.
I chuckle lightly at her, while walking over to my bag of recently purchased garments. I pull out the gown and place it carefully on the bed, the fabric splaying all over my sheets and duvet.
I place the matching shoes at the foot of my bed, one of them toppled over on the soft carpeting. I notice Claire walking to her own bag out of the corner of my eye and give her a questioning look.
She approaches me with a wide smile; light green silk gloves, and a floral masquerade mask in her hands. I glance down at them, confused, before looking back up to her with the same expression on my face. She hands them over to me and clasps her hands in front of her and looks to her left, the smile still on her face, a habit I've seen she has when she's feeling nervous, or when it comes to me, mischievous. I squint my eyes at her playfully. "So..." She begins, her smile getting impossibly wider. "I know you were planning on wearing a boring black mask." She says, gesturing loosely to my figure and giving an overdramatic disgusted face at my tendency to go for more neutral tones. "But I saw these in a store and just had to get them." She explains, now looking right back at me.
