The Right Choice

Chapter 42

"Could you please sit straight?" An irritated Taylor yelled at her. Jessie shifted in her chair to find a comfortable spot only to receive an angry glare from Taylor once again. “Jessie I'm trying to use the eyeliner on your eyelids not on your eyebrows. Do you want to sport a uni-brow?"

Jessie gave her a sly grin and said, "Will that help me in avoiding the evening?"

"That's funny..." Taylor jokingly said with a smile before giving her another glare. "Not really. Jessie, I've worked my butt off trying to pull this off in less than three days. That too without using any of Holden's help or dropping his name at any of the places," She held Jessie's face with one hand and slowly began drawing on her closed eyelid. “I’ve used up all of my favors and I'm pretty sure that the caterers hate me."

"You forgot about the pastry chef," Jessie added. "I think that he hates you too."

"Yes! Antonio is never going to take charge of any of my parties ever again. I'm sure of it," Taylor said as she stepped back and took a last look at her masterpiece.

"Well, you did keep changing your mind about which flavor to go for. Then you called him up and asked him to change the frosting. Then you called him up again and asked if it was possible to make a bigger cake," Jessie rattled away. Realizing that Taylor maybe done with her eyes, she opened them and continued, "I'm pretty sure he suffered a cardiac arrest every time you called him up."

Taylor picked up the large brush and swerved it around the blush palette. She blew the excess powder off then began making light strokes across Jessie's cheek and said, "It wasn't that bad. Besides, I'm the customer; I want what I want."

"What about what the birthday girl wants?" Jessie raised her eyebrows.

"Well, then the ‘birthday girl’ should have picked up her phone when I called her several times," Taylor said without stopping her action.

Jessie shook her head and just then Taylor snapped, "I swear Jessie, I will hurt you if you don't stay still. I am trying to make you look good. Would it hurt for you to co-operate for just a little longer?"

Jessie gave Taylor a fake smile and said, "You've been at it for the last half an hour and I don't mean my make-up. You're making us late."

"I'm almost done," Taylor cried. "And who's going to say anything to you if you reach late. It's your birthday party; you can be as late as you want."

"Whatever," Jessie cried this time around. "Let's just go shall we?"

Taylor shook her head and continued to brush Jessie's cheeks.

They were at Jessie's house trying to get her ready for the big birthday party being hosted for Jessie. The venue had been one of their favorite hangout spots, The Flying Carpet. It was a small, lounge bar with an amazing atmosphere. Though Jessie no longer frequented it as often as before, she had insisted that her birthday be celebrated there. Taylor had not been very pleased. All her party ideas were useless as the owners of The Flying Carpet would not allow her to add her ‘over the top’ ideas to their bar. She had tried swaying Jessie's decision but when she heard the reason why, she relented. Jessie had explained that this way, they could successfully keep the press at bay. And for once, Jessie hoped that the party would go without any hiccups.

The plan was to ring in her birthday on Saturday through till early Sunday morning. The biggest task had been to hire the entire place for the night. That way, all of Jessie's friends and family would be present as she would cut her birthday cake at midnight as opposed to strangers. This was where Elaine Sanders had stepped in. She had found a connection to the owner via one of her many social triumphs and all she had to do was donate to one of their charities. 'Piece of cake!' she had said at that condition. This was part of her birthday present to Jessie.