“Well, I don’t really need any help, but if you want to hang out here for an hour on your phone, please feel free.” I indicate an overstuffed chair.
Sarah looks to the door and then to the chair. She does this a few more times, and then makes her decision. She shrugs, taking the offered seat. “Thank you.” She pulls her phone out of a pocket and gets comfortable. “By the way, I was able to do...that thing we discussed.”
“You were? Oh, thank you. He’s going to be so annoyed, and not able to figure out why.” I cackle, clapping my hands and bouncing in my chair.
“It was a pleasure.” She goes back to her phone.
We sit in a companionable silence while I get another half hour of work done.
My alarm goes off, which I set to make sure I didn’t lose track of time. I stretch the kinks out of my back and wander to the closet to get out some dress options for the night. After throwing them on the bed, I stare at them for a few minutes. I take them one by one to the floor-length mirror and hold them up in front of me.
“I think you look good in the red,” Sarah says tentatively from behind me.
“You should be on break—” I hold the red one up to me. “Oh, yes. You’re right, this is much better than the other options. Thank you!”
I rush to the bathroom, looking at my watch and cursing for not giving myself more time to get ready.
After the dress is on, I clear the vanity of my work and return it to its original use. I dump out my makeup bag and fish out the things I need. I slap some eyeliner on and some lipstick and turn to my nearest critic.
“How do I look?” I ask.
“Can I just...” Sarah approaches me, picking at the makeup sprawled on the table and looking at me questioningly.
“If you don’t mind, I’d love the help. But I really did just want to give you a break.”
“I’m going to school to do makeup, so I don’t mind at all.”
“Thank you. I never really learned to do all the magic the professionals can do.”
“You’re in good hands.”
She’s right; twenty minutes later I look in the mirror and see my face, but fancier. “Have you ever thought about living in the city?”
Yes, I am shamelessly trying to poach Sarah to make me look great all the time. Sonia would love to get in on it too. Mom as well, probably.
Sarah laughs. “My family’s out here so I want to stay home till I move out to LA to try to do makeup for movies and TV.”
I crinkle my nose. “Ew, LA. If you like no seasons and driving for half of your day I suppose.”
“I would only go because of work.”
We share another smile. What a loss to the Loot staff.
A loud sound reverberates into the room. I jump and clutch my rapidly beating heart. “What’s that?”
“The dinner gong,” Sarah says, not missing a beat in cleaning up the makeup on the vanity.
“He has a dinner gong?” Not that it’s the craziest thing I’ve seen. Still. Sarah just nods. “Okay, I’m being summoned to dinner then.”
“Enjoy.”
“Thank you. And if you want to pretend to clean my room but just hang out here for a bit without cleaning, please feel free.”
I go down the stairs and realize I probably should have asked Sarah for directions, because I have no idea how to get to whatever room is being used for dinner tonight.
I peek into a few rooms but don’t run into anyone or see any food. The big house is scarily silent, and a bit unnerving.
As I check in the fifth room I come across, I wonder if everyone in this house got kidnapped and they didn’t get to me. Which means there’s no one around to stop me if I take all this nice art...
