“Dark? Like black?”
“No.” Tabby’s heart was pounding unnaturally fast. “What about, like, chestnut brown?”
“Sure. That’s good. We won’t have to strip it. I’ll go mix it up, and I’ll be back in two ticks.”
This isn’t a big deal, Tabby told herself an hour later as brown dye dripped into her follicles.It’s just hair.
Yet once she was shampooed and sitting in a reclining chair with a revitalising treatment mask on her scalp, she was so nervous she could hardly sit still. What was Sam going to say? What would Toby think?
“I’ll do your makeup after this,” Neve said, appearing with a colossal eyeshadow palette. “Pick your colours. Do you want a natural look or something dramatic?”
“Um, dramatic?” Tabby said, conforming to her nature. “I don’t… this isn’t extra, is it?”
“Not for you,” Neve said happily. “Some bloke called up and paid for the whole thing. Is he ya husband?”
Tabby felt herself flush to the roots of her presumably dark hair. “Not in a million years. More of a sugar daddy thing. Paypig, really.”
“Nice. Gotta find me one of those.”
Tabby chose a silvery eyeshadow, and Neve put the palettes away and washed, trimmed and dried her hair. She was sitting in a space without mirrors, which Tabby was happy about. If she looked washed out and horrible with brown hair, there was no way she could sit through an hour or more of makeup without crying.
“I’ve given y’a bit of a blowout,” Neve said. “But your hair’s already quite straight, so it’s hanging well. How’s the wine?”
“Great,” Tabby said, halfway down her second glass. “I’m not scared at all.”
Neve laughed. “Do you want your makeup done before you take a look at your hair? Do a big reveal?”
“Sure.”
Transported to yet another chair, Tabby did her best to hold still as a million different liquids were painted across her face and neck. She was reminded of the fashion shoots she’d done back when modelling for indie brands was even remotely interesting, hours and hours spent preparing for a single purpose. She wondered where Toby was and if he was as nervous as she felt. If he’d be happy when he saw what his money had paid for. She hoped he’d be blown away. That he’d give her that hard, heavy-lidded look he gave her in his hallway before he threw her up against his wall…
“Nevey,” a green-haired girl called. “A dress got delivered for your client!”
“Oooh, more paypig swag!” Neve chortled. “Did y’know?”
“Nope,” Tabby said honestly. Though she had been wondering how Toby would feel when she rocked up at his house all done up but still in sneakers and denim overalls. She wondered what dress he’d sent. Considering his new sexual outlook, it was probably a rubber nurse outfit, and he had every intention of ball-gagging her and destroying her asshole or something.
“Done,” Neve said, spraying her with setting mist ten minutes later. “Do me a favour, and I’ll go get the dress so you can put it on before you look in the mirror? I looove makeovers.”
“Sure.”
Neve returned with a cloth bag that, once unzipped, showed a white silk halter dress. It had gold hardware in the bustier-style bodice, a hole cut under the boobs and a long slit in the side.
“It’s goooorjus!” Neve crowed. “There are shoes and a bag too! Get into the changeroom and I’ll bring y’the boxes!”
Tabby ducked behind a black rubber curtain and realised she was one hundred percent right to have gotten a wax. The dress fit like a glove but made all underwear impossible. Pre-wax, her pubes would have probably poked right through the material. The shoes, which Neve shoved under the curtain, turned out to be Valentino pumps, tan with gold spikes all over. Even without a receipt, Tabby knew they were the most expensive she’d ever wear. Palms sweating, she buckled them around her ankles. Her newly dark locks tumbled onto her chest like someone else’s hair.
“Go away,” she whispered, brushing them back.
Still crouching, she turned to the flat gold box Neve had also given her, which presumably contained her new bag. The label read ‘Benedetta Bruzziches,’ which wasn’t a brand Tabby knew or had previously believed to be real. Wondering if this was where Toby’s evil revenge manifested itself in a blood explosion, she pushed aside pale blue tissue paper and saw… the most beautiful thing in existence. A tiny blue and green clutch with a crystal clasp. It was shaped like a seashell and looked like something a Greek goddess of beauty would ride into shore. She pulled it from the surrounding paper and held it up, examining the details.
“Hellooo?” Neve called. “Need a hand?”
“No,” Tabby shouted back. Shoving all the paper and crap back into the boxes, she stood. She emerged from her rubber cell, vibrating with something too terrifying to be called excitement.
“You look stoon-nin!” Neve squealed. “Y’man’s gon’ be sohappy!”
Tabby was directed to a steel-framed full-length mirror. She glanced at her reflection and saw a beautiful brunette with big boobs and smoky blue eyes. The kind of woman whose white dress and tiny fashionable purse wouldn’t look out of place at the Met Gala.
