The tan curtain in our clubroom fluttered in the breeze from the slightly agape window. It had grown warm due to a combination of the janitor having cranked the heat throughout the building and the extra people present. More specifically, the two nuisances kept showing up day after day in preparation for the anime convention. While I didn’t enjoy them being here, nobody else seemed put out. They had been downright friendly compared to earlier, which ended up being a point in their favor; Kenna and I took the classy approach of ignoring each other’s existence entirely.
“So, it’s decided,” Sophia said with a boisterous clap.
Serena and Aubrey exchanged a look that I couldn’t quite place before turning back to Nicole and me. “Are you sure you don’t need us to come with?”
Nicole opened her mouth to speak, but Kenna practically lunged across the rickety table to clamp it shut. This did not seem to please Nicole who looked like she was seconds away from biting down on the hand pressed over her lips. The other girl was at least smart enough to realize this and removed the offending appendage with a nervous titter. “Hehe.”
“What she meant to say,” Sophia intervened for her friend, “was that those two will be hopeless when it comes to fashion?”
Nicole pursed her lips. “Excuse me?”
“You’re excused, girl,” she replied, motioning to the sweatshirt she donned every day. I snickered at that before she raised an eyebrow to insinuate if I wanted to be dragged through the mud that badly. Falling quiet, I allowed her to continue after a few quiet complaints. “Serena and Aubrey can actually be of use. Jack too, whenever he decides to grace us with his presence.”
Jack chose that moment to slip into the room, forehead covered in beads of sweat and out of breath. “Sorry, I lost track of time drawing.”
Kenna looked offended on his behalf. “You keep doing this!”
Finding herself by his side, she started their usual routine of listing off her complaints about him while he sheepishly apologized. The curtain continued to dance in the breeze, swaying at each insult. At least, they sounded like insults until you really started listening in and then you realized they were just flirting and bullshit. How, when, or why they had become like this, I had no clue. I had no desire to find out either. In fact, there was nothing more I wanted currently than to avoid this disgusting display entirely.
"Let's get this over with, Nicole." I threw up a back-handed wave to the others in the room that I actually liked.
She huffed, sparing a glance at the other club members. "Fine."
"Be safe," Sophia said, not turning away from the sickening display of hidden affection. It was almost like she enjoyed something so disgusting. "Don't do anything crazy out there."
Serena and Aubrey bid us farewell, and we were out the door and into the wind that whipped around us relentlessly. I couldn't help but shiver despite the warmth from earlier and being swaddled in my thick coat. The cold didn't seem to faze Nicole, her long dark hair flipping around as she stalked toward her car.
"We going together?"
She gave me a brisk nod and unlocked her car. I slipped into the passenger seat, admiring the sleek black interior as I threw the seatbelt across my chest. With a rev of the engine, we were off to pick up the supplies that the club needed since fashion rejects like us couldn't be trusted with finding clothes for cosplays. That was probably for the best. This way we'd be in and out without any problems.
Things in hindsight were always so much more obvious.
I shuffled out of the rotating door to the mall, not wanting to be caught in a third full rotation. The conglomerates of crowds had distracted me upon our entry and had a grumpy Nicole–who had the common sense to get into the mall on her first spin–waiting for me. This did dispel the myth that Bayshore Mall in particular was dying. It was bustling with life: from the smells and shouts from the food court, to the gaggles of teenagers that walked aimlessly from storefront to storefront, to the mall walkers, parents, and little kids that trailed them, and the guards that somehow maintained a semblance of order. Even on a weekday afternoon like today, there was hardly room to walk without bumping into someone.
Nicole tapped her foot as I finally emerged from the revolving door. "Took you long enough."
She didn't wait any longer before turning and merging into the fray. I hurried to catch up so I wouldn't lose sight of her in the crowds.
"Why did we come to the mall? Couldn't we have gotten most of this stuff somewhere else?" I scooted around an old man swinging around his cane to forge his own path whether there were other people there or not. "Preferably somewhere a little less crowded."
I didn't hear her entire response since she somehow flowed better with the crowds and had put some distance between us. What I did hear was something about a specific brand of makeup. Would that make up for all this suffering? Not likely, but I was glad when Nicole took a sharp turn into a small, glass-fronted shop. That changed when I noticed the aisles were crammed full of beauty products.
A lady in a casual uniform came out from behind the counter to give us a polite smile. “Welcome! Is there anything I can help you find today?”
“We’re just looking. Thank you,” Nicole answered, slipping into an aisle without further ado.
The lady must have been used to that sort of answer, the smile on her face becoming a tad more forced. She brushed one of her curls away from her breast pocket and returned next to her other colleague who had manned the counter in her meager absence. “If you do need anything, just let me know.”
“We will," I said, purely out of politeness. It wasn't like I was going to ask her what foundation matched my skin tone the best or anything.
The shop was tinier than it appeared from the outside, the few short aisles themselves forcing customers to cram in one by one. The lighting was bright, almost too harsh, designed to allow you to properly evaluate shades and textures under fluorescent beams. Something that Nicole had not hesitated to do. The wall beside her was lined almost floor to ceiling with a wide array of lipsticks and lip glosses, standing upright and packed together like sardines in a can. Another housed rows of eyeshadow palettes that were fanned open and attracting a few patrons over.
I tried to wait patiently, I really did. I even looked around for a seat I could remain in until our venture was ultimately done here. Unfortunately, some other poor smuck had claimed the chair as his own, sagging in relief. That left me to count down the minutes, and every awkward second, until I was left at the end of my rope. Reading the fancy French names on the metal tubes was only entertaining for so long.
"Nicole..."
"Which one looks better to you?"
She held out two different lipsticks toward me. If there was a discernible difference between them, I didn't see it, but I also knew better than to say that aloud.
"I'm not sure."
She sighed, pulling them closer to herself and studying their intricacies again. That didn't satisfy and she held them out to me once more. "What shade would work for me?"
The question caught me off-guard, being a little more personal than previously. I was confident she was treating me with kid gloves, acting like I was a moron when it came to this. To be fair, though, I was.
I still had to fumble for some semblance of a response, so I went for a hail mary my dad often used on the few women in his life. "They'd both look good on you, wouldn't they? I'm sure anything would."
Nicole rolled her eyes. "You really know how to say a lot of nothing."
She returned the lipstick to the display and continued perusing. I lingered nearby, watching her deliberate over colors and textures. Her focus was too intense, as though she were figuring out what color wire needed to be cut to defuse a bomb rather than some mundane shopping.
Eventually, she picked up one of the two she had begun with, along with a short tube of makeup, and brought it to the front counter. The lady from earlier checked us out, and we left with a little black bag in hand.
"Onto the club stuff?" I asked, dreading the response.
"Just one more stop."
I dragged my feet in pursuit of her, feeling like a fool for imagining this would be a quick trip with her. Honestly, things really were much clearer in hindsight.