Pretty, Ugly Girl

“So let me get this straight, I have to cover myself in this stuff because it'll make me look... better?” Abi asked with a tone that said she didn't believe what Tommy was saying nor that she was agreeing with him either.

The stuff in question was a pot of foundation that was a shade darker than Abi's skin tone. It wasn't that fact that was getting at Abi; it was the fact that she didn't want to wear foundation because she thought it was tacky and stupid.

“For the last time, yes Abi,” Tommy told the girl, slight irritants in his voice. “You said that you would listen to what I told you which is why I'm doing this.”

She lifted the pot of foundation up and stared pointedly at it, “And I don't see how this helps anything.”

Abi wasn't against make up on the whole; she just didn't like most of it. She could deal with lip gloss that was used, by her, whenever she has chapped lips and she could deal with mascara because it's not all that noticeable. Eye liner was something that she was sceptical about because some people coated their eyes with it which didn't look all that good on them. Though, she reasoned, it did look good on some but then again she hadn't seen them people without the eye liner. And sometimes make up can make such a huge difference to the way someone looks.

Tommy just gave a short glare at Abi. “Make up helps all the time. You know what you do with it? Hide behind it. You use it as a mask so you can pretend and keep pretending the whole time.”

Abi wanted to say something but stopped herself from doing so. She didn't get why she had to hide behind it because really, she wasn't really ashamed or anything about how she looked. Sure, she hated her weight but that's what eating less calories and doing the exercise with Tommy was helping her gain control of. Her looks, however, didn't bother her too much because there wasn't anything she could really do about it except wait until she was older to pin her ears back and, possibly, get a nose job.

“Just go apply it in the bathroom. Go. Bathroom.” When Tommy said that Abi shook herself from her thoughts and begrudgingly dragged herself to the bathroom in his house and shut the door. Opening the pot of foundation, Abi couldn't help but look at it with disgust. She didn't get the appeal of it but right now she was going to be going against what she thought because she had said that she would listen to whatever Tommy told her to do with regards to their deal.

And in a way, she understood where he was coming from with the make up. Most people who were perceived as beautiful in society's eyes wear layer upon layer of make up which undeniably hides the real them from the outside world. And sometimes it can be a good thing because it makes them a better person and sometimes it can be a bad thing and make them a worse person.

Taking a deep breath, Abi stuck a finger into the pot and ran it down across the mousse, scrunching her nose up at the feel. It felt horrible but she didn't stop herself from bringing her hand up and, with the finger that foundation was on, rubbing it onto her left cheek.

It felt just like wearing a mask to her which was horrible. Seeing as she hadn't worn foundation before, she had a bit of trouble applying it to her face so that it didn't look clumpy nor ridiculous like most of the girl's in her year wore it. She could recall all the thoughts she had that basically were just slagging them off at how they looked. Oh the shook and horror it would be if they saw her now: applying the same thing she hated.

Tommy found it absolutely ridiculous the time that Abi was taking just to apply a light layer of foundation to her face. He thought girls were meant to be good at applying make up. At least that was the impression he got off of people he knew that were girls and wore make up. They made it seem so easy and something that they done naturally with ease.

The sight he got when he entered the bathroom was one that he wanted to laugh at but couldn't. The state of Abi's face was horrendous and he almost slapped his forehead over it. He told her to go apply it and she went and did this? Tommy didn't know whether to find it absolutely hilarious or completely terrible.

“It looks like the foundation attacked your face Abi,” he said which made her narrow her eyes at him. “Wash it off and let me do it,” he told her to which she just snorted but listened to what he said and washed it off. Though it was difficult to wash it off because she kept missing bits and he would point them out to her and she would just keep get annoyed that it just wouldn't come off. In the end she just scrubbed at her face with the flannel so hard that her face was practically all red when she was done.

Tommy waited for the redness to die down a little before he took her into the sitting room, made her sit down before he started applying the foundation himself. It was a lot better because he had full view of her face whereas she didn't. Abi didn't like him doing it but she didn't say anything because she knew that she failed the first time round. It wasn't her fault though because she just didn't like it nor did she know how exactly to apply it.

“It's strange,” Tommy mused, “It's like your face is just made for foundation.” The ease it was going onto her skin and blending in to it was something that was surprising to him.

Abi just scowled at his words, not saying anything mostly because of the fact he was still blending the foundation in and talking might make it go wrong. And really, she didn't want to have to have this done yet again today.

“And it's emphasising your cheekbones really well,” he exclaimed, bemused. It was actually extremely surprising to him. Now that they were really emphasised with the foundation, he could see that they were actually really beautifully defined.

“Oh fuck you,” she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. She really wasn't amused with the things he was saying. Make up was a thing she hated so whatever bullshit he was saying she didn't like. And Tommy gathered that which made a little smirk rest on his face.

If he said that the way she was acting now reminded him of Lucy, he would be lying because she didn't have an attitude like Abi does. But bit by bit, Abi on the whole was reminding him more and more of Lucy. And sometimes he found that such an amazing thing and sometimes he didn't because they were totally different people and yet one was reminding him of the other.

His first thought would be not to mind because he was finding himself liking Abi as a person much more than he used to. But, he realised, that it was probably because he was now getting to know her as a person as opposed to what people said about her. Granted that people didn't really say too much about her because not many people knew her in the town but whenever they did talk about her, it wasn't that many good things. It wasn't just down to her either; Jade and James influenced how people thought about her.

Tommy, much like many other people, knew that being judged and having people's opinions of the person influenced by their siblings isn't a nice thing. It was something that happened too frequently though and didn't look to stop happening any time soon.

“I feel disgusting,” Abi muttered once he was finished with the foundation. How people wore something like this all day was beyond her.

“You always complain,” he retorted back before putting the lid on the foundation pot and placing it on the table.

He was right and even she knew it, but it was one of her traits and it would probably never leave her.