Behind the Lines

“C’mon, hurry up!” Violet yells in my ear, making me wince.

“I can only work so fast, Vi,” I mutter, rolling my eyes.

“Well, we don’t wanna keep Caleb waiting, now do we?” Riley naughtily adds in, sitting on my bed, reading a magazine.

“Guys, I hope you know we are only going out as friends, so I don’t know what the big deal is,” I retort.

“The big deal is that this is your first date and we swore to Caleb that we’d help him by helping you get ready!” Violet cheers.

I sigh and cave in to her pampering. I do not understand why she is making me wear casual clothes but doing my makeup like I’m going to a party. Caleb and I are just going as friends and I don’t feel like I should dress up for him now, when I never dressed up when we were dating. I mean, what kind of reversed logic is that?

“I don’t see the reason in this. I mean, what if he’s just taking me to the movies? I’m gonna look like a poor hooker!” I exclaim, earning a hysterical laugh from Harmony and Riley who are sitting on the bed, while Violet scowls at me. Well, at least two people find this situation funny.

“Are you telling me that my makeup ability is that of a hooker, because if so, I cannot call you my friend now,” Violet overacts, standing in, what I like to call, a diva pose, with one hand on her hip which is jutting out to the side.

“No Violet, what I am saying is that I look like a girl who is covering her natural beauty with makeup and then wearing boyish clothes. I am not questioning your makeup artist abilities, which by the way, is fantabulous!” I chastise her. I never really was one to dress up, being raised in a house full of guys all those years.

Violet and all the other girls burst out laughing. Why? I have no clue. I look at all of them as if they’ve lost their minds, which I don’t doubt they did.

“What the hell is so funny?” I question, clear confusion in my voice.

“I cannot believe you of all people would say ‘fantabulous!’ That is so jacked up,” Piper explains, holding her stomach from laughing so hard.

“Well then,” I say exasperated, turning my attention back to the mirror and faking a pout.

“Oh, Journey, what would we do without you?” Riley sighs, calming down.

“Nothing. You all would be dead,” I say seriously, which puts them in another round of laughter. “Did you guys induce laughing gas or something?” I ask, looking at them worriedly.

“No, honey. You are on a roll today,” Violet chuckles.

“Whatever,” I shrug off, still pouting.

“Okay, now all I need is to add some finishing touches and you are done,” Violet murmurs, more to herself than at me.

Thirty more seconds later and she finishes doing whatever she had to do on my eyes. Obviously, she had me turned around from the mirror so I could be surprised when I see myself. She turned my chair around for the big reveal, and a big surprise it is. The smoky eyes she did made my green eyes stand out more than usual. She straitened my hair, which looked amazing from my normal curly hair. She had only added a little bit of blush but had put bright red lipstick which added some colors onto my outfit, since I am wearing a white sundress that had a red ribbon right under my chest. Okay, so I know I said I wear boyish clothes, but Violet made me change into this to “match the occasion,” as she stated. I would have just worn some shorts and shirt. But I am glad I did wear this, because it looks amazing. I look amazing. And that is something I would have never said about myself.

“Oh, look at Journey checking herself out in this mirror!” Harmony calls from the bed, cat calling and whistling, while the others just clap and yell in excitement. This makes me blush like crazy and I cower my head to hide the deep red on my cheeks, overpowering the color Violet put on me. We hear a knock on the door and Harmony gets up from the bed to go open it. All the boys are standing there, except Caleb of course, entering my room. Harmony closes the door behind them and locks it so no one else enters.

“Looking good, Journey!” hoots Gavin, wiggling his eyebrows up and down suggestively. I roll my eyes, but blush at the compliment.

“Whoa, girl. I’ll give you five cents to tickle my pickle,” Mason comments, earning slap on the back of the head from Riley.

“Keep it in your pants, Mase,” Riley scolds.

“Do I know you? Because you look liked my next girlfriend,” Xavier flirts.

“I may not be DQ but I could treat you right!” Blaine smirks, wiggling his eyebrows as well, earning a playful shove from Bryn.
“Hey Journey?” Rob asks, smirking.

“Yeah,” I ask hesitantly, eyebrows rising in question.

“Your shirt has to go, but you can stay!” Rob steals the show and gets high fives and slaps on the back from the boys. Claire rolls her eyes, but smiles, knowing he is only joking.

“Okay guys, we know she all looks hot but she has a date to get to and you are making her blush already! So we need to go downstairs and you need to get out of her room,” Violet orders.

“Oh, I like them feisty!” Mason yells, getting a slap on the back of the head from Rob.

“Shut up, dweeb. And don’t talk to my sister like that or I will neuter you,” Rob threatens.

“Whoa, I surrender!” Mason holds his hands up but laughs anyway, muttering he was kidding under his breath.

“Okay kiddies, she is getting late. Let her go through!” Riley yells, pulling me to the door.

“Hey Journey, when you’re out, does this mean I can look through your underwear drawer?” Xavier mocks innocence.

“You touch my shit I will cut yours off,” I snarl playfully, but there is a threat behind my voice.

“Whoa, down kitty,” Xavier mutters under his breath and I growl, glaring at him.

“Come on Journey!” Riley says, pulling me once more and not stopping till we get downstairs to the kitchen.

Caleb is there talking with some of the guests here, dressed in a nice button up plaid shirt and jeans with plain black converse. He has his beanie on like usual and his bangs are side swept, making him look really cute. Unfortunately, since Landon is my mate, I cannot find myself attracted to any mate. Whatever connection Caleb and I had for a week, is gone and would probably only be ignited if both our mates died somewhere in the near future. A pang of hurt went through my chest as I thought of that, but I wave it off just as Caleb looks over at me and smiles widely.

He walks over to me and takes my hand. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he asks. I hit his chest and cross my arms across my chest and pout.

“What is with everyone and their cheesy pick lines? Does anyone not get that they will not be getting any of this awesome-ness anytime in the near or far future. I mean come on, I know I’m hot and all, but a girl can only spread her legs for so long, you know,” I lecture, playing along.

The boys, who followed us, look at me wide eyes while the girls bust out laughing.

“Holy shit, Journey that is the best thing I’ve heard you say!” Piper yells, clutching her stomach from laughing so hard.

“Well, I did mention I am awesome! And I’m so glamorous I spit glitter, fool!” I yell.

“Whoa there, no need to go all Edward Cullen on us and sparkle man,” Gavin mutters. I give him the middle finger and roll my eyes.

“You ready?” I ask Caleb.

“Yup, let’s go,” he smiles wide, showing his dimples and leads me out the door.

“Use protection!”

“Don’t forget the plastic!”

“Who wants to get pregnant?”

“Remember, slow then fast!”

Everyone shouts different phrases at the same time, making Caleb and I laugh and roll our eyes at our friends.

And when we smiled at each other, I knew it was going to be a great night with a great friend.