Kiss Me

PART I, chapter 2

- II -

"Is that you, Stephanie?" my mother shouted from the living room.

"Yes, Mom," I called loudly and took off my shoes.

"How was your first day?" She actually got off her chair and walked to the door.

"It was good," I nodded, thinking that I was really grateful for the fact that my mother could never read me, and she would spend all her time chatting with her friends, watching TV, or shopping.

"Good," she nodded. "See? I told you it would be fun!" she smiled at me with her unreal white smile. "Did you make any new friends?"

"I spent all day with Trisha," I shrugged, and carefully set my jacket on the hanger.

"Trisha is a great girl!" my mother said enthusiastically, and suddenly, she looked eerily similar to my friend. "You two can shop together and she knows a lot of people! I just love her personality!"

"Yeah, Mom," I said absent-mindedly. "It'll be great."

"Mandy made your favorite pie," she said. "It's in the kitchen."

"I am not hungry," I lied quickly, thinking that pies and such were going to be a complete taboo from now on.

"Okay," she shrugged indifferently. "I am going to do some research on internet, so if you need anything..."

"I'll let you know," I nodded.

'Research on internet' translated into, 'I am going to check out upcoming sales, and don't bother me for the next seven or so hours,' which was fine with me. I walked into the kitchen and tried my best to ignore the peach pie that was sitting in the middle of the table.

"Hey, Steph," Mandy said with a wide smile.

"Hey, Mandy," I said. "Do we have any yogurt?"

Mandy was our housekeeper. She's been with us for the past seven years. My mother was trying to keep the house in order, but the whole cooking and cleaning thing was taking away her precious shopping time, so she told my Dad to find someone to help her out around the house. He didn't care and told her that she could hire whomever she wanted. He always firmly believed that the man's job was to sign checks and provide his family with enough cash, so they wouldn't pester him with ridiculous requests such as talking, understanding, and spending time together. He spent almost all his time at work, with his computers, clients, and office buddies, and he was happy. My mother loved this arrangement and never bothered him with unnecessary questions or demands. Her only condition was that he gave her enough money to buy anything she wanted anytime she felt like it, and he happily obliged. So my family was a perfect one. There were no fights, no arguments, no tears. Everybody was happy, including my eleven-year-old brother who spent all his time on the computer, playing one of those MMORPG games online.

"Yogurt?" Mandy frowned. "Are you feeling okay, kiddo?"

"I am fine," I nodded, trying to ignore the insanely seductive aroma of the peach pie. "I just want some yogurt..."

"Since when do you care so much about yogurt?" she squinted her eyes at me, and I shrugged.

"I just want to watch what I eat," I said casually. "Want to get in shape, you know..."

"You are in a good shape," Mandy said, finishing cleaning the stove. "You look great!"

"I want to look better," I said, opening the fridge. "I need to lose some weight."

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Mandy muttered. "Your first day at that school, and you already have these ridiculous ideas about getting skinny."

"They are nor ridiculous," I said, pulling a cup of strawberry yogurt out of the fridge. "I want to have a great-looking body, nothing wrong with that..."

"You do have a great-looking body," Mandy said, throwing away dirty paper towels. "You don't need to look sick and underweight to be popular... Anyway, since when do you care about being stick-thin? You never even looked at those models magazines..."

I shrugged and all but gulped my yogurt down.

"I don't want to be stick-thin," I said, licking the spoon. "I just want to lose a few pounds, that's all..."

Mandy just shook her head.

"All right," she sighed. "Just please, don't starve yourself, okay?"

"Okay," I promised and threw an empty cup away.

My stomach protested when I was walking upstairs, but I firmly decided that the only food I would have today was going to be an apple, and maybe a plain toast around six o'clock. I finished my homework quickly, since the only real homework I had was math and it was really easy. I put my books away and sighed. I walked up to the mirror and looked at myself very critically. I have never looked at myself like this before. Usually, I would look in the mirror to make sure that my clothes matched, and that I didn't have any threads sticking out. Now, however, I looked at myself as if I was one of the beauty contest judges.

What I saw, immediately threw me in a state of quiet panic. My face was so plain that it made me grind my teeth. My cheeks were too puffy, nowhere close to the sculpted high-cheek-boned structure of Trisha's face. My hair was long and brown, and I almost marveled how mousy it made me look. I pulled off the hair band and shook my head, letting my hair fall on my shoulders. It made me look a little better, but not by much. I decided to borrow some of my mother's hair curlers and see if they would make it better. I leaned towards the mirror and moaned when I looked at my eyebrows. They were thick, unshaped, and to my horror, I realized that I was about to get a uni-brow one of those days.

"Oh my God..." I whispered and turned away from the mirror.

I walked out of my bedroom and paused by my brother's door. He was laughing out loud and talking to himself. I carefully opened his door and peeked inside. Turned out, he wasn't talking to himself. He had his headset on, and he was chattering with somebody, while his fingers flew across the keyboard of his computer.

"Hey, geek," I said, and he turned towards me. "Who are you talking to?"

"My guildies," he said, covering the microphone with his hand. "What do you want?"

"Do you know if Dad left any money in the safe this week?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "Go check... No, that's my sister," he said into the microphone. "Yeah, I just need to get a couple spell upgrades for my warlock before the raid..."

I rolled my eyes and closed his door. I went downstairs and pulled the door of Dad's office. To my great surprise, it was locked.

"This is weird," I muttered. "Dad never locks his office..."

I stood by the locked door, thinking what I should do next, and finally, I realized that I had to ask my mother for money, because I knew that my brother would never give me any, even though I knew for a fact that he had at least two hundred bucks stashed away. I sighed and went to her office.

"Mom..." I called carefully after I opened the door, and she turned her head towards me. "Umm... Can I have some money...? I need to..." I coughed. "I need to go to the mall."

She froze for a second, staring at me with disbelief.

"Mall?" She repeated, and suddenly, her blue eyes lit up. "I'll go with you! Oh, honey, this is great! Just let me get dressed real quick, okay?"

She jumped up and raced upstairs. I looked at her and sighed. My mother was really pretty. She was almost forty, but she looked like she barely hit thirty. She was tall, skinny, and she was in a great shape. I thought about the fact that I looked nothing like her, and it made me sniffle bitterly. If only I had my mother's figure, blonde hair, and blue eyes, I would be so much happier... Instead, I looked exactly like my Dad – wide-shouldered, brown-eyed, and somewhat bulky. I never cared about the way I looked until I saw Tyler today and realized that my Cinderella story had begun.

"All right! Let's go!" My mother jingled her car keys and laughed happily.

The mall was busy as usual. People were lingering around, chattering with their friends and sales clerks. Everyone looked so happy that it made me wonder if shopping was indeed the best replacement for s*x. Not that I knew anything about s*x besides the stuff that I've read, but this comparative always struck me as funny. Until now.

"So," my mother clapped her hands together. "What do you need?"

I looked at her, and suddenly, was wondering when was the last time she and Dad did 'the nasty,' and my ears immediately burned hot.

"Well," I said quickly. "I need some clothes that won't make me look so bulky..."

She nodded energetically at that.

"...and I need to do something about my eyebrows," I finished in a small voice.

"Yes, you do," she agreed so sincerely that I almost choked on my own breath. "Also, if you don't mind me saying..." She looked at me with a silent question in her blue eyes, and I just nodded. "We need to do something with your hair too," she finished.

"Okay," I said, feeling humiliated. "What should we do first?"

"Let's do hair and eyebrows first," she said with a small calculating frown. "And then we can take a look at clothes and shoes."

She all but dragged me into a fancy-looking hair salon, and the counter girl almost squealed with delight when she saw her.

"Allison!" she cried. "I am sooo happy to see you again!"

"Hello, Lucille!" my mother answered in the identical squealing voice.

"Are you here about your hair?" Lucille asked, completely ignoring me. "It looks so great! What do you need changed?"

"Oh, it's not me," my mother said quickly. "We need to do something with Stephanie's hair," and she slightly pushed me forward. "This is my daughter," she said, and Lucille's eyes flew wide open at that.

"Oh, I see..." she muttered.

"We also need to do something about her eyebrows," and my mother made a quick circling gesture around her face. "This has to be changed!"

"Yes," Lucille agreed, and I thought that the humiliation meter had probably reached its lowest point for me right now.

Lucille turned me towards the light and studied my face for a couple of minutes, doubt in her wide black eyes.

"Okay, ladies," she said finally. "Follow me, please... Allison, you need to come as well," she looked at my mother who nodded immediately. "I'll need your opinion."

I wondered for a second if anyone would be even slightly curious about my opinion, but Lucille and my mother were already shoving me into the chair.

"Okay," Lucille breathed and studied my face again. "Let's see... I don't think I'll be able to do much today, Allison... This is just too big of a project... But we can fix the eyebrows, and maybe touch up the hair tonight, if that's okay?"

"Sure," my mother agreed. "I didn't expect a quick and easy fix," and they both laughed.

I almost pushed them away and got out of the chair, my pride burning me like hot coals, when I suddenly remembered Tyler's tight body and luminous hair, and I just gritted my teeth. Lucille gently wiped my face with a warm wet cloth and put some cream on it.

"Okay, Stephanie..." she murmured, pulling a shiny silver object out of the draw. "This might hurt for just a second..." She bit her lower lip and solemnly looked into my eyes. "I need you to sit very still, okay?"

I nodded.

"And I need you to close your eyes," she added, and I obliged.

Lucille leaned closer to me, and I could smell her flowery, light perfume. She muttered something, and I felt a touch of cold steel under one of my eyebrows. Suddenly, there was sharp pain that made my eyelids explode with yellow and red colors.

"Ow!!" I cried and opened my eyes. "That hurts!"

"Maybe we should just wax it?" my mother offered in a doubtful voice, and Lucille nodded.

"Yes," she agreed. "That would be the best... Come on Stephanie, follow me."

"Wax it?" I repeated numbly, getting out of my chair.

"It'll hurt the same," my mother said. "But it'll be over much quicker."

"Mom," I whispered. "I am not sure if I want..."

"Oh, don't be silly," my mother interrupted me and pushed me into another chair. "It's worth it. Plus, the pain is not that bad!" I snorted at that, and she looked at me intently. "Steph, I do it all the time..."

I looked at her perfectly shaped eyebrows and winced.

"Okay," Lucille said and pushed the pedal on the bottom of the chair, making its back to fall backwards.

Suddenly, I was lying down and my panic started to grow fast like a snowball.

"Calm down," Lucille smiled at me. "First time is always the hardest... Close your eyes," she commanded.

I obliged, and she gently put something warm and sticky on my eyebrows. I felt her patting my eyes with something soft, and suddenly, there was a blast of sharp pain that made me dizzy.

"Ow...." I whispered, tears streaming down my face from underneath my closed eyelids. "Ow...!"

"Okay," Lucille said calmly. "One more..."

I started to say something, but another blast of pain made me bite my tongue.

"Okay," Lucille's voice sounded from afar. "Now just lie still and I will trim it just a little..."

She did something to my tortured eyebrows, and this time, nothing hurt. Soon enough, I felt her gently wiping my face with a cool cloth.

"Okay," Lucille said finally. "Open your eyes."

I slowly opened my eyes, and she gave me a round mirror. I looked in it and couldn't believe my eyes. I never realized how much the shape of one's eyebrows reflected on the entire face. My face looked cleaner somehow, and my eyes looked bigger under my newly arched brows.

"Wow..." I said, and Lucille smiled at me.

"Yes," she agreed. "Now let's do your hair..."

Two hours later, we finally left the mall. I felt exhausted, as if I just finished doing something extremely difficult. My mother, however, was her usual cheerful self.

"Okay," she said, unlocking the car's door and throwing her bags into the back seat. "This weekend, we'll need to go get you more clothes and do your nails."

"What's wrong with my nails?" I asked, setting my bags next to hers, and she laughed.

"Oh, Stephanie..." she said, getting into the driver's seat. "You've got so much to learn..."

We got home at almost ten at night, because my mother insisted on getting Frapuccinos. When we got back, my Dad's sleek Maxima was already parked in the driveway. He was sitting on the big white couch in the living room, drinking his scotch, and watching TV.

"Evening, honey," my mother said lightly, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Evening, darling," he said absent-mindedly, returning the kiss.

"Hey, Dad," I muttered.

"Hey, Steph," he said without looking at me. "How was your day?"

"Educational," I said, and he nodded without any interest.

"That's great," he said and sipped his scotch. "That's great..."

I put my bags on the floor.

"Hey, Dad," I said, suddenly remembering. "How come your office door was locked today?"

That got his attention. He finally looked at me above his glass.

"I probably locked it by accident," he said lightly, but his eyes suddenly became tense.

"Oh, okay," I shrugged. "I just needed some money..."

"Tell you what..." he said, and carefully set his glass on the marble table in front of him. "How about I'll put money into that box from now on?" and he nodded towards a big white box that sat on the top of the shelf.

"I guess," I shrugged again. "But why?"

"Just in case if I lock my office again," he smiled at me and got up. "Did you do something to your hair?"

"Yeah..." I shifted somewhat uncomfortably. "I needed a change..."

"Looks nice," he nodded and walked into his office.

Several minutes later, he came out with a thick envelope in his hands.

"There we go," he said, putting the envelope into the box. "If you need more, just let me know," and he sat back down and picked up his glass with scotch.

"Okay," I said, thinking that it was really strange that he acted this way.

I went upstairs into my bedroom, turned on the lights, and walked up to the mirror. I forgot all about Dad's strange behavior the minute I saw my reflection. My hair was shorter now, and it looked fuller and shinier. It framed my face in such fashion that my cheeks didn't seem too puffy anymore. I whirled around, trying to see the back of my head, and was happy to see that it looked good on the back as well. I picked up my shopping bags and threw all the stuff onto my bed. I picked up a pair of jeans and a red shirt.

"Size five..." I winced after I looked at the tag.

I knew that the jeans I chose were size six. This meant that my mother traded them for a smaller size as soon as I turned away. I bit my lower lip, and finally decided to try them on. I pulled off my cargo pants and looked at myself in the mirror. My white thighs made me feel ashamed of myself. I slowly pulled off my shirt and stared at my reflection with disgust. My thighs were way too big, and my chest was way too small. I sighed and pulled on my new jeans. It took some struggle for me to squeeze my big butt into them, but after I managed to zip them up, I was amazed at the difference it made. Thick fabric pressed tightly against my body and made me look thinner. I slid on the red shirt, and slightly winced when I saw the deep neckline.

"No way am I wearing this to school..." I muttered.

Finally, I put all the clothes away and pulled on my pajamas. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, thinking of how many changes I've gone through within one single day. I wondered if I would ever care about all this stuff if I haven't seen Tyler. I sighed and put my toothbrush away. I decided to walk downstairs and get a glass of water. When I walked by my brother's bedroom door, I heard him cheering and laughing. I opened his door.

"Eric, it's almost eleven," I said.

He turned towards me, jumping up and down on his chair with excitement.

"Oh my God! I just got this uber robe for my warlock that I wanted to get for, like, months!" he jabbered. "Just look at the stats on this thing! This is awesome!!"

"Whatever," I said. "Did you finish your homework?"

"Yeah, yeah," he waved his hand impatiently. "Seriously, look at it!"

"Eric, I don't care," I sighed. "You need to get in bed. You'll be late for your bus again."

Eric was never home-schooled. He liked his school, and he would never agree to leave all his friends behind for something as lame as home school.

"Fine, fine," he said. "We are done here anyway... What did you do to your hair?" he suddenly squinted his eyes at me.

"I cut it," I said evenly.

He snorted.

"Finally," he said and pulled his headset back on. "Gotta go guys," he said into the microphone. "Thanks for a great run! See you all tomorrow!"

He turned the headset off and put it on the desk.

"What do you mean 'finally'?" I frowned.

"Finally, you decided to look like a person," he said, pulling off his T-shirt. "You looked like Cousin It."

I looked around for something I could throw at him, and he laughed.

"Relax," he said, grinning. "You look good... And don't tell anyone I said that to my sister," he added, rummaging through the pile of clothes on the floor. "So what, you found a guy you wanna impress or something?"

His sudden insightfulness left me speechless, and he laughed again.

"I knew it," he said, finally pulling his pajamas out of the pile. "What's his name?"

"Shut up, Eric," I said and closed his door.

I went downstairs and noticed light in my Dad's office. I quietly walked by his door and heard him talking to someone.

"Yeah," he said and laughed softly. "Me too... I am still thinking about it..."

I went into the kitchen, turned on the lights, opened the cupboard, and pulled out one of the taller glasses. The glass clanked loudly on the counter, when I set it down, and my Dad's voice suddenly changed.

"All right," he said quickly. "I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting."

I poured some water into my glass and looked at my Dad when he walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Steph," he said softly. "What are you doing?"

"Just getting some water," I shrugged. "Who were you talking to?"

"Tom," he said, heading to the fridge. "I am going to leave for a business trip at the end of next week."

"Okay," I said. He left for those quite often, and I really didn't care about it.

"I really like your hair," he said, pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Thanks," I said with a smile.

"So, how do you like your school?" he asked casually, and I shrugged.

"It's all right," I said. "Not as bad as I thought."

"That's great, Steph!" he nodded. "I am glad you feel that way."

"Yeah, well..." I shrugged again, not sure what to say. "Good night, Dad."

"Night, honey," he kissed me on the top of my head and walked back to his office.

The next day was uneventful until it was almost over. That was when I managed to make a complete i***t out of myself, and spilled tomato juice all over Laurie Drey.