Becoming the Luna

Getting back in the clothes is even more horrific than the first time I had to try them on, while my mom hovered around me, clucking proudly like a mother hen.

The white lacy shirt goes on first, then the garters, after we buckle that up, I pull on the pants.

There were still knee-high boots to be worn, suspenders, and a necktie but I still haven't had my hair done yet and apparently, my face.

My mom excitedly leads me back to the accursed dresser and starts to take the curlers out of my hair.

I blink in surprise when my hair is let down, it's glossy and fluffier than it has ever been.

"Whoa!" I whisper, poking my hair. "It's so bouncy."

"I know." My mom laughs at the awe on my face. "It's pretty long too and I don't want to leave it down, I don't want to pack it all up either." She starts to ramble, a thing she does when she's intensely concentrating.

I watch my mom pick up a couple of pins and start to pick up locks of my hair, the bruised gold shade malleable in her hands.

After a long while of pushing my hair around and tacking it up with pins, she finally moves out of the way so I can get a peek at what she had been up to.

I gape when I see my reflection, I don't know how she did it without letting the pins show but she hair packed my hair up in a messy bun that had lots of hair falling out of it but it was just perfect.

My hair would have been a little too much if I just let it fall all around me and it would have been too severe if I had gathered it up in a proper bun.

"It's perfect." I breathe out, smiling at the way my mom puffs her chest in pride.

"Of course it is, mommy made it." She agrees smugly. "Now to get started on your face, it's already past four o'clock, I'll need to hurry."

"Close your eyes baby, unless you want to get stabbed."  My mom says after I wink my eyes open for what must be the tenth time.

I quickly slam the shut, oblivious to whatever my mom is up to on my precious face.

For a long while we remain like this, me with my eyes shut and my mom poking and prodding at my face with multiple contraptions that I start to lose count after a while.

"And there!" She finally pronounces, bopping my nose. "All done, you can open your eyes now."

I slowly do as she says, nervous.

I look in the mirror and blink, the person reflected in the mirror does the same and I gasp. "Is that me?" I demand, whipping around to look at my mom.

"Yes, oh you look so handsome." She squeals, gently kissing my cheek. "Come on, wear your shoes so I can go find your suspenders."

"Okay." I mutter distractedly, still caught up in staring at the ethereal person in the mirror.

I don't know what my mom did but whatever she did was awesome, she made my eyelids darker so that my grey eyes would sparkle and my eyes would look smaller, and a hundred other things I couldn't point out because of how subtle it came off.

I get up to go get my shoes, the knee-high, black suede boots had silver zips all down the sides, both sides.

I wasn't complaining about this, it made it easier to get my legs in any way.

When I'm done wearing the boots, my mom comes back with the black suspenders in hand and a soft-looking piece of cloth.

"All of those really useless skills Maggie had Candy and I learn when we were younger is about to come in handy right about now."  She says after she helps me put on the suspenders.

The necktie comes on next and I stand still, staring and my mom's pretty face full of concentration.

"Thanks, Mom." I murmur to her.

She blinks up at me and gives me a slow bright smile. "My pleasure." She winks. "You had better not come back home tonight." She teases.

My hands fly up to cover the tips of my ears. "Mom?" I whine.

"I'm sorry baby, I couldn't help it." She laughs, patting the perfectly done necktie. "Wanna see yourself?" She asks, already leading me towards the floor-length mirror against the wall.

I peek inside and stare at myself curiously. "Why did Shana have to get me high waisted pants?" I complain, eyeing how tiny it made my waist look.

"Well, your garters had to be covered up plus it's keeping with the theme of the dance. Now let's go downstairs, your date should be arriving soon."  She says, taking my hand and pulling me to the living room.

I peek at the clock when we get there and my palms start to sweat at the time, it was barely five minutes to the time.

I slowly sit on a sofa and gently place my head in my hand so that I won't upset my mom's creation and I try to control my rapidly escalating breathing.

"Hey, baby." My mom squats in front of me and takes my face in her hands. "Are you nervous?"

"Mmh hmm." I hum, my palms sweaty.

"Of what?"

"Everything." I whine, hiding my face in her neck.

"It's just Virgil, plus he'll be there to make sure you're okay."

I hum, nodding to her words. I didn't know if the fact that it was Virgil made the entire situation worse or better, it felt like a little of both.

Excitement sparks through me as I hear a car pull up into the driveway.

My mom gets up after giving me one last kiss on my cheek. "Yay! Your boyfriend is here."

I blush darkly at this. "Stop torturing me, I'm already nervous enough." I complain, suddenly feeling too jittery to sit still.

Virgil knocks and I swallow my heart, I look to my mom to help me answer the door but as usual, she's cruel to me.

"Oh shit, I almost forgot to take pictures." She exclaims in a whisper, already taking off. "Where did I put my camera again?" 

I watch my mom disappear down the hallway and then turn my attention back to the door where Virgil was definitely standing behind.

A knock comes through again and I break away from my frozen state of terror, I have to open the door.

Quickly, I rush to the door, not wanting to keep Virgil waiting.

I fling open the door and become spellbound by what I see, Virgil is dressed in all black, the first three buttons of the black dress shirt are undone and I nearly go blind from the amount of tanned skin showing.

His necktie is undone and just thrown around his neck to give a lazy, seductive look and a black, silk trench coat to top off the look, identical silk pants only that they aren't high waisted and knee-high boots.

"Like what you see?" He drawls and I hiccup, grateful that I didn't swallow or bite my tongue.

"Come in." I say in a rush, turning around to hide the blush painting my face. "Sorry for staring." I murmur, stepping in to allow him to come in.

I don't get far because he grabs me by the waist and spins me around, pulling me flush against him. "I don't mind you staring."

I look up at him with wide eyes at this, shocked. We stand there for a while just staring at each other, my balance is off and the only thing keeping me from toppling over is Virgil's arms.

His blond hair is coiffed and the black stud in his ear just makes my eyes water and my brain melt, blue eyes shouldn't be able to get so dark.

Shutter sounds interrupt our little bubble that we fall into where there's just Virgil and me.

"This is perfect!" My mom coos, angling the camera to check that the pictures she took matched the one she wanted. "I'm definitely enlarging this for the living room."

"Mom?" I complain when Virgil finally lets me go and I no longer feel like the ground has fallen away from under me. 

"I know, I know, let a mother dream will you?" She sighs dramatically, coming forward to hug Virgil. "You look dashing darling, take care of my baby, okay?"

"Always Renee." He replies smoothly, slipping an arm around me.

I try not to blush at this before I end up melting whatever my mom had put on my face.

"Bye baby!" My mom waves to me from the door as Virgil gently leads me outside.

He had driven my mom's BMW and I wince at the flashy car, like we needed more reason to draw attention to ourselves.

"Bye, mom." I wave back to her, allowing Virgil to open the passenger side door for me and helping me in.

My mom takes more pictures.

"Mom?" I complain again, Virgil just chuckles at her antics.

"I love you, baby! Have fun!"