Naturally breaking the tension, Sam shoved a bag in my face. "These should help Little Bit." His Cheshire Cat smile made me a bit nervous to open this in front of the adults for some reason.
"Should I be afraid?" I opened the bag slowly. It was heavy. When I got through the tissue paper, I found a pair of black platform Converse high tops. "Aw, thank you. I was actually expecting something to embarrass me."
"Nope, but now you will at least be taller than our elbows." He laughs with everyone else, me included.
Cam and Kota got me black skinny jeans with a few tears in them to look worn, but not trashy, and a black belt with metallic thread woven into it.
Oliver got me a cornflower blue cropped peasant top that goes off the shoulder and has puffy long sleeves. Mateo got me a delicate white gold chain with a crescent moon pendant that had two little stars on the end.
"Mine comes later, so you just have to be patient." Sierra wiggles her eyebrows at me, and I am instantly afraid.
"This is all great, guys, thank you! I really am going to go shower and change now. I'll be right back." I grab all my stuff and turn to race out of the room. I am becoming uncomfortable with all the attention on me.
"If you didn't catch on, that's the outfit you are wearing today." Sierra yells at my back, followed by a boom of laughter. I just roll my eyes; of course, she picked this out, and I can't not wear what the guys gave me. I have to watch out for her sneaky tactics.
I have never showered so quickly in my life. I debated on having Sierra come up and help me do my hair and makeup. I've never cared before, but for some reason, having my birthday recognized by all of them made me want to care a little bit, at least today.
Wrapped in my towel, I race out to my room to grab my phone, just to get a shock from seeing her on my bed. "Oh, shit! Stop doing that." I place a hand on my forehead. The other is still keeping my towel secure. She just laughs. "Will you help me do my hair and makeup, please?" I'm still trying to steady my racing heart.
"Oh, girl! I thought you would never ask! Let's do this!" Way too excited, she looks way too excited about something as simple as hair and makeup.
30 minutes later, I have been brushed, curled, styled, mascaraed, and lip glossed. She didn't actually put a ton of makeup on my face, but what she did brought out the blue-gray of my eyes and made them stand out, and my lips were just average in size, but now they look full and fit my face better. My hair is up in a high ponytail with big beach waves. I actually feel confident like this.
"Do you like it?" She sounds unsure.
"Yes! I'm sorry. This is great. I've never really worn makeup before. I train too much to put the effort in and have it all sweat off. But, this is just right."
Thank you, this really means a lot to me." I hug her tightly, hoping to put all of the emotions I am feeling into the hug. I can't explain why to her now, I will just get sad and cry. But she needs to know, this was not some little thing she did for me today.
"Okay, okay. Get dressed before these boys kill us. And I told you they would all go shopping with us." She giggles as she shoos me out of the bathroom. "Now for your brother to hit one of them."
I put the outfit on and do a little twirl in my full-length mirror. The outfit she picked was perfect. The pants hugged me in all the right places, but I didn't feel restricted, and even though the top was cropped, it still skimmed the waistband of my high-waisted jeans and covered the worst of the bruises and scars on my torso.
What wasn't covered, she applied a layer of tattoo concealer. She really did think of everything. She was trying to push me out of my comfort zone, but knew what I needed to do that. I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like her.
"Oh, my necklace! I must have left it down in the kitchen. I think we are ready, right?" I did one more twirl for her approval.
