Page 74 of Made for You

After a long night, the flight attendant finally comes over the intercom to tell us that we are going to be boarding shortly. I pack up my stuff and run to grab a cold soda before boarding. I need caffeine since my bedtime was a solid four hours ago.

Luckily Coop was able to change the time on the car, so I don’t have to worry about getting a cab and finding where I need to go once I land.

I hand the flight attendant my boarding pass, and find my seat.

My palms are sweating, my stomach is doing flips, and I can’t decide if I want to smile from happiness, or vomit from nervousness.

Is this what love is?

No it can’t be.

Love is watching Violet sing and dance in the kitchen. Love is finding my favorite baked good on the counter. Love is bringing her a book I know she wants to read. Love is wanting to have her with me for every sunrise until there are no more sunrises left.

This is just me, scared to tell Violet any of this. Scared to be rejected. But willing to risk it all.

My phone has been silent. No answer from Liam. Not even Emma.

I waited all morning for it to make some kind of noise, with no luck. So I continue to sit with it in my hands, willing it to ring.

A knock sounds on my door.

I open it to find my mother holding a designer dress bag and an entourage with hair and makeup supplies.

“Oh I’m just so excited for today!” She points to a spot by the window, “You can set up over there.”

“Mom, whatis this?”

“Honey, it’s the biggest event for Larry’s re-election. You didn’t think I would let you do your own hair and makeup?” She scoffs and continues to scurry about my room creating an organized chaos that isn’t welcomed.

She hangs the dress bag on the door of my closet.

“Would you just look at this gorgeous dress?” she asks me while unzipping the bag and running her hands down the satin material.

I stare at the dress in front of me. It’s low cut, strapless, and a deep red. Nothing that I would ever be comfortable in. “I mean it’s—”

Mom grabs my arm and pulls me toward the spot that the hairstylist set up at. She pushes me into the chair.

“Now whatever she says, we don’t want. I want an elegant half up, half down. Glam makeup, dramatic smokey eye, and red lip to match the dress.” She demands of the makeup artist who nods in agreement.

Am I really just here with no opinions of my own? To be some doll for my mother and Larry to show off in front of cameras?

Twelve hours.I keep repeating the time I have left here. It’s the only thing that’s getting me through.

After hours of torture with hair and makeup, I am finally acceptable to my mother’s standards.

The dress on the other hand, is a struggle. It’s about a size too small, and worse than I thought before because it’s freaking backless. I still don’t know how my boobs are supposed to hold up these strips of fabric.

My question is answered when my mother walks in with double sided fashion tape. I groan to myself, not ready to enter this part of the world again. That shit hurts.

“Here, honey! This will help keep everything up!” She tosses the pack in my bathroom where I’m getting dressed. Instead of picking it up I just stare at the offending piece of fashion.

When I determine there is no other way, I open the package.

“What did you get yourself into, Violet?” I brace myself on the vanity of the bathroom and talk to myself in the mirror. “You can do this. Stick this tape to your boob, go mingle and make nice, then you can go home to Liam.”

Taking a deep breath I finish getting dressed and emerge from my room to find my mother waiting at the top of the stairs to make our grand entrance together. Excellent. I love being the center of attention.

We descend the stairs together, linked arm in arm like the happy family that Larry portrays.

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