"Mhm... Miss Melanie be gentle..." Something soft tickles my nose on the beach. Maybe it's a leaf, or the wind, or a fish that walked out from the ocean. Don't bother me Mr.Fish, I'm lounging.
"Vilma."
"You can talk? When did you learn to talk Mr.Fish?" My eyes open and what I thought were Mr.Fish's thin flipper tickling me are actually Laura's hands. "Good morning."
"It's nearly noon, I wanted to get you up so you could get ready to see Melanie"
"Melanie!"
"Shhh... You'll wake Arthur up." She hushes. I peek up to the top of the bed, where Arthur and the boy are still snoring loudly.
"Where's Kristie?"
"She got up early to fix your dress."
"My dress!"
"Shhhhhh!" She smiles. Arthur's snore hiccups for a second but goes back to its consistent throat rumbling. Yeesh, how did I fall asleep with that vacuum next to me?
She stretches her hand to help me off the bed, and I grab it without much thought. Oh, her hands are really soft. Kinda spongey almost. They feel nice.
Nope! Nope, I can't let her distract me! Remember Miss Melanie, Miss Melanie is great, she's the only love for me. Laura's nothing, she's nothing, she's nothing...
That chant plays in my head over and over, but her hand softly melting into mine isn't making me believe it. She leads me back to the main bar, where Darrion is awake in a barstool, banging his head. He listens to stuff all the time, I'm surprised he doesn't run out of music.
We stop at a door to the left of the main bar room. A secret, off-limits room I've never been in. Maybe it's a closet for skeletons or a pathway to a secret superhero lair! Would he get mad at me if I looked inside? I don't want him to think I don't respect him. But if Laura's letting me see, then it's probably fine! Let's see what's inside!
Oh, it's just a bathroom. I guess that makes sense. It'd suck to come to a bar and have the only restroom inside Arthur's room. But Kristie is doing a great job cleaning it! It's sparkling!
"Sit down on that stool while I go and grab some supplies, please." Her smooth words drop me on this prepared bathroom stool. Her voice could seduce anyone she wanted. Anyone but me! She comes back through the door, her arms filled with bottles and jars of stuff that get dumped onto the floor.
"What's all this?"
"Hairspray, makeup, eyeliner, whatever we might need. If Arthur won't let me have you, then I'm going to make you look irresistible by the time you leave."
"Really?"
"Really. Melanie isn't going to be able to take her eyes off you!" Wow, it's happening! Love is finally going to be mine! My wait is over!
Laura grips my tangled hedge maze of hair, pulling, tugging, and spraying it with things I can't see. Her nails running through my scalp, combing me like a gentle tide. Spritzing water takes me to the shoreline. The sounds of waves play from the vents, the hard floor gets looser and hotter, and the chair reclines back into a springy bed.
"I need you to stay awake."
"Mmm... it's hard."
"Then talk to me about something. Anything."
"How did..." A yawn breaks my question in half, "you and Arthur meet anyway?"
"It's not that interesting of a story. I liked coming to this bar for a long time, it was a nice quiet hideaway. Kristie makes great drinks when she doesn't drop them, and the people here behave better than anywhere else I've been. Sometimes I'd see Arthur walking from the backroom out the door and back in, and sometimes I'd see him side-eye me on his way out. One night he walked up to me and invited me to stay after closing and we've been seeing each other ever since."
He asked her out just like that? I wish I had his confidence... "Are you in love?"
"Almost."
"Almost? What's almost mean?"
"...Don't tell Arthur what I'm about to tell you, ok?"
"Oh, I'm great with secrets! I always forget them before I have the chance to tell anyone!"
"Perfect. The thing is, I like him a lot. But I can tell he doesn't like me as much as I like him.
"What? Why!?" I like Laura! Why won't Arthur suck it up and put a ring on her finger! For me!
"Arthur's been with a lot of women before me, which isn't a problem, but we've only been together for such a short time... Also, hold your breath."
I breathe in while Laura douses me in a suffocating cloud of hairspray.
"He told you about the people he's been with?" I ask after the stinky aura disperses.
"He's very honest about his past. It's how I know he doesn't feel serious about me."
"Weird. He told me he never tells his body count. Or lets his one-night stands sleep in his room. And there's also that time he said, 'If you like anyone I'm dating, they're all yours.' I could be misremembering though..."
A high-pitched squeak plays behind my head, and I can't tell if it's Laura or a dying mouse. "Laura?"
"Yeah!" Her hands yank on my hair.
"Ow!"
"I'm sorry. You startled me."
"Miss Melanie does say I'm pretty scary." She says it's one of my few good qualities, but I wish that wasn't the only way she saw me.
"How about you?" Laura says as she chokes me with another brand of hairspray.
"What?"
"How did you meet Arthur?"
Oh, I love telling the story of how me and Arthur met! It brings back such good memories. If... I could remember it. "Don't remember."
"You've known him for so long that you can't even remember? I have a lot to compete with..." My head starts steaming smoke. One at how drawn out and... hot her voice is, but also at how flattered I am that someone this pretty would consider me competition!
We make more small talk while I fade in and out of my beached bed. About how the bar has been, and stories about Arthur while she decorates my face in dust and gels. Miss Melanie never lets me try makeup, and I don't remember trying it on before meeting her, so this is kinda my first time!
"Vilma, honey. I need you to stop bouncing so I can put your makeup on."
"Oops." I can't wait to see how I look at the end, I can hardly sit still! But it's still going on my face... How much can makeup fix?
Laura does a little more work on my ugly body until we hear the backroom door swing open. She and I peek out, making sure it's not the boy trying to run away on his own, but we breathe easy seeing Arthur come out holding the kid's hand.
He exits the backroom wearing his white tee shirt and shorts. His hand is wrapped around the little boy's, and the little guy doesn't look like a whiny little baby anymore! He's cleaned up, and Arthur loaned him some clothes that fit him.
"Hey, best friend!"
He stares at me with an eyebrow raised. "Hi Vilma..."
"What?"
"You look different."
"Different good or different bad!?" Arthur sleeps around a ton, he'd know.
"You've always looked good. Right now, you just look like a different type of good."
"Awww! No matter what you say, I don't like you like that, Arthur."
"I'm not-"
"Arthur?" Laura's got a huge smile planted on her face.
"What is it?"
"Do you love me?"
"What did you ask me!?"
Laura smiles proudly, successfully getting Arthur's commanding tone higher than I've ever heard it go. "I just asked how Glenn is doing?"
He squints his eyes at the two of us and blows out of his nose. "He's so excited to see his mom again that he's mellowed out." Arthur says, correcting his squeaky voice. "Make sure Glenn gets to see his mom again."
"His name's Glenn?" I like the names I came up with better.
The bar door almost falls off its hinges as Kristie busts inside.
"The dress is done!" She yells, carrying a black plastic bag twice her size. Heavy bags puff under her red eyes. She must've been working all morning to make it better! I can't wait to see how her hard work looks!
"My door Kristie!" Arthur shouts.
"Sorry, sir. Oh, your hair looks stunning Vilma!" Kristie comments while leaning against the bar top.
"Does it?"
"See for yourself."
Laura spins the stool towards the mirror, where I see my new face and hair for the first time.
The scratches and scars I've had for as long as I can remember are gone. There's some bubble gum pink stuff around the ends of my eyes that I'm loving. My hair looks like the floors of the Observatory, sparkly and shiny! Moving around makes it bounce in a way I can't look away from! I don't think my head has ever been this neat!
"This is me in the mirror, right?"
A deep chuckle rings out of her. "Yes!"
"But the person in here looks super pretty!"
"That's because you are pretty."
"Have a shred of self-confidence," Arthur grunts. "If you don't love yourself you can't expect someone else to do it for you."
"Thanks, Laura!" I take her in my arms and twirl her around.
"Don't swing me, you'll mess up your hair!" She laughs.
"Sorry, sorry." I need to stop doing that.
"It was a struggle fixing what Arthur did, but it came out wonderfully."
"Her fighting messed it up, not me. I did a faultless job on her hair." Arthur responds.
"You did the best you could." She sways over to Arthur and plants a kiss on his cheek.
He softly pushes her off him. "Not in front of Vilma and Kristie."
"So what I'm hearing is later then?"
"...Yes. After I'm finished my work."
"Wonderful." Against his wishes, she pecks him again.
"Laura!"
"Sorry, you looked so grumbly I thought you needed me to cheer you up."
"I'm grumbly because we have unfinished business!" His menacing scowl shifts into a stern glare as he kneels at the kid's eye level. "You've been brave Glenn, but now you get to go home."
Why are they so buddy-buddy now? Is the kid trying to replace me as Arthur's best friend!? "Didn't he try and shoot you yesterday?"
"He's 10, I'm too busy to hold a grudge against a 10-year-old. We talked out our differences. He's young but mature enough to understand the cause of his kidnapping isn't me. He still doesn't like you though."
"What'd I do!"
"You're the one who kidnapped him. And he says you attacked his mother."
"That might be true... still doesn't mean he shouldn't like me."
Kristie holds the dress up for my attention. "Um, Vilma- Can you try it on? It's getting heavy." I take the dress bag out of her hands and pick her up with it, ready to thank her.
"Hair!" Laura and Arthur say at the same time.
"That's the last time I swear!" Kristie's flushed cheeks rise high while her eyes spiral around the room. While she's putting herself back together, Laura gives me the bathroom to change into Kristie's hard work!
Inside the bag, the light pink dress I have in my memory isn't what it used to be. Its poked and red-dyed remains I cried over have been repurposed! The holes are stitched over with silk red flower patterns, the same red as all the blood I got on it! It blends in with the theme and covers all the bad parts! Kristie's amazing!
I slip off the hoodie and pants I wore to sleep, dancing in a circle at the chance to wear my beautiful dress. It was super nice of Arthur to lend me these clothes to go to bed in. Kinda weird he has clothes in my size though. Maybe he's keeping them to grow into! Or maybe he's thinking of making a clothing line!
My head slots into the hole with ease. The dress fits just as well as it did before, perfectly hiding my bulky body behind the fragile flower pattern. It might look better now than before! With this beautiful dress on I crouch down to pick up the clothes I took off and skip out the door.
My instincts tell me to thank everyone here with a big group hug and spin them like a typhoon to show my appreciation. But I hold myself back and just smile.
"Thanks for lending me these clothes Arthur!" I hold out the pajamas for him to take back.
"Keep em'. I don't want them."
"You're giving me the new clothes from your clothing line!?"
"You didn't tell me you had a clothing line." Laura smiles.
"Does that mean I have to help sell clothes too?" Kristie's head drops into her arms.
"I'm not starting a clothing line! Those clothes were a Christmas gift from you. You just didn't consider the crucial details of what I'd like to wear or clothing sizes!"
"You hate my present?" I must've spent a lot of money on this too.
"I can't wear it!"
"It's awfully rude to re-gift something, especially if you're giving it to the original gifter." Arthur stares at Laura like he's trying to make her head pop into confetti. "I'm just teasing."
"Keep the clothes Vilma. And have a safe trip."
"You're not coming with us? You don't want to come see Miss Melanie?"
"I have things I didn't finish because of this escapade. But tell Mel she should expect a call from me soon."
"After she kisses me and tells me how stunning I look, I'll let her know! Maybe you can be my best man at the wedding!"
His lips squish together like a clam's mouth. "Remember when you asked me what the stupidest thing you ever said was."
"Yeah."
"It's that. That blind profession of love and all its variations are the stupidest things you've ever said. And you piss me off even more when you repeat it."
"But it's true! I love her!"
"I don't doubt that. I just doubt that she's the right one for you. Has she ever even shown you a shred of affection?"
"No… But that's why I have this dress and Laura made my face pretty! When she sees me she'll have to love me!"
"Fine, fine. Do what you want. But Vilma..."
"Yeah?"
"You're welcome to work for me if you get tired of Melanie. After you broke my old bodyguard's nose I need a new one, and you'd make a good enough fit. "
"Um… alright." Why is he being so weird? Miss Melanie's the only one for me, I'd never get tired of her!
"Tell me how she loves your new look, Vilma!"
"I will Laura! Thank you for everything!
"Um... Have a... Bye Vilma!" Kristie squeaks.
"Bye Kristie!"
I open my mouth to tell Darrion it's time to go, but then remember his lack of hearing and tap him on the shoulder instead. He holds an OK hand sign and gets up to follow me.
I turn around one last time for one last goodbye before I get engaged. "Bye, everyone!"