“Do you really think I need this much eye makeup?” Colette asked, as her gaze shifted uncertainly between the mirror and her friends.
The three women were in the bedroom she shared with Kim and she was (incredibly) getting ready for a dinner date with Luca.
“Definitely,” Annie replied. “It’s about time you glammed up your look, if you ask me.”
“But what’s wrong with how I look?”
“It’s a bit... I dunno...like a middle-schooler,” Kim replied as she applied more eyeliner. “Annie’s right. Time you upgraded and sexed up your style.”
“And did something with your hair,” Annie chimed in. “Your ends badly need a trim and the rest could do with a good deep treatment. Give me a decent go at it, and I could work wonders, honestly.”
“Well, I don’t want it to be a different color or anything,” Colette said quickly, Luca’s words from before still lingering in her mind.
“I wasn’t going to suggest it—most people would kill for that kind of natural shade. Me and Kim just think there are a few more things you could do to make the most of yourself. You’re very pretty, but you hide it all,” Annie stated. “You have to show a guy like Luca that there’s more to you.”
“He seems to like me well enough just as I am, though.” She was dubious.
“He does like you as you are,” Kim agreed. “But there’s way more to you than what he’s seen so far. I think it’s time he saw that. Don’t you?”
“Yep,” Annie replied for her. “We are going to make you look so good Luca won’t know what hit him.”
“I don’t want him to like a pretense,” Colette argued.
He did like her as she was. For some reason. She didn’t mind making the packaging a little nicer, but she still wanted to feel like herself.
“He won’t,” Kim assured. “We aren’t changing who you are, Colette. We’re simply bringing out your full potential.”
“OK...”
Her friends believed a makeover was exactly what Colette needed and it seemed they were determined to give her one.
Once Kim had finished doing her face, they flicked through her own designer wardrobe for something for Colette to wear.
She was surprised to find that she and Kim were pretty much the same size, though the leggy American’s stuff was a good bit longer on Colette’s shorter frame.
“He has to see behind all that innocence or else he won’t stick around long,” Annie stated authoritatively. “A guy like Luca wants a woman. One who makes him look good and who looks good on his arm.”
Colette glanced down at herself. She knew she didn’t fit that bill at all.
Luca wore Ralph Lauren polos and Lacoste shorts. She wore Marks and Spencer with the occasional flash of LK Bennett in between. She wasn’t a fashionista by any means, but if she wanted Luca to take her seriously perhaps she was going to have to at least show him that she could complement him. And try to hold her own against all the very many glossy and gorgeous women in these parts.
She gulped a little.
“How about this?” Kim asked as she raised up the dress for them all to see. It was a slinky shocking blue knee-length number with a plunging neckline and a daring split up one side. The bodice was fitted and sure to accentuate Colette’s curves. But at least the dress’s length would look midi on her and perhaps lessen the whole thing’s in-your-face sexiness.
“I don’t know,” she said nervously as she looked at the revealing garment. “I’ve never worn anything that...color before.”
“Perfect! That’s just what we want. You trying the unknown,” Annie confirmed bossily. “Remember what your mother said. You can’t stay in your comfort zone forever. You need to step out and try new things.”
They were right. Miriam was always saying there were lots of things out there for her to see and experience. She wasn’t going to get that experience staying in her comfort zone.
Colette needed to do what she’d never done before. No more being careful and taking things slowly.
She needed to jump right in with both feet and find out if she could sink or swim.