"That'll really stand out." She said, looking at the dress unsurely.
Mandy nodded. "That's the point!" She said, but before Rose had a chance to protest again, Mandy had already thrown the dress in the pile of rejects, and grabbed another one.
"Okay, how about this one? No one's gonna notice you in this one. Brian probably won't even notice you." She said, showing her one of the last dresses with an exasperated look on her face.
Rose looked at the dress. It was long, probably reaching to the floor, and black. It was strappless, but there was a black silky shawl that went around the shoulders. She smiled. "That one looks good." She said, reaching out for it.
Mandy sighed and grabbed one of the many shoe boxes she'd brought with her. "Okay, wear these, too." She said, handing Rose a pair of strappy black shoes. Rose frowned, but noticing that they didn't have heels, like all the other shoes Mandy had brought over, she nodded.
It was the night of the hospital dance, and Rose hadn't seen Brian all day. He'd had a meeting with his doctor, and then those four guys who'd been over after his surgery came to visit. The blond one, Nick or Nate or Nat or something, was still there, in Brian's room while his girlfriend helped Rose get ready.
"Go put them on." Mandy was saying, pointing towards the bathroom door with one red finger nail. Rose obeyed, and emerged a few minutes later looking, as fas as she could tell, like a little girl playing dress-up in her mom's clothes. "Oh, beautiful!" Mandy exclaimed. Rose couldn't tell whether that was sarcasm, but she knew she could detect a bit of sympathy in her voice. "Now sit, we'll do ur make up." She instructed. Rose sat, and Mandy opened another of the shoe boxes. She removed a pile of mak-up, and started smearing it over Rose's face. "So, you and Brian, huh?"
Rose sharted shaking her head, but Mandy clamped it back in place. "No." She said instead. "We're just going to the dance together."
Mandy laughed. "This really takes me back." She flipped a peice of blond hair behind her ear. "Like, to the eighth grade."
Rose felt herself blush, but she was pretty sure Mandy didn't notice, since she'd already applied three layers of conclearer. "That's what Brian said, that this was just like high school."
Mandy shook her head. "More like junior high. As far as I know, people could actually admit that they liked each other by the time they reached high school." She put down the concealer and grabbed a tube of eyeshadow. "But I guess you two have to be careful, since you're stuck here in the hospital, and he's leaving soon, right? I mean, you wouldn't want to get too attached."
Rose didn't answer. That was a thought that she'd been trying to keep in the back of her mind. But now that it was out, she realized it was true. There really was nothing that she could do to prevent Brian from leaving in about a week, and she'd be staying there, all by herself.
"Now about that hair." Mandy was saying, running her fingers through Rose's hair. "You have amazing hair." She said. "What shampoo do you use?"
"Herbal essences." Rose told her. That much was true. However, since her hair was synthetic, it was always going to look better than everyone else's.
"Oh, it's really amazing." Mandy said again. "I was thinking a French twist, what do you say?" Rose would have agreed, but Mandy started before she had the chance. It only took five minutes for her hair to be whipped into a twist behind her head, and then another five for Mandy to twirl the strands that she'd left down into ringlets. "And, voila!" She said finally.
Rose got up, and walked back into the bathroom, to the full length mirror. She had to admit, Mandy was a miracle worker. She looked great. Better than she'd ever dreamed she could look. She didn't look like herself, though, and everything still made her look the tiniest bit like her face and her hair and her dress and her shoes, none of them really belonged to her.
But Rose shook her head, not wanting to focus on that. She looked good, she really did. She'd focus on that.
"Okay, girl. I'm gonna call Brian and tell him to get on over here now, alright?" Mandy called through the bathroom door.
Rose didn't even bother answering. She knew that Mandy was going to go ahead and do what she wanted no matter what. Instead, she turned around, and craned her neck so she could see herself from the back. Sighing with releif, Rose stepped out of the bathroom. She looked good from all angles. She was going to impress people tonight. She was going to impress Brian tonight. She nodded, and smiled. Yeah, that was it. Tonight, she was going to impress Brian.
