Bella winds her long black eye lashes slowly around the mascara brush, being careful not to smudge the jet black eye liner running between the corners of her eye. She blinks and brushes again. As she looks into the mirror she smiles. Her blue eyes look even larger than usual highlighted by the silver shadow and there’s just a slight pink blush on each cheek. Heart shaped lips outlined in a glossy pale peach complete her face which is delicately framed in long blond, slightly streaked ringlets. She smiles again and pats down her silver slinky top that stops just short of her knees as purple baggy trousers bounce down and flop around her bare feet.
She swings around and grabs the metal door handle and pulls. The door jerks, sort of clicks, jerks again but doesn’t budge. She jiggles the handle up and down. She jiggles again but ferociously this time and keeps going until red welts appear on the palm of her hand.
“What the hell”
“Hey, hey Mum, are you there? Mum? And bangs on the door. Then she starts kicking and banging. The noise just vibrates around the sleek bathroom, deadened to the rest of the house. She looks around but all she can see is glass. Clear panels surround the shower and are so smooth even a fly would have trouble reaching the top. The large frosted window was never designed to be open but a skylight is slightly ajar and a narrow strip of blue sky peeps into the room.
“Mum, Dad, for christsake is anybody there?” Her banging sounds like a full volume set of drums.
She senses a tear escaping from her left eye and just a tiny drop ambles down her cheek.
“Oh no, my eyes!”. A fine line of black is now heading for the corner of her mouth. Her curls start to drift around her face and her long wavy lashes are clogged and matted with tears.
Bella is dressed for a Valentines dinner with Josh. He’s 17, blond and beautiful and tanned from all his days at the beach. Today they celebrate 6 months of bliss. She sees him every day after school and they are inseparable at weekends.
“brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” her silver bag jumps up and down on the spot.
“My phone, my phone, oh thank you, thank you”
The ringing stops. The bag stays still. She rummages through the makeup, the hair brush, the tissues, the loose coins. The little silver nokia hides in the corner with bits of blond hair and a couple of sticky sweets.
“brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”
“Josh, Josh, thank god it’s you”
“What’s up puss?”
“I’m locked in the fucking bathroom”
“OK, calm down. What can I do?”
“There’s no one here, the door is jammed. There’s only the fucking skylight 10’ up in the sky”
“OK, I’m on my way”
The little tears are now waterfalls and the multicoloured makeup creates a kalaidescope over her cheeks.
“He’s never seen me like this. Hopefully love really is blind”
10 minutes later a rope appears through the skylight. A wicker hamper swings down to the floor followed by a bottle of bubbly followed by Josh with a rose in his mouth. They all cascade to the floor in a heap.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Jenny says:
Ah, a true romantic ... very nice story!
I would have Bella's thoughts about Josh up front as she is looking at herself in the mirror - the detailed description is a little dry otherwise. Detailed self-examination makes sense if she is primping for a date. Without that context, there is too much about her appearance in one chunk.
I like the "hero to the rescue" ending - very Valentine's Day.
Loved the story Sue. I'm not sure what Bella's folks are going to say when they find her and Josh in the bathroom together but I'm sure they are with it parents.
I like how the story shifted so quickly from joy to despair to joy and how Bella's makeup seemed to follow.
If you can't trust Sue for a lively, romantic story on Valentine's Day, who can you trust?! You beautifully capture “teenage girl” – it’s all about appearance and emotions that bob from one mood to another with very little logical reality.
I’m not totally sure about Point of View – sometimes it seems to be Bella’s world and sometimes the objective observer seems to step in.
And I love the final paragraph. Teenagers can make the world into anything they wish!
(What happens next?)
If you can't trust Sue for a lively, romantic story on Valentine's Day, who can you trust?! You beautifully capture “teenage girl” – it’s all about appearance and emotions that bob from one mood to another with very little logical reality.
I’m not totally sure about Point of View – sometimes it seems to be Bella’s world and sometimes the objective observer seems to step in.
And I love the final paragraph. Teenagers can make the world into anything they wish!
(What happens next?)
Post a Comment