Elena was honoured to be appointed as Maid of Honour for her best friend's and former college roommate's wedding but was dreading it at the same time because of the mystery dress Lauren had only been hinting at being designed especially for Elena.
Lauren had always been the dramatic sort to Elena's quiet girl-next-door style of beauty and it was surprising they'd remained such great friends on their separate journeys through life.
The naturally beautiful Lauren would get up an hour early to sit at the vanity she'd brought with her to apply her warpaint for the day and flat iron or hot roll her brunette wealth of hair into whatever shape she wanted, before putting on her battle dress for the day to cut a swath through the male population of their college and win hearts.
Whereas, Elena would wake up half an hour early before classes, take a quick shower and allow her hair to air dry while slipping into causal clothes and lacing up her Keds to prep for the day ahead.
Lauren had changed boyfriends as often as some people did their socks and was a natural flirt and the life of any party.
Elena had rarely ever dated and was the studious type and a natural wall flower, but with a bubbly nature.
Lauren had gone into fashion design, while Elena did a stint as a bartender in a rebellious attempt to avoid following her sister's footsteps into the shadowy world of the little-known Turks.
Lauren now had her own fashion house and was getting married and Elena had succumbed to the inevitable and joined the Turks and wasn't working in an advertising agency as her friend believed and had an unrequited crush on a much older man and their leader. Elena had carried the torch for him for years and finally had given up.
She had joined an online dating sight with limited results and had yet to meet someone who wasn't a nerd living with his mother. However, she had received a response that was oddly romantic from an anonymous profile that was untraceable even with her unlimited resources that read "you see me every day but have never really noticed me. You talk too much; your words tend to get away from you and race on to trip over each other. I shall stop that with a kiss that shall still your breath and steal your heart for life".
Elena had let Lauren dress her how she would and knew the results would be over the top, but she loved her friend and didn't want to ruin her day by being her Maid of Honour from hell. So, she gritted her teeth and reminded herself it was one day out of her life and hoped the other Turks wouldn't infiltrate the wedding and take pictures of her in whatever gaudy concoction Lauren's mind had dreamed up for her.
Elena sat in her studio while a makeup artist literally airbrushed makeup onto her wholesome girlish features and then she had to squint through heavy black false eyelashes when they were applied.
Her straight bobbed styled hair was put into hot rollers and wound up in ringlets that radiated from her scalp and one side was teased down and what seemed to be a nest of feathers was applied. Through all of this, she was denied a mirror as the woman painted and teased every inch of Elena's hair and skin on her face within an inch of its life.
Finally, she was led into a changing room devoid of mirrors and blanched at the frothy hot pink concoction that lurked in there for her to put on.
Elena eyed it like she would a potential enemy, it was set in the lines of an Indian ceremonial lengha. It was a two-piece dress: the bodice was halter-style crop top that had tons pink rhinestone crystals on it and featured a corset back. The skirt was a floor sweeping ballgown constructed of tulle that had a band of the same crystals around the waistband.
"Let me act as your dress maid" Lauren said as she came in wearing the same fluffy nonsense in all white. The only difference her fascinator looked like a whole bird, whereas the one in Elena's own hair was a froth of hot pink flowers that fluffed up from a crystal comb that matched the rest on her outfit.
Elena's feet were shod in matching glittering high heeled strappy sandals and finally, she was allowed to look at herself and froze in shock at the sight that presented itself.
She looked nothing like her normal self. In place of the no-nonsense Elena stood: an exotic woman that looked like she was about to break into some kind of exotic dance featuring veils.
Her lips parted in surprise, with the hot pink lipstick that had been heavily applied, they looked larger and poutier then they had any business of being. The foundation coated her already flawless complexion and had been subtly shaded to make her cheekbones more prominent and the blush that had been applied held some glitter. Black eyeliner ringed her brown eyes and had been applied in a way to give her large eyes an almost occidental slant to them and glitter hot pink eyeshadow was applied over top of that. What appeared to be two inches false eyelashes gave her a far more salacious appearance then she preferred. The dress wasn't immodest, it simply revealed her creamy arms and a couple inches of her toned midsection.
Elena was speechless as she blinked through her eyelashes. "Oh Elena, you look so beautiful" Lauren said as she sniffled and draped her arms around the stunned woman in a tight hug.
It was then the Elena's cell phone rang.
She went to answer it. It was Tseng.
"Elena what are you doing right now?" he asked her.
"I-I'm, not doing much of anything at the moment" she said blushing under her makeup.
"I need you to get to headquarters right now" he explained to her. "Rufus has an emergency meeting with the delegates of Wutai and needs someone for security. Things aren't going well with their negotiations at the moment" he instructed her.
"But I booked the day off!" she protested.
"I would send Reno but he broke his ankle Salsa Dancing last night. Don't ask how he managed to do that. Rude is away at his annual Boggle Convention and I'm on a secret mission" Tseng explained as he glanced at the tanned statuesque brunette beauty that stood in their suite. She wore only a light blue thong and a smile as she glanced at him as she brushed out her wealth of thick, wavy black hair.
"What mission?" Elena asked him. "I saw nothing scheduled on the roster for you."
"It came up at the last minute and is too classified to go into even for you" he all but barked at her. "Now, you're the only one who can do it. You'll get the next two days off, drop what you're doing and get over there right away!"
"I just need to get changed" Elena said, glancing down at herself.
"It is imperative that the president is protected in what could turn into a volatile situation. I don't care if you aren't wearing your uniform, The President will understand if you're wearing civilian clothing. It's only a couple hours of your time and you get the next two days off for helping your unit. A Turk must be with him if only for appearances. GO NOW!" he yelled at a way that made her wince and take her PHS phone from her ear.
Elena looked down at the gaudy outfit that she wore and looked mournfully at her plain white collared golf shirt, capris length blue jeans and white tennis shoes, she longed to change but was too accustomed to following orders to disobey. "What was that about?" Lauren asked her.
"My boss's out of town and he's not pleased with the typeset for our client's new ad. He needs me to go in for a few hours to change that. Can I borrow this?" she asked Lauren, indicating her dress.
"I knew you would like it!" Lauren enthused as she hugged her. "Be my guest, go to work in style and practice walking in those heels for my wedding. You must come back for dinner" she lectured her.
"I promise" Elena said as she picked up her skirt and fled to her small car. She cursed that she'd sent the spare uniform she normally kept in her car to the dry cleaners as she tucked her skirt around her and floored it in her impractical heels. She sped to HQ, where a lethal man with more skilled training then herself waited like a helpless damsel for appearance sake alone that he had the world's deadliest people guarding him.
The security guards blinked in surprise as Elena showed them her ID and gave them the gun she kept in her trunk to be cleared and allowed her through after she stepped through the metal detectors. She kept her dignity and acted like nothing was amiss as she causally strolled down the hall in the direction of the conference room while she held her dress of the way of her tripping on it.
Her expression was neutral as she slipped silently into the door...and all conversation stopped the second she came in.
Rufus had been in heated conversation with a Wutaianese man while his envoy looked on with pinched faces as their exchange. Their eyes however went hugely wide when Elena joined them. Elena's glowing cheeks were masked by her heavy makeup and professional demeanour. She spared a glance at Rufus and was shocked to the core when his normally inscrutable face gave away to an expression of shock and his lips appeared to twitch to suppress a chuckle at her appearance and then his normal featureless expression returned to normal.
Elena blushed all the more as she took her stance behind him and went to tuck her gun into her thigh hostler, only to remember she wasn't wearing it and wondered what to do with her gun. She thrust it into her bodice and attempted to tuck it along her side and let out a squeal when the cold metal settled along the sensitive flesh of her breast, earning her another glance from the delegation and Rufus had to look away as his lips twitched with mirth again.
Elena acted like nothing happened and finally thrust it into the jeweled waistband of her skirt and ignored the feeling of the cold metal on her bare skin and stood up straight with her arms at her sides and looked straight ahead in her usual way.
She did get the occasional glance as to be expected, some people were wondering if she was actually a Turk or would break into some kind of ribald Hoochie Coochie dance for their entertainment. However, Rufus didn't even glance at her and treated her like she was there as ever and dressed in her uniform.
She was so glad when Rufus called an end to the meeting and strode out before anyone could challenge that and everyone turned to look at her...and she picked up her skirt and fled after him in her unaccustomed heels.
"Sir" she called after him as he walked ahead with his long-gaited stride and he paused and turned around.
"I'm sorry to embarrass you by dressing like this. I'm the maid of honour for my best friend's wedding and I went for a makeup and hair trial and she designed this dress for me..." she started to explain.
"Enough, you talk too much" he said in a calm voice that silenced her as well as a swift glance from his cool blue eyes that drank her in from head to toe. The glance seemed be that of approval and this floored her
"I guess I'm babbling" she said with heated cheeks.
"I think you look cute in that get up, not that you normally don't. However, your profile picture on your dating site doesn't do you justice. Have you gotten any interesting responses" he asked her with an uncharacteristic mysterious smile and walked away.
She stared after the slim white clad figure as he walked so regally and untouchable and wondered how he knew about her dating profile and questioned even further about the anonymous profile with its romantic message for her.