How to Make a Lady
Chapter Two: The First Lessons.
Thank you Person for the kind review! It's nice to see that someone here likes it after all!
"G-Good afternoon Maka." The blonde snapped up from her work when she heard the light voice, flashing a smile to her co-worker as she straightened up from the shelf.
"Good afternoon Chrona, how are you?" She noticed the slightly flushed expression on the taller woman's face. "How was your weekend?"
The younger woman; took the shifting and slight mumbles as a good sign, the small smile not breaking from the others face until she managed to make out a "Really well actually, how about you?"
"Don't even get me started." Maka grumbled under her breath, shoving books back onto the shelf. Chrona seemed to have a gaping expression, her mouth half opened to either ask if Maka was alright, or to say 'oh, alright', but either way she didn't get the chance to say anything. "Soul's been a complete jerk nearly all weekend! He ridiculed me for twenty minutes alone just because I didn't sit the way he wanted me to!"
"Oh..." While it should have been obvious, Chrona really didn't know what to say, so Maka kept going.
"Then he started going through my room! He put half my clothes in a box, that I'm not allowed to open until after the wedding!"
"...W-Wedding?"
"Then all my perfume was hidden away somewhere! I can't believe I agreed to go to this stupid thing, I didn't think he was going to start turning into a freaking warden or something!" That had basically been her weekend in a nutshell. After her small rant with Chrona, she'd spent nearly the whole day with a smile on her face; she was just happy to be out of the apartment for freedom! Once she got off work, she'd have time to herself again too since Soul was setting up for work. The weekend had been harsh enough, and it was a lot to take in so fast despite that Soul had another week to even confirm his going. She didn't even get to go hang out with Liz or-!
"Oh!" Chrona jumped when the girl turned on her heels from grabbing her things, the bag she had picked up in her eagerness to leave was nearly dropped. "Wait, you had a date over the weekend! How was it?"
"W-What?" Powder blue eyes widened, as if caught in headlights. "N-No, I-"
"Aw come on Chrona, really!" She was ready to bombard the other girl with questions, when she heard another clear her throat.
"Oh Maka!" Green eyes glanced over her shoulder to Liz, curiosity in her eyes. "Come on, we're waiting for you! You know, you shouldn't be late to an appointment; Patti and I have a schedule to keep to."
"Appointment...?" Chrona let out a small sigh of relief as the attention was shifted off of her. Careful not to be noticed, she started to leave staying quiet until the door shut behind her.
"Yeah... Soul set up an appointment for you?" The beautician smiled, grabbing the smaller girl's hand and starting to lead her out into the mall.
"He did what?! Wait, I didn't agree to this!"
"Well he already paid, so I'm doing my part - stop struggling!"
It was an annoying process. She felt like her face had been scrubbed with wool; her nails filed and polished clearly, and her two ponytails had been pulled back into a bun. Maka couldn't hate Liz for it though; even after the painful and 'fun' event of her eyebrows getting waxed she hadn't felt more clean...
She was waiting up to yell at the white haired pain, then it backfired. The moment the 'how dare you' had left her mouth, he'd easily countered her and pointed out that she was glowing. For the moment she'd been surprised at the compliment, he started listing off his reasons and rules.
"Just keep up with it, okay? They got you started. Keep washing your face, stop biting your nails, and please stop torturing your hair."
"'Torturing my hair'?!"
"You practically yank it up, I'm awake some mornings you know!" It was true, half the time when she was trying to get ready he was taking his time brushing his teeth, and hogging actual mirror space. "No one's going to be impressed with silly pigtails."
"Stop criticizing me!"
"Hey, you wanted to go; I told you it was going to be Hell. We're not even there yet Maka! Personally, I really don't give a damn; but I'm not taking you if you can't even do this-!"
"So you don't ruin your reputation with your family?!"
"Oh please." Soul was surprisingly relaxed about this, heading towards the hall. Maka could only assume that he even expected this. "My reputation is already circling the drain, I just don't want you to get embarrassed. Tell me; how do you feel when you snort with your laugh, in front of everyone? I bet you've been working on stopping that for years; but you still slip up and do it sometimes. You get red and try and hide. That is nothing, compared to messing up in front of these people!"
There was a slam as his door shut, and she realized there was a lot of suppressed anger there. The blonde woman could only wonder what happened, between Soul and his family to make him react like that.
"Why am I setting the table again?" She sighed, grabbing the plates from the cabinet. "We're eating pizza for Christs sake..."
"I just want to see something." Soul sighed lightly, playing with one of the dishrags as Maka laid the plate in front of him and went back for silverware. She'd only started to sit down when he grumbled.
"What?"
"... You set it wrong."
"Soul, I swear-!" She started to stand, arms crossed.
"Wait! Wait, it's okay. I didn't expect you to set it right." The older man stood up, rummaging through the cabinets and setting a lot more plates, silverware and cups than possibly necessary before arranging them in front of her.
"... What the Hell...?"
"Okay, please stop swearing. In about a month, if you pull any of that shit it's going to be bad." She quickly shut her mouth, staring down back at the odd assortment. "Now, pay attention. Napkin at the far left, then salad fork, dinner fork, and plate. Then dinner knife, teaspoon, soup spoon, and cocktail fork." He sat behind her, and pointed to the extra strange assortment that was above the plate. "Bread and butter plate and knife top left of your space, dessert and fork spoon right above your plate, then water glass, red wine glass, and white wine glass in descending slanted line. The white wine glass will be closest to you. Next to those is the coffee saucer."
"What if I want tea."
"It's the same mug and cup Maka." He snickered lightly, glad to see her loosen up a bit.
"Why am I learning this; this is far too many things in one spot!"
"This is exactly how it will be set at the wedding, and you don't want to use the wrong thing." Soul quickly grabbed the extra things and set them back. "Now we can eat."
Even though he said that, somehow he managed to turn that into a lesson as well. Maka had never experienced being tied to a chair, and after that night she'd gotten her fair share. Soul had grabbed her favorite scarf and wrapped it around her chest to keep her back against the chair. She didn't see how reaching out for things while staying stiff as a board even looked close to graceful, and after a few minutes Soul finally released her and said they'd try another time.
This was getting to be... a real pain in the ass.
Authors Note: No, being tied to a chair for proper eating isn't easy, especially when you're vertically challenge and not pushed in all the way and you can't reach anything!
And yes, learning to set the table 'properly' is really hard... It took a few awkward moments of resetting the table myself before I remembered it exactly.
Beta: Playmate 1964