What if she doesn't like me?
Those were the only words that could race through the whirlwind of a mind possessed by the overly-imaginative Cindy Lopez as she walked alongisde her best friend, Laurel Clove.
Cindy was about to enter a prestigious beauty store, a store in which Laurel was a beloved and trusted employee. Ever since Laurel had taken the job there, the two girls had drifted apart. They were already very different. In fact, they disagreed on almost everything. But their bond had always been a strong one, unbrakable. Their souls were attached and no amount of strength could dissever them. They were not sisters in blood, but they were sisters in mind, heart and soul. But after her best friend had taken the job at the store, everything had changed. Laurel had began to grow distant, spending more time shopping with her boss than walking with Cindy. Their correspondences were growing to be rarer and rarer. Cindy was almost growing anxious that she was losing Laurel to the mysterious older woman for whom her best friend gladly worked.
She had never met the legendary Ms. Valenti, but from what Laurel had told her, Ms. Valenti was an ex-Pageant-Queen with beauty that could easily rival that of Aphrodite. And the more Cindy heard about Ms. Valenti, the more she wanted to meet her. Of course, she had believed that she never wound...but now everything had changed again, this time for the better.
One of Ms. Valenti's young employees had vanished under very mysterious circumstances. Cindy did not know very much about this, only that Ms. Valenti was now seeking a new employee.
So, here she was, strolling alongside Laurel, her plain face contorted into an expression of pensive contemplation.
What if she doesn't like me?
She couldn't shake the thought from her head. After all, she was nowhere near as beautiful as Laurel. Laurel had buttery blonde locks that cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall of solid gold, framing her blemishless porcelain face like a heavenly halo of auroral light that tumbled like a curtain of auricomous wonder down her back and reached to just past her shoulders. She was tall and petite, with a frail-looking form and delicate features. Her eyes were a striking grey-green, encircled by voluptuous ebony lashes. Cindy, on the other hand, was what many would consider to be a 'Plain Jane.' She had stick-straight hair in a dull brown color. Unlike Laurel's, her hair possessed no shine, no volume, no appeal at all. Her face was round and her features were not in the least bit striking. Her eyes did not shine like stars or gemstones, but simply sat between her long nose like two tiny swamps, their color almost identical to that of human waste. Still, she had a humble appeal about her. She was a flower not yet on bloom, a diamond in the rough, a radient jewel just waiting to be discovered.
"Did you tell her I was coming?"
Cindy's voice trembled with a subtle vibrato. Admittedly, she was beginning to regret her decision. What if the woman was a snob? What if she only cared for beauty? What if she could not see through Cindy's less-than-immaculate appearance to the beauty underneath?
"No, but don't worry about it, she's cool," Laurel tried to reassure Cindy to the best of her ability, trying to keep her tone as placid as possible. Unfortunately, she failed. She sounded more bored than serene. Secretly, she was growing a little weary of Cindy's lack of confidence. Laurel could see Cindy for the darling that she was, yet Cindy refused to believe herself anything more than a nameless face in the crowd.
Why?
"Are you sure about this?"
Another silly question. This was about the tenth time Cindy had asked this question, using the very same words, and the two girls had only been walking for two minutes.
"Yes, Ms. Valenti's going to love you!"
Cindy breathed a silent sigh and glanced upwards. An ornate sign caught her eye. Carved in golden letters were the words 'Elysian Beauty Store."
Perhaps she was over-reacting.
Everything was probably going to be fine, just as Laurel said.
But...what if she doesn't like me?
Cindy just couldn't shake the thought from her mind.
