Thanks for all the reviews! twistedbrain! You and Zavi with the "OFW"! Hey, at least it's true...I hope. inside joke
The first person they saw—the only person they saw—when they arrived at the funeral home was Klaus. Almost from head to toe, he was dressed in black. Her brother had, unfortunately, turned into a fair-weather poser. Whatever was the most popular fad at the time, Klaus was wearing or doing it. When those colored contacts had been "cool," he had taken off his glasses and had gotten a pair of them in neon green. When Hacky Sack had been all the rage a few months ago, he'd gone out and bought seven or eight of them. In other words, he did whatever was "in."
Her brother had turned into Esme Squalor.
Right now, Goth rock was in, along with death and heavy metal and the fashions that went along with them. Klaus had let his beautiful, short, curly brown hair grow past his shoulders. The color of his hair was now black with maroon highlights, and he often took a straightener to it. It looked horrible. But it was "in."
Then there was his make-up. White face powder was very in. He reminded Violet of the two women in Olaf's troupe every time he looked at her. He doesn't put on that much of it, Violet thought. Only enough to pale his skin a little. On top of that, he wore black lipstick and hideous eyeliner. Violet wasn't opposed to eyeliner-wearing men. She had dated one before she and Quigley became closer. But the thing that made Klaus look horrible was the fact that the eyeliner he bought was made in atrocious colors. Tonight, he had on pink. It made his eyes look like a different color. He looked, in a word, demonized. The very realistic-looking vampire teeth "implants" on his canines didn't help his appearance, either.
Violet's eyes traveled from his face to his clothes. She didn't know what was worse: the make-up or the outfit. He was wearing those baggy black jeans from Hot Topic that had millions of pockets and chains on them. Again, Violet wasn't prejudiced against Hot Topic. When she had still been with her ex-boyfriend, she'd often gone into Hot Topic with him, but Klaus had taken it to an extreme. At the very least, he had about three dozen chains attached to various parts of his jeans. They made little clinking noises every time he took a step, announcing his presence. She looked at his MCR T-shirt and groaned. He was wearing a band t-shirt to his sister-in-law's funeral! A band that Izzy had hated no less. Well, at least he had put on a tie, even if it was a blood red and royal purple striped one, she thought sarcastically. She also noticed that he had painted his fingernails black. That was new.
He was standing in front of Isadora's coffin, looking at her. (Violet was secretly hoping he'd cry so that when he wiped his eyes, that hideous pink eyeliner would smear. It would make her day to see Klaus walking around with pink streaks down his face.) Ever since Prufrock Prep, Klaus had had a crush on Isadora. Klaus and Isadora had dated for a while when Violet had still been with Michael. They'd broken up after she'd caught him
with his hand in the cookie jar. Izzy had tried to forgive and forget, but couldn't. The break up had been rough for both of them.
"Isadora, I'm so sorry." Violet watched as Izzy cried, knowing that she wouldn't accept a hug or anything else meant to be comforting. Izzy didn't take what she viewed as pity too well. "What happened?"
Isadora tried to calm down a little and tell Vi the story. "Well, I got a call from one of my friends while I was eating lunch. He told me that he'd seen Klaus with some other girl and his conscience wouldn't let him not tell me. He told me where they were and I went to find him, thinking all the while it must have been someone else because Klaus isn't the cheating type. Well, I get to this place and ask if anyone has seen Klaus. The manager said he'd gone to/iour iapartment with this really hot blonde. So when I get to our apartment, do you know what I find, Vi? I find your brother, my boyfriend and lover, banging this girl in our bed." Isadora had stopped crying now, which almost alarmed Violet. Just catching a cheating boyfriend in the act would be upsetting; Violet hadn't expected her to get through the somewhat rushed tale without a pause to cry. But then again, Izzy had really never been one for tears.
Isadora hugged her knees. "But I still love him so much. He cheated on me and I love him." Violet could see tears forming in her eyes again. And at that moment, Violet realized that Izzy might want to have Klaus back.
"Well, can you try forgiving and forgetting? Maybe not the forgetting part," she added quickly, seeing the look she was given from the girl beside her. "But could you forgive Klaus?"
It took her a long time to respond. "No" was all she said before the tears came again.
Klaus interrupted her flashback. "You look like you could use a hug, Vi," he said, giving her one. Violet hugged him back, thankful for being relieved from looking at his face for a few seconds. Klaus had only recently found out about Violet and Isadora's conversations. Why couldn't she have told him? He wouldn't have let it slip to anyone.
Well, he might have told Quigley or Duncan eventually. Izzy had used to tell him that she couldn't trust him farther than she could throw him. No one did anymore. Maybe that's another reason why she broke up with me, he thought. She wasn't sure I could keep a secret.
He held his sister at arm's length "You gonna be okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. You?" she added sarcastically. She looked up at him, right into those beautiful blue eyes surrounded by that revolting pink eyeliner. If he would buy black, his eyes would look all the more gorgeous. When they had been dating (and before the intense death wish had seized her), Isadora had told Violet that the eyes were what made Klaus look so good. An Izzy-quote came to her mind: "That stupid eyeliner takes all the pretty-ful-nesss away from his eyes."
Klaus looked at Violet. "To be honest, I just wanna go home."
Can you imagine a grown up GothicLiam Aiken with pink eyeliner? Gross, is it?
