Chapter Four.
Tweaking.
"Hold perfectly still."
Mariah stiffened, not even daring to breath, as Regan slowly wound a section of her hair carefully around her curling tongs. Heat radiated from the little appliance, so close to her ear she could hear it humming slightly. Mariah closed her eyes and smiled, relishing at being pampered for once.
"So, what's all this for?"
Mariah felt herself flush slightly, and was grateful that she was facing away from Regan.
"Nothing."
"Do not even tell me that I've spent the last hour curling your hair for absolutely no reason," she chided playfully. " Spill."
"It's nothing," Mariah insisted, her face hot with embarrassment.
"Liar."
"Ow!" Mariah winced as Regan tugged on the tongs slightly, yanking her scalp.
"Sorry," she murmured. Slowly, she took the pressure off the tongs and unravelled them from Mariah's hair. She flipped the curl over her shoulder and sat back, rearranging herself more comfortably and taking up another lock of pinkish-red hair.
"You promise not to tell anyone?" She asked. Regan gasped in delight and dropped the lock of hair. Mariah shuffled around to face the Russian, feeling the flush creeping up her neck again.
"Promise. What, you honestly think I'd tell someone?"
Mariah felt bad. Of course she wouldn't tell anyone. She was Regan.
"I know but… I can't. I… I promised Rei I wouldn't say anything."
"He asked you out?" She gasped excitedly.
Mariah's jaw dropped.
"What?" She shrieked. "You knew?"
Regan blushed and fiddled with the cord of the curlers.
"Um, lucky guess?" She said quickly.
"Regan Ivanhov, you knew! How the hell did you know?"
"Ah… well… I may have done a little bit of… shall we say… tweaking."
Mariah looked at her friend in astonishment.
"Tweaking? What the fuck do you mean, tweaking?"
"I didn't do anything, honestly! I didn't tell Rei anything he didn't know. Actually, I didn't tell Rei anything at all." She smiled sweetly, but her face was flushed.
"Oh my God… Who did you tell."
"…No one…"
"Who?"
Silence.
"Regan, who did you tell?"
"Lei."
"Regan!"
"What?" She cried. "He knew anyway."
"How the hell could he possibly know?" Mariah cried.
"Oh, come on," Regan exclaimed, exasperated. "He's been your friend since God knows when. I'm sure he'd know the signs that you're madly in love with his best mate."
Mariah groaned and buried her face in her hands.
"Look, we were playing cards and I mentioned how much chemistry there was between you and Rei, and Lei said it was stupid that you hadn't already got together. And so I said we should get Rei to ask you out on a date and then Lei just went all mysterious and told me to leave it to him and kookookatchoo, Rei's asked you out!"
Regan took a breath and looked pleadingly at her friend.
"That's the honest truth." She said.
Mariah nodded slowly.
"Anyone else know?" She asked.
"Amazingly, no," Regan replied.
"Why 'amazingly'?"
"Because it must be pretty fucking obvious that you like Rei if even Lei can figure it out."
Mariah smiled.
"Be nice," she chided.
Regan became pensive, lost in a world of her own. Mariah sighed and got up, flicking her curls over her shoulder and wandering over to the mirror perched on the dressing table. It was amazing how quickly Regan had become her friend. They spent quite a lot of time together, and Mariah knew practically everything about Regan and her family. She was so different to her brother. Tala was lazy and could veg out in front of the television for hours. Regan had bags of energy and could barely sit still for five minutes without getting the fidgets.
She was kind and sweet and had a real sense of humour, but she had a short temper, and she and Tala were for ever fighting and getting on each other's nerves. She was a bit of a neat freak too. Not that Mariah minded though. It meant she never had to clean their room.
"So," Mariah jumped as Regan came out of her revere. The blonde girl patted the space in front of her and picked up the curling tongs, snapping the two planes together twice with a loud clack each time. Mariah wandered back over and sat down, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable.
"Sooooo…?" Mariah settled back against the side of the sofa as Regan began separating curls from straight bits.
"What are you going to wear?"
Mariah paused. She hadn't really thought about it until now, and it was becoming an increasingly worrying thought. Rei had seen all her clothes, and none of them were exactly what you'd call special.
"I… don't know," she admitted. "I guess I'll just wear something clean." Mariah suddenly felt incredibly embarrassed. Something clean? Where the hell had that come from. Practically everything was clean.
"D'you want to borrow something of mine?" Regan asked.
"Oh… Uh…" Mariah flushed. "I don't know. He's taking me to dinner. What if I spilt anything on it?"
"It doesn't matter. Just take whatever you want. It should all fit you, I'm not that fat."
"You're not fat at all," Mariah laughed. There was a pause before she spoke again. "Thanks though, I really appreciate all of this."
Regan smiled.
"That's what friends are for," she said quietly. Finally, she let the last curl free of the tongs and sat back. Mariah stood up and twirled around. Regan laughed, and switched off the curlers, shoving them in one of the wooden storage boxes in the bottom of the wardrobe.
"Gorgeous darling," she enthused.
"What are you two up to?"
Mariah turned to see Kai leaning in the doorway. Regan turned away in the pretence of searching for something, her face going slightly red. Mariah smiled at Kai and struck a pose.
"Special makeover," she said sweetly, walking over to Kai and tugging on his silvery bangs. "Hey Regan, do you think you could do something about this rat's nest?" She asked.
Kai gave her a flat look and tossed his head. Regan smiled slightly, but remained with her back to him. Mariah mouthed a silent 'okaaaaay' to herself and clapped her hands together.
"Right, well, places to go people to meet. I'll see you two later," she said, turning and wandering out of the room, making sure to close the screen door firmly behind her.
Same as usual. I'm going tosee if I can get all this up in one night.
