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So ;)
Act 12: Catherine
I'm starting to second guess myself. This whole thing could just backfire at me. It seemed like a good idea two days ago, now I'm not so sure about it. It's too late to change now, that and I don't have anything else. I think that unconsciously this is the very reason why I didn't prepare a plan B, so I wouldn't back out at the last moment.
"Alright, how do I look?" I ask Lindsey.
"You're perfect," she beams. "Well almost, here," she hands me a lipstick.
"That might be a bit much," I wince.
"No, trust me."
"Okay," I let her apply my make up, once she's done and I look at my reflection I know she was right. Even if I don't feel overconfident about this, it's all about the details and if I'm going to do it I have to do it all the way.
Lindsey and I spend another twenty minutes trying to get ready then we're set to go. "Linds, have fun tonight, but as I told you…"
"Having fun doesn't mean that I have to stop using my head," she repeats my words verbatim.
"That's right. I've given cautions and I want you to promise you'll follow them. I'm trusting you tonight, so don't go and make me regret it. You and Elie can stay at the party until one then I want you to go back to hers. I want you to call me when you're at the party, and then when you're back at Elie's, understood?"
"Yes, Mom. You have my word I'll be careful."
"Good," I hug her tightly.
I drive her to her friend Elie and kiss her goodbye. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mom. Have fun tonight, knock them dead," she winks at me.
I drive to the lab with a knot in my stomach, by the time I park the car I'm seconds away from losing battle against nausea. I take deep calming breaths, this is alright. I mean it's the only night I can pull this off. As a matter of fact, it's not me.
Yeah, that's it, it's not me.
When I step out of my car, I'm fully in character, there's a swing in my hips, I'm oozing with a confidence that I don't really possess, ready to give an Academy Award wining performance.
I walk into the room that has been transformed into a ballroom for the evening and a sudden silence falls upon everyone. My eyes almost immediately set on Sara who's talking with Warrick, Nick and Greg – the four of them dressed alike – with her back facing me, I move slowly toward her.
She eventually turns around, noticing the reigning silence and because I believe that Greg has stopped himself in mid sentence once he spotted me. When her eyes fall on me, she has a slight recoil movement like she had been pushed, her jaw drops open and her eyes open big enough to almost pop out.
Those three seconds, and the expression on her face are worth all my efforts. The room comes back to life at the same time, wolf whistles are thrown my way, I think someone says 'hubba, hubba, hubba," and some appreciative curses reach my ears, but all my attention is on Sara.
I close the last metres between us, slowly hook a finger under her chin and close her mouth. "Hello there," I speak with a sultry voice.
She gulps audibly then speaks, or at least try because what comes out of her mouth are jumbled sounds. "Hey," she squeaks when she gets her voice back.
"I'm a poor copy of the original, but I'm certainly glad that you seem to like what you see," I continue.
"Screw Jessica… she looks like an old hag at the moment," Sara breathes out still dazed, blinking slowly. "You on the other hand are insanely… smoking hot…" there's a beat during which her words reach back to her brain and she closes her eyes in apparent embarrassment. "Can we please pretend that my brain filtered that?"
I smirk. "If you insist," I run a finger on the collar of her shirt, and give her a slow wink.
"You are… a vision," she tries again.
She's dressed in black pants, black shirt, white suspenders, a red tie, a black vest and a black hat with a white band on it complete her outfit. Apparently she and the boys wanted to play old school mafia clan 50s style.
"Do ya whu uh… drink?" Sara stammers half of her sentence but I get the main line.
"I'd like that," I grab her tie in a true Jessica fashion pulling her face close to mine "Very. Much," I punctuate every word, my eyes locked on hers. She slowly swings back to her original position; I don't move an inch and just let the silky fabric slipping between my fingers all the way through. "Don't be long, now," I try to make my smile sexy, and from her expression I guess it works.
"Yes ma'am," she nods several times and stumbles a bit as she turns around goes to get me a drink.
"Now, that's what I call a costume," Warrick comments as he comes next to me.
"Yeah, I think I made an impression," I play coy.
"To put it mildly," he chuckles. "I mean, you've just made Sara have a synaptic meltdown, and she's Sara."
I grin wider at his words. If only he knew…
"You're bad, Cath, you're bad."
I turn to him and push my chest a little forward and put a hand on it. "Oh, Rick, I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way," I mimic the tone of Mrs Rabbit for one of her most famous lines. He chuckles in response.
The rest of the night is awesome, I get asked to dance several times; I'm having a blast with the guys and Sara. The best part is when I dance with her, being dressed as Jessica Rabbit means that my dress is backless down to the small of my back; I can feel her shaky hands against my skin, her touch is gentle and delicate, I can feel her heart beating strong in her chest too, but I don't say anything and just enjoy our closeness, and if I'm honest part of me is conceitedly happy to have an effect on her.
All the time we're dancing butterflies are wrecking havoc in my stomach but I don't care.
After the lab Halloween party ends we decide to all go back at Warrick's and keep having a good time until the early rays of light. Sara drives me back home, I'm tired but I'm very happy that the night went as long as it did. The smile on my face could not be any bigger. I even get a bonus, I'm wrapped into Sara's scent, she lent me her vest and during the ride home I can pretend to be in her arms again.
She walks me up to my porch, like she always does, and we stand there staring at one another. She wants to kiss me, she has wanted to almost all night, I know it because I've felt the same way.
"I know I've said it, but you look absolutely, amazingly, stunningly beautiful in that dress," she says shyly.
"I'm not tired to hear it," I chortle. "So, thank you."
The atmosphere becomes electric. I'm consumed by the desire to kiss her, but I won't; and though she doesn't say it I have the feeling that she's thinking the same as I do. I don't want our first kiss to be right here, right now, because right now I'm not me. Right now I'm some enactment – enhancement? – of one of her fantasies.
I don't want our first kiss to be a fantasy, when I'm all dolled up pretending to be a woman I'm not. If we share a first kiss… when we share our first kiss I want to be myself and I want her to be herself, so as much as I want it now, I can't let it happen.
I break the spell first and lean in, I let my lips linger against her cheek then pull back a little, I hear her small intake of breath as we share a tiny Eskimo kiss, the fact that she doesn't try to close the remaining inch between our lips lets me know that I made the right call. I step away. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," she beams. She tilts her hat with the tip of her fingers. "Ma'am," she winks at me and with that she's gone.
I get inside and lean against my door, take a deep breath to calm my thundering heart. Sara's vest is still wrapped around my shoulders, if anything it makes my heartbeat even more erratic.
I wanted that kiss so badly.
Damn.
Thanks for reading
