A/N: Now here is a scenario that has been in my mind as far back as when This Will Be Our Year wrapped up, but it definitely works better as a shorty than a full story.
Ruby and Shannon looked over a sign-up sheet that was tacked to the bulletin board in school one afternoon, but this was no sign-up to perform in a school play, or play for a school team, or even to enroll in an extra-curricular program to earn some extra credit. This was a sign-up sheet for the Miss Teen Royal Woods beauty pageant. Why would such a sign-up sheet be displayed in a high school, of all places? Well, teenagers do attend high school, so it seemed only logical to advertise such a teen pageant in a place where teens frequent – whether at school, or other hang-outs such as the mall. Both girls recognized some of the names written on the list, such as a pair of cheerleaders with whom Ruby used to hang out during that period in which she was a sports club groupie while dating her now ex-boyfriend, Spencer (the same cheerleaders who once called her current girlfriend her dog).
"I can only imagine Luan's little sister, Lola, signing up for this if she were a teen," remarked Shannon as she looked over the flyer.
"Like, a little beauty queen, is she?" Ruby asked; she still was not as well-versed in Luan's sisters as Shannon had become having been friends with her for years.
"Are you gonna sign up?" Shannon asked her girlfriend.
At a time where reputation was all that mattered to a teen whose sole purpose in life was to be one of the most popular girls in school, participating in and winning a teen beauty pageant would have been the ultimate social achievement for Ruby Patel. Thankfully, those days were behind her, now that Ruby had the things she never had before and never even realized she lacked until she had them: true friendship, meaningful connections, solid bonds, and a girlfriend who loved her for who she was.
"Yeah, like, hard pass," dismissed Ruby, much to her girlfriend's surprise.
"Really?" Shannon responded. "I would think this would be right up your alley. An exotic beauty like you would stand out from the rest. You'd win no contest… pun intended."
"I am, like, so over popularity contests," said Ruby; although, that did nothing to stop her from coming up with what she thought was a perfect alternative: "You should, like, sign up. You would, like, totally stand out from the rest."
A snort of bemusement erupted from Shannon's nostrils at what she thought was a ludicrous suggestion.
"Please, Rubes, I would fade into the background compared to other girls," she scoffed. "I'm not the beauty queen type… never was, never will be. I don't have what it takes to compete in a pageant… I barely have what it takes to date someone like you… you really deserve someone better than me, Rubes… it'd take a miracle worker to make a beauty queen out of me."
Ruby hated when Shannon did this to herself. Shannon always had low self-esteem, and often spoke poorly of herself, as though she thought of herself as a homely and unattractive girl who was short on looks, but that could not have been further from the truth as far as Ruby was concerned. Ruby possessed absolutely no attraction to other girls whatsoever, but in her eyes, Shannon was a beauty queen… if only she could get Shannon to see herself the way she saw her. Ruby may not have been the cleverest girl, but in that moment, she had a flash of inspiration in how she could possibly achieve such an objective.
"Maybe I could, like, be that miracle worker…" she offered.
"You?" Shannon asked in surprise. "You really think you could?"
"Why not?" Ruby replied. "It might be, like, a fun project."
"You really could make me beautiful like you, Rubes?" Shannon asked as she clasped her hands together in hopefulness.
"Yeah, I think I could…" said Ruby. "Why don't you, like, come over to my place tomorrow, and I'll, like, see what I can do."
"EEEEEEEEEEE!" Shannon squealed as she threw her arms around her Indian beauty.
Shannon's mind wasn't even on the sermon during Shabbat service that Saturday morning; she was most anxious to drop by Ruby's house to see what sort of makeover she could give her. Sure enough, after the Tannenbaums returned home, Shannon wasted no time in changing back into her casual clothing, and quickly making her way over to the Patel house, where she found her girlfriend waiting for her with open arms.
"I'm so excited!" Shannon squealed like a giddy schoolgirl. "I barely slept a wink last night!"
"I know, I, like, got the message…" snarked Ruby, but it was true, all through the previous night, Ruby's cell phone would continually ping notifications of texts from Shannon expressing her excitement over the forthcoming makeover the next day; sleep was definitely in short supply for both girls that night. Nevertheless, Ruby brought her guest up to her room. Neither girl needed to be on the stage of the Royal Woods High auditorium to invoke their playacting skills, as the maroon-clad Indian teen initiated some roleplaying with her girlfriend, "Like, welcome to Madam Ruby's Beauty Parlor, where we turn beauty dreams into, like, beauty queens. What can I, like, do for you?"
"What can you do for me?" Shannon inquired as she played along.
"Hair, skin, nails, maybe even a massage…" said Ruby.
"I think I'll take the whole works!" Shannon exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Yes, ma'am! The whole works comin' right up!" Ruby obliged her girlfriend as she directed her to have a seat before her vanity and even curiously removed her glasses from her face. "Here, let's, like, set these aside. Now, relax and close your eyes, so you'll open 'em to, like, a big surprise!"
"I can't wait to see this!" Shannon excitedly exclaimed as she complied with the instructions and closed her eyes.
"No peaking," teased Ruby.
"Work your magic!" Shannon practically pleaded.
With that, Ruby set out to work her magic – magic that Shannon may not have been able to see, but she could certainly feel. She felt tugging on her hair from what she presumed to be Ruby attempting to brush out the never-ending tangles of curls she had; maybe Ruby was straightening her hair. She felt fluttering in her eyelashes from what she presumed to be Ruby applying some sort of mascara; maybe Ruby was enhancing her otherwise dull eyes. She felt something soft repeatedly being dabbed across her face from what she presumed to be Ruby using a powderpuff; maybe Ruby was concealing her blemishes. She felt something smooth and somewhat moist caress her lips from what she presumed to be Ruby applying a lipstick or balm; maybe Ruby was repairing her chapped lips. The entire scenario was equally exciting for the giver as it was the receiver; Ruby enjoyed getting to touch and feel her wonderful girlfriend. As time went on, Shannon became all the more anxious to see the end results of this beauty session, though that time seemed to have finally arrived…
"There we go; we'll, like, call it done," announced Ruby.
"Lemme see! Lemme see!" Shannon chanted like an excited child anticipated a big surprise on Christmas morning.
Ruby returned her glasses to her girlfriend, as Shannon quickly slipped them back onto her face and swiveled the chair to see her transformation in the mirror… the sight that her eyes fell upon was certainly a surprise, alright… an unexpected surprise.
"I look exactly the same!" She shrieked.
"Yeah!" Ruby happily nodded.
Shannon just stared at the exact same reflection she saw in her mirror every morning and night for years. She felt crushed; absolutely crushed. She broke down in tears.
"Oh, Ruby! How could you?!" She wailed to Ruby's dismay and confusion. "I would've expected a sick joke like this from Luan, but not you!"
"What?! No, Shans, no! This wasn't a joke!" Ruby insisted. "I was making a point!"
"Well, you've made it… I'm a lost cause… a hopeless case…" sobbed Shannon through her tears as she buried her face into the bends of her elbows. "I'll never be pretty enough for you."
"Shannon, you are pretty enough for me," said Ruby as she swiveled the chair so she could face her broken-down girlfriend. "There's no way to improve you, cause you're already perfect the way you are."
"How can you even say that, Ruby, when I look like…. this?" Shannon asked tearfully.
"Okay, let's just take a closer look here, and I'll show you how totally wrong you are…" said Ruby as she swiveled the chair again and had Shannon study her reflection in the mirror intently. "Now, what do you see?"
"I see me… and I see you… I fail to see your point…" sniffed Shannon.
"Yeah, but what do you see, not who," guided Ruby. "Why don't we, like, start at the top and work our way down? Starting with this… what do you see?"
Ruby ran her fingers through Shannon's hair to draw her girlfriend's attention to her follicles.
"You mean that tangled mess of a massive bird's nest that even the birds wouldn't nest in?" Shannon asked.
"Girl, this is, like, a flowing mane of luscious, luxurious locks! I would totally kill to have volume like yours!" Ruby argued while she continued to play with her girlfriend's hair before she prompted her to continue. "What else do you see?"
"Some… silly-looking freckles…" noted Shannon of the blemishes across her face.
"These are cuties! It's why you're, like, sups adorbs, you cutie-patootie!" Ruby argued while she playfully poked the prominent dots on her girlfriend's cheeks. "Plus, I still, like, totally can't get over how your skin's, like, so soft and smooth…"
"Well… I do try to take care of my body on the outside as much as I do the inside," said Shannon who found herself on the verge of giggling from the way Ruby's fingers dancing across her cheeks created a light tickling sensation.
"Next…" prompted Ruby.
"Most obvious; my big Jewish schnoz," noted Shannon of her somewhat bulbous nose, though Ruby still had objections.
"You got a cute button nose; it's so totally you," insisted Ruby as she swiveled the chair around so her girlfriend could face her… and also, so she could give her girlfriend a boop on her nose. "It's one of those things you just gotta, like, accept about yourself, like me with my Indian arms that look like the friggin floor of a barber shop."
"Okay…" mumbled Shannon as she absorbed Ruby's comments, though there was still one more perceived imperfection of hers: "What about my glasses?"
As far as she was concerned, her spectacles were a glaring sign of her being an ugly dork, though Ruby's opinion differed significantly…
"Girl, glasses give you your sex appeal!" She insisted.
Shannon's face went fifty shades of red upon hearing her girlfriend describe her in such a way that sounded so… naughty...
"Wh-wh-whuh…?" She mumbled in disbelief.
"Haven't you, like, ever seen those commercials that, like, underplay the sex appeal of glasses?" Ruby queried.
"I… uh… haven't… really paid that much attention…" said Shannon as her lenses began to fog from the rise in her body temperature prompted by the turn the conversation took.
On that subject, Ruby decided to turn the conversation into an even more serious direction as she sat on the edge of her bed and really gave Shannon some things to think about.
"Riddle me this, Shans… you think I have, like, pretty high standards, don't you?" She quizzed.
"Well… yeah…" nodded Shannon.
"So, why you think you don't measure up to my standards?" Ruby asked, though Shannon realized she had no real answer for such. "Do you know I see girls like you everywhere I go? I can be at school, at the mall, at my parents' hotel, in the park, whatev, and I see girls with curly hair, girls who wear glasses, girls with freckles, girls with bods that make me totally jelly… I look at these girls, and I feel nothing… cause I'm not into girls, at all. But when I look at you, it's like looking at a living work of art, cause I'm totally into you. I like what I see… I love what I see… I love you, Shans… Okay, so you're not some supermodel or anything… but, you're you… there's no one else like you, you're the only one like you, and if I was gonna fall for a girl, I'm glad I fell for a one-of-a-kind girl like you."
Ruby cupped her hands around her girlfriend's face and caressed her freckled cheeks with her thumbs while a humbled smile quivered from Shannon's lips. It also occurred to Shannon that not once in Ruby's testimony did she utter her typical misuse of the word, 'Like.' She could tell her girlfriend was serious and sincere in what she said, and that really boosted her confidence.
"Now, I'll add that you totally clean up nicely, Shans," continued Ruby. "There's nothing I can do about your looks or anything, but I might can give you some wardrobe tips… maybe we could go to Reininger's, and, like, check out their selections."
"Uh… I didn't bring any money to buy new clothes, Rubes," said a confused Shannon.
"We don't have to buy anything, but we could still try some stuff on you just to see," said Ruby. "Come on!"
Before Shannon knew it, she found herself at the Reininger's department store in Royal Woods Mall, where she tried on a number of different dresses – not exactly how she would ordinarily spend a Saturday afternoon, and while it felt awkward at first, Ruby's enthusiasm for the entire outing gradually made it feel worth her while. Indeed, Ruby would help Shannon pick out a selection of dresses, then watch with great intrigue as her girlfriend stepped out of a dressing room in a different ensemble to see how it looked on her bespectacled beauty. This may have been even better than Shannon participating in a teen beauty pageant, because she had virtually no competition, it was just her, and just for Ruby to see.
One thing Ruby helped Shannon with was picking out wardrobe that actually fit her well, hugging her body in all the right places, thus accentuating all of her curves and edges. She also found that dresses that had short or even no sleeves looked the best on Shannon, as they allowed her to show off her arms, which typical saw little exposure with her usual sweaters. Ruby also helped Shannon try a different assortment of colors as well. Given her hair and glasses, Ruby found darker and somber colors such as a black worked particularly well on Shannon, but the one color she found most flattering on her girlfriend was blue – she couldn't put her finger on why, maybe it was because blue is a prominently symbolic color within the Jewish faith, but there was something about blue that looked amazing on Shannon. It made Ruby want to pick out identical dresses for herself in red, so that she and her girlfriend could both match and contrast each other on dates. Each time Shannon stepped out of the dressing room in a new ensemble, Ruby would capture the moment with a picture on her phone; she intended to print each of them out, staple them together, and basically create her own personal fashion catalogue of Shannon Tannenbaum.
After about an hour of this unexpectedly impromptu fashion show, the two girls shared a quick bite at the food court before taking their leave. As they strolled down the sidewalk, Ruby could see the transformation in Shannon's face; her girlfriend wore a smile like she had never seen before. Finally, Shannon turned to face Ruby and express her deepest gratitude.
"Thanks, Rubes, for reminding me of my true self-worth…" she said.
"Thank you for reminding me my girlfriend is a total hotsy-totsy!" Ruby replied before she licked the tip of her thumb and playfully dug it into her girlfriend's hip while imitating the sound of a sizzling skillet.
"Oh, you," responded Shannon before she gave her girlfriend a gentle, playful shove.
A chain reaction followed of Shannon and Ruby playfully shoving each other, until they happened by a park; Shannon gave Ruby one final shove with a little more force before she bolted into the park. Without hesitation, Ruby gave chase, trailing behind her girlfriend who kept darting between various trees along the greenway. Finally, Ruby managed to cut Shannon off at the pass, and practically tackled her, the force of which sent the two of the tumbling down a hill together. What followed was an unusual scramble of joyful giggles and pained grunts until they came to rest at the foot of the hill underneath a large tree, while they continued to giggle. Being on top, Ruby looked down on Shannon and the mess that was now in her thick, curly hair.
"I thought I was dating Shannon Tannenbaum, not Anne Boonchuy," joked Ruby as she removed leaves, twigs, and other pieces of debris from her girlfriend's mane.
"I don't know… I'm sure I cause plenty of calamity in your life," responded Shannon in kind, but Ruby would have none of it.
"You do not," pressed Ruby. "You fill my life with joy and happiness… more than anybody else ever had, and ever will… I mean that…"
And mean it she did. Before Shannon knew it, Ruby planted her lips onto her own for a big kiss. Even now, sharing a kiss with her girlfriend gave both of them a jolt of electrical excitement just as when they shared their first kiss with each other. They probably would have stayed like this for quite some time, but wisely wishing not to be caught, they reluctantly broke away, helped each other to their feet, and resumed their trek home.
This ended up being a tad lengthy for a drabble (ironically, this is about how long my chapters used to be when I started writing seriously again), but I did sort of keep pressing on while writing this. The scenes at Reininger's and the park were last-minute additions that I more or less made up as I went along, but the entire scene of Ruby giving Shannon a not-so-extreme makeover has been in my mind as far back as This Will Be Our Year… in fact, it's actually quite similar to a scene I almost wrote for that story, but ended up cutting because I didn't like it. Basically, the cheerleaders' comments about Shannon being Ruby's dog stung her deeply, so she took it upon herself to give herself an extreme makeover (straightening her hair, trading her glasses for contacts, wearing makeup to hide her blemishes, wearing more stylish clothing) to be the girlfriend she believed Ruby deserved, only for Ruby to be livid that Shannon did such to herself, because she fell in love with Shannon the way she was, and that's who she wants to be her girlfriend. I opted to cut it from the story because it felt like such a childish impulse for Shannon, especially when she has generally been depicted as being the wiser, more levelheaded party of their couple. Albertson and I both have written our share of scenes where Ruby boosts Shannon's self-esteem in such a manner, so obviously, this whole makeover scene never had an actual reason to be written or included in any Sharuby Saga outing. That being said, the scene has still stuck with me for all of these years, and since these Shorties don't necessarily align with the Sharuby Saga timeline and head canons, I felt like finally getting it out of my brain and writing it down. So, there we go.