The next morning I went into Eve’s room nice and early, at around 5 A.M. After digging through her luggage I found the perfect outfit for her: a black knee-high skirt, a nice mint green shirt, and a black cardigan to go over it. I found a cute pair of black shoes and laid the clothing out on a chair. Then it was time to wake up Sleeping Beauty.
“Eve, get up,” I commanded, shaking her violently.
“Wha, huh?” Eve rubbed her eyes and reached for her glasses on the night table next to the bed. “Oh, it’s only you,” she said sleepily, pushing her glasses up to her nose.
“Only me? Well then, see if I help you get Brian,” I answered her, pretending to be hurt.
“Oh shut up. It’s too early in the morning for this. Let me go back to sleep, I’m still tired,” Eve whined, pulling the covers back over her head.
“No, you have to get ready for today. Come on, a nice cold shower will wake you up.” I pulled down the covers and shoved Eve out of the bed. She hit the floor with a loud thud.
“Owww, all right I’m up.” Eve stood up and shuffled into the bathroom to take her shower.
“You have twenty minutes in there!” I called through the closed door. “And don’t you own any descent clothes?”
“I’m not gonna dignify that with an answer!”
A half an hour later, Eve emerged from the bathroom in a towel, her curly, honey colored hair soaping wet. “What am I gonna wear?” she asked.
I picked up the outfit and pushed her back into the bathroom. I blow-dried her hair straight, and then she put on her clothes and with a lot of help from me, got her contacts in.
“This doesn’t look like me,” Eve said as she admired herself in the mirror. “But I love it anyway.”
“This was the best outfit I could throw together with such little notice. We’ll have to go shopping today and find you some more things,” I informed her. “Now sit down and let me do your make-up.”
Eve obeyed, and I immediately went to work on her face. She had a very pretty face to begin with, so I went light on the make-up. I used a high volume mascara and eyeliner to bring out the color in her eyes and a light lipstick.
“You look great,” I commented as Eve stood up and took a look at herself once more. “Brian will definitely notice you now.”
“Thank you so much Miranda. But how did you learn so much about make-up?”
“My best friend was a master of make-up, she taught me everything she knew.”
Eve glanced down at her watch. “Uh oh, time to wake the guys. We’re gonna get breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then they’re doing a photo shoot for some teenybopper magazines.” She scurried around the room, quickly putting on the shoes I picked out for her and grabbed her purse. “Later Miranda!”
“Hold on, I’m coming with you.”
“But you can’t, everyone will see you.”
“No, not unless I want them to and in this case I don’t. Besides, I want to be there so you don’t mess up things with Brian.”
“All right,” Eve sighed. “Come on, let’s go wake up the guys.”
* * * * *
“This is it,” Eve said nervously as she put up her hand to knock on Brian’s door. “Miranda, are you sure he’ll like me?”
“I’m positive. He’s the last one to wake up, so just knock on the door and you can go downstairs to wait for them,” I urged her.
“Okay.” She drew in a deep breath and knocked on the door.
After a few minutes, a tired looking Brian answered. “Hi Eve,” he said sleepily, rubbing his eyes. “Listen, I’m really sorry about missing the meeting last night but… wow, you look amazing.”
Eve blushed and stared down at the ground. “Thank you and it’s okay, the guys explained to me what happened.”
“I promise I won’t miss any more meetings.” There was an uncomfortable pause and then Brian spoke again. “Do you want to come in? I should be ready in a few minutes.”
“Um-”
“Yes,” I hissed. “Say yes!”
“Uh… sure.”
Brian smiled at her warmly and I nearly burst into tears. It was the same way he used to look at me. He ushered her into the room and quickly closed the door. “I won’t be long,” he promised, hurrying into the bathroom.
Eve looked around the room, almost as if she was investigating. She picked something off of the dresser and examined it carefully. “I wonder if this is a picture of his girlfriend that died,” she said to me. “Hmm, she looks kinda familiar.”
I walked over to her and realized it was a picture of me. “No she doesn’t,” I said quickly, grabbing the picture from her. “And besides, this is Brian’s personal stuff. Leave it alone.”
“All right. God, you’d think I was doing something illegal.”
“You might as well have been,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Okay, I’m ready.” Brian emerged from the bathroom wearing tan cargo pants and a gray Phat Farm T-shirt. He looked extremely handsome, just as I had remembered.
“Tell him he looks great,” I said to Eve.
“You look great Brian,” Eve said shyly.
“Thank you. Ready to go to breakfast?”
“Yeah.” Brian held out his arm and Eve took it, smiling bashfully the entire walk down to the restaurant.
I followed behind them. Those two look really cute together, I thought. Wait a minute, what am I saying? She’s not supposed to be with him, I am.
“Yes she is supposed to be with him,” a voice from behind corrected me.
“Hello Maria,” I said dryly, turning around to face her. “Things are going really well, if that was going to be your next question. He is this close to asking her out.”
“Very good Miranda. And I must say, you did an excellent job on her make-up. She used to look so mousy.”
“Well, I did learn from the best.”
“Keep up the good work, and I’ll be back later tonight for another status report. You’d better hurry up and catch them. Good-bye for now.”
“’Bye Maria.” She disappeared and I hurried to catch Brian and Eve. I found them sitting down at a large table with the rest of the guys, Kat, and Nick’s girlfriend Heather, who used to be one of my good friends.
“So Eve, Heather and I are going shopping today after the guys’ photo shoot. You want to come along with us?” Katrina asked as she put a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.
Eve looked at me expectantly. “Go ahead,” I said. “I’ll tag along with you guys.”
“Sure Kat, that’ll be great,” Eve answered cheerfully.
“It’ll be a lot of fun, I promise. You don’t mind her coming with us, do you Heather?”
“No not at all,” Heather replied, giving Eve her famous fake smile. I could tell she didn’t like her at all. “Are we still on for tonight Nicky honey?”
“Of course babe. Kev, are you and Kat coming with us?” Nick asked.
“Yes,” Kevin said, finishing his last bite of French toast. “I’ve got an idea, why don’t Brian and Eve come with us?”
“We’re not dating,” Brian said, looking at Kevin strangely.
“Who are you trying to fool B-Rok?” A.J. asked with a knowing smile. “You two are acting so chummy that we all thought you were.”
“Well we’re not so shut up about it,” Brian snapped.
A.J. held his hands up in defense. “All right you’re not, don’t bite my head off.”
“Eve, are you okay?” I asked. “I know that had to hurt.
Eve just shook her head slightly and seemed to edge away from Brian in her chair. She looked like she was ready to cry. Usually I would have been happy, but I really did feel sorry for her. She seemed so genuinely hurt by what he said.
“You know guys, we really have to get going so we’re not late for the photo shoot,” Howie reminded everyone.
They spilt the bill and got ready to leave. Brian was talking quietly with Nick, Kat was chattering away happily with Eve, and Heather was giving Eve death stares. This is going to be a fun day,
* * * * *
“So like I was saying, you are gonna have so much fun with us today,” Katrina said to Eve as they waited for the guys to finish up their photo shoot. “Heather is an awesome shopper, aren’t you?”
“Yup,” Heather answered unenthusiastically, rolling her eyes as she flipped through an issue of Vogue. “I’m the best.”
“But you know what I think? I think that you and Brian would look so cute together,” Katrina commented. “I don’t know why he got bent out of shape this morning, he’s usually not like that.”
“He’s obviously a little reluctant to start dating again. Randi didn’t die that long ago and those two were so close,” Heather said.
“Randi was the name of his girlfriend?” Eve asked.
“Well, a nickname anyway. But only Heather and I could call her that and get away with it. The three of us were best friends.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to see what’s taking the guys, Kevin said they only had a couple more shots left and that was twenty minutes ago.” Katrina stood up and stretched. “I’ll be right back.”
“So Heather-” Eve started.
“Don’t you dare talk to me, you little bitch. Look, I don’t know who you’re trying to be or what the hell you’re trying to do by getting all chummy with Kat and trying to get a date with Brian, but let me tell you something. You will never, ever replace Randi,” Heather spat at her.
“But I’m not trying to,” Eve said meekly.
“The hell you aren’t. Now I’m warning you, it had better stop. Brian is too good for trailer trash like you,” Heather hissed, giving Eve a superior smirk as she noticed Kat walking back towards them.
“Okay guys, we can get ready to go,” Katrina informed them. Heather stood up and the two started leaving.
“Eve, aren’t you coming?” Kat asked as she turned around.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Eve waited until they were gone to talk to me. “Do you believe that bitch Miranda? How does Nick stand her?”
“She has big boobs. Guys like big boobs.”
“Be serious for a minute. God, I just don’t understand why she thinks she can talk to me like that.”
“Because she knows that you don’t have the guts to say anything back, that’s why. And if you don’t ever stand up to her, she’s gonna walk all over you.”
“I wanted to, but I was afraid I would jeopardize my chances with Brian.”
“And speak of the devil,” I said, pointing to a figure coming down the hallway. “Here he is. And remember, if he asks you out say yes.”
“No duh,” Eve muttered.
“Hi Eve,” Brian said softly as he approached her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, what about?”
“I didn’t mean to come off like that this morning when A.J. asked if we were dating. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Eve assured him, grabbing her purse from off the couch and walking ahead of him.
“What are you doing?” I questioned her.
“Playing hard to get,” she whispered.
“Eve, wait up!” Brian called, jogging to catch up with her. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
Eve abruptly stopped. “What is it Brian?” she asked, trying to sound seductive.
“Do you want to go out on a date with me tonight?”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
“I’ll pick you up at 7, all right?”
“Okay.” Brian flashed her his heart melting smile and walked ahead of her.
“Oh my God Eve, you did great!” I congratulated her. “You had no fear whatsoever.”
“Yeah right, I was shaking the entire time!”
“But no one could tell. Maybe you’re starting to catch on.”
“Maybe,” Eve answered with a smile.
