She waited in the kitchen for me to pull my hips on, and pick out a dress. Smooth it on, and check myself in the mirror, then grab my makeup, and hairbrush.
"You mind if I start another pot?" She just sat at the kitchen table. "I'm Alisa, by the way."
"Deloris, I'll get it." So, she doesn't have to search through the cabinets, I pulled the hose out of the faucet, then found the water tank full. So, I just got out a filter, and scooped grounds into it. "Huh, I don't have anyone to talk to, except for family. So, it's nice to have you over. I'm a youtuber, I make video tutorials online."
"Oh really. On what?"
"You know, cooking, sewing mostly."
"You make your own clothes?"
"I made this." I turned around, holding out the pleats to show her the pattern.
"It's nice." She had my makeup box open, and turned back to it. So, I went back to combing my hair, and sat down across from her. "I usually do my hair first." I nodded, and she turned it around. So, I could use the mirror in the lid, and put my hair up in a tie. Pluck my bangs out, with some side-locks to drape around my face. Hide the hard corners of my jaw, and pick up the brush to start blending in foundation.
"You make a lot of money, off youtube?"
"Not really. Ahem!" Clearing my throat, and swallowing, so I could pitch my voice up without it cracking again. "I have some savings in Trust, and my ex wife helps out, with child support. She always made more than me, and without custody, she's able to concentrate on her career." I can finally talk about it without choking up with heartbreak.
She put the coffee pot back, and stirred in creamer. "Rough divorce?"
"Huh! She's older than me, and a lot more conservative. She got pretty nasty, and hurtful before we finally decided to call it quits."
"Can I get you another cup?"
"Oh, yes." I turned to look at my cheekbones, mixing the Rust in with the foundation, to start blending my cheekbone out to a curve.
"Creme?" She set down that carton.
"Thanks," I set down the brush, and picked up the sugar shell first. Stirred in a couple spoonfulls before cooling it, to taste. "Siph huh!"
"If you don't mind me saying, you look a little older, done up."
"Oh, no. I don't mind at all." She's so polite, and respectful of my privacy, but it was just a relief to have her here, and even being seen in my underwear. Or the bra, and she just didn't comment. Positively or negatively, she just looked, and didn't react, which was obviously the best thing. Finishing my other cheek bone, I turned to compare them. Brushed a little more down the left side, to match them up, then tapped out the brush, to dig through the pencils.
"How about you." I checked her ring finger, "Still married?"
"Happily." She pinched her wedding, and engagement set together, and then interlaced her fingernails. "Huh, he's a manager, he manages some call-center, thing. I don't really understand. In this day and age, when you can just look up information on the internet, or hit the help key?"
"Well," I finished underlining one eye, and blinked. "Not everyone has the internet, or smart phones, I suppose. And if you do, but it won't connect for some reason. I'm sure it's nice to have some back up you can call. Or some people just prefer talking to a real-person. I suppose I'm an introvert now, when I wasn't before, or at least i don't think so? Maybe I was lying to myself all along, and I acted like I enjoyed going out, when now I would much rather stay at home, and talk to friends? This is nice, I've never had a friend to just sit and talk, except my daughter Shelly. Does that count?"
"She help you with your makeup?"
"To start, she mostly helps with my hair now, and sewing. She's incredibly good at it, and she's going to be a fashion designer when she grows up. I know, a lot of girls Say they want to do this, or that, but she really is talented, and she's stuck with it far too long for it to just be a phase. It's also starting to look like the industry is changing, getting away from the Male designers like Dolce and Gabanna." I stopped so I could hold still, and gently join the dark green lines from the top lid to the bottom, and pull them out to points that make my eyes look rounder on the inside, more tilted, and squinted. Turned the other way, and flipping the pencil over to get the other side.
"Also, more variety in models, they're adding more shapes, and sizes all the time, or giving girls that don't have the stereotypically impossibly figure. So tall, and skinny, just so they can starve themselves to bring out their bone structures to skull like proportions."
"Yeah!" I laughed. Shaking my head. "So, they can design clothes that fit other women, and flatter their figures. Instead of pointing out their hips, and busts, as if they're flaws."
"Your broad shoulders. No wonder you have to make your own clothes, and dis Shelly dye your hair too?"
I nodded, which reminded me. I have to draw in my eyebrows, now that they're fresh shaved, and primed over with foundation. So, I got out the red, to match my hair color, and contrast with the green of my eyes, the liner. "It's brown, naturally, so she had to bleach it first, but I find that it really brings out my eyes."
I looked up, and smiled. Holding them wide to show her, so she nodded, and smiled back.
"Yeah, they really pop now. Especially with the browline."
"Thanks!"