I followed Coop to the table we’d been assigned especially for VIPs, watching her face light up as she jumped right into the fray and began to chat with some other young women who shared her exuberance about Mitzy.
I felt like a fifth wheel, and completely out of my element. I only understood some of the things the ladies were talking about because of Coop, and even then, I was still a bit lost.
However, seeing Coop’s eyes go wide when she and the other women opened up their swag bags and began to compare goodies made my heart glow.
She held up a small eyeshadow palette and waved it in front of my face, her auburn hair swinging around her shoulders. She’d cut her long swath of luscious hair into what she claimed was a more fashionable style, giving her a wisp of bangs and a long layered look that framed her face and still hung almost to her waist.
Of course, she could have a crew cut and she’d be stunning, because Coop really knew how to accent every perfect feature she had.
Her eyes were intense when she said, “Trixie, look. It’s a sample preview palette of some of the shades Mitzy’s producing with Pink Leaf Cosmetics. It’s not even done yet. I feel like I’ve been waiting for-ev-err for this to happen. I feel so lucky. I mean, would you just look. Isn’t it everything?” she asked in her somber, unemotional tone as she ran her finger over a bright green and swatched it on her forearm so I could see.
I nodded my head and smiled, trying to keep my eyelashes from sticking together. “Oh, Coop,” I breathed a sigh. “That’s going to be gorgeous with your green eyes. I’d definitely say you’re very lucky to see a preview. Those eyeshadows are totally lit.”
Coop popped her lips and complimented me. “You used lit in a sentence. Well done, Trixie Lavender. You have been listening.”
One of the women at our sparkly lavender and silver table, young with dirty-blonde hair, squealed her pleasure when she swiped a shimmery raspberry lip gloss over her bottom lip and held up a compact to inspect her fish-lipped pout.
“Look!” she almost yelled, showing Coop. “It’s the lip gloss she’s been talking about since the beginning of time—the one with the crystalized flakes in it!”
Coop acknowledged her with a vehement bob of her head, her eyes wide. “The one that she claims will stay on even after an entire night of kissing, right?”
The woman grabbed her wrist and bounced up and down in excitement. “Yes! That’s the one!”
Another young woman, probably in her mid-twenties with shoulder-length chestnut brown hair and blue eyes, gazed at Coop. “Is that sunrise/sunset on your eyes?”
Coop nodded, and said, “It is.”
The girl squealed, flapping her hands. “Yass, queen! Oh, my God, it’s gorgeous! You’re gorgeous, and you did such an amazing job. It looks exactly like Mitzy’s.” Then she pouted, her shoulders sagging in clear dejection. “I wish I could blend better. I kind of stink at it. I mean, look at my poor attempt to copy her Under the Sea video. Any advice?”
She closed her eyes and leaned forward for Coop to inspect, and as my demon began to advise, I decided to see if I could grab something to drink and maybe one of the tiny sandwiches waiters in crisp white shirts and black bowties were passing around.
“I’ll be right back, Coop,” I said in her ear before I made my escape.
My stomach rumbled its consent. Food was definitely necessary, or I was going to pass out from the heat in the room created by all these bodies pressed so closely together.
I hadn’t given myself enough time to eat before Coop was ready to apply my makeup, and she didn’t want me to mess it up by eating—because Mitzy says the lipstick is the icing on your face’s cake and who wants smeared icing?
Although, if this new lipstick she’s creating is so good, I guess eating after you’re all decked out won’t be a big deal, right?
Grabbing a couple of tiny cucumber sandwiches and a dainty lavender and silver napkin from one of the waiters, I went in search of a bottle of water or maybe some punch. As I milled my way through the throng of people, I overheard some of the excited chatter. Everyone was talking about the sample palette and the long-lasting lip glosses.
And then I heard some not-so-excited chatter from a tall, lanky woman with green-tipped hair, a sequined jumpsuit in gold and platform boots. I was rather stuck behind her at a standstill when the crowd decided to stop moving.
Her nails were long and pointy, as was the fashion these days, painted in an emerald green with rhinestones glued on them. She waved her hands around as she spoke to another woman, equally as fashionable in a sleeveless sapphire-blue, sequined cut-off top and white miniskirt.
The gold and green Amazon leaned into the more petite woman wearing strappy heels that had to be at least six inches high. “Giiirl, did you hear?” she whispered, her tone conspiratorial.
She rocked back on her shoes, her purple toenails glittering in the flashing lights. The shorter woman tilted her platinum-blonde head, her micro-bladed eyebrows rising. “Hear what?”
The tall woman popped her lips. “Hear what Mitzy did to Ames Snarles?”
The shorter woman rasped a sigh and rolled her eyes, tucking her tiny purse close to her chest. “Oh, what now? I swear, those two are always peeing on each other’s trees about something. Did Mitzy call him out on Insta again? I swear, they use Instagram like it’s their personal fight club. It’s lame AF.”
Lame AF? Note to self, ask Coop to make you a slang cheat sheet.
She shook her head, the green tips of her hair catching the light, sucking in her cheeks.
