“Aye. We’d like to enjoy the items you have displayed.”
“Well, of course. We have people do that all day. Truly if someone is playing with something, it draws other people’s interest.”
As relief soaked through her body, Moira thought on the kindness of the people working this event. She’d known nothing in Ireland that matched this. Aye, they had great festivals, but they leaned to mostly celebration in general. These Irish-Americans were celebrating their heritage as if they were on Irish soil.
As Moira and Laura handed each other the most ludicrous of Irish novelty items, they donned them and turned to Luke, who hadn’t touched a thing. She gave him an evil eye, as best she could, and he held his phone. “I’ll be the one to remind you how foolish you look.” He winked. “Without being wasted.”
She did imagine they were probably worse than silly, but it was fun. Her first outfit to remember started with her head gear. Wearing a hideous fake paper crown shaped in a four-leaf clover that stated “Kiss me, I’m Irish” across it, she couldn’t decide what accessory was worse. Below the crown, she’d been handed bright green glasses with horizontal green stripes every inch or so. The design, like most things, were four leaf clovers, and the stripes made the glasses unusable. Around her neck, Laura wrapped a thick boa made with something close to tinsel.
To top it off, Laura handed her a tube of lipstick. Looking at her friend, Moira wondered how much she’d drank because Laura had once commented on the fact she didn’t wear lipstick. Her favorite was a light to clear lip gloss.
Moira must’ve shown her confusion because both of her friends laughed. They didn’t laugh hard at her fun outfit, but they laughed hard at a tube of lipstick. What type of surprise should she expect?
Laura waved her hand at Moira in a “hurry up” gesture. “Go ahead. It’s a necessity for our outfits.” Laura’s assertion it would be paid for had her examining the tube.
Unease gripped her at what the tube contained. Then she silently laughed at herself for being so foolish. Her friends were only having fun with her.
Opening the tube and carefully peeking in caused her friends to laugh even more. Moira twirled the base and a tube of green lipstick appeared. Green. After this festival, she’d probably remove green from her palette because she wouldn’t be able to look at it for a long while.
“Are you kidding me?” Moira twirled the lipstick down into its tube and handed it back to Laura. Saying the first thing that came to mind as to why she couldn’t wear it, she blurted, “I don’t want to take yours. It’s okay. Next year, I’ll remember to buy some.”
Laura held her hands up and shook her head. “Oh, this is yours. I have mine in my pocket.” She reached down, pulled it out and, in the small mirror, probably designed for patrons to view their silliness, Laura applied the lipstick, rubbed her lips together, then opening them with a pop. “Before you ask, yes, I paid for them.”
Seeing no way out of copying Laura, she moved to the mirror and raised the lipstick again. Come on. Who thought of that color for their lips?
She closed her eyes for moment to kickstart her into doing this little thing. She knew she’d look ridiculous and maybe that was her hang-up. Their goal was to have fun. With that, she applied the lipstick, popped her lips together to blend it, and stared at her green lips in the mirror. It was worse than she’d thought. She had to get the hideous color off her mouth.
Reaching into her purse to grab a tissue and wipe her lips clean, someone bumped her from behind, knocking her a bit off balance. Reflexively, she jerked her head up and saw an older man weaving down the aisle. She shook her head and thought of how she’d not been staying aware of her surroundings like Danny had taught her. It’d been easier in her booth, but moving around, well, she couldn’t let her guard down. Granted, Danny didn’t expect that trouble had followed her, but she had promised to listen to him on all-things security.
Such as, he’d said that he wanted someone with her all the times. He hadn’t specified who, so she’d thought Laura and Luke would do. Realizing it could be easier for someone to sneak up on her than she expected, she wished it was Danny though. Not only did she trust him, but they had a friendship that made her want them to be more.
With a sense of unease in her stomach, she scanned the room while asking, “Are we ready for pictures?” With Laura’s and Luke’s grins, Moira moaned. Something told her she wouldn’t be wiping off the lipstick anytime soon.
After Luke took what felt like a hundred pictures of her and Laura, while they posed in all kinds of silly positions, the two of them began switching items and grabbing more from the table. Moira’s laugh had been so belly deep that she’d felt freer than she’d expected to again before she’d left Ireland. No, she’d felt that free with Danny. She wanted to show him she could survive without constant watching. She understood if danger touched American soil, her security would change. Until then, she’d remain vigilant while enjoying herself.
The big plastic clover clamp earrings caught her eye. She had to wear them, just had to.
The woman running the booth laughed and walked to her.
“Let me.” One of the women came over to her with a sticker and she stiffened.
When she reached toward her face, Moira quickly stepped back, unsure of what to expect.
“Moira, it’s okay. Look, I’m getting one right now.” Laura laughed.
In the groove of it, she nodded. “Go ahead—wait, is it permanent?” A slap to her forehead was warranted, but she held it back. Of course
