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Kaitlyn fidgets uncomfortably, the bare skin of her thighs sticking to the chair that she’s currently sitting in. The afternoon heat is baking her alive, and there’s nothing to do but sit, behave, and watch as Emma picks up the next torture device. It glints as it catches a stray beam of sunlight, and Kaitlyn has to resist the urge to fidget again.
Kaitlyn straightens her back, waiting for Emma’s worst. And, to be frank, it’s terrible, because it’s late August and Kaitlyn is in stage makeup. Why the fuck did she ever agree to be a kid’s understudy?
Well, to be fair, Kaitlyn had only agreed to be Becky’s understudy because all that kid ever did was talk about becoming an actress; how was Kaitlyn supposed to know that the food-allergy-nightmare-child would eat peanut butter on a dare (hours before opening night)?
Nurse Kelly had had to rush to get that kid her EPIPen frantically; an ambulance was on scene, and Becky still dared to be smug about winning a week's worth of dessert from the fellow camper who dared her to eat the Reese’s.
So yeah, Kaitlyn is stuck and only slightly salty about performing as Dragon in Hackett Quarry’s Shrek.
When asked what play the kids wanted to put on, it was nearly unanimous. Unsurprisingly, the production didn’t have a huge budget. In fact, Tyler, the kid playing Shrek, was actively having his face painted with some kid-safe paint that Abi had procured for them. The ogre ears were sticks that they had rolled in green felt that did NOT match the “face” paint, and the Donkey costume was just a gray tracksuit with a shoddily made tail pinned to it.
It was indeed charming to observe and help coordinate all of the activities leading up to opening night, but Kaitlyn never imagined that she would be in the play.
She had been repeatedly promised that it was just a formality to have a counselor on standby. Abi was Fiona’s understudy, Jacob was Donkey’s understudy, and, as a gag, Nick was Shrek’s understudy. Dylan was set to take over any of the ‘minor’ roles, but none of their kids had messed around and found out, no, only Kaitlyn’s.
Costume-wise, in a stroke of good luck, all Kaitlyn really had to do was get decked out in a full face of makeup (which Becky had been thrilled about) and put on a magenta robe. There were some horns the kids had made out of toilet paper tubes and black paint, but the headband they glued them to fell apart at the last second. Which, admittedly, she’s grateful for because where did they get the toilet paper tubes from? Kaitlyn doesn’t want to know.
Emma leans in with a soft breath, and Kaitlyn is jostled from her inner turmoil. Emma smells faintly of perfume—with coconut and vanilla swirling together in a pleasant mix. Emma’s lips, perfectly glossed, are pursed in concentration, and for some reason, Kaitlyn can’t look away.
Emma is gorgeous, and being this close, Kaitlyn can’t help but look. Rather than dwell on cute girls, Kaitlyn tries one last time to get out of her responsibility as Becky’s understudy.
“Can’t you just make Dylan do this? He already agreed to do drag for Spirit Week. The kids practically mobbed the poor guy.”
Emma hums lightly in thought. The tube of mascara goes back into Emma’s makeup bag, and the worst is over.
“Nope,” Emma says, popping the p, “Not his role. He doesn’t know any of Dragon’s lines.”
Kaitlyn barely knows any of Dragon’s lines, admittedly, but apparently, she is the lesser of two evils.
“Fine…” Kaitlyn fidgets again. It's a miracle she hasn't sweated through all of Emma's hard work.
Rather than answer, Emma just smiles before dramatically reaching to grab what Kaitlyn can only hope is setting powder.
As Emma sets back in with a brush dusted in powder, Kaitlyn closes her eyes and lets the sensation of being this close to another person wash over her. It's nice—intimate in a way that Kaitlyn isn't used to. She's never had anyone do her makeup before; all her friends back home are guys (and none of them know anything about makeup). Jacob barely knows his asshole from a hole in the ground; there's no way Kaitlyn is letting him anywhere near her face with an eyelash curler (a known Medieval torture device in the right hands).
Emma shifts, and Kaitlyn breathes in through her nose. Maybe she’s enjoying the makeup process more than her fidgeting and complaining let on. Maybe.
When the brush leaves her face, Kaitlyn’s eyes reopen. Emma has her back turned; the sunlight shines on her hair, making it look more golden than it actually is. Kaitlyn doesn’t know how she does it, keeping her hair that long in this heat, but it suits her. It looks terribly soft, which Kaitlyn also doesn't understand. The water at Hackett’s Quarry is harder than Jacob's thick skull.
“Okay, lipstick and then you're done,” Emma spins, a bright red liquid lipstick in hand, “Open your mouth.”
Kaitlyn does as she's told, the wet suction of the applicator sounds off, and then there's the brush of something soft on her lips. It's wet and a tad unpleasant, but Emma works fast.
“Don't move, hang on.”
Emma grabs a handheld fan, and between that and the heat? The lipstick dries quickly, leaving a weird, tacky feeling on Kaitlyn's lips when she's finally able to close her mouth.
“Y'know, you have a stunning bone structure. Nice lips, a cute nose. Ryan is an idiot for not noticing you.”
Emma says it so casually that it takes a second for it to register. Something inside Kaitlyn twists, but she can't pinpoint why—not when she's being handed a mirror.
And Emma? Emma is right. The makeup does look good: purple eyeshadow blended out into a gold-green, eyeliner thick but complementary, and the bold red lip accentuates her full lips.
“You did good,” is what Kaitlyn settles on, continuing to check the various angles of her face. Her cheekbones have a light purple shimmer to them, and well, it does. It does look good.
“Babe, you're an easy client to work on,” and maybe Kaitlyn is reading too much into Emma's posture, but the other girl has leaned a little closer, smiling at Kaitlyn like a cat who just got the canary.
The pet name twists something inside of Kaitlyn, her eyes searching Emma's face for an answer that she doesn't find.
Instead, Emma smiles her wide, dramatic smile reserved for the kids and TikTok (sue her, Kaitlyn has seen some of Emma Mountebank's content before).
“Now c'mon, we've got a show to put on!”
—
By the time applause rings out, Kaitlyn has absolutely sweated through her makeup. The kid who played Donkey stood on her cape no less than five times, one of Shrek’s ears fell off mid-way through, and Dylan had to step in when “Gingie” freaked out and scampered off stage.
The show was more improv than anything, at least on Kaitlyn’s part, but the applause is kind of nice. Kind of. What really catches Kaitlyn’s attention, however, is Emma’s beaming smile.