Empirically, Sharpe knew it didn't really matter what color she picked. It wasn't like she was defusing a bomb or anything; nobody was going to run up to her just as she was handing over her credit card and scream, "NO! NOT THE PINK LIPSTICK!" and slap the bag out of her hand before diving on top of it. There were no consequences for a 'wrong' answer, here-it was just an aesthetic choice. That was it. A simple, personal decision with no right or wrong answer. All she needed to do was look over the five or six options in front of her and pick the one that made her look the prettiest... for Song Jeong-Hui, aka Shadowstryke. On their very first official date. After months of waiting, and weeks of working up the nerve to actually ask another woman out instead of just looking adorably shy and waiting for them to make the first move. Their first real romantic activity ever, apart from watching Jeong-Hui masturbate in WildRose's bedroom. The first time she made a real move toward a polyamorous relationship in her entire life.
Sharpe set down the pink lipstick. "Um... can I see a couple more shades?" she asked, sliding back into her seat at the make-up counter.
Thankfully, the woman behind the counter looked like she'd seen more than a few indecisive customers in her day. "Naturally," she said, her hand dipping down behind the counter to pull out a velvet red, a bubblegum pink, and a shade of purple that perfectly matched Shadowstryke's hair and that Sharpe knew she wouldn't be able to pull off in a million years. "Would you like to see what these look like as well?"
Sharpe looked down at them, her face a mask of anguished indecision. Was the red too much? Did it scream, 'I'm hoping this date ends with these lips kissing your clit'? Sharpe knew that there was sexual chemistry-between all three of them if she was honest-but she didn't want to act like she assumed that sex was going to happen the first time out. Did it make her look too assertive? She was already being assertive by asking for the date, was adding an assertive lipstick going to lock her into a whole series of expectations that she couldn't possibly match? And oh god, what about the pink? Would the pink make her look like a bimbo? Would the pink make her look like she was trying to look like a bimbo? Was she sending the message that she thought Jeong-Hui only liked dumb girls? Or was she insulting women by equating 'feminine' with 'bimbo'? And then there was the purple. Sharpe didn't even want to think about the motherfucking purple right now.
"Ummmm... let me see the velvet next to the cherry red?" she asked, holding out her hand so that Shari could smear another bright slash of color onto the back of her hand. She wasn't normally one of those people who read people's nametags and thought they were on a first-name basis, but she felt stupid spending twenty minutes on lipstick selection and still thinking of someone as 'ma'am'.
And Shari seemed to have an infinite well of patience, too. "Of course," she said politely, drawing a bright line of cherry red and a dark line of velvet red next to it with deft precision. "And here's the hot pink as well, for contrast," she added, dabbing on a neon slash of color on the other side of the wine-deep red Sharpe was considering. "Just let me know if you want to look at anything else."
Sharpe stared down at her hand, hoping for some sort of clarity to emerge, but if anything she only found herself descending deeper into indecision. Her skin was so pale that just about anything she wore made for a vivid contrast-it was an occupational hazard of spending most of her days in bed and most of her nights lit only by the glow of a computer monitor. (And a Happy Light to help with her seasonal affective disorder.) But which contrast gave off the right impression? Which color would keep Jeong-Hui's eyes on her all night long? The stakes felt absurdly high, and Sharpe felt like she was no closer to making a decision. "What do you recommend, Shari?" she finally asked, defeat making her voice leaden.
But Shari only perked up at the words. It was as though she'd been waiting her whole life for an indecisive lesbian to ask her for advice on cosmetics. "Well, let's start by getting a little bit better idea of the spectrum we're working with. Go ahead and roll up your sleeves-we're going to put a few more of these on you at once, so you can really see what all the colors look like side by side."
That seemed weird and counter-intuitive to Sharpe; she somehow expected that it would work more like wine tasting, where you only wanted a little bit of input at a time to avoid overcorrecting your impressions through contrast. But since she had gone through nine different lipsticks without getting anywhere, Sharpe decided to put herself in Shari's capable hands for a little while. She undid the cuff of her blouse and rolled it all the way up as far as it would go before putting her arm out on the counter.
"There we go!" Shari cooed brightly. It felt a little condescending, but at this point Sharpe needed a little positive reinforcement. She hated fitting the Nerd Girl stereotype this perfectly-why couldn't she be one of those geeky women who nonetheless knew exactly how to dress when the occasion called for it? Why couldn't she pick up complementary colors at age six the same way she picked up Java? It was almost a palpable relief to let Shari take over and paint stroke after stroke of lipstick up her wrist and arm.
"Now, let's see how those look," Shari continued, once all nine streaks were painted on. (Even the purple.) "Are there any that seem to really stand out? Don't just pay attention to the colors, focus on the feel. If you're wearing make-up that makes your skin feel happy, you're going to be more confident and more sexy." She gave Sharpe a conspiratorial look. "This is for a date, isn't it?"
"Um, well, yeah, I..." Sharpe felt herself blushing. She tried to tell herself that Shari wasn't flirting with her, but something about the way that the blonde woman drew on Sharpe's arm felt oddly intimate. She could feel her skin tingling lightly with it, like the way she felt when WildRose whispered in her ear during sex. Sharpe suddenly found herself imagining Shadowstryke whispering to her instead, an intense and erotic curiosity shuddering down her spine as she wondered if Jeong-Hui's breath would feel the same on her skin. "Yeah," she finished abruptly, no longer trusting her own voice.
"Well, that does bring up another... important question," Shari replied, shooting a saucy wink in Sharpe's direction. "Which of these colors do you think would look best on her?" She picked up the velvet red and pulled off the cap. "Let me see that mouth for a moment," she said, leaning in with the lipstick and pressing the tip of it against Sharpe's slightly parted lips. Before Sharpe could even say anything, two quick swipes turned her lips into a deep, rich cupid's bow of color.
