Preparation

I was meeting with Rachel this Friday. It wasn’t for any special occasion; Rachel just wanted to go to the Oktoberfest with me. A simple girls’ night out, that’s all.

But compared to the time we went out, I wanted her to see the best side of me. And so I decided to do something with my cuteness, as Kayle said.

The first step was the clothes.

I opened my closet to inspect my clothes. Inside, there were all but simple t-shirts, leggings and sweaters, all in the scale of black, gray, and white, with only a few in color, but I doubted they would look good together.

Sighing as I closed the closet, I threw myself onto the bed, contemplating what I should do next. Then I remembered that Kayle invited me to go shopping with her. Though back then I’d rejected her, she wouldn’t mind it if I changed my mind, right?

I sprang up from my bed, snatched my phone, and texted Kayle.

“Hey, can we go shopping for clothes?” I pressed send and waited.

“?” She texted back after a couple of minutes.

It was a short message, but I could understand her surprise. After all, I wasn’t a fashionable person. I’d never invited her to buy clothes. Even when we were out, I would only watch her try them out without showing interest.

“Sure, how about this weekend?”

That would be too late for my date– night out.

“Can we do Tuesday, after work?”

“???” Kayle replied, “Why Tuesday?”

“I have to go somewhere this Friday.”

“??????”

Was my request really that surprising to her?

“Is it a date?”

“No.”

I was pretty sure that that was the fastest no I’ve ever typed.

“Then why do you want to dress up?”

I couldn’t give her the answer. No, to be more precise, I didn’t want to.

“Just cuz.”

There was a lengthy pause in Kayle’s reply. I knew that she didn’t go back to work because I could see her typing bubble still floating.

“I’m not helping you until you tell me what’s going on.”

I frowned after reading her message.

I wanted to keep the relationship between me and Rachel a secret. It didn’t make sense why I did it either, because there was nothing going on between us. I’d convinced myself that it was for Rachel’s sake that no one knew about our relationship, but what harm would befall her if it came out that we hung out from time to time?

When I considered it from that angle, there was no reason for me to continue keeping it a secret, so why did I still feel a slight reluctance to share that fact with Kayle?

I pursed my lips as I stared at Kayle’s message before I typed a reply of my own. I’ve decided to put my trust in her; she was my best friend after all.

“I’m going to the Oktoberfest with Rachel this Friday.”

“???????????????????”

Kayle’s message came fast. After a “Read” sign appeared on my message, she sent it to me almost immediately.

“I’m missing some details here. What’s going on????”

As I was typing down the details of how we met, Kayle’s message interrupted me.

“Sorry, have to go back to work now. But you have to tell me this Tuesday.”

I smiled and deleted my long message and typed up a new one.

“Of course. I promise.”

After sending that message, I put my phone on my desk. As I was putting it down, I happened to see a pull request pending around fifteen minutes ago. I threw myself into the chair to review the code. For now, let’s just focus on my work.

***

It was around sixteen o’clock when I arrived at the shopping mall. Kayle wasn’t here yet, so I had to wait for her. Thirty minutes passed by, and she arrived at our agreed meeting area.

“Hey! Did you wait long?”

I shook my head, and we entered the shopping mall.

Along the way to the clothing store, I gave out the details to Kayle as promised; our meeting at the reunion, lunch out at the cafe, our talks about Rune Hunters and her invitation to the Oktoberfest.

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? I thought we were friends.” Kayle slapped me on the shoulder, not enough to hurt me, but with enough force to push me forward.

“I don’t know…” I fidgeted with my finger. “I just feel like it should be a secret.”

“I guess I could understand that…”

Kayle cocked her head to the side, thinking a bit as we walked. Seeing her like this, I inhaled a lungful of air to prepare for whatever her question might be.

“So you like Rachel, right?”

It was a surprisingly easy question. I gave her a nod as a confirmation.

“In what way do you like her?”

“I think she’s a really great actress. She can be pretty, be cool, be cute. I really like her a lot!”

Kayle stared at me silently with an expression I couldn’t understand before she nodded.

“Right, I see.” She shook her head and muttered something. I couldn’t catch anything aside from “Poor, Rachel,” at the end of her sentences.

The shopping mall had a lot of clothing stores. I shouldn’t have been surprised by that fact since I knew they had a whole floor dedicated to women’s clothing, but the sheer number of the brands still amazed me nonetheless.

And what’s even more amazing was the fact that I was able to tour the whole floor because Kayle dragged me all over it to find fitting clothes for me. We even had to go to another floor to find some makeup for me to use.

I was beginning to suspect that Kayle was taking revenge on me for rejecting going clothes shopping with her. But alas, I was able to buy some clothes as well as learnt how to coordinate them thanks to her, so I didn’t have any complaints.

By the time we were done, it was already twenty o’clock. As a way to thank her, I treated her to a meal. The number of clothes and makeup I bought, plus the price of the mall food, dealt a hefty damage to my wallet. I guess I had to work harder in the future.

***

Right after I clocked out of work, I headed out of the house. This time, I was getting my hair done. It wouldn’t matter if I dressed well, as long as my hair was still long and messy, I would have a gloomy look.

Checking the phone for the address of the salon Kayle recommended, I looked up to check that I was in the right place.

One Call Salon.

I was at the right place.

Swallowing my saliva as I put my phone in my bag, I was about to step inside the salon when a voice called out to me.

“Lena! How are you doing?”

It was Rachel.

She approached me while holding a paper cup.

“Hey, Rachel.” I gave her a light wave. My voice sounded weird when I said her name because I was startled by her sudden appearance.

Rachel turned to the salon briefly before turning back to me.

“You’re having your hair done?”

“Yeah. My hair is getting too long, so…” I pinched my bangs that covered my eyes.

I wanted to change my looks for her, that much I knew. But what I didn’t realize before was that I wanted this to be a surprise. I wanted to see her look at me in astonishment when she first saw me, and call me cute as she appreciated how much effort I put into my looks.

Rachel stepped closer and leaned towards me. She looked at me from side to side as if inspecting my messy butter-blonde hair.

“Hmm… aside from your bangs I don’t think it’s that long…”

She reached her hand out to comb my hair, softly and methodically. Feeling her finger brushing against my scalp, running through my hair, sent shivers down my body.

Rachel then pushed my bang to the side, took off her hairclip and clipped it onto my hair.

“There, what do you think?” She pulled out her mirror and pointed it towards me.

It was a simple fix, but it made me look brighter. Maybe because I was able to see my eyes clearly, now that the bangs were pushed to the side.

“Hmm… but I still like your gloomy look,” She said as she swept the loose hair from my face. “Make me want to protect you.”

My breath was interrupted by what she’d just said, and my mind went blank. I couldn’t do or say anything in response to her words, so I just stared at her as she took her hairclip back, undoing my tugged hair.

“Anyway, I would love to talk with you more, but I’m kinda busy.” She put the hairclip back on. “I’m excited to see what you look like now that you’re getting your hair done. See you Friday!”

And then she left.

I watched as she walked away until she turned around the corner, but her silhouette was still stuck in my mind. I slumped down into a crouch as if I spent all my energy talking with Rachel and pulled out my phone.

“Rachel likes my hair. What do I do???”

I sent the message, and without long, a reply followed.

“What do you mean by that?”

I typed out a chain of messages, explaining the interaction I had with Rachel a moment ago to Kayle. There was no time for her to interject, so she gave up and waited for me to finish before she wrote back to me.

“I guess you can get a light trim. I’ll send you some hairstyle ideas. You can try styling it that way.” Her message read. “No, wait. I’ll go with you. Also, tell me when you’ll be meeting her so I can do your makeup before you head out.”

A light smile appeared on my face, knowing that I got such a caring friend.

I sent her the time, and we agreed to meet at my place. At least I didn’t have to worry about looking bad since I had nothing but trust in Kayle’s fashion sense. I wondered how Rachel would react when she saw me next Friday... I couldn’t wait.