Wherever She Goes (Psychic Seasons by ReGina Welling (you can read anyone txt) 📕

Throughout the ordeal, she maintained a cool civility forcing Zack to respond in kind. He handed her a temporary license, paused on the verge of speaking again, and then exited the car when she snatched it from him with a perfunctory and dismissive, “Thank you.”

Climbing back into the car, Gustavia thought the temperature had dropped several degrees. Something had happened between Zack and Kat and she was determined to figure out what.

“This calls for a celebration night. Wait, you passed, right? Hard to tell with that mopey expression on your face.”

_,.-'~'-.,_

Given the choice between retail therapy and live karaoke, Kat chose to play and sing. Shopping still wasn’t high on her list of fun things to do. The sheer number of colors and styles provided too much visual stimulation. After a short time, she felt overwhelmed and panicky. Some things would take time to get used to.

Feeling like a child raiding her mother’s makeup drawer, Kat surveyed the one thing she had enjoyed shopping for, a huge supply of cosmetics. A browse through a whole series of YouTube videos made everything look easy so she had let herself indulge. Pots and tubes, sticks and compacts full of color ranged across the table.

So many choices.

Most items looked familiar but the packaging had changed a lot. The last time she had applied anything to her face other than moisturizer, she had been fourteen years old and needed little more than lip gloss, a faint touch of blusher, and a bit of mascara to look fresh and young. This was a whole new experience.

Basics. The video said to begin with some type of foundation so she chose one in powder form. The label said it contained minerals and would give her a flawless face. We’ll see about that, she thought, as she used a fluffy brush to smooth it on then followed with a light dusting of blusher.

Kat angled her face to look at first one side then the other.

Not bad.

Eyes next. A simple, smoky eye. According to the video, that would be easy and foolproof.

First step, dark eyeliner. Following the demonstration, she picked up a tube in a shade of deep gray, almost black liquid form and twisted it open. The supplied brush looked very similar to the one in the video so she tentatively touched it to her outer lash line.

It tickled and she blinked without thinking and turned what was supposed to be a well-defined line was a huge smudge. Clearly, this was harder than it looked. She snatched up a cleansing wipe and cleaned away the mess then reapplied her base.

This time she was prepared for the tickle but not for how easy it was to slip and poke the tiny brush into her eye. Black tears dripped down one cheek as she squinted until the pain subsided.

With a growl of frustration, Kat felt like flinging the tube of eyeliner across the room but settled for giving it a shake instead. Who needed black rings around their eyes anyway?

More wiping, more foundation, and this time, she selected a pencil type of eyeliner. That liquid stuff was way too hard to control.

The pencil went on much easier even if the line was a little more blurred. Close enough. She did the other eye and surveyed the results.

Better.

A sweep of slate gray shadow followed by a hint of sparkling silver on the inside corner and she had to admit her eyes looked dramatic. The darkness on her lids brought out their color and made them seem more deeply blue if that was possible.

Twisting open the cap, she pulled the mascara brush from the tube and breathed in the sharp smell. At least that hadn’t changed in all these years, though the brush looked completely different from the fuzzy tip she remembered.

Surprised how quickly her hands fell back into the appropriate motions, Kat applied a light coat to her lashes and tried not to blink until it dried. She smiled at the heavy, sticky feeling then smoothed on a pretty, pink lip gloss before opening her closet to pick out some clothes.

After so many years of seeing shades of black and gray, Kat’s eye was drawn unerringly to the brightest colors in her wardrobe and settled on a simple but fitted sweater in a bright, electric blue over jeans. Perfect.

She was just about to yank it over her head when it occurred to her that she might smudge the makeup she had just painstakingly applied. Making a mental note to remember the proper order of things next time, Kat eased into the sweater with minimal damage.

This fussing with appearances took up a lot more time than she had expected. Used to throwing on whatever she grabbed out of the closet, checking the buttons and beads to make sure the colors went together but never seeing how she looked had been liberating in some ways. It wasn’t as though she had gone out looking like a slob or anything but, it was a huge difference compared to this new habit of staring in the mirror.

Surveying herself for one final time, she decided that a new cut and maybe some styling lessons were in order but all in all, even with all the extra time, she had enjoyed the experience. Something about it left her feeling more womanly, more sophisticated. A spritz of perfume and Kat was out the door and flying down the stairs feeling lighter than she had in years.

_,.-'~'-.,_

Ten minutes late, Amethyst pulled up in front of Kat’s house and prepared to go inside. Kat bounced out of the house, down the steps to yank open the passenger side door, and slide into the battered, red Honda.

Seeing the exuberance of movement, such a change from the slow and careful steps in the past, brought a lump to Amethyst’s throat. She swallowed hard around it while a fierce grin lit her face. Tonight, they would celebrate for more than one reason.

“Do