Scars Like Ours | Red View Romance #2

🍂 Four

Annie blinked against the mascara wand, leaning against her bathroom sink to get close enough to the mirror to see what she was doing. Her glasses were pushed up into her hair as a makeshift headband, keeping it out of the way for makeup application—something she hadn't attempted since high school.

The upcoming wedding, though, had her second-guessing her decision not to bother anymore. Walking down the aisle, standing up with the bridal party and posing in pictures... she wanted to look good, wanted not to feel like such a sore thumb. The makeup hadn't done much for her confidence as a teenager, but maybe things could be different now. She was older, had grown into her features a little more...

She backed up and reached for her phone to pause the tutorial that she was following. After a moment of untangling her frames from her hair, losing a few blonde strands in the process, she put her glasses on and got a good look at herself. The disappointment was immediate.

Glancing between the paused video and the mirror a few times only made the sinking feeling worse. What was the point? What was the use in all this effort when even with cosmetics, she'd never be beautiful? She'd never have the fragile, feminine features her older sister was blessed with. She'd never be as cute as Kenzie, stunning like Layla, or radiate vivacious beauty like Gabriela. And even following every step, she'd never look like the woman in the video, whose perfect smile seemed to mock her.

It was beyond frustrating—she spent hours and hours every week painting pictures on a canvas and crafting beauty out of nothing. Why couldn't it be as simple on her face?

As it was, she still looked like herself, just with a layer of makeup that wasn't doing anything to change the flaws. The foundation made her pale skin look pallid, the lipstick only made it more evident how top-heavy her mouth was, and the details around her blue eyes—even though she'd done a good job with the shading and lining—only seemed to clash with their roundness.

Even if the makeup had been done by an expert, she wasn't sure it would have mattered. Her features would always be the same, and there were some things—her wavy nose, her coloring, her lopsided lips—that cosmetics couldn't hide. Her older sister Faye had always pestered her about seeing a surgeon—a practice not uncommon in the Edward's family—to let someone help her get to her "full potential," as she put it.

But would it even make a difference? Annie was beginning to believe that even if she had the perfect face, the perfect body, she still wouldn't make a blip on anyone's radar. It wasn't only about the outside, as bland as it was. It was just... her.

The sound of her doorbell—something she had yet to grow familiar with—snapped her from her thoughts, and her reflection flinched. She hurried from the bathroom, through the cozy apartment that she was starting to call home. Its decor, with the pink kitchen and the wall of glass blocks that divided it from the living room, was still stuck somewhere in the eighties, but it gave the place a lived-in feeling that she'd liked since she first stepped inside for a tour.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to see her boss standing outside on the small stoop. "Jack? Hi." She stepped back, opening the door wider and gesturing for him to come in.

"Hey. I had to stop by the grocery store, so I figured I'd bring these by while I was in town," he handed her a manila folder as he stepped inside. When she took it, his eyes locked with hers and narrowed, studying her behind tortoiseshell glasses. "You look... different."

There was no mistaking the analysis for praise. The scrutiny made her flush, and she raised her free hand to brush it away as if she hadn't just been close to tears over her appearance. "It's... I know. It's not good. I just wanted to try something out for the wedding. I guess Kenzie didn't tell you I'm coming by for dinner." She changed the subject back to his delivery as she opened the folder. Inside was a paper-clipped collection of photos, the first of which was an old black-and-white shot of the McAden manor. Annie gasped, all sorrow from the makeup fiasco fading away. "Oh, you found them!"