18.
At practice on Thursday, everyone was impressed by how much progress Conor and Archie had made. They had mastered the basic steps, and were now able to dance much faster. The combination of exercises, personal trainers, and sheer rivalry, was producing results. Mrs Daly was delighted, and praised them fulsomely. Archie in particular excelled himself, eager to demonstrate that novelty panties, though drawing attention to the wearer, did not by themselves improve performance. His only problem was keeping his hands by his sides, but Mrs Daly showed him how to correct this, by dancing with a sheet of paper between his arms and his body.
Conor said nothing about the makeup experiment. So Archie was taken by surprise when Sarah announced it. At first he looked doubtful.
“Makeup? Why…?”
Sarah didn’t allow him time to demur. She knew his competitive spirit would overcome any doubts he may have had.
“We all get made up for shows and competitions. It’s part of the outfit. Now Lily is going to practice on Conor tomorrow, so I decided to challenge her to a contest. It’ll be at her house. We’ll have two independent judges, and the winner will get a prize.”
“Prize?”
“I don’t know what, but it’ll be something nice. Anyway, the main thing is that we beat them, right?”
“Right, Sarah!”
“And I know far more about makeup than that junior. We’ll wipe the floor with them!”
“Yeah!”
“I’ve just got to get the wigs and things from Mrs Daly. You’re going to be a brunette. And she’s lending us some hard shoes.”
“Oh…she is?”
“Yes. We’re going to do it properly. We want to see what you’ll look like in the show. So make sure you bring your dress tomorrow.”
“Oh…er, yes, sure…”
“And Archie?”
“Yes?
“Your new panties are on order…”
“Wow! Fantastic! What are they like?”
“Yellow and purple, just like we wanted.”
“Great! Thanks, Sarah.”
When Sarah arrived at Laura’s house, with Archie in tow, she found everything was already prepared. Laura had arranged two short sofas side by side against one wall. In between them was a table with every possible thing they could need laid out. There were creams and foundation, lipstick and lip gloss, blusher, mascara, eye shadow, glitter – the lot. The girls were very excited. They had both put on shorts and old T-shirts in case it got messy. Lily and Conor were already there. Conor smiled at his friend, but Archie was still in a huff from the panties episode.
“You got no chance, mate,” he murmured.
“Mum, this is Archie, Conor’s friend,” said Lily. “Archie? This is my mum, and this is my auntie Barbara from next door. They’re going to be the judges.”
Perhaps Archie thought having Lily’s mum and Lily’s aunt as the judges was not quite fair. But he was hardly in a position to object.
Laura decided it was time to take charge.
“Right boys. Now off with you and get changed. You’ve got your dresses and everything? And Mrs Daly’s lent you some hard shoes so you’ll look especially smart. Here they are.”
The hard shoes were very shiny, with laces and a strap and a block heel.
“I like these,” said Conor. “You can make such a noise with them!”
When the boys returned from changing, walking gingerly in their new shoes, they went to sit down on the sofas. But Sarah stopped them.
“Don’t sit down there. Sit on these chairs first.” She indicated two upright dining chairs. “We have to put on your wigs. It will take a few minutes. I’ll explain what we’re doing.”
The boys sat down as instructed.
“It would be better if you had long hair,” said Lily, “but we’ll make do. First of all, we have to put in your bumpits.”
“Bum-pits?” said Archie.
“Not bum-pits, idiot. Bump-its! They’re going to hold your wigs in place. With long hair it’s easier. You make a bun and that holds the donut.”
“Donut?”
She sighed. “Never mind. Once you grown your hair out, and it’s nice and long…”
“Grown our hair?” said Conor, puzzled.
“Yes, Conor, grown your hair. No more haircuts for you two. Understand?”
The boys exchanged glances, but said nothing.
The bumpits were curved combs with a lump of foam rubber attached. The girls inserted one into the front (pointing backwards) and one into the back (pointing forwards), combed the boys’ hair over them as much as they could, and secured them with hairclips. Then they pinned a donut-shaped piece of foam on the back one, and clipped that in place. Sarah got the wigs out of a bag – great masses of tumbling ringlets, golden for Conor and glossy-black for Archie. The wigs had netting underneath, and combs at the front and the back, and these they secured to the donut and pinned them tightly down. Then they used hairclips to secure the wigs all round. That done, Lily picked up the bag.
“I’ll get the accessories,” she said, excitedly.
“You look beautiful!” exclaimed Barbara, raking them with her video camera.
“What a fuss,” moaned Archie. “I hope these things are gonna come off again after all this!”
But Lily was already sliding a golden tiara over the bumpit at the front of Conor’s head. Archie got a silver one. Then on went sundry sparkly bows, butterflies and flowers, till they looked like human Christmas trees. The girls stood back to admire their work. They both seemed happy with the effect.
“You look very pretty, Archie,” said Sarah. “I could eat you up!”
Archie looked a little alarmed at this unexpected declaration of affection.
Lily expressed her pleasure by giving Conor a kiss on the cheek, at which he blushed and blinked and looked at his knees.
“I caught that perfectly,” whispered Barbara to Laura.
The girls took their charges by their hands, and led them to the sofas. Laura produced two makeup capes and secured them around their necks.
“Now sit down in the middle of the sofa, so the girls can get to you from either side,” she said. “That’s it. Now girls – you may begin. Take your time. You have up to forty minutes if you need it. Barbara, shall we sit here?”
“Coming. I’m just going to position the video camera up here, so we record all of the action.”
“Well there won’t be much real action, I hope. Unless one of them cracks under the strain of sitting still for half an hour!”
The girls both decided to begin with the nails, on the premise they would take some time to dry. Lily went for alternate purple and yellow, Sarah for silver, to match Archie’s tiara. While Sarah then knelt beside Archie to begin work, Lily adopted a more intimate approach, climbing astride his knees and working face to face. It felt proprietorial, but he rather liked it. First she cleaned his face with cleansing pads and gave him a light application of foundation cream. Then came the blusher. Sarah was looking across, expecting – perhaps hoping – that she would make some simple mistake, like using too much. But she seemed as expert as her friend, and produced a realistic rosy glow about the cheekbones. As she leant closer, her knees were touching Conor’s panties, and tickling them. She giggled.
“You wore your best panties then, darling.”
He didn’t remember her calling him darling before. It was said in a tone somewhere between jest and seriousness. He found, rather to his surprise, that he didn’t mind at all.
What he did mind, though, was when she picked up a pair of tweezers and began to pluck his eyebrows.
“Hey, Lily…”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to pull them all out. Just a bit of reshaping before I use the pencil. Sit still, please.”
The eyebrows dealt with, she moved on to his eyelashes, brushing the mascara on delicately until he looked sufficiently glamorous. Then the eye shadow. She chose yellow, to match his dress, and added glitter, to match the sequins on his dress and all the sparkly hair accessories. Finally the lip gloss – a shiny, rich purple – and made him keep his lips apart while she blew on the to dry them. The makeover finished, she added a couple of things she had brought from her jewellery box: a pair of dangly clip-ons with amethyst pendants, the clips too small so they pinched his lobes cruelly, (though he made no complaint), and a few assorted bangles for his wrists.
She jumped down.
“I’m finished!”
The ladies were genuinely shocked at Conor’s transformation.
“He’s bloody gorgeous, Laura. Well done, Lily. That’s a great job!”
Sarah was just finishing. Archie had been decorated in more traditional fashion, with silver glittery eye shadow and scarlet lip gloss. But what the makeup lacked in subtlety his natural good looks compensated for.
“They both look delicious!” said Laura. “Girls – you’ve excelled yourselves.”
“I wish they could always be like that, mummy,” said Lily, innocently.
“Look at yourselves in the mirror, boys,” said Laura, helping them off with their capes.
“Shit, Conor. We look the business, man.”
Conor didn’t say anything. He had a strange feeling inside, like suppressed excitement. The sensation of seeing himself like that, the feeling of the fabrics against his skin and the makeup on his face, and the pain of the clip-ons pinching his ears, made him feel faintly aroused. He breathed steadily to calm himself. Lily was looking at him with an amused, enigmatic smile, as if she knew just what he was experiencing.
“We look better than half them girls in the group,” continued Archie. “Don’t you reckon?”
“You do, mate,” laughed Conor. That wig’s really you!”
“So – who’s the winner, then?”
It was fair that Sarah and Archie won. Lily and Conor knew they were the moral victors, and they didn’t begrudge Archie his moment of glory. It defused his resentment about the panties, especially when he knew some very special pairs – though he didn’t know quite what – were on the way.
The prizes? The winners got a pair of tickets to see “The Lion King”. And the runners-up? The same – adjacent seats!
Topic: Pink Panties (Read 16988 times)
