13-Nov-2001
revised 14-Nov-2001
Author: Dan
Title: Need Some Distraction 13/?
Genre: Romance-ish with action? I keep blowing things up.....
Timeline: After EW, Sequel to 'Prices Paid'
Warnings: none.
Disclaimer: not mine, no money, don't sue
Notes: been a while on this one too, huh? gomen....
I'm sure I don't want to think about the number of traffic laws I probably broke as I sped away from the scene of the bombing. Was I thinking about the people who had been hurt? No. Was I thinking about the political mess it was going to be to get more funding to repair the damage? No. Was I thinking about why someone wanted to blow what was going to be the SI head quarters to kingdom come? No. Was I desperately trying to figure out what I could wear on my date with Wufei? Hell yes.
I had a date.
I had a date with Chang Wufei.
It was almost more than I could handle.
It had been a long time since I'd been on a date. After living through the insanity that had been the Eve Wars and then Mariemeia's attempted coup I'd found the light conversation that inevitably starts such dates unbearable. I'd also found, shortly after becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs, that most people interested in spending an evening with me were more interested in trying to use me for my political position. It got old, and
eventually I just stopped dating. I can't say I really missed it. Until Wufei.
Dorothy watched me with greater amusement than the situation really warranted as I shifted through my closet. Where did all these dress suits come from? Why did my wardrobe suddenly look like my mother's? And why was it that it seemed to be distinctly lacking in the short-and-slinky department?
With a frustrated growl I tossed aside a skirt that was too short to be elegant and too long to be sexy, but just long enough to be dignified. I sure as hell didn't want to be dignified with Wufei.
I wanted to be sultry, sensual, and sexy. Dagnamit, I wanted to knock his socks off and then jump him. So why the hell wouldn't my closet cooperate?
Dorothy pulled a discarded skirt off her head with a mildly bemused expression, and then asked me sweetly: "Can't figure out what to wear?"
"All of my clothes make me look like a schoolmarm," I wailed as I dropped down next to on the edge of my bed.
Dorothy held up a plum-colored, knee-length skirt and considered for a moment with deep seriousness. "They make you look
dignified, respectable and powerful."
I sneered at that. "And that's just what I want to be on my date."
Dorothy raised an eyebrow. "Looking powerful might not be a bad thing with Chang."
I couldn't help but snicker at that. I put my hands over my eyes and let myself fall backwards into the blankets that were
tangled in a heap on my bed. I stared at the plain white ceiling. I was feeling an odd sense of vertigo--like that half second when the shuttle takes off and you're not sure if it's going to fly or fall.
Dorothy settled back onto the bed next to me. We lay together in a comfortable silence as I tried to get my breathing back under control. When I was calm, or at least could fake it, she caught my hands and pulled me into a sitting position. I sat up sluggishly, my head rolling up, sending my hair spilling over my shoulders. Dorothy
locked her hands behind the back of my neck, forcing me to looking into her eyes that were a dark, laughing blue in her mock gravity.
"Listen to your Older Sister Dorothy," she said with a self-amused tone. The mischievous light in her eyes made my lips quirk in response. "Do not over think this. You are going on way over due date; you are not going on a life altering mission. Stop thinking of
Chang as one of the renowned Gundam Pilots and start thinking of him perfectly normal man, comparatively speaking. A simple male to meant to be wrapped around your pretty little finger."
I snickered at that and she ruffled my hair. I didn't particularly agree with her, but arguing with Dorothy over whether or not Wufei could be wrapped around anyone's finger, much less mine, would have been counter-productive. I just nodded dutifully.
"Good." Dorothy pulled me up by both hands. "Now, since your closet is woefully unprepared to deal with the situation--as I have told you before--I'll just have to let you borrow something."
I rolled my eyes as she dragged me after her by one wrist. "Thank you so much."
"But remember, at midnight you turn back into a pumpkin."
"I thought the carriage turned into a pumpkin, and the clothes turned back into rags. The princess was just fine."
"Well, anyway, if you're still with Wufei at midnight, you'd damned well better not be still in your clothes."
"Ma'am, yes ma'am," I said in a snappy mock-military voice. She turned around to me and we shared small, amused smiles of feminine understanding.
"And if he rips my dress, I'll tan your hide and kill him," she stated with a seriousness that only a true clothing aficionado could achieve.
"I'll be sure to warn him," I said with wry amusement rippling through my tone. I couldn't help it; the likelihood of Wufei having a bodice-ripping moment was about as high as Hell having a white Christmas. "Your dress will be fine."
Dorothy gave a little sound of acknowledgement from deep within her closet. She had the only walk-in closet in my apartment, and it was just barely enough space to hold all her clothes. I'd made
the daft comment long ago that there wasn't any real need to go out and buy an entirely new wardrobe for the changing of the seasons and she'd given me a look of such scathing pity that I'd never broached the topic again. Dorothy emerged from that dark and murky space looking a little disheveled, but smirking with a distinct air of satisfaction. She was holding something white, gauzy, and delicate. I eyed it with great suspicion. There seemed to be missing a great deal of substantive material, especially in the chest and leg region.
"Come here," she said, and unceremoniously dragged me in front of her full-length mirror.
I let her hold the fragile dress against me as she made small, thoughtful sounds in the back of her throat. I scowled at her in the mirror. The dress was rather pretty, in that gothic/exhibitionist sense. The main part of the dress was a sheath of ivory satin trimmed with black silk that fell to my feet. The skirt was slit on both sides up to my hips. The top wasn't much better. The high lace collar was only attached to the dress by narrow straps that held up the complicated bodice.
"We'll leave your hair down, I think," Dorothy said as she moved her fingers through my tangled hair.
"I'm not wearing it."
"Of course, sweetheart."
"I mean it, Dorothy."
"I'm sure you do. Now off with your shirt, there's a good girl."
I made ineffectual sputtering sounds as Dorothy pulled off my shirt and then went to work on my ruined skirt. I finally gave up any attempt to resist her and let her strap, tie, and lace me into the dress. Dorothy smoothed the bodice over my ribs and then jerked on the top a little to make my breasts settle they way they were supposed to. If I bent over Wufei wouldn't have a hell of a lot to wonder about.
"Stop sulking," Dorothy said as she fussed with my hair. She stepped back from me with a smile of proprietary pride, as if I were her damned dolly or something.
"I am not sulking. And stop smirking at me." I scowled at her, and then, in spite of myself, ran a finger down the lace gloves that stopped at my armpits. "Isn't this a little much for dinner and a movie?"
Dorothy arched an eyebrow. "You really think that Wufei is going to take to a movie like a teenager on your first date?"
I considered that for a moment. "I don't know. We'd sort of agreed on it... "
Dorothy managed to look smugly knowing and amused as my voice trailed off. "I doubt Wufei took you literally, but if he did I would like to say that I will kill you if you get pizza sauce on my dress.
Tomato does not come out of antique lace."
I laughed as I stepped into the shoes that she laid out for me. I glanced at the clock and yelped. "Oh God, it's nearly eight." I tried to bolt from the room, but Dorothy restrained me with a surprisingly strong arm around my waist. "Let go! I'm about to be late."
"He can wait the few minutes it takes you to put on a little make-up. Besides, waiting for the girl is part of the dating tradition, and Wufei is big on tradition," Dorothy said as she hauled
me off towards the bathroom and her devices of torture.
"Traditions of his choosing!" I protested as she all but carried me down the hallway. "I only need minimal make-up."
"I agree." I eyed Dorothy much the same way I imagine Faust looked at Mephistopheles. I knew there was a catch somewhere. There was no way she would let me go out in what I considered minimal make-up. I considered it useful and occasionally fun. Dorothy thought of cosmetics as the first of any woman's tools. "But when you get a weekend off you need a full treatment." She pressed two fingers
against my cheeks and frowned. "Bags under your eyes, running around without base. Tsk. Tsk. Is this any way for an inter-colonial diplomat and sex symbol to act?"
That had me laughing again. "Sex symbol?"
"Trust me, there are plenty of wet dreams out there with your name on them," she said as she applied her magic to my eyes. It's always been easier for me to let her do it for me than figure out the
proper amounts myself. I sighed and let her fuss around me.
"You know, you could make millions as a beauty consultant," I told her after she finished applying a lipstick the color of raspberries.
She smiled at me gently and shook her head slowly side to side sending her long waterfall of hair swishing over her shoulders. "I'm already rich, and if I did this all the time I'd get bored."
I had a pithy comment all lined up and ready to go, but a sharp, no nonsense knock at the my door scattered my thoughts. To my horror, I made a small sound of distress and clutched Dorothy's hands
for a moment. Nerves twisted my stomach into knots. Dorothy patted my hands gently before disentangling herself.
"Go grab the ivory purse out of my closet, and I'll go let in Wufei," she said, giving me a small push towards her room. I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment, trying to organize the thoughts that had scattered in a million different directions. I laid my forehead against the smooth plane of the mirror and tried to figure out why spending time with Wufei was now so much more frightening that it ever was before. I had no answer for that. I gave myself a
wry smile and fetched the useless little bag.
I could tell that Wufei noticed the exact moment I walked into the room. His awareness of me made a warm tendril curl through my stomach. I was definitely pleased that he noticed me. I was even more pleased that he seemed to lose his train of thought as he watched me walk into the room. It was definitely a pleasant experience.
End of Part 13
(:./dan/distraction13)
