Morning all, it is time for another installment of The Fifteen Minute Novel. This year I am breaking out the story of Gwen who had a plan that someone else torpedoed. Now she is having to put her plan back together and think about what it is that she really wants in her life. The next couple of weeks should be interesting because she’s had a pretty easy run of things so I will be starting to cause some difficulties and have her make some difficult decisions. The trick is that when only writing 15 minutes a day on the story it takes a while to get there. And sometimes I find myself skipping over bits I probably should have taken more time with or spending more time on small things that will later be trimmed down. It is very much a different way of writing. But I am taking notes and hopefully the sins will be corrected in editing. For now, the story goes on…
Day 134: She hated feeling so unsettled.
She hated feeling so unsettled. Gwen also hated that she was in part basing her decision to stay or go on someone else’s reaction to her.
‘But it isn’t just me,’ she tried to console herself. ‘And this isn’t like just going with what Lisa and Toby want.’
There were her grandparents to consider after all. The events where she was likely to come into contact with the others were all events that were important to her grandparents. While she could always drop out of the art class, or as it was a summer class, just leave at the end and not return, the reactions of the others could harm her grandparents. It would have to be taken into consideration.
The days slipped past and she tried not to worry about the charity event. She went to her classes and did her best to concentrate on the work and not the event, but soon enough the day arrived. Her grandmother was in a state of high excitement and while the dresses were removed from the closets and the accouterments lined up ready and waiting, they went off to the day spa and then to the hairdressers.
Gwen tried her best not to compare the preparations for the event to her preparations for the dance she was supposed to go to with Toby. Und=fortunately the similarities were hard to miss.
‘Apparent;y I got my pre-event planning gene from my grandmother,’ she thought. It was nice to see that it wasn’t just some strange tic of her own. Margaret lined up everything needed and checked off her lists just as Gwen had done.
This time though, Gwen wasn’t the one making the appointments for the hairdressers and the spas. It was an interesting experience to be the one things were planned for instead of being the one doing the planning.
At the spa, Gwen let the worries over what might happen fall away. She decided that she would enjoy this night as she hadn’t gotten to enjoy the dance and just hope that everything went well.
The hairdressers was an experience. Gwen was used to going to the salon in Westport and she knew Lena the stylist that usually cut her hair. With her grandmother, Gwen felt like a celebrity. There was a team of people to not only cut and style her hair, but to give her a manicure and a pedicure. To Gwen it felt like she had stepped into some sort of fairy tale.
She was used to getting a manicure and occasionally a pedicure at the local nail salon, but it was located a few doors down from the hair dressers. The timing of the appointments had to be coordinated. And while she liked Lena and what she did to her hair on a regular basis, this felt different. Lena looked at magazines and tried to get Gwen to go what was currently in fashion rather than stick to her normal tried and true cut.
Here the stylist looked at her hair, studied it and talked to her about her hair and what suited her face and coloring rather than talking about what celebrity was wearing their hair in what way or what was the newest fashion. She didn;t know if this was simply because the salon usually catered to an older crowd less inclined to follow the newer trends or what, but it made Gwen feel seen in a different way. It made her feel like an individual instead of someone racing to catch up with the pack. Somehow in the salon Gwen felt important. The feeling faded a bit as she left, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of being actually seen. It was an odd thought that stayed with her.
Ten til Midnight 