She leaned close to me and sniffed and then crinkled her nose. “They must not have washed the stuff they put in the infirmary with you. Reeks of dryer sheets. Norms.” She rolled her eyes.
Norms?
She dragged me into the bathroom. “Freshen up and I’ll get you some clothes.”
The bathroom vanity had two sinks. White subway tiles covered the bottom half of the walls and lined the shower. The white granite counter had plenty of room for two girls to spread out. The mirror opened in panels with enough shelves to make my inner organizer happy.
I splashed some cold water on my face, and stared into the mirror. Something was different. My hair shined. The highlights and lowlights gave the brown more depth than I’d ever had before. It looked shampoo commercial good. But the thing that stuck out the most to me was my 100% zit-free face. I always had some sort of blemish lurking here or there. Not even the tiniest red splotch marked my skin now.
They must have given me a few shots of super vitamins or antibiotics or something. Maybe a super vitamin E? Dr. Needle-happy might not be so bad after all.
I rummaged through my makeup bag that sat on the counter. Half of it wasn’t necessary with my complexion being so clear. A quick swipe of gloss would be enough. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. It only had a hint of chemically smell, so I put it on.
Meredith was still digging through my clothes when I walked back into my room. “You’ve got some cute stuff.” She pulled out a black mini. “Love this.”
I laughed. “With your body, it’ll probably look better on you than me.”
“Yeah, ‘cause you’re such a cow.” She rolled her eyes. “I threw some jeans and a tank on the bed. Change. I’ll wait.” She moved over to look through my books.
I moved to the bed and picked up the tank top. It was one of my staples, black ribbed with black lace edging. But something was different with it. Something about it made me want to spend the night rubbing my face in it. I took a wiff of it, and smelled wood and something manly.
Totally weird. “My clothes smell—”
“Like Dastien!” She jumped in place. “Doesn’t he smell like soooo yummy?”
Damn it. I didn’t want to like her, but I couldn’t help smiling with her. “I hadn’t noticed before. I guess he does. So uuh, dare I ask why they smell like him?”
She waved me off and went back to the books. “He helped move your stuff in. I think it was part of his ongoing punishment.”