26. Mutually Assured

                                    

                                          
Lena Matthews
"Nope." Carter frowned in dissatisfaction at his  handiwork and pushed the bottle of foundation away from him. 
"She's wearing long sleeves." Jessica pointed out. "This doesn't have to be a work of art." 
"If you think I'm going to let her go home without the perfect match, you're mistaken." said Carter. Time was clearly not of the essence for him. Maybe living long enough does that.
"We're going to be late." said Jessica. 
"Don't interrupt the process!" Carter interjected. He tried another shade on the beauty blender and went back to work on trying to conceal my Forbidden brand. "Great. And that one's too dark." Carter grabbed the first foundation he had tried about an hour ago and passed it to me. "Just use that one for now. That was the closest." 
"Thanks." I said, stifling a laugh. 
"Now, look over here. What do you see?" Carter asked, pointing to the side of his neck.
"Nothing." I answered, confused. 
"Exactly." said Carter proudly. 
"Wait, that's where you Forbidden brand is?" I asked, genuinely amazed. 
"Yep. Now, just to be sure, you do understand how to blend, right?" Carter asked. 
"Yes." I said, slightly insulted. 
"Just checking. You never wear makeup." said Carter, causing me to roll my eyes. "All I'm saying is that now's a good time to start. Sometimes you get breakouts when you come back from the dead." 
Carter's perfectionism ended up making us late to Mrs. Delaney's funeral. School had been cancelled so the entire town could come. Two funerals in the span of a month. It was chilling, and even those who didn't know about the Forbidden were noticing that something was wrong. I spotted my family, but for the first time, wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. They were already sitting down, so I told myself that I would see them after the service. 
As the ceremony went on, I ran through every other alternative. I obviously couldn't avoid my family forever, but I could try, couldn't I? My leg bounced nervously as the service continued. I realized that I might prefer sitting through this funeral purgatory to going home. 
Everyone was beginning to stand before I knew what was going on. I sat frozen on the pew as people milled around, waiting to give Mr. Delaney their sincere condolences. 
"Ivy?" I jumped in my seat, but it was just Jane-Anne. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Jane-Anne sat herself down next to me. She was alone, but in my peripheral, I could spot Taylor's watchful eyes drilled into Jane-Anne's back. 
"Hey." I said unenthusiastically. 
"Something wrong? You look different." Jane-Anne squinted her brown eyes at me. For someone with next to no social awareness, she was observant. 
"Nothing, it's just..." I gestured around me.
"Yeah." Jane-Anne agreed, looking around. "I don't even know if I've caught my breath since last time. Did you have her class?" 
"I just moved here." I reminded Jane-Anne. 
"Right. Forget I said that. My brain's been all over the place lately." said Jane-Anne. 
"That's fine." I assured her. "I think this whole town's earned the right to be scatterbrained." I tried to smile, but I was having trouble looking at Jane-Anne without being overtaken by guilt. "I need to go." I said. Jane-Anne had to get up so I could slide out of the pew and walk down the aisle to talk to Mr. Delaney.