"like sands through the hourglass so are the...Days of our Lives"

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"The Teens" Fan Fiction Site

Spice of Life – Chapter 4D

"Ewwwwww……what is this stuff I’m wearing?"

"Meems, it’s supposed to be good for the skin…refreshing…invigorating…along with the sea salts it’s going to make you feel wonderful. Anyway, that’s what my mom says."

"But what is this slimy green stuff, Belle?"

"Oh, good grief, it’s just a seaweed wrap. There’s nothing wrong with it. All the really ritzy beauty spas use it."

"I don’t know about making me feel wonderful. Right now all I feel like is a piece of sushi. Just load me into the little boat and send me floating out into the restaurant."

"I liked it, Mimi. Belle ish right, you’re going to feel terrific. Thish facial mashque ish another shtory. I can barely move my lipsh," Chloe said through somewhat clenched teeth. "Now, I know what a ventriloquisht feelsh like. All I need is a shock puppet on my hand excshept my nailsh aren’t dry yet."

"Suddenly I’m feeling very high maintenance going through all of this. Shawn had better appreciate it is all I can say."

"Appreciate what, Belle?"

"Oh my God, ……………Shawn, what are you doing here?" Mimi’s shrieked as she wrapped her plush sage green towel more tightly around her body.

Chloe had seen him come through the doorway only moments before as she sat in the chair opposite the manicurist with her hair in a towel and peach extract facial masque while her nails were being attended to. She hadn’t had enough time to warn her friends, especially Belle, who lay back on a chaise lounge slanted chair sporting her green masque and slices of cucumber covering her eyes.

"Holy sh…..what have you got on your face?" Shawn asked as his face valiantly attempted not to show his amusement at Belle’s obvious embarrassment. "Take me to your leader….nah-noo, nah-noo."

Instantly sitting up in the chair, Belle attacked him verbally. "Shawn Brady, obviously you’ve been watching too many of those ‘Mork and Mindy" reruns on Nick at Nite again. You are NOT supposed to be in here. We’re not exactly dressed to receive company. How did you get by the reception desk?"

Shawn kept staring at Belle, who had removed the cucumber slices from her eyes before she reprimanded him.

"Shawn……SHAWN! Did you hear what I asked you?"

"Uhhh…what? Oh, I checked in with them before I came back here. They said you were decent - - I guess they use that term pretty loosely around here. I can’t get over you looking like some kind of an alien."

"Oh, shut up, " Belle said defiantly though she was glad he couldn’t see how red her skin was below the green masque.

Chloe snickered over the banter between Belle and Shawn.

"I’m glad you find this so amusing, Chloe," Belle huffed at her.

"I’m shorry. I know I shouldn’t but, I can’t help it…probably becaushe Philip ishn’t here or I’d…"

"You’d what, Chloe?" Philip asked as he turned the corner and entered the room answering Chloe’s question having heard her voice as he sauntered down the hall trying to discern which of salon rooms Shawn had found the girls in.

"Philip!!"

"Chloe? Is ….that …………..you?" a startled Philip asked. "What have they done to you and what makes you talk so funny, like you can’t open your mouth?"

"Ish this facial mashque."

"Huh?"

Pointing to her face Chloe repeated, "facial mashque."

"What?"

"Oh, never mind! What are you two doing here anyway?" Chloe asked.

"That’s the first thing you’ve said I understood," Philip said as he looked at Chloe’s mouth attempting to lip read.

"It’s because there weren’t any ‘S-shs’ in it, Phil," Shawn mimicked.

"Oh, I shee," Philip fired back with a dimple-producing grin until he turned and saw Chloe staring daggers at him. "Chloe, I’m just kidding okay. I mean, you gotta admit you guys look……well………"

"….good enough to eat. That is guacamole on your face, isn’t it Belle?"

"It’s an avacado facial to make my face feel soft."

"Like I said…guacamole’. Got any tortilla chips on you , Phil?"

Phil tapped his pants pockets as though trying to locate something in them. "Nope, must have left them in the truck."

"Look if you two want to do standup comedy like Abbott and Costello….."

"…..more like Beavish and Butthead…." Chloe interjected.

"….then go to a comedy store and try your routine out there."

"All right, all right, Belle…I’m sorry. I’ll stop with the jokes. Look, the reason we’re here is to pick up the invitation to the Ball for my mom and dad. Philip said his dad gave it to your mother at the hospital board meeting yesterday."

"Dad called Dr. Evans and told her we’d be by to pick it up at the penthouse earlier this morning, "Philip added. "We got started late because of…..well, I can’t say. It has to do with something I was picking up for Chloe for tonight…"

"Shomthing for me?"

Philip stopped and turned to look at Chloe with a gentle smile on his face "Uhhhh….yeah… and we missed you before you came to the spa. We phoned your mom, Belle, and she said Mrs. Wesley, Mrs. Lockhart and she would be in the steam room so we should find you guys and have you get the invitation. I guess they forgot to tell you we were coming here."

"Guys, just how much do these invitations weight anyway?"

"What are you talking about, Mimi?" Shawn asked trying to figure out Mimi’s strange question.

"Well it’s one little invitation and it takes two of you to pick it up?"

"Very amusing, Mimi. We’re out running errands before the Ball tonight and this is just one item on our list. We still have to go to the tuxedo shop, get hair cuts and I need to……"

"What, Shawn?"

"You’ll find out later, Belle. So, can we have the invitation and we’ll leave you guys to do whatever it is you’re doing to yourselves?"

"I’ll go and find Mom’s purse. That’s probably where she’s put it. Be right back." Belle wrapped the plush Turkish bathrobe around her body and left the cubicle going to the locker where her mother had put her things before going into the steam room.

"Mimi? What is that green stuff you have all over you? It reminds me of something but I can’t place it."

Putting her nose up in the air Mimi replied, "It’s seaweed to make me feel wonderful."

"That’s why it looked familiar, Phil. Remember that nature show we were watching in class where they talked about sea otters wrapping themselves up in seaweed at night before they sleep so they won’t drift out to sea?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember that. I wonder if they feel ‘wonderful’ in the morning?"

The boys chuckled and did a high five at their cleverness as Mimi and Chloe remained stone faced.

Belle returned with the invitation and gave it to Shawn.

"There, now, don’t take this the wrong way but…get out of here."

"Belle, I’m sorry. I’ve been making fun of you and I got a little carried away, I admit."

"A little?"

"Look……I realize you guys are having a cool time with your moms today being here. I think that’s great."

"Yeah, that really is," Philip seconded.

"So, we’re gonna get out of here and leave you guys alone. Oh, before I forget, I’ll be by to pick you up at about seven. Mimi, you’re coming with us, right?"

"Well, I could go with my parents."

"No, you will not, Mimi. We’re all sitting together so we’re going together. That’s final."

Mimi was looking at Shawn’s face as Belle turned to her and couldn’t see his expression. She wanted to see if in his silence Shawn was really agreeing with Belle or just going along with it to please her though he might truly want to be alone with Belle.

"I agree with Belle one hundred per cent, Mimi," Shawn said in all sincerity looking straight at Mimi. "I’ll pick you both up at the penthouse. See you later. Let’s go, bro, we’ve got a lot to do yet."

"In a sec, Shawn." Philip walked over to Chloe and leaned down to where she was sitting.

"I asked my dad and he told me I could use the Lexus tonight. I thought you deserved to go to the Ball in something special and Dad’s using the limo."

"Wow, you’re dad ish trushting you with it?"

Philip couldn’t help it and laughed with that laugh Chloe loved to hear. He had forgotten about her temporary speech predicament and it caught him off guard.

"I’ll be at your house to watch your grand entrance down the staircase you want to make about six thirty."

"Sixsh thirty? But we don’t have to be at the Penthoush Grille until sheven thirty."

"I know, but……well, I’ve got a little something to give you for Valentine’s Day and I thought I’d like us to be alone to celebrate a little. Is that okay?" As Philip spoke Chloe became aware he was looking down the front of her robe with an appreciative eye. She pulled the two sides of it together though more because Belle and Mimi were there rather than because of what Philip was doing.

"Itsh great. I’ll shee you then."

Philip leaned forward to kiss her trying to find a spot where the peach facial masque wouldn’t impede him. Chloe saw his eyes searching her face and figured out what was taking him so long to kiss her.

"Chloe, could I take a rain check on the kiss later this evening?"

Despite her limited facial mobility, Chloe mustered a small smile.

"Fine…go on, get out of here, you goof."

"See you later when I can recognize you a little more." Philip smiled that sexy smile that weakened Chloe’s knees every time he flashed it her way. "Belle, ….catch you and the Little Mermaid there later. We are outta here!"

"Bye, Philip. See you at the Ball."

"I heard that, Philip. You’re just lucky I’m wrapped up so tightly in this stuff I can’t get up and hit you with a fresh mackerel."

Philip turned at the doorway and flashed Mimi an ear-to-ear grin and waved before he and Shawn disappeared.

"Well, …….that was one of the more humiliating moments of my life," Belle pronounced as her two friends sat in silence. "I was hoping that after all this beauty stuff today, I’d make a whole different impression on Shawn tonight. The only thing he’s going to remember is that I looked like a bottle of Green Goddess dressing."

"Belle, at leasht Shawn could undershtand what you were shaying without needing an interpreter."

More silence. There was a sudden outburst of girlish laughter.

Marlena, Nancy and Maureen were emerging from the steam room at nearly the exact moment the girls released their squeals of laughter.

"It sounds as though the girls are having a wonderful time," Nancy observed as the other mothers agreed unaware of what had prompted their daughters’ gales of laughter.

The spa attendant assigned to the girl’s room entered in the midst of their gigglefest. She walked to Mimi and began to help her stand, telling her it was time to remove the seaweed wrap.

"I wonder if I’ve grown legs like Ariel?"

The other two girls laughed aloud again as Mimi left the room to be unwrapped and prepared for the next phase of her regime. Another attendant helped remove the facial masques from the two girls.

Once they had let out all the laughter, Chloe decided to ask a question she’d wanted to ask Belle since earlier in the morning.

"Belle?"

"Uh…huh?"

"That story Mimi was telling this morning?"

"Which one?"

‘The one about the half-eaten box of chocolates she got for Valentine’s Day in the third grade..."

"What about it."

"Was she making it up or did it really happen?"

"Oh, it really happened. Jason came to class with this little red foil covered heart box and put it on her desk in front of the whole class. She was so surprised. She was the center of attention – sort of like Jason was declaring she was his girlfriend by giving her the box in front of the whole class. She was even more surprised when she opened it and saw what was or wasn’t inside. She was very embarrassed and even angrier at Jason."

"Why did he do that to her?"

"Well, I don’t really know. I don’t think we ever asked him."

"Did they like each other then?"

"Yeah…come to think of it….I guess they did. They were always hitting or throwing things at each other on the playground during recess."

"I thought you said they liked each other."

"Well, when you’re that age, when you really like someone?……you don’t want your friends to tease you about it so you deny it and prove that you don’t like that person, when you really do, by hitting and throwing things at them."

"Oh…..Hmmm…, I guess nothing’s changed between them then has it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was just thinking about that game of fox and geese we played last month after we went ice skating."

"And?"

"And, all they did was hit and throw snow at each other not to mention the argument before we started skating."

"I guess so…I hadn’t thought about it. You’re right, they just can’t seem to get along for more than about ten minutes when they’re around each other."

"Funny…..it’s too bad. Jason’s actually kind of sweet and thoughtful."

Belle looked at Chloe with a bit of surprise on her face.

"Jason? Jason Welles? The guy who made your life miserable for nearly a year?"

"Yes, that Jason Welles. I can’t figure out why he doesn’t have a steady girlfriend since he left Jan. I would have thought some girl would have snapped him up right away when he became available again. Belle, have you looked at him? I mean, really looked at him."

"Like every day since we used to ride the school bus together to Jefferson Elementary."

"No, I mean, not as just a friend type of guy but sort of stepped back and looked at him as a…hunk?"

"A HUNK!!! Chloe, you’re kidding, right?"

"No, I’m serious. I think I first noticed it that day at the ice rink when Jason skated over wearing his hockey jersey. I realized what broad shoulders he has. He’s even a little taller than Philip. He’s not only tall, but strong. Remember when I went to give him a hug after Philip and I fell in the snow bank playing ‘crack the whip’ and told him that I trusted him?"

Belle nodded and listened to Chloe’s surprising assessment of Jason Welles.

"I could barely put my arms around his neck without standing on my tiptoes and I could feel his upper body strength even through his hockey jersey."

Belle continued to sit quietly taking all of Chloe’s words in and began to wonder what was really going on.

"When he surprised me yesterday at Salem Place, he was so quiet….subdued. I’ve never seen him like that before. I think there’s a whole other side to him some girl should take the time to discover. I could see it just looking into those beautiful green eyes he has."

Chloe stopped talking and looked at Belle for a response.

"Well, you’ve convinced me that if I weren’t otherwise ‘occupied’ I’d think about it."

"Oh, I didn’t mean you, Belle. I know Shawn is where your focus lies. I actually had someone else in mind….. someone you’d never think of seriously going for a guy like him. It just shows you that you don’t always see what’s right in front of your face."

Chloe drifted off into a daydream until Mimi came walking into the cubicle.

"Well? Is it Brittany Spears or Mimi Lockhart? Only when I sing will we be able to tell the difference."

"I told you that seaweed wrap would make you feel wonderful."

"Yeah, I admit, it’s not bad. Well, time to get the nails done."

"I’m off to the other room to get my hair done," Chloe said as she snapped out of her daydream and rose to leave the room. "I’ll see you guys once they get my ‘do’ done."

Belle waited until Chloe was out of hearing range before she motioned for Mimi to come closer.

What’s the matter, Belle?"

"Just wondering….do you know, …..is everything all right between Philip and Chloe?"

"Far as I can tell, why? I mean, he gave her roses today and maybe carnations, too. You heard him say he wants some private time with her before they go to the Ball to share their Valentine’s gifts - - also known as ‘making out’. How could it get much better than that??

"I guess so……."

"Belle, what’s going on?"

"Oh, nothing……..nothing at all."

to be continued….

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