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Freddie is not sure why she came here.
She figured it was just what guys did. The girls were having a sleepover, so it was their job to crash it. They would turn a night of baking and gossip into a night of teenage hormones and debauchery.
Truth be told, the entire situation made her uncomfortable.
It was not that Freddie didn’t enjoy the company of the Pink Ladies, she liked them a lot. However, the entire thing felt very performative. They were going through the motions, doing what they were expected to do.
Was it even still “rebellion” in that case? Was it really “crashing” the sleepover if Grace opened the door and let them in, reacting so casually that it was almost like they had been invited to it?
Whatever. Pan said they were going to do it, so Freddie would just have to deal with it.
She sat down in the circle as the mixed group began to play Truth or Dare, silently watching as Oracle spilled Apollo’s secrets on his behalf, Calliope did a mildly embarrassing yet mostly impressive musical performance, and Persephone said things that Freddie didn’t know you could say in polite company.
Eventually, the bottle landed on Freddie, meaning she had to participate. Grace’s eyes lit up excitedly from across the circle.
“Let me take this one,” she said - and the Pink Ladies knew better than to cross their leader. “Fred. Truth… or Dare.”
“Dare,” Freddie replied near-instantly. With where her head was at, anything seemed better than having to tell the truth.
Grace’s lips curled upward into a sly smirk and Freddie swallowed down her nerves.
“Because you all so rudely interrupted our girl’s night, I haven’t been able to use any of the make-up I bought!” Grace said, standing up and pointing an over-dramatic accusatory finger at Freddie. “I dare you to go upstairs with me, into my room, and get a makeover from me.”
The crowd erupted in a mix of gasps and laughter. Orpheus playfully grabbed Freddie's hat and ruffled her hair teasingly. Freddie felt like her cheeks were on fire, but she knew better than to turn down a dare.
“You’re o-on,” she stammered out, taking her hat back from Orpheus and getting ready.
…
Grace's room looked almost the same as Freddie remembered it. The soft pink walls were now covered with posters of celebrities that Freddie could barely remember the names of, but otherwise, everything seemed to be more or less as it was when they were kids.
Freddie sat herself down at her mirror, inspecting her reflection. She let out a soft groan of frustration at the bags under her eyes. It’d almost be nice to get rid of those.
“So… Where do we start?” Freddie asked, turning to face Grace.
“You know we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Nobody will be checking if you actually did the dare,” Grace declared, putting down a paper bag of beauty supplies. “I just wanted to get you out of the party environment. You looked super uncomfortable down there.”
“Oh,” Freddie replied. “Uh. Thanks.”
She turned back to gaze at herself in the mirror… Only to be met by her own disappointed, pouting face.
She was not as good at hiding her feelings as she thought she was…
“I think I’d kind of like to try though?”
Grace’s face turned into something unrecognizable to Freddie. She sat down next to Freddie and began to pull the make-up supplies out of the bag.
“Okay, Fred. Let’s get this show on the road…”
…
It took a while for Grace to do her work. She had Freddie face away from the mirror as she did it, humming to herself as she did it.
It was oddly calming. She loved the careful delicate brushstrokes around her face, the feeling of being under Grace’s watchful eye and kind hands. She loved the way that the other woman’s forehead scrunched up whenever something wasn’t going quite the way she wanted it to.
By the end of it, she wasn’t feeling out of place at all.
“And now, the final touch,” Grace said, sliding her Pink Ladies jacket over Freddie’s arms. “Welcome to the Pink Ladies, Freddie!”
“Uh. Wait. Really? Do you think I could join - I mean, I love being a T-Bird, well, I like being one, but never feels -”
“Relax, Fred,” Grace replied, rolling her eyes as she spun Freddie back around to face the mirror. “I’m just teasing you.”
As Freddie gazed at her reflection in the mirror, her mind was suddenly emptied of all thoughts of the Pink Ladies. Instead, she was captivated by the subtle yet transformative effect of the make-up she had applied. Her features had been recontextualized, enhancing her femininity in a way that both surprised and delighted her. The reflection staring back at her seemed almost like a different person, one who was more self-assured and confident than the one she had seen just moments before.
“Sorry, I know it isn’t perfect,” Grace began. “I couldn’t find anything that quite matched your skin tone and -”
“No, Grace! Golly, don't worry, you did great” Freddie replied, still gawking at herself in the mirror. “I mean, look at me - I'm Sandra Dee!”
The doubt fell from Grace’s face and she smiled. “You’ve always been Doris Day to me,” Grace muttered, barely loud enough for Freddie to hear it.
Freddie bit her lip, turning back to face Grace.
“Wait... Why did you have this make-up again?”
“Because we were going to do makeovers before all those boys showed up,” Grace said breezily, causing Freddie to blush at the unspoken implications of her not including Freddie among the guys.
“And you were going to use brown foundation to do that?”
Grace froze for a few moments. Freddie could see her trying to figure out a lie, but she couldn't come up with one.
“I just... Well... Perhaps a little T-Bird told me that something like this could be good for you,” Grace relented. “And I've been thinking about it for a while too so...” She awkwardly waved her hands around instead of a further explanation.
“A-ah. Well. T-thank you,” Freddie said quietly. “Seriously. Thanks.”
“Anytime Fred,” Grace said, leaning forward and pulling Freddie into a hug. “Even if you oughta be a T-Bird in public... Know you're a Pink Lady in my heart.”