Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Lipstick: Party of Two

My best friend is a complete and utter goofball... which might explain to you why she's my best friend. She's always open to adventure and we always seem to find one when we're together. An ordinary trip to the mall (that alone is pretty rare for us) can find us at a Polynesian dance show. Or a drive to her sister's might find us stealing a handful of avocados from an orchard. And simple things can be sublime... and the sublime can get ridiculous.

Today she phoned with a rather funny request.

"I want you to come over for coffee but I have an indulgence I want you to honor."

"...Okaaaay."

"You have to wear your reddest lipstick."

"What?"

"You have to wear your reddest lipstick. I'm in a mood!"

"I will only wear lipstick if you take me Starbucks." (A deceptive ploy on my part. I hate her coffee...It puts hair on my chest!)

"But I made apple..."

I cut her off. "I'll be right over."

The BFF's Hungarian apple bars are stuff of legend at Christmastime around here. Pop into her house anytime during the month of December and you're likely to find her grating apples, cooking apples or baking apple bars. They are always wonderful. Her first seasonal batch was disappointing (to her). The apples were way too soft. I should've known she would be jonesing for another batch...

As I raced into the bathroom, I was dialing her number.

"Let me understand. Does this Lipstick Party require me to wear a clean shirt or a bra?"

She laughed and said no.

I dug through my little bag of most worn makeup. No red lipstick. I searched the little tray of "back up makeup." Still no red. I dug deep into my makeup drawer of stuff I never wear and started putting all the tubes of "not red" into the bathroom sink. I realized I buy the same shade of neutral beige over and over and over.

Finally I found a tube of something passable. It was more dried blood than red. She looked oh-so-happy when I arrived. She had Christmas music playing...trying force another mood. We laughed about how good we look wearing such bright lipstick and how she too buys the same neutral shade over and over.

And we drank her strong coffee and we ate too many apple bars and for an hour we just talked and laughed. I think it's one the best Christmas gifts I ever got.

3 comments:

Linda@VS said...

Sounds like a fine way to spend a day. I buy the same "beige" shade over and over, too, but I do have one red lipstick for when I wear red clothes. When I wear the red lipstick, people always ask me why I'm dressed up. Funny, what they notice.

Becky said...

Aren't best friends just the best. I don't have any red lipstick but maybe it's time I bought some!

Anonymous said...

You're lucky with your best friend! She's fun and bakes, too. It sounds like a really fun time, glad you got that!