Wild Night: Part 5
Cara
It was about two hours later that Gina knocked on C.J.'s door. "It's
Gina!" she
called.
"Hi." C.J. opened the door and got a good look at the woman. She was
very short, maybe five foot three, with wildly curly brown hair. She
had the curvy body type common to shorter people, but it was
appealing in a sophisticated sort of way.
"Hey. You're C.J., right?" Gina stuck out a hand. "Gina Coe."
"Nice to meet you." C.J. smiled. "Donna!" she called into the back
room. "Come on!"
"Oh, all right." Hesitantly Donna walked out into the room. "I'm not
so sure about this," she began to say.
Gina ignored her. "Oh, honey, you've got the perfect figure for
this," she said, critically appraising Donna's features. "This will
be a snap."
"I said I'm not sure about this," Donna said, voice rising.
"Okay." Gina nodded. "I can understand that. But will you just let me
try something?"
Donna was suspicious. "What?"
"Just your hair," Gina said, cajoling. "If we don't go through with
this, you can just go to work and get a rise out of Mr. Lyman."
C.J. smiled. "Yeah, Donna. I wouldn't try to pressure you or
anything, but at the very least Josh would spontaneously combust,
seeing you with brown or red hair."
The thought of Josh stirred Donna, as C.J.'d hoped it would. "Yeah ."
Donna said slowly, a smile hesitantly appearing on her alabaster
features. "He *would* freak, wouldn't he?"
"That's the way to do it!" Gina clapped her hands together. "Donna,
you wanna give it a go?"
"Sure, what the hell." Donna's smile finally peeked through. "Just
the hair at first."
"That's cool." Gina grabbed the large bag she'd come in with. "I
schlepped this all the way up here cause I didn't know which color
you'd want. I was thinkin' brown, for your face shape and your eyes."
"Okay." Donna looked at the box. "This isn't permanent, right?"
"Nah, washes out in thirty washes."
"Okay."
"Cool." Gina turned to C.J. "We'll need towels and stuff. Oh, and .
is Mr. Seaborn coming home anytime soon?"
C.J. chuckled, pointing Gina to the linen closet. "Not that I know
of. He's meeting Senator Glass on the Hill right now."
Donna laughed and rolled her eyes. For Gina's benefit she
explained. "Senator Glass is one of the biggest windbags on the Hill.
He's the only man I've ever met who can out-talk the President."
"Okay." Gina took a few towels and shepherded Donna into the
bathroom. "Let's go. C.J., will you help me here?"
"Sure."
About twenty-five minutes later, C.J. and Gina were sitting in the
living room waiting for Donna. "Come on, is it done?" C.J. called.
"Yeah, it's done." Donna's tone sounded half excited, half
frightened.
"Then will you come out?" Gina asked impatiently. "I wanna see if I
screwed it up or not."
"Okay." The two women heard the door crack open, and a moment later
Donna strode out. But what a Donna! Instead of her usual blond locks
her face was now framed by chestnut brown hair. It did wonders for
her usual face shape. Instead of looking competent and secretarial,
she looked mysterious and vaguely exotic.
Gina couldn't stop grinning. "You look great, kid," she said.
"I'm so impressed." C.J. thought to reassure her friend, but the look
did really suit Donna.
"I'm glad." Donna was beginning to really warm to the idea, C.J.
could tell. She twirled her hair around, liking the way the brown
swirled in front of her face. "You really think it looks good?"
"Totally." Gina rose from her position on the couch. "So . you wanna
try the clothes, just for the hell of it?"
"Clothes?" Donna echoed.
"Sure." Gina's eyes swept up and down Donna's long frame. "No offense
or anything, but you couldn't exactly be a stripper wearin' stuff
like *that.*"
C.J. half expected Donna to say something rude, but instead she
followed Gina's gaze and laughed ruefully. "I guess not. What'd you
have in mind?"
"Well," Gina said, rummaging in her bag again, "I guessed you might
be the same size as Felicity. Let's go see." She ushered the other
woman into the back room.
C.J. waited expectantly, smiling to herself at the incongruity of it
all. When Josh had let that comment about "dull Donna" slip, it was
as if Donna had taken it upon herself to prove him wrong. Not like
that was anything new, but still . this was less of a time to keep an
eye on the boys than it was a sort of crusade.
All of a sudden she heard Donna's high-pitched voice. "My God!"
"What?" C.J. called. "That bad?"
"No!" Gina answered. "It looks great! Donna, go show her."
"Okay!" Not even a tiny bit of argument passed Donna's lips before
she bounced out of the back room. "What do you think, C.J.?" she
asked, twirling like a ten-year old on Christmas.
C.J. was astounded. Yet another metamorphosis had taken place. Donna
now looked even better in a greenish halter top, held around her neck
by a brass ring, and very tight dark denim jeans. On her feet were
spiky heels, about as thin as possible. She'd turn any man's head in
less than a second. "Wow," C.J. said aloud. "Donna, if you wore that
to work you'd turn every male head in the building. Including the
President's."
Just as she spoke the phone rang. Warning Donna and Gina to keep
quiet, C.J. picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me." Sam sounded as though he was calling from a wind
tunnel.
"Hey." C.J. frowned. "Where the hell *are* you? The connection isn't
too great."
"I'm out at the corner on Pennsylvania, heading back to the car," Sam
said, having to shout. "There's a lot of traffic, and it's starting
to rain."
C.J. glanced out the window and exclaimed. Sam was right. The sky was
darkening, and she could hear the occasional rumble as thunderclouds
rolled in. "You coming home now?"
"Yeah," Sam answered. "I'll be home in twenty minutes."
"Okay." C.J. answered, while thinking, *Shit! Gotta get these two out
of here!*
"Bye, C.J."
"Bye, Sam."
C.J. hung up the phone and addressed the two women. "You guys gotta
go. Sam's coming home."
"Okay." Donna nodded. "I don't want him to see me like this." The
Donna-devil grin, as it was called, made an appearance on her
face. "At least, not until tomorrow night."
Gina grinned broadly. "That'll be so great. And doesn't she look
hot?"
Donna couldn't keep the smile off her face either. "I love it.
Really. Gina, I want to do this."
"You sure, now?" Gina asked. "You know the dangers. And I imagine
that C.J. here'll have to kill you if the press gets wind of this."
"Yeah, I do. But I think I'll do it anyway."
"If you're sure." Gina slung an arm around Donna's shoulders. "Come
on, then."
"Where are we going?" Donna asked.
"We're going to my place." Gina grabbed her bag. "I've gotta teach
you a few tricks of the trade."
"Okay."
C.J. thought of one thing. "Donna, call in sick tomorrow. Obviously
Sam and Josh can't see your hair."
"You're right," Donna said, nodding. "I'll do that." She headed out
the door with Gina. "Call you later."
C.J. marveled at the turn of events. "Okay." She went back into the
bathroom to clean up, and so did not see Donna take a false step and
break one of her heels off. Gina merely smiled and rolled her eyes.
It could all be fixed.
Part 6
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