I've Got One Less Problem Without You

[Laurels]

Katrina was willing to believe Faith's presumption of events. She didn't have reason to believe she did anything to Abel, so sheer dumb luck seemed plausible. She'd have to have a chat with him when this was all done.

Katrina shifted her hair to one of her shoulders when Faith suggested she take the sweater off.

"Yeah, sounds right," she said.

Katrina pulled the sweater dress over her head and set it on the edge of the sink. Now she felt slightly embarrassed. Well, more than already. She was basically standing in a mall bathroom wearing a black camisole, black tights, and knee high boots. The Ariana Grande sweater dress look was cute on the go, but definitely not something that worked if the dress had to come off. At the very least, wearing black undergarments at least meant that they wouldn't look soda-stained.

"Okay, let's do this quickly before security comes in," Katrina said. "I definitely don't need any more people knowing about this."

Katrina turned on the sink and let the sweater get wet. Fortunately, this wasn't a wool sweater, so it could be saved, but even Katrina knew that would have to be done quickly.

[Frozen Smoke]

Faith counted her lucky stars that Katrina was at least wearing something underneath the sweater-dress-thing as they tried their best to perform emergency fashion surgery on it. The outfit looked like that the kind of thing that would turn her into a sweat soaked mess in about ten seconds if she stepped outside, though she doubted Katrina had had plans of that variety anyway. The makeup that she had on was clearly delicate enough that it was effectively air-con only, given it's reaction to Mello Yello, which had been to melt away like the wicked witch of the west.

She waved away her fears with her hand and chuckled at the suggestion of more people finding out.

"Don't worry, your terrible secret that someone spilt a drink on you is safe with me, hun." she said, rolling her eyes a little for emphasis as she did so. It wasn't the sort of thing anyone was going to drag up in a week from now, let alone a few months. The worst she'd have to deal with was a few pictures of the immediate aftermath, and no-one was petty enough to keep poking at that easy content for more than a few days at best. Even Myles didn't mock anyone but repeat fashion offenders for that long.

She looked back at the sweater in the sink, then back at Katrina, paper towels still in her hands as she tried to figure out what to do next. Clothing rescue wasn't exactly her forte, but she doubted shoving a handful of paper towels into the water was going to help, and the mess was now mostly in the sink. A few moments - and drips - later, she realised that there was one thing still left soaked that probably wasn't going to be joining the sweater in the sink. Kat's hair.

"Hey, uh... do you want me to try and dry your hair?"

[Laurels]

"Well, I'm sure I can get passed the drink part," Katrina told Faith as she tried dabbing the sweater dry with a paper towel. "I'm more concerned about someone coming in and seeing me stripped down and soaking wet. I think that's more damning than soda stains."

Katrina picked up the sweater and shook it a few times, hoping that would get the remaining water and soda out. She then moved it to the next sink and spread it out.

"And yeah, lets get the hair next."

Katrina looked over the sink. It was about waist high and a bit deep, although it had a short, motion-sensored spout. It wasn't going to work as well as the sink at her salon, but it'd have to do. Katrina looked it over, and then got it.

"Alright. I got an idea."

Katrina turned around and put her back against the edge of the sink. She stretched her back a bit, moving her legs forward until her head was in the sink. Her legs, toned and strong from all her dance practice, were bent as she let her hair spill into the sink. She bumped the top of her head into the faucet, and moved a bit. The water turned on, spraying lukewarm on her scalp. Since her hands were free, rested them on her chest.

"Ok. I think we're making magic now."

[Frozen Smoke]

Ok, that made a bit more sense, she supposed people who spread rumours typically didn't actually try and find out what happened. That said, she couldn't really imagine what kind of rumour would spark up over her being kinda wet and half-dressed in a bathroom. Probably something involving her pissing herself, if she had to take a guess. The Mello-Yello fit that story to a tee. She just hoped Abel would clear that mess up, she didn't want to have to clean up half-congealed soda, but she wasn't going to leave the staff to deal with that.

She tried her best to keep a straight face as Katrina crawled into a position that looked decidedly uncomfortable, putting an awful lot of trust in the counter of the sink to hold her up as she tried to-

Faith couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter, before covering her mouth as Katrina's head hit the faucet with a dull thunk, looking away slightly. She knew it wasn't going to help the whole 'feeling anxious' thing, and tried her best to suppress the silent jiggling of her shoulders, but it had sounded like her head was hollow and that was just too fucking funny. The sight of her taking world's most ghetto shower wasn't helping at all as she looked back, despite the deep breath she'd taken to calm herself, but she managed to keep her smile from descending back into giggles as she waited for her to finish.

With some careful manoeuvring to prevent her ending up with a big, faucet shaped mark on her forehead, Katrina wriggled out from the sink, and Faith was finally able to properly help the poor girl as he paper towel filled hands went to work at her hair. It wasn't the most effective drying method in the world, but with that and the puddle of water that had dripped out of her locks whilst she stood there patiently, there was at least a chance she might escape without a ball of frizz to work with tomorrow. Crisis thoroughly averted, and Abel's ass saved. Win-win.

Well, not entirely averted quite yet. Katrina's sweater dress was still a complete mess, but she was basically naked from the waist down, which meant that she was either going to feature prominently in a few people's fap folders, or she was going to have to put it back on. Not that there was much she could do to help there.

"Anything else I can do to help, hun?"

[Laurels]

Katrina continued to let the water pour onto her head and face. She'd probably be going with minimal makeup after this, so she didn't care too much about how it would mess up what remained. This was already proving to be quite a new experience, so she'd have to try virtually no makeup for once.

Faith asked if there was anything she could do. Katrina scooted forward and leaned up.

"Yeah, can you hand me some towels?" she said.

She leaned her head over the sink and squeezed her hair, draining any excess water out.

"I'm just gonna pat dry whatever I can before I bail."

[Frozen Smoke]

Faith handed over the last of the pile of paper towels she'd been gifted by Abel over, taking one last look at the scene. It seemed a meltdown had been thoroughly averted, and her dress had been salvaged, maybe. Her smile eased out a little bit and breathed a tiny sigh of relief. If she was the sort of person to keep track, Abel would have been marked down as distinctly owing her one right about now. She stood for a couple more seconds, just in case she had anything more for her to do, before beginning to head out.

She paused awkwardly as she faced the door, feeling like she really ought to say something to make the exit less awkward, but nothing coming to mind immediately as she turned around and looked back at her for a second hesitantly, before finally coming out with an awkward "If anyone asks, I'll tell them the sink broke or somethin'." and a muffled "Peace!" as the toilet door swung shut behind her.

...

Now, where the fuck was Abel?

((Faith C. Marshal-Mackenzie continued Elsewhere))

[Laurels]

Katrina patted her hair dry with the towels. There was no way she could get it completely dry, but at the very least she could ensure she wouldn't get additional drippage on her way out of the mall.

Faith left her alone in the bathroom. Katrina was fine to let her go, although she wished she could have gotten a last-minute "Thanks, girl!" out before she dipped. Oh well. She could just find Faith at school and buy her a coffee or something. There'd be a way to repay her somehow.

Katrina threw the sweater dress back on. It was clearly still wet and stained yellow, so Katrina would have to deal with looking like a Pollack until she got home. She quickly grabbed her head and threw it into a messy bun on top of her head. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked more like she just woke up from a dream about swimming instead of being a cute girl doing some shopping. Her makeup was a mess, but Katrina had removed most of it, so she at least looked like she wasn't crying or melting.

Now came the real challenge. She had to get home. Katrina remembered which garage she parked, and it was thankfully close to the food court. She had her purse and all her shopping bags, so she could easily make a dash to the exit. Sure, some people might stare, but all she had to do was sell the shit out of her current look. Even Ariana Grande had days where she did casual street style. She could probably convey that.

Katrina reached the door, and before she pushed it open, she decided she needed to energize herself. This was going to be the craziest power walk she'd ever do, and she'd need to be in the right mind set for it. What was a good Ariana song for it?

"This is...the part where I say I don't want you. I'm stronger than I've been before," she began to sing to herself.

"This is the part where I break free."

Katrina pushed open the door and began to shuffle away from the bathrooms as fast as she could.

"Cause I can't resist it no more!"

((Katrina Lavell continued elsewhere))