Dottie and Ruby immediately got to work on Louis's face. First, the obstacle that was his straw hat had to go. Then, Dottie searched through her makeup for the most fitting shades of blush and lipstick.
Meanwhile, Ruby was just as involved in the process, even though she was standing to the side of it all. Whenever Dottie was stumped about the best way to create a subtle but elegant look, Ruby jumped in with a second opinion that made each choice feel perfect in the end.
Trusting his sisters, Louis sat still throughout their project, though he could not help but laugh at their childish bickering interrupting their surprisingly effective teamwork every now and then.
Once the makeup was complete, the sisters took a moment to look Louis up and down and decide what was missing. Finally, they had come to the conclusion that they could not rely on their brother making the right decision for an outfit that matched the look perfectly, so they simply had to help with that, too.
Knowing that their mother was just downstairs, though she was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, the twins sneaked to their parents' room as quietly as they could. Their school shoes were left abandoned in their bedroom, so the sounds of the steps would be muffled by their socks, just in case.
With a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, the girls decided Ruby was going to enter the room, while Dorothy would stand guard outside. Ruby could almost hear her own nervous heartbeat as she tiptoed into her parents' room. Slowly and quietly, she opened her mother's drawers, looking for some old jewels and feathers she certainly would not miss.
With her bounty in hand, she quickly slipped back out the door, signalling the success to her sister with a quiet smile. But the two girls could not help releasing a fit of giggles they had been holding in with their nerves. Possibly, they had not had this much fun together in years, but it felt to them like they were those little girls just a day ago.
Louis was still patiently waiting on the same stool, when the twins returned to their room. He barely had time to get a word in, when they were already pushing and pulling him around again.
First, his own clothes had to go. He could keep his undershirt, and some of his ballet garments were already fitting for the occasion. But his shorts were quickly replaced by an altered skirt from the twins' old costume collection. Then, it was back to the chair, so Dottie could slick back his hair in the most graceful way. Finally, Ruby placed the previously selected jewels, which she had carefully arranged with the feathers, on Louis's head.
After one last look at their work of art, the sisters gave each other a satisfied nod and urged Louis to turn around, so he could finally have a peek. He gasped as soon as he saw himself. It felt like a real ballerina was staring back at him, like the one he always dreamt he would be. Excitedly Ruby and Dottie pulled him up from his chair and dragged him to the big mirror to get a proper look at himself.
Stunned by the result, Louis just could not stop staring at his reflection and smiling with stars in eyes. With the cheers coming from his sisters, he already immersed himself in the thought of him performing like this in front of a real audience. Suddenly, any barriers in his way to achieve his dreams seemed to disappear.
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