Beauty Pool Knockout

"So, I know you probably don't remember your exact size right now, although you look like a small to me. But why don't you find some cute stuff, take it into the fitting room and have at yourself?" said Lizzy-Beth with a wave of the hand.

Zoe/Jennifer realized what Lizzy-Beth was generously giving her next.

"Oh my gosh, you're gonna buy me clothes??" she asked in amazement.

"Well, of course! If we both wear my stuff, I'll run out of outfits super-fast and have to spend twice as much on laundry."

Zoe threw a hug on her.

"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed. She planted a grateful kiss on Lizzy-Beth's cheek, which was not unnoticed.

"Thank you so much, Lizzy-Beth!" she reiterated. "That...sounds like the kind of thing I...might refuse ordinarily—I mean, I can't know for sure—but under this circumstance, I...I mean, I just don't know how to thank you for all this! I love you!" she chuckled.

Lizzy-Beth's heart swelled with premature devotion. She suspected Zoe/Jen meant this in a more or less friendly manner, but again, it didn't mean she couldn't augment the atmospheric emotions with her imagination.

"I love you too, honey," Lizzy-Beth chuckled back, trying to make it sound like she was kidding. "Now let's find us some pretty threads, what'd'ya say."

Lizzy-Beth and Zoe stayed in relatively close proximity until the latter found some things she wanted to try on. She approached the fitting room, then stopped and turned back for a moment to throw Lizzy-Beth a smile and thumbs-up.

Lizzy-Beth returned the thumbs-up, wishing Zoe/Jen her desired luck. When her pal disappeared from her line of sight, she placed a hand on her chest, sighed out her breath, and felt her heart beating extra vigorously.

*****

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014, 2:33 p.m.

The Surf 'N' Stroll the girls visited was but one in a legion of stores throughout the resort. Lizzy-Beth, who lived here and thus knew the area better than most tourists, opted for a location in decent distance, with a wide assortment of stuff, and friendly, knowledgeable staff. This store was also on the way to the next stop: Barnes & Noble, where she purchased them some helpful-looking books on amnesia. Finally, before returning to the hotel, they were feeling a tingle in their sweet teeth, and there was no hurry, so they traversed the boardwalk for some saltwater taffy.

Back in Lizzy-Beth's room, she'd ordered up some room service—a nice complimentary bonus for employees—opened her laptop, slipped on a pair of reading glasses, and cracked the newly purchased tomes. A few studious moments later—

"It says here one technique to help treat amnesia is word association," Lizzy-Beth told her, raising her eyes to meet Zoe/Jen's. "Wanna try it?"

"Sure, sure, I'll try anything."

"Okay, good. So I'm gonna say a word, and you say the first word that pops into your head. Ready?"

"Yup."

"A'right, now remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Just whatever comes to mind. Okay, first word: 'first'?"

"Um...'cut.'"

"'Cut'? Oh, interesting," said Lizzy-Beth, taking a second to type Zoe/Jen's answers.

"Okay then, 'side'?"

"'Burns.'"

"...'Star'?"

"'Glitter.'"

"...'Chocolate'?"

"'Mousse.'"

"...'Golf'?"

"'Pencil.'"

"...'Pencil'?"

"'Eyebrow.'"

"Eyebrow"?... "Okay, 'eyebrow'?"

"'Tweeze.'"

"Tweeze"? Hmmm...

"...'Hair'?"

"'Style.'"

"...'Coins'?"

"'Cash register.'"

"Hmm...'blow'?"

"'Dryer.'"

Lizzy-Beth paused for a moment to take a look at all her friend's responses. She'd mixed in the elements of the daydream Zoe/Jen came up with at the restaurant with a list of unrelated words. And she was starting to pick up a theme. She decided to continue along this path and see what happened.

"...'Eye'?"

"'Shadow.'"

"...'Base'?"

"'Makeup.'"

Aha. Yes, she was definitely onto something.

"...'File'?"

"'Nails.'"

Lizzy-Beth nodded confidently. "Wow. Well, my friend, we can always do more of these later, but for right now...not to get your hopes up too soon, but...I think we may've made a small breakthrough."

Zoe beamed. "Really??" She seemed unaware of the common thread in the wordplay.

"That's right," grinned Lizzy-Beth. "Just from our word association, I reckon that you are either: one, in the cosmetology business...two, soon to be, while studying cosmetology in school...or three, otherwise highly interested in it."

Eyes wide open in motivated thought, Zoe placed a few fingers over her pursing lips.

"Does that ring any bells?"

She shut her wide open eyes and concentrated hard.

"Am...am I...a cosmetologist?"

A hopeful Lizzy-Beth hopped up and scampered to her bathroom, from where she brought back her brush and palette. "Let's find out!" she announced, willing to take a chance. "We'll have a little fun, if nothing else. Wanna do my makeup?"

They exchanged sweet smiles before Zoe/Jennifer practically snatched the objects right out of Lizzy-Beth's hands.

"That does sound like fun!"

*****

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014, 3:18 p.m.

"Okay, and...ready?"

Lizzy-Beth took a breath in excited anticipation. "Yes!"

"Open your eyes."

Gasp.

"Oh my gosh!" whispered Lizzy-Beth, gaping into her reflection in the mirror, a proudly smiling Zoe/Jennifer beside her.

"I...I look...I look..."

She slowly shook her pretty head in disbelief.

"...Beautiful!"

Her charmed friend took her arm and hugged it, grinning into the mirror with her. Lizzy-Beth turned to her, still stunned—and indeed stunning. The bonk Zoe's head absorbed had indeed brought about a catastrophic memory-quake that rattled everything loose in her mind. But miraculously, some of her most quintessential talents—like her tricks and tips in applying makeup and styling hair—remained flawlessly intact. Her ID, contact info, and other things she'd grown to take for granted were swept to unknown reaches somewhere deep inside, but she could retrieve and reach into her bag of cosmetological tricks at the ready. It was virtually untouched.

"My God, honey, you're a genius!" Lizzy-Beth proclaimed.

"Yyyyeah, I...guess so..." contemplated Zoe, gingerly brushing a stray strand of hair behind Lizzy-Beth's ear.

...How'd I do that?...Maybe I didn't lose as much of my memory as I thought.

They turned back to the mirror in Lizzy-Beth's vanity. Zoe's eyes fell upon the sink, where lay a magazine.

"Oh, what's that, Marie Claire?"

"Yeah, I have a subscription. That one's a couple years old, but now and then I like to go through the back issues and just...y'know, reread 'em. Just for my own pleasure."

"Who's that on the cover? She looks familiar."

"Oh, Zooey Deschanel. You know her, right? She's on that show New Girl? She was also in a bunch of movies before that."

"...Zooey Deschanel?...Z—...

"Yeah, she's a doll, isn't she? Cute as a button. Little-known fact about her—" stated Lizzy-Beth. "That goofy spelling of her name comes from a male character in this J.D. Salinger book from the '50s. And don't quote me on this, but I think as a boy's name it's pronounced 'zoo-ee,' with an 'oo'-sound. But hers's pronounced just like normal." She chuckled. "That's just one of those random trivia things I know. Probably found it out from reading one of those things."

"...Zzzzoh-eeee?" Zoe repeated, sounding out the syllables.

Lizzy-Beth turned back to her friend, whose face had metamorphosed. The confused lass was gazing blankly into the mirror, actually on the verge of culling an epiphany from the rubble of her brainquake.

"...Jen?" asked Lizzy-Beth.

No answer.

"...You okay?"

A shake of the head. A few more seconds passed. Finally—

"Lizzy-Beth...I...

"...I don't think my name is Jen."

Lizzy-Beth shrugged matter-of-factly. "Well, I mean, I don't really think it is either, babe. I was just kinda calling you that, y'know, as a place-filler. It's one of the most common names there is, but I figured the chances are pretty slim it's actually yours."

Zoe gave another slow shake of the head, not unlike Lizzy-Beth's upon seeing her newly made-up face.

"No, no, I mean...

"...I think I may have just remembered my name."

Lizzy-Beth gasped. "No way! What is it??"

"This is really weird, but...I think it's actually Zoe."

"Oh my God, that's amazing!" said Lizzy-Beth. "Do...do you remember anything else?"

"Um..." Zoe shut her eyes, trying to concentrate some more. "I don't..." She sighed. "Oh gosh, I dunno!"

"Well, that's okay! That's okay!" said Lizzy-Beth, taking her hands to lead her back out into the room. "We can keep working on it!" She returned to her bed and laptop and went on typing. "A'right, so we know two things now: one, that you're somehow or other involved in the beauty industry, and two, your name very well might be Zoe."

"I have a really good feeling about it, Lizzy-Beth. I must've gone through a hundred names in my mind, but when I saw that magazine, something clicked inside that was much clearer for me than anything else has been!"

"Excellent! Awesome!" encouraged Lizzy-Beth. "Okay, let's see, what else can we do?"

Zoe stretched. "I think I'd like some fresh air. Can we maybe go out on the balcony?"

"Of course!" Lizzy-Beth picked up her laptop and books. "My Wi-Fi works fine out there."

The temperature outside had reached its day high of 82° as they slid open the door and stepped out. Loose strands of otherwise in-place hair swirled aimlessly in the balmy, saline breeze, gently whapping their owners in the faces. Now feeling more confidence with the recall of her name, Zoe laid her head back, shut her eyes and lips, smiled, and inhaled the sweet air through her pronounced nose. She listened to Lizzy-Beth's fingertips and nails tapping and clicking her laptop's keyboard as she continued research. They settled into a short silence.

Clickity-clickity-click-click-click-click-clickity-clickity-clickity-click.

"Mm, it is so beautiful out here," Zoe gushed.

"Yeah...just look at those palm trees swaying down there," Lizzy-Beth pointed.

Zoe opened her eyes. The reference to waving palms registered in her brain...and swept away some more rubble.

"...Palm?" she whispered.

"Hm?"

The same look of realization washed over Zoe's face once more. Her eyes and mouth opened congruently wider. Lizzy-Beth noticed out of the corner of her eye.

"Zoe? Babe?...What is it? D'you remember something else?"

"I...think so, yeah..."

"Aces! What is it??"

"Well, this seems a little weird too, but...

"...I think my last name might be...Palm."

"Really?"

"I...think. I just got that feeling again. But, that...that's a kinda weird last name, huh?"

Lizzy-Beth opened a new tab in her browser. "Hang on, let me Google it."

Clickity-clickity-click-click-click—

"Oh! Oh, I found some Facebooks!...Hmmm...no...no...don't think so...no..."

Zoe leaned over to take in Lizzy-Beth's search conducting as she ruled out possibilities.

"Hmph," Lizzy-Beth eventually concluded. "Maybe that's not your last name."

"It's possible, I guess. That feeling did seem pretty strong, though. Maybe if you tried to, like, specify, or narrow down the search?"

"Oh, you mean like put something else in there too. Good idea! Okay, let's try 'cosmetology.'"

Returning to the top of the page, Lizzy-Beth clicked in the search field, typed, "Zoe Palm" in quotes, closed them, added the additional desired word, and clicked Enter.

"All right, we've got more results for Palm Beach, Palm Springs, couple beauty sh—"

Lizzy-Beth stopped scrolling as something caught her eye.

"Waaaaait a second..."

"What?"

"This looks like a site for a beauty shop called Zoe's..." Lizzy-Beth mused, "...Not too far from here, right in Juniper! And..."

She paused, perusing the main page and links. Zoe grew more anxiously impatient. This seemed more than vaguely familiar.

"...What?" she reiterated. "And what??"

Lizzy-Beth clicked on the staff members link. The next she did was cry out in revelation.

"AHH!!"

Her shout was so great, several vacationers down on the boardwalk looked up to see what had happened.

"Zoe, look! Look! Could it be Palmer?"

Zoe was starting to get a little dizzy from all this intense thinking, but not such that her mind couldn't be jolted by this discovery.

"Oh my God, Lizzy-Beth, I think you're right!"

Lizzy-Beth eagerly clicked on her link. A new page began loading, consisting of an image and miniature bio.

"Oooh! There's a picture!" Lizzy-Beth announced, growing more exhilarated by the moment. "Let's see if I can enlarge it!"

She clicked. To the girls' delight and elation, the screen went blank, and a large, blurry rectangle appeared, slowly downloading. It looked like it could be her, but the connection was taking its sweet time.

"Come on...come on already!" Lizzy-Beth urged. "Come on, you slow piece of—!"

The page and picture finished loading. And sure enough...there she was.

"AH!" Lizzy-Beth repeatedly exclaimed. "It worked! Zoe, it's you!"

Zoe was so euphoric she automatically began to cry.

"It is me!" she half-laughed and half-wept with joy.

"Omigosh, that's fantastic!" Lizzy-Beth laughed giddily. "And wow, babe, the camera loves you! Wait, wait, let's read the bio!" She went back to the biography page and read.

"'At 30, Zoe Trix Palmer has been having a ball in the beauty game for four stylish years. Growing up in Rochester, Minnesota, she attended the Quartet Academy before relocating to Minneapolis to begin her career with the establishment of Zoe's Salon & Shop in 2010. She insists on only the highest quality top-line products and services for the benefit of her clientele. She takes modest, professional pride in the fact that her customer reviews are highly recommendatory of her and speak for themselves. Her areas of expertise include hair, makeup, nails, waxing, and mani-pedis. She holds her customers in the highest esteem, and loves meeting people both in and out of the office. In her spare time, Zoe enjoys reading, roller-skating, billiards, swimming, fine dining'..."

Lizzy-Beth paused to look back up at Zoe as she memorized the final nine words.

"...'And making new friends, not necessarily in that order.' Aw, how adorable is that??"

Zoe, needless to say, was astonished. "Wow," she breathed. "Oh my God, Lizzy-Beth, it's...it's all coming back to me now! It's...it's just all...all of it! My-my childhood, the...growing up, school, beauty college, opening the shop, the...list of hobbies there...I'm-I'm just...oh my stars, Lizzy-Beth, I...I am totally dazed here! I—...it's...all of a sudden, it's like someone went in my memory, refreshed everything and cleaned it all up...and it's in perfect order now!...I feel like a totally new girl!!"

Lizzy-Beth chuckled again. "Well, that makes sense, Miss Deschanel," she joked.

"Oh, Lizzy-Beth!" Zoe threw her arms around her. "You're the best! I can't believe this! This is incredible!"

Lizzy-Beth carefully removed her hands from the laptop to hug Zoe back. It felt very nice. She heard Zoe sniffle happily, and a small tear trickled its way down her cheek. Plink! it fell on Lizzy-Beth's shoulder.

They held their seated embrace for a few moments before Lizzy-Beth remembered—

"Oh, and hey! You know what else this means!" she proclaimed. "Now that we know your name, we can go down to the desk and find your room number and get your stuff!"

"Ohhh-ho-ho!" Zoe again jovially half-laughed and half-cried, even happier than she couldn't believe she could be a moment ago.

*****

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014, 3:57 p.m.

Now that they could supply the front desk with a full name, the receptionist found Zoe's room number, escorted them to room 741, and asked Zoe to please provide her ID, which she was able to do once inside her purse.

"Here it is!"

The receptionist gave it a quick once-over and handed it back to her with satisfaction.

"All right. Thank you, Miss Palmer, and enjoy the rest of your stay."

Slam went the door, and the girls were alone in Zoe's room. Zoe wasted a grand total of zero seconds.

"Ohhhh!" she gushed, trying as best she could to leap into the air in slow motion. It went without saying how thrilled she was to have her room and belongings back—to say nothing of her memory. The first thing she picked up was her purse.

"Oh, my purse, my beautiful purse!" she giggled, audibly kissing it all over. She pranced all around, similarly rejoicing over her beautiful clothes, her beautiful suitcases, her beautiful soap, her beautiful toothbrush. An almost equally ecstatic Lizzy-Beth stood by the bed, clasping her hands to her heart, watching her companion celebrate having everything splendidly back as it was. Zoe danced back out into the room, practically pounced on Lizzy-Beth, landing them both in the generous mattress, and squeezed her.

"My friend, my dear, lovely friend!" Zoe giddily chuckled. "How can I ever thank you??"

Lizzy-Beth darted her eyes away, arching her eyebrows provocatively with a mischievous smirk. Her voice lowered.

"Is...that a rhetorical question?" she asked, demurely batting her lashes.

For a short time, they just lay together and cuddled. Lizzy-Beth was dying to kiss her, to feel those naturally ruby red lips making love to hers, but yet more, she was dying to be kissed. She yearned for the precious reality that Zoe wanted and needed her just as much as she did Zoe. She longed for the promise that her already deep feelings of affection would be returned. She hungered for the possibilities that she and Zoe Trix Palmer could be ever so much more than just overnight friends.

She silently mouthed her name.

Zoe smoothed her light-blue polished nails over Lizzy-Beth's smile-bearing cheek.

"Thank you so much," she whispered, feeling another tear approach. Had her voice been activated, it would have cracked.

Lizzy-Beth maintained her silly grin.

"Are you talking to me or God?" she whispered back.

Zoe again blessed her with her heavenly laughter. "Both."

"Zoe, honey...

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I...dunno, Lizzy-Beth...what're you thinking?"

Lizzy-Beth gave a coy, kittenish leer.

"I dunno," she echoed, adding a dash of sauciness to her tone. "What're you thinking?"

Zoe stroked her index fingernail down Lizzy-Beth's scrunchy, ticklish bunny-like nose, making her giggle.

"I think you know what I'm thinking."

Lizzy-Beth's heart quickened. Her juices flowed, dampening a very specific area.

"So that's a yes??" she asked, trying to contain her growing enthusiasm.

Zoe flipped her own eyebrows at her.

"I think it is."

"Oh my gosh..." Lizzy-Beth murmured in increasing intensity. "So...

"We're really gonna do this?"

"Oh, you bet," Zoe uttered back. "We're gonna do it, a'right."

She leaned in, waited for Lizzy-Beth to close her eyes, and announced—

"We're gonna get more pizza for dinner!"

Lizzy-Beth's eyes rapidly blinked back open. That was not precisely what she was hoping or expecting to hear. Still holding onto one another for the moment, Lizzy-Beth tried to alleviate this unplaceable moment.