Lip Service

Carly heard it on Duk Duk first. She was a dedicated Duk Duk fan and especially of Sharlene's show, Body Rob.

Body Rob was one of those modern Gen Z beauty specials, where Sharlene gave her avid followers all the top tips, new trends and hot goss about having a glamorous body.

Yes, Sharlene was influential and her spot attracted thousands of watchers, both girls and boys, all hoping for that one secret that will propel them into a world full of gorgeous people with drop dead bodies. Sharlene did it all with aplomb, conviction and the odd bit of comedy thrown into the vanity bag too.

But there were rules: her sponsors had insisted on full exposure, not just lip service with just a few clear red lines to protect us, to save face and save all our skins.

Sharlene, on account of these top sponsors, stuck to these edicts fastidiously. She promoted her sponsors without fail and stayed well clear of the more outlandish styling methods surfacing now on the crazier vlogs like Botox baths, eyeball washing and re-bleeding. 

A bit of exclusive nail varnish, a smattering of prestigious Hollywood mascara, a soupçon of the very finest foundation and the latest hip hair styles on the choicest Manhattan streets: these were the reliable, safe and reassuringly dear bread and butter of Body Rob, in which ' You too Can have that Face and Body!'.

Carly lapped it up and sat entranced on her phone as Sharlene heralded ever-newer paths to corporeal perfection and facial nirvana.

It was Carly's face she was especially concerned about. No amount of the dearest concoctions could satisfy her, no thickness of the most expensive filler could make her feel that she'd reached that glorious zenith she felt Sharlene was instructing her to attain. 

A particular irritant was her bulbous mouth. Carly had spent a small fortune on her pearly whites in an attempt to emulate the rarified dentistry seen on Body Rob.  Sharlene had an angelic mouth forged in Heaven itself, her magnificent teeth the crisp silky curtains to a marvellous world of rude health within.

Carly wanted the same.

It was the morning of April 1st when the show first aired the idea on Duk Duk. Sharlene, sat in her usual position, behind a table piled high with fresh products for immaculate beings sent from her sponsors.

She picked up a pair of boxed scissors sent in by newcomer Jess Ter Fashions.

"Well body robbers, what have we here? I'll unwrap them and read you the blurb ....

"Lip Snippers! the Precise Tool for thinning your grin and routing your pout. When your mouth goes south use Lip Snippers!"

"So, there you are followers, I'll certainly be trying this myself tonight and I can't wait to show you the results on tomorrow's Body Rob. I've got just one more pair of the Jess Ster Lip Snippers to give away today and once it's gone, it's gone. First come, first served!"

And that was it, the gorgeous Sharlene, with a big wide smile, gave a little wink to the camera and moved onto some new paper socks from Micky Take Solutions.

Carly was visibly moved.

 This was it! 

Those new scissors were the answer she'd been waiting for and she was certain that Sharlene meant that wink to be for her, a personal nod to her number one fan to get in straight away and claim those fabulous snippers.

Bingo!

She got them! 

Carly was indeed first to call and the utensils arrived by courier that afternoon with compliments from Sharlene herself and today's show sponsor Jess Ter.

That evening Carly stood in front of her bathroom mirror with her minty new product in her hand. She'd read the instructions several times over and was now totally ready to reveal so very much more of her beautiful teeth, just like Sharlene would be doing too.

Having applied a generous rubbing of numbing agent she'd had in the cupboard and tentatively holding out her top lip, Carly began to cut it off. 

It was surprisingly easy with the large and ultra-sharp Lip Snippers and felt like she was cutting up a chunk of stewing steak.

The whole upper lip came away and she dropped it in the sink. Blood poured out of the curved wound in gushes and her teeth swam in hot ferrous gore.

She smiled widely with scarlet molars but wasn't finished yet.

Pinching her bottom lip with her fingers she snipped it away in a single piece too, again, letting it fall into the blood-soaked sink.

Carly put down the scissors and admired her handiwork. 

Where once her lips had been was now a huge bleeding ragged hole, her teeth and gums completely exposed. 

She smiled again and her new lipless slit stretched open across her visible jaw.

"Beautiful!" She whispered, "Truly Gorgeous!"

The next day, after drinking a pint of numbing fluid and wiping away a mass of coagulated blood from her new mouth-hole, she waited patiently for today's Body Rob show. She was shaking with anticipation over how Sharlene would look.

The show began and Carly's earlier anticipation very quickly turned to bewilderment.

Sharlene looked the same! 

Full lips, normal mouth, nothing cut away!

" You haven't done it like you said you would!"

Carly shot up off the bed and stormed round her room sweeping away all the Body Rob products from her dressing table top.

She was incensed!

How could Sharlene lie like that!

Cleaning her teeth of a thick layer of dried-up blood, she washed her red gash mouth, got dressed and headed out.

To Sharlene's house, where she filmed her show.

Carly found her outside chain-smoking several cigarettes by the door.

Carly stared at the fag butts on the ground and confused looked up at her idol.

Sharlene jolted and when she saw Carly's terrible parody of a mouth she screamed.

"You liar Sharlene! I trusted you! I always have! But you haven't used the Lip Snippers like you said you would! How could you do that to me, you're biggest fan!"

Sharlene gathered herself and backed inside her kitchen, where she secretly reached for a weapon of any kind.

"You stupid fuckin cow, it was a joke! The Lip Snippers were an April's Fool! C'mon, you must have known that for fucks sake! Or are you a complete fuckin' moron!" Mocked Sharlene, trying not to look at the atrocity that was Carly's dreadful mouth.

Carly stuttered.

"I didn't know that Sharlene! I didn't know it was a joke! I believe what comes out of your mouth. I always have but not anymore. Your mouth isn't to be trusted is it really. Your fans need to know that underneath all that phoney glamour you're really just a big-mouthed liar and I'm going to show them!"

"You fuckin' what! You're a total fuckin' nutjob! You should have taken more of your butt-ugly face off, then I wouldn't have to look at it!"

"Ah, now that's a good idea Sharlene. Let's get you up to your studio for part 2 of the show. It's going to be a live special, a practical demonstration of using Jess Ters Lip Snippers for the complete treatment!"

Injected with a sedative and pushed upstairs at scissor-point by an increasingly excited and violent Carly,  Sharlene sat terrified in front of the camera for the second half of her show.

Ent

Wholly incapacitated with the drug, Sharlene was motionless as Carly proceeded to cut away her entire face, which she dropped onto the table liked a popped balloon.

"Blootiful!" Blurted Carly to the audience and howling insanely walked out of the house.

With blood seeping in gouts from her flayed features, Sharlene began to laugh uncontrollably too, with her new lipless maw, as her sponsors' show rules came into her head.

She mouthed them over and over to the camera until she stopped mouthing anything at all.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Give us full exposure and not just lip service Sharlene."

"Those red lines will save face and save our skins!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Not just lip service!"