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“You’re a big baby, Sho. It doesn’t hurt that bad,” Leah said, brandishing a pair of tweezers in one hand and a spoolie brush in the other.
“You said you were going to do my eyebrows--like some light landscaping. You did not say rip my face off,” Shoshana complained, glaring at her friend. She twisted on the toilet seat and grimaced, her fingers going to touch her eyebrow. Why was it plucking a certain way made you want to sneeze? What even was that about?
“Well I wouldn’t have to do so much if you bothered at all.” Leah sniffed then scrutinized Shoshana’s face. “This falls under the heading of ‘general care and maintenance’ you get that right?”
“My eyebrows are always groomed,” Shoshana said, and sat up straighter on the toilet seat. “I still have two, instead of you know, just the one!”
“No thanks to you,” Leah said, pointedly plucking a stray hair above the bridge of Shoshana’s nose. “You’re welcome.”
“Bitch. What time is it?” Shoshana said, but she was laughing now. Leah stuck her tongue out at her, but she did offer her a warm washcloth. Shoshana put it to her brows to dull the sting.
“You don’t have to meet him for two hours,” Leah soothed, “you have plenty of time. Where are you going, anyway?”
“He wouldn’t tell me. He just said downtown. Apparently, he’s going to give me a location at six so I can’t decide to cancel.”
“Shit, he’s definitely got your number,” Leah said, laughing. She sat back to consider her handiwork.
“Is it weird going out on a date on a Sunday night? I feel like maybe it’s weird.”
“I mean when else would you go out? Friday and Saturday are booked, and even Sun-dayhe’s busy with Hebrew school. Remind me what you’re wearing again?”
Shoshana gestured to the space outside of the bathroom. Leah stuck her head out and considered the outfit hanging on the closet door. She shrugged, making a face that said it would do, then stuck her hand deep into her makeup bag to rummage.
“Did you know Baxter gave him the business?”
“He said something about that, but I didn’t know what that meant? David, I mean, he mentioned it. That just doesn’t sound like Bax,” Shoshana said as she put the washcloth back on the counter and used the edge of a hand towel to dry her face.
“Well, Bax is going through a thing, he’s extra protective right now,” Leah said, her tone cryptic.
Shoshana’s mouth twisted, but Leah didn’t expand on it. She lifted a makeup palette and opened it, then immediately snapped it shut.
“You need pinks, not yellows. Cherry tones, I think.”
Shoshana let her mutter to herself. She could certainly do her own makeup, but she enjoyed letting Leah fuss over her. Well, if she was being honest, she liked it when anyone fussed over her. She so rarely had time for it.
She glared at the small, clouded glass window behind Leah. They couldn’t see out, but the window was wonderful for natural light, meaning putting on makeup in this bathroom was a dream. After a long moment she glanced at her friend.
“Be honest: Do you think I’ve lost it?”
“Well sure, but do you mean more than usual?” Leah said, lifting a few eyeliner pencils and peering at their names.
When Shoshana didn’t answer she looked up and caught her friend’s expression. Leah dropped the eyeliners into the basin of the sink and stepped around Shoshana’s knees to sit on the edge of the tub. She put her hand on Shoshana’s. Her touch was kind, but her expression was a little amused.
“Sho, seriously?”
“I feel like I’m losing it,” Shoshana said, glaring at a bit of dead skin around her cuticle, “Like, I saw the guy and he was hot, and then he saw me and we exchanged numbers, and then he kept asking me out, and--”
“And that’s the definition of losing it?” Leah said, incredulous, “I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s supposed to work.”
“I like him a lot, Lay,” Shoshana said. Every word felt like its own separate confession. She glared at the patch of skin around her cuticle, wanting to rip at it with her teeth. After a moment she sighed, deciding if she was going to admit to it, she may as well admit to all of it. “Like, alota lot. And that’s so weird because I’ve only known him for a butt hair.”
“Well now I know you’re okay, you’re using a perfectly rational unit of measure,” Leah said, then slapped Shoshana’s hand away when she made as though to smack her. “You’re only weirded out because of who he is, you know. If you met this guy literally anywhere else, you’d have him in bed already.”
“Hey now that isnottrue,” Shoshana said, indignantly. “Well, I mean not entirely.”
“I happen to love that my friend owns her sexuality,” Leah said, and Shoshana giggled because it was hard not to at a statement so ridiculous. Leah gave Shoshana a long, considering look before picking up one of the eyeliner pencils again and lecturing it. “It’s not weird that you’re nervous about getting back into Beth Elohim.”
“I’m not, though. Just because I’m going out with the rabbi doesn’t mean I’m getting back into shul,” Shoshana said, the laughter gone from her voice. There was something like a stone in the pit of her stomach. She got up from the toilet, leaning over the sink to inspect the damage to her eyebrows in the wide mirror.
