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“I mean heaskedyouout.Do you know how many women in the Sisterhood are going to lose their shit when they hear about this? He hasn’t gone out with anybody yet,” Leah said. She sipped her wine and plunked the glass back on the table.
“And he just walked right up to you and asked for your digits,” Abi drawled, snapping a breadstick in two, “Just like he’s a man who knows what he wants.”
“Shocking, right? I mean what are they going to do?” Shoshana said, laughing. Her phone buzzed again, and her hand covered it in her lap. If the sisters heard they gave no indication. She considered telling them what he had told her, about not dating any of the congregants. Would it be a betrayal of a confidence? But then, if she told Abi she was fairly certain Abi would put the word out with a quickness because that was the kind of thing she did.
Not to be malicious, more to save anybody embarrassment down the line. Shoshana almost wished she could check her phone. Because if hewasthe person who was sending her a barrage of messages, it would be a good opportunity to ask him how he felt about that.
“So, are you really going to go?” Leah asked, resting her chin on her hands.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Shoshana said, because she really hadn’t. A part of her was already scrawling her name in glitter gel ink in the margins of her journal, linking it with big, loopy heart chains to his. But it was a small part.
The rest of her was thinking about what it would be like to deep dive into the Beth Elohim community again. Because if she were going to date the guy, she would have to be supportive of his job, right? Did she really have the energy for that?
“Lay off, Lay. She hasn’t decided yet,” Abi told her sister meaningfully and winked at Shoshana over the rim of her wine glass.
“Yeah, Lay,” Shoshana said, putting her tongue out at her. God, she really was twelve, wasn’t she? That’s what thinking about spending time at Beth Elohim did to her.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Leah muttered, biting off a piece of breadstick for emphasis. “I just think it would be cool is all, you were obviously super into each other.”
“How could you even tell that? You were only there for like a minute.” As if she didn’t know. As if Shoshana hadn’t been broadcasting her interest loud and clear ever since she heard the way the evening prayers sounded in his mouth.
“Oh, come on Sho,” Abigail said.
“Fine, okay fine, I’m into the guy. I want to make sex with the guy. Happy?”
“Make sex,” Abi and Leah said together, then both dissolved into laughter. Shoshana’s phone buzzed in her pocket again and this time she pulled it out. If they were going to laugh at her when she was having an emotional conflict, she wasn’t going to hide her annoyance.
“You are both terrible people and I hate you,” she said, but there was no real sting in the words. She said them regularly and never meant it. One of the benefits to having friends who grew up across the street from your house was they knew all the cracks in your foundation.
“You’re only pissy because we know you’re into the guy,” Leah said, triumph in her voice, “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for you to go out with him.”
“Yeah, could be fun. At the very least you’d get a free meal out of it. When’s the last time you went on a real date? How long has it been, Lay?” Abi said, eyeing Shoshana’s phone on the table. It was face down, but it was still buzzing intermittently to announce texts.
“Well she and Kirstie broke up in August--”
“That was last year though. Come on, she’s gone out with people since then, right?”
“I don’t think she’s gone on what you’d call Real Dates. More like swipe-rights, right?” Leah looked at Shoshana for confirmation and Shoshana glared at her. Leah turned her attention back to her sister. “Hookups. Maybe they order a pizza.”
“Are you slut shaming me right now?” Shoshana said, mock indignation making her voice crack. She and Kirstie had been so intertwined in each other’s lives that the breakup meant Shoshana didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to even consider a real date with someone. But she had needs, right?
“Please, your being an egregious slut is one of my favorite things about you, you know that,” Leah said, eyes sparkling. “I get to live vicariously.”
“You won’t be able to do the egregious slut thing with the rabs, though. He’s not that kind of guy,” Abi said thoughtfully, making a show of considering her nails. She wasn’t a person who took time with manicures, but her nails were always neat and well kept.
“Just because he’s a rabbi doesn’t mean he’s not a poon hound, Abi,” Leah said, sounding offended on David’s behalf, “How do you know he’s not in want of a skirt to chase?”
“In want of a skirt to chase,” Abi said, repeating the line back to her sister, “What are we, Jane Austen?”
“You are both too much,” Shoshana said, wiping her hands over her face as she laughed. She decided she should tell them what he’d told her. Not that his honor was at stake or anything, but she suspected he would be deeply uncomfortable if he heard people were speculating about him like this. “The guy isn’t apoon hound. In fact, he basically told me anybody at the synagogue is off limits.”
“Wait, really?” Leah said, sitting up straighter in her chair. “How come? Because they’d be like his boss?”
“That’s what I said. He said it was more something about power imbalances, I like that he’s concerned about questionable consent, though. If you sit back and think about it, that’s a pretty big deal.”
“Really,” Abi said, and something in the way she said it made Shoshana look at her hard. Abi was watching Shoshana with open speculation in her eyes.
Shoshana made a face as if to askwhat the fuckand Abi laughed, lifting her shoulder in a half shrug.
