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“Hey Nicole?” she called through the closed door. “Can you zipper me?”
“Cohen, this had better be the best damned date of your entire life!” Nicole yelled, but a moment later the door flung open.
It took Nicole only a second to zip Raina’s dress, but to Raina it felt like a million years.
Date. Date. Date. Date.
Was this a date?
Before Raina could overthink too much, she found herself forced into a desk chair as Nicole yanked on strands of her hair.
“I like it down,” Raina tried to protest.
“Relax, I’m just doing a waterfall braid. Can you do your own makeup?”
“Not well.”
Nicole nodded, and once she finished Raina’s hair, she picked up a stick of mascara. Raina recognized it as one she’d gotten as a birthday gift years ago and never used. How had Nicole found it?
“Turn around.”
“Do not make me look like a raccoon,” Raina warned.
“I will absolutely make you look like a raccoon.”
ChapterNineteen
Raina fidgeted with her dress, attempting to pull it down as Nicole hustled her downstairs. They’d compromised on Raina wearing a pair of sheer black tights, but Raina was still worried the dress was too short.
“Stop touching,” Nicole hissed, batting her hands away.
“Sorry!”
Raina took the last step into the common room, stumbling slightly in Gracie’s heels. It took a second for her to regain her bearings before she looked up at Jesse.
“Hi,” she said, mentally kicking herself when she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
But how was she supposed to think of anything to say when he was dressed in navy pants and a white button-up, the top button undone and sleeves rolled up to his elbows? She didn’t think Jesse even knew what he had done—in her community, during summer camps, it was tradition to wear blue and white on Shabbat. Jesse had managed to pull off what the straight-laced, buttoned-up boys from her community never did, and now Raina couldn’t tear her eyes away.
“Hi,” Jesse breathed, also seemingly at a loss for words. “You…you look amazing.”
“Is it too much?” Raina asked nervously, reaching down to pull at her dress again, but Nicole’s scowl had her fingers freezing.
“No,” Jesse’s answer was quick, his face red as their eyes met once more. “You look great.”
“Thank you.” Raina blushed. “You look good, too.”
Nicole coughed when neither of them spoke again. “Okay, I did not spend the past half hour making Cohen look presentable for you two to stare at each other in the common room.”
Raina turned to her and smiled. “Thank you, Nicole,” she said sincerely.
Nicole waved her hand in the air. “Whatever. I have work to do. Now go away, you’re taking up my precious time.”
Raina grinned as she followed Jesse out of the room. “I think she’s warming up to me.”
“You know, I think so too. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not complaining.”
They got some curious stares as they walked through the corridors, but neither Raina nor Jesse paid them any mind.
