Page 89 of Truth

“Hi, Julie. How’ve you been?”

Julie hugged Lily. “Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Although I did hear back from that guy I met at the gym. We’re going out on Friday.”

Hearing Julie talk to Lily settled my nerves a little. She didn’t seem dangerous.

Just when I started to breathe a little easier, however, her attention refocused on me. “And this must be Brianna.”

She held out her hand. I looked at it for longer than I should have before taking it. “Hi.”

“Lily tells me this is your first time getting waxed.”

I looked at Lily, eyes wide. What should I say?

When neither of us responded, Julie cocked her head to the side and wrinkled her brow. “Did I misunderstand?”

My anxiety began to rise again. This woman didn’t know me. I didn’t know her. There was no way I could tell her... tell her all of those things...

Lily took hold of my hand and pulled me closer to her. “Brianna’s been waxed before, but it wasn’t a good experience. I was hoping you could do me first so she can watch and see it’s not so bad.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Yeah. There are some really bad estheticians out there. It was a man, right?”

I managed a small nod.

“They’re the worst, especially when it comes to Brazilians. Like ripping a huge chunk of hair from our lady bits won’t hurt. Please! I’d like to see how they’d react if someone did the same thing to their balls.” She laughed and walked to the back of the room.

Once she was several feet away, Lily leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You going to be okay?”

“I have to be.”

“You don’t have to be anything, Brianna. If you don’t want to do this, then you tell me. I know it’s what Stephan wants, but he’ll get over it. He won’t want you to be traumatized over this either.”

Julie glanced up from where she was now sitting on a rolling stool. It was similar to the one I’d seen in Dr. Cooper’s office. That brought with it the memory of lying there, panicked, while Dr. Cooper examined me. Stephan had been there that time. He’d been there when I’d needed him. I remembered the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice. Shh. No one is going to hurt you, Brianna.

No one was going to hurt me. Stephan would never have asked this of me if he didn’t know it was safe.

Lily hadn’t moved from her spot even though Julie was waiting. She looked as if she were about to call the whole thing off.

“I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“We ready to get this show on the road?” Julie patted the end of the table.

Lily hugged me and then began removing her clothes.

I stood off to the side, still hugging my purse, while she climbed up on top of the table. Julie covered her discreetly with a large, white towel.

“You can pull that chair over if you’d like.” Julie was turned away from me as she spoke.

Looking behind me, I noticed a chair pushed up against the wall. Without moving it, I sat down.

“The usual, Lily?”

“Yep. Make me hair-free.” Lily made a sweeping motion with her hands down her body, and they both laughed. Neither of them appeared to be nervous about what was about to happen. Knowing that, I concentrated on my breathing and staying calm.

Julie dipped what looked to be a wooden tongue depressor into a ceramic pot. When she pulled it out, it was covered in hot wax. I cringed as she put the wax on Lily’s leg.

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