Page 67 of Friendshipped
Laura has me sit. She removes my beanie. I’m not going to say a collective gasp goes up around the room, but … a collective gasp goes up around the room.
“I’ve seen worse,” Laura says
“When?” I ask.
“Put your phone away, Mable!” Laura shouts in the direction of one of the seniors in town sitting a few stations down from us. “Or I’ll tell Harold you aren’t a natural brunette anymore.”
“You wouldn’t!” Mabel answers in a high-pitched tone of voice, her eyes wide.
“Don’t test me,” Laura says with a smile, but she looks at Mable like a mother who caught her child sneaking out of nap time.
“You’ll make a great mom someday,” I tell her.
“Because I can intimidate senior citizens?” she asks.
Laura pulls out a bowl of hair dye and stirs it with the applicator brush.
“I’ll be lucky If I can find a man to fall in love with me,” Laura says.
“Speaking of men,” I ask while Laura undoes my braid, parts my hair and sets to work. “How was the rest of your date last weekend with that guy Joe? Do you like him?”
“Can I be honest with you?”
“I hope so.”
“He wasn’t Rob. I think I’m doomed. I keep going out with really great guys hoping I’ll like one of them enough to move on. Don’t tell Trevor, please.”
“I won’t. And I get it.”
“Do you?”
How do I tell Laura I’ve been going out with men in an attempt to try to extinguish my desire for Trevor? I can’t. She’d push me to act on my feelings, which would not be good. I don’t need women like Laura or Felicia taking over my dating life.
I switch the conversation to something more approachable. Something not about Trevor.
“There’s this new guy at our work.”
“Ohhh? Do tell,” Laura says.
“He’s insanely gorgeous. Way out of my league.”
“You shortchange yourself, girlfriend. Maybe while you looked like a Lemonhead you might have scared him off. But your natural beauty and your personality make you a catch.”
“Thank you,” I say, looking down at my hands and then meeting her eyes in the mirror.
“He’s making a hovercraft,” Laura says.
“What?”
“Rob. He’s making some contraption he can stand on or sit in and fly. The man is like no other. On the surface he appears boring, you know? But he’s like those caves we visited in West Liberty. On the outside it’s a hole in a cliffside. But inside it was all stalagmites and stalactites with stunning crystals and those reflective pools. He goes on forever like those caverns. Always something new to discover and be in awe over.”
Laura’s eyes look like they are staring off through the mirror, seeing something far away and only for her.
“You love him,” I breathe out in almost a whisper.
Laura stares at me, her face resigned.
“Too much for my own good,” she says.
