Page 18 of Bet on It

Miri was diligent. She prepared the tools she needed for the designs as Aja soaked her hands. During the hand massage portion they decided that instead of acrylic tips, they would just strengthen Aja’s natural nails and do the art on top, using gel polish.

Aja watched in awe as Miri worked, constantly surprised that the other woman was able to carry on a conversation as she created spectacular artwork on such a small scale. Aja sat as still as possible, her eyes glued to the marbled nails slowly coming together in front of her. They spoke some about Aja’s work—Miri seemed incredibly tickled that she was working as the manager of an account she’d definitely seen on Twitter. They also talked about how Miri had gotten into her career. Aja admired the story of the little girl who’d started cleaning up in her aunt’s salon to make extra money to take home to her mother and became enamored with the beauty of nails. Her own career was born out of necessity rather than passion. And while that was perfectly fine with her, she enjoyed seeing people who did something they felt called to do.

For all the problems Fresh Coat may have had, Miri obviously loved it. She was warm and funny and her passion for her work was infectious. Even before they’d finished, Aja had decided that making regular trips there would be a regular part of her schedule. She might not make friends, but she could have this. It was a connection, even if it was temporary and transactional.

When she was finished, Miri took time to inspect her work. Her eyes were sharp as she looked over each of Aja’s nails. Aja wasn’t sure what she was searching for, nor did she see anything she would change. Still, Miri would go back with more polish in some spots or gold dusting in others. The result was more stunning than Aja had imagined.

Each nail had a pale pink base. The faux marble design was darker pink and gray in some spots, and white and gold in others. The designs were incredibly cohesive, but clearly done by hand rather than a stencil. Each nail had slight differences, little cracks or shades, making each one unique. Aja wasn’t sure how she was going to tear her eyes away from them long enough to get anything done.

When Miri was finally satisfied, she made sure Aja was happy before guiding her hands underneath a UV light to dry. They were quiet as Miri went about sanitizing the station.

“You got any plans tonight?” Miri asked almost absent-mindedly. “A hot date?”

Aja snorted. She was excited but nervous as hell about her plans with Walker for the night, and she sure as hell wouldn’t have called them “hot.” “I’m uh… I’m going to bingo actually.”

“Bingo?” Miri made no effort to hide the mirth on her face. “Like, real bingo, or are you talking about some new club I don’t know about?”

“Yeah, actual bingo.” Aja cleared her throat. “I go every week. It helps me get out of the house.”

Miri’s full lips turned down, along with her eyebrows. “Baby girl, if you need to get out the house there are tons of things you can do besides sitting around with them mean old ladies that go to the Greenbelt City Bingo Hall. You know… they ran my granny out after accusing her of cheating by screwing one of the bingo callers. As if my granny would mess around with one of them boring old duds,” she scoffed.

They shared a laugh. Aja understood where she was coming from. There was a reason she was the youngest person there, but bingo had saved her sanity more than once, and she wasn’t ashamed of it.

“I’m… not really outgoing.” That wasn’t the whole story, but it was the only explanation she was willing to give. “I get anxious around new people, and I don’t know that many people in town, so… bingo is what helps me socialize right now.”

Miri eyed her for a few silent moments before her gaze went soft.

“Well, I’m definitely not goin’ to judge you for that. It ain’t like I’m out here doing hip shit everyday either. But on the off chance that you’re interested, me and some friends get together at my house sometimes to watch movies and drink way too much wine. You can come through if you want.”

Aja’s heart jumped into her throat. Had she just received an actual invitation to hang out from a real-life person or was she completely tripping? She ran over Miri’s words twice in her head before she realized that, yes, it had happened. Even still, it was a bombshell.

Miri seemed to take her silence as something other than surprise though, because she fidgeted with the gold bangles on her wrist and frowned. “It’s not even a party,” she insisted. “Just me and two other girls. My friend Jade, who I was telling you about earlier, and my other friend Olivia. You don’t need to dress up or put on makeup or anything. It’s very chill, I promise. But… you can say no, of course. No hard feelin’s or anything.”

Aja didn’t want to say no. With the way her heart was pounding in excitement, she was surprised she hadn’t jumped into the woman’s arms out of pure glee. She didn’t care what they were doing. She probably would have been just as happy if Miri had invited her over to do yard work. She’d gotten a genuine invitation from a woman who was cooler than Aja could ever even hope to be. It was like her brain was moving so fast her mouth couldn’t keep up enough to get any words out. When they finally came, she didn’t even bother trying to mask her joy.

“I’d love that,” she said with a grin. “Actually, I’d love that a lot.”

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