Page 10 of Roar for Me
“It looks good to me.” He watched her through the screen, noting the way her shoulders sagged and the dark circles under her eyes. “You could have messaged me and said you were too tired tonight. We could have rescheduled.”
“Sorry, I’m not thinking straight.”
Duncan laughed and leaned toward the laptop. “Maybe we should exchange phone numbers, so we don’t have to log into the app every time we need to talk?” Was that too flirty?
“Sure.” Aurora pulled up the chat bar and typed in her number. “That sounds much easier.”
“I’ll get to work on these edits, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“That sounds fantastic. I’m off work tomorrow. I can talk anytime.”
“Sounds good. Tomorrow, then.”
“Night!” Aurora waved at him, then hung up the call.
It was school picture day. Aurora sat with her class, prepping for her photo. The girls had brought their lip gloss and their brushes with them, but only Aurora had thought to bring a compact mirror.
“Hey, Aurora, can I borrow your mirror?” Laura asked.
“Sure.” Aurora handed it off to her classmate.
Laura used the mirror to reapply her lip gloss. Right as she was handing it back to Aurora, Duncan snatched the compact away.
“Hey, let me see that!”
“Duncan! Give it back!” Stuck in the constrictive auditorium seat with Laura between them, Aurora reached for her mirror.
“I just want to see it for a second.”
“You could ask.” She tried to grab it back, but he kept it out of her reach. “I said, give it back!”
He’d opened it and was reflecting the light all around. It landed on Alan’s face, who was sitting in front of the photographer. The photographer turned around.
“Where’s that light coming from?” The teacher was heading over! She had to stop him.
“Duncan, stop it!” He laughed and continued to taunt her.
“Sorry, Laura.” Aurora lunged across her and snatched the mirror out of Duncan’s hand.
“No worries,” Laura assured her, having pulled back in her seat.
“Miss Wilson!” At her name, Aurora spun around. Mrs. Bell was glaring at her, hands on her hips. “Put that away, and don’t let me see it again!”
“But—”
“And see me after class.” Mrs. Bell stalked away.
“Ooooooo,” Duncan teased.
Aurora shot daggers at him with her eyes as heat inflamed her cheeks. She plopped back into her seat, shoved the mirror into her backpack, and crossed her arms. Sixth grade was the worst.
“So, kiddo, what will it be?”
They had both crammed around Aurora’s sewing desk in her craft room. Cabinets of various shapes and sizes stood around the room to hold her varied hobby supplies. The previous owner’s pink floral wallpaper peeked out in the spaces between the cabinets. Snips of yarn, fabric, and thread clung to the old pink carpet. Aurora popped open her nail polish case and started setting up.
“It’s spirit week next week, so let’s do gold and blue.”
Aurora pulled out a couple of polish bottles. “How about navy with the gold sparkle over the top?”
