Page 27 of Later Bloom

Aubrey insists, “Wha—it’s true!”

The floor shakes a little from music booming in the background. Around them, the crowd stands in groups and the chatter is indecipherable except for laughter and squeals that echo from every corner of the room. The air is dim. Rami’s face creases in amused disbelief.

“Come on, no it’s not!”

“It is, yeah! Really!” It’s a nice feeling, for a second, that Aubrey’s biggest insecurity is a source of fun and teasing and a smile on this guy’s face. She likes to watch his lips split in a grin and his eyes squint. He throws his head back and says, “No way!”

Aubrey laughs into her cup. “Come on, it’s not that big a deal!”

“No, no, I know! It’s just, you know. Damn.” Rami scratches his jaw as he casts a slow look around the stuffy room. “Lucky you, right? No baggage and all.”

“That’s one way to look at it, yeah.”

His eyes are a little heavy. He says, “I do think you’re cute,” almost like he’s doing her a favour.

Aubrey snorts. “Wow, thanks.”

“So, what’s wrong with you, then?”

Rami’s expression still promises he’s kidding. It’s funny, and light, and there’s music, and they’re at a party.

So Aubrey just smiles and says, “Very funny.”

“Ah, I’m just messing with you. Everyone’s got red flags, yeah?”

He doesn’t wait for her answer, and probably doesn’t notice when she fails to keep her smile from wavering. Just like that, he turns and signals at someone across the room, and he shouts at a friend and holds his finger up as if to say, just a minute. Then he turns back and says, “Listen, I guess we might see each other in class?”

All Aubrey finds to say is, “Okay.”

He gets up and returns his attention to whoever he spotted elsewhere. For a moment Aubrey just sits there on this oversized couch, watching the bodies and faces moving and interacting around her, hands on arms and waists and lips on cheeks and lips. She feels impossibly detached from the scene, out of place as if she doesn’t have the right to be there. She texts Maggie asking where she is. A response comes in almost immediately—second-floor bathroom.

Maggie is bent over the counter to stand as close to the mirror as possible when Aubrey knocks and nudges the door ajar.

“Come in,” Maggie says, in an odd voice because she’s got her mouth open and her head tilted back. She’s reapplying gloss and groaning at her reflection. “Where have you been?”

Aubrey smiles at Maggie in the mirror. “You missed me.”

“I hope you were having a good time.”

“I was talking to a man.”

“Oh.” Wiping at the corners of her mouth, Maggie twists her neck to look back at Aubrey. “Very intriguing. Tell me all of it.”

A collection of beauty products is lined carefully along the vanity, face creams and cleansers and toners from different brands. There are six different toothbrushes in a single holder, a rainbow of colours.

“Not much to tell, really. He was cute, sort of funny. We have class together.”

“Cute and funny? Such passionate language.”

“Ha ha.”

“Why are you here now instead of with him?”

“Conversation came to a natural end, I guess. He spotted a friend.”

“Did he get your number?”

Aubrey says, “He said we’ll see each other in class,” because it’s easier than saying no.