Page 47 of All Our Almosts

One of the new girls flushes her toilet.

“Well, the market for foundation has big gaps,” Rayna says. “Most major brands are not shade inclusive at all, and even when dark shades are available they don’t have nearly as many undertones as the light shades.”

The low-voiced bathroom girl shouts “So true!” from her stall, making all of us laugh.

“So anyway, it’s a specific hole in the market that I’m trying to fill.”

“That’s amazing. Do you do your own marketing and everything?”

She lifts her fingers from where they were anchored on my cheeks. “That’s how I got into content creation, yeah. You’re done by the way.”

I open my eyes and turn towards the mirror. “Oh my god, I love it! Thank you.” I move my head from side to side to see all of the angles as Rayna and Lia start clearing the sink.

“So Soph,” Lia adds, “see how it’s basically straight? You do yours too curved up, but you can just go straight out with it.”

“I see that. It looks so good. Thank you, Rayna.”

“No worries,” she smiles. “Happy to help.”

“You have to send me a link to your brand. I don’t use foundation that much but I’ll share it everywhere.”

“That would be amazing,” Rayna says before pulling out her own dark red lipstick and applying it liberally.

“I can’t believe you run a business and make content and have time to date.”

“Lucky me.” Lia grabs her around the waist and kisses her cheek.

“Well,” Rayna laughs, “Lia’s as busy as I am so it kind of works out. Are you seeing anyone?”

“Recent breakup actually.”

“Oh, sorry.” Rayna cringes like she’s not sure if the topic is forbidden

“Don’t be. He was an asshole.”

“Lia!” Rayna scolds.

“She’s kind of right,” I admit.

“Well, then I’m sorry about that too,” Rayna says.

Then the high-voiced girl in the second stall yells “Fuck him!” and we’re all laughing again.

“You know,” Rayna starts again, “I don’t want to ask a question that I’m not supposed to ask, but… has Andy ever made a move on you?”

I let out a staccato laugh that’s way too loud. “No, definitely not.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” I feel myself start to sweat. “He’s not into me like that.”

“Come on,” Lia says, but when I snap my head in her direction I see she’s talking to her wayward curls.

“Well, are you getting back out there with anyone yet?” Rayna asks.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been feeling super confident lately. I tried going on a date last weekend but it was horrible. At least one of us was extremely boring and I couldn’t tell if it was me or him. I might just try celibacy. Or get back with my ex. Who knows.”

“Fuck that,” Lia spits, still wrapping her damp strands into finger curls. “Your confidence is just low right now because Elliot sucked it out of you and you haven’t rebounded yet. I think you should go out there tonight, pick a hot guy, and just dance with him. Don’t overthink it.”