(Read for free here)
I’m tying back my hijab piece as a girl rushes in, mascara and lipstick waving in one hand, makeup brushes and bottles in the other. She sees me, sleeves raised up, water dripping down my arms. Feet still not fully back in my shoes. I was doing wudhu.
She grins at me and apologizes. I grin back.
I see her look down at her phone and then hurriedly start unbottling everything. In one hand she’s curling her eyelashes, with the other she pats her cheeks with some blush. She is obviously in a hurry.
‘My boyfriend decided to surprise me and pick me up today’. She sounded more agitated than excited.
‘Aww that’s cute’ says me, a sucker for any semblance of real life romance.
‘Nooo it’s not’ she wails as she continues to draw her eyes with one hand and her lips with the other. ‘I don’t have any makeup on and he’s already here.’
I didn’t understand why she needed makeup. She looked beautiful. And I told her exactly that. She looked young, maybe 18. She was in warehouse overalls and a hi-vis jacket that was a size too big for her, making her look petite. Her hair was glowing and she had a beautifully sweet smile. I could imagine her with a young lad, cruising down the countryside lanes, laughing, her head thrown…
