Goldie had sent her a few more pictures of later courses in her meal, a photo of a glass of water to prove she was drinking it, and finally, a photo of her long, narrow torso with a lacy bralette on top. Her wavy brown hair dangled at her sides. She then sent a few more photos, trying different angles, and then one without the bra but with her hair over her chest and the caption "tried to do the lady Godiva thing but I think my hairs is still a bit too short for that lollll"

And then just her bare chest, photo clearly taken in front of her bathroom mirror. Nina could still see the faintly purple bite marks she'd left on Goldie, matching with the marks on Nina herself.

Goldie: your turn ❤️

Nina tugged her t-shirt off over her head and undid the clasp of her bra in the back, shrugging off one strap. Tried not to overthink it. Snapped a photo. Hit send. 

Goldie: tease

Nina: I see you're shivering with antici....

Goldie: SAY IT

She let her bra fall to the floor. Snapped a photo again. Hit send.

Nina: pation.

Goldie: yes!!!

Goldie: we should go see rocky horror sometime by the way if you like it my friend's in a shadow cast 

Nina: sure that could be fun

Goldie: yayyyy

Goldie: can't wait to see u Saturday xxx

Nina sent back "me neither" and realized as she sent it that she meant it. 

But did she want to see Rocky Horror with Goldie? Did she want to go on a date with her? Or did she just miss the feeling of Goldie's soft skin on hers?

Around noon the next morning she got a text saying "yeah that was a little much for a weeknight". The lack of capitalization or emoji somehow making the line look contrite.

Goldie: sorry about all of the above lol

Nina: all of it? Really?

Goldie: ... Maybe not all of it

Goldie: you probably think I'm way too attached though right it hasn't even been a week

Nina: well, the sex was really good and I would like to do it again

Nina: and I wouldn't mind getting to know you better, generally

She tried to think of a nice way to say "bewitched body and soul might be a bit of a stretch, also since I'm Jewish calling me bewitching might be an antisemitic microaggression", but then Graham came by and she shoved her phone in her pocket and forgot to check it again until her break a few hours later.

She put her frozen Trader Joe's box meal in the microwave and checked her messages while the plastic spun, buzzing in her ears.

Goldie: but I'm still like way too invested already aren't I 

Goldie: I always do this when I like someone I get very clingy right away haha

Goldie: you're lucky you're not in town I'd be hitting you up every day if you were

Nina looked at the string of messages consideringly, and then, carefully, typed out, "maybe I wouldn't mind that."

If she lived in town. Who was she kidding, even if she lived in NYC she'd be deep in a borough about as reachable from Goldie's apartment as Middlewater was. She might even be on Staten Island, if she could afford that much. Still, it was fun to pretend for a moment.

The microwave beeped.

Eloise from Nina's high school French class and more recently the knitwear store called Wooly Thinking came by shortly after Nina's lunch break ended and she was back on the floor, taking her turn at the register while Roni and Kate stocked. "I've decided to get into bookmaking," Eloise announced, to the store at large. She was already wearing a branded employee cardigan (which the store made, for some reason) in preparation for her shift later that day (because the sweaters and scarves store was open later than the art store, for another, different mysterious reason). Her glossy black hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail.

"Oh, hi," said Nina from the register. 

"Hey yourself," Eloise replied, then wandered off into the aisles before returning with a stack of basic bookbinding supplies: fancy paper, a bone folder, awl, needles and thread, that wax block thing Nina remembered from the one book arts class she did in undergrad. 

"What prompted this?" Nina asked as she scanned the items.

Eloise shrugged. "I want to make pretty sketchbooks, maybe sell them online later. Maybe put together some of my writing into a chapbook or something."

That's right, Nina remembered, she was an English minor in college. She'd finished a chemistry degree to appease her parents, barely graduated, and then decided she never wanted to see a test tube ever again and would work at her old summer job until she "figured stuff out." So, like Nina, recovering. 

"Well, I hope it turns out nice!" Nina smiled. She gave Eloise her membership discount. "You can go ahead and tap your card, by the way."

"Wow, it is weird to hear your customer service voice," Eloise said as she did so. "Do you wanna get dinner sometime this week?" 

"Sure. Uh, not Saturday though, I have something then..."

"I'm off at five tomorrow, do you wanna meet at the Lotus after you close here?"

"Sounds good." 

"Do you guys wanna come too?" Eloise asked the other employees, hovering nearby. "I'll trade you Wooly Thinking gossip for art store gossip." Eloise had always been like that, the rare type who could be friends with everyone and stay neutral when the school lunch tables were getting torn apart by a breakup. She won homecoming queen senior year over the cheerleaders nominated for the position by simply being more well liked as a person than the rest of them. Even Nina voted for her, remembering the time she made cupcakes for everyone the day after the French 3 final exam.

"I have plans and a long commute," Kate said apologetically, and Roni said "thesis" in the same tone. 

"Guess it'll be a regular high school reunion, then. Thank you for helping me pick the paper, Kate! See ya tomorrow, Neen!" Eloise waved goodbye on her way out, ponytail swinging.

"Have fun," said Kate, waving after her. The glass door slammed shut with a weak jingle of the bell over the door frame.

"Have you ever done bookbinding?" Nina asked Kate.

Kate shrugged. "Just in school, but paper's paper, and I did remember some stuff from printmaking class."

"Have you made anything new recently?" Roni asked her, and Kate lit up. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and leaned against the front counter so Roni and Nina could both admire the precise, 5-layer recreation of a frame from a TV show in a box. It had several thousand likes on Instagram already.

"Wow," Nina said.

"That's really cool," Roni said.

Kate beamed, then went to show Graham in the back.

"How do you think Wooly Thinking can afford the sweaters and long hours?" Nina mused to Roni. "Mob front?"

Roni snorted. "The mob has too much dignity to name a store that. No, I think it's because cashmere sweaters are expensive and Middlewater people are rich."

"Yeah, that makes more sense."

Eloise probably got very different customers at her store than the art supply store had. A lot less students, for one. Probably as many tourists, though, especially with that display from the local historical society in the back. 

Nina idly wondered if Goldie had ever worked customer service before. It seemed a bit rude to ask outright, but she wondered.

Nina went home after work and stared at her painting, still untitled. Then took it off the easel and put another blank canvas on it. Slapped a layer of red-tinged acrylic primer on while she thought about what to paint. Her mom called her up to dinner. She was still thinking. 

Maybe she didn't need to do another painting after all, and should just pull out her tablet and work on her spot illustrations for a made up magazine article. That didn't seem like the right answer. She should try to push what she was starting to work out in the first painting further. The fleshy, sculptured textures... There was no way she was actually the first artist to paint like that, what did Goldie even mean when she said it looked new...

"Earth to Nina," her mom said, waving a hand in front of her face.

"I'm listening," she said automatically. "Oh, I won't be home for dinner tomorrow. Going to Lotus with Eloise after work."

"Have fun," said her dad. "And you're not going to the lecture on Saturday, right?"

"Nope," Nina confirmed, and took a deep breath. "I am going to invite someone over while you guys are gone. Can she stay the night? She's from out of town."

"In your room?" Her mom asked. Nina nodded.

"Sure. The air mattress and extra bedding are in the basement."

She wondered if they'd have been so quick to permit it if they knew what Nina and her friend from out of town were planning to get up to in her room, alone. The thought thudded under her chest, down into her stomach. The thrill of a secret, of getting away with something, and of course, the thrill of desire being met.