Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Author:Ling Ling Huang [Huang, Ling Ling]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

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Saturday night. It is crowded on the train. We squeeze together, trying to angle our bodies in the least offensive way to everyone around us. It is too loud to talk, so we smile tiredly at each other. Helen drifts in and out of sleep next to me. We are so close I can feel the heat of her breath on my cheek. Her hair smells like orange blossoms warmed in honey. The turbulence pushes and pulls us. Lilith is somewhere to the left, out of sight. Every time Helen and I are pressed together, I linger, unsticking at the last possible second.

“Who was that guy?” Helen asks when we exit the train. She rubs her eyes with both hands like a child.

“We went to school together.”

“Yeah, we know that part,” Lilith huffs.

“He was at the Conservatory with me. We had the same piano teacher.”

“He’s really hot. Did you guys date?” she asks.

“No. We slept together a few times, though,” I admit.

“I knew it. He’s definitely still interested in you.”

My laugh echoes into the empty street. “He wasn’t even interested in me then. We just have a lot of history. We basically grew up together, eight years with the same teacher in the same school . . . What you’re sensing, it’s probably that.”

Lilith doesn’t look convinced. “You slept together multiple times.”

“Conor slept with everyone. He’s a great pianist, and a lot of people were drawn to his talent,” I say. It was unfortunate that my skill had inspired the opposite effect.

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