Even if the stars don't shine

Night-time Lover

  She took his right hand and dragged him off the stool, pulling him to coffee table and sitting him down on the floor, then doing the same opposite the corner of the table. She laid out the colours, black, sparkly light blue, pink, and red. The blue one had the words: Metallic Shimmer.

  "So," she started, "we have," she picked up the black one, "Night-time Lover," she put on a weird voice making him smirk and then chose the sparkly blue, "Ice Queen," then the pink one, "Blush," lastly she held the red one, "and the last contender is... Flash that Fireman," she burst out laughing and composed herself.

  He furrowed his brows. "Who comes up with these names?"

  She shrugged heavily. "I have no idea but bless them... Anyway, pick one."

  "For-?"

  "For you, I'll show you how to do it on you then you can practise on me," she sat up straight and fixed the polishes straight, pushing them forward to present to him. "I dunno know, I think the black matches your aesthetic," she waved her hand over him.

  The side of his lips tugged upwards. "Okay..."

  She picked it out from the line-up. "Now for mine..." she thought, "I don't know whether I'm in that much of a sparkly mood, you know?"

  He nodded even though he wasn't sure as to why.

  "But pink and red are kinda dull compared, thoughts?"

  "Sparkly..." weird.

  She nodded. "You're right, who was I to doubt?" she picked up the black one and took his hand. "So it's usually just three strokes, okay?" She twisted off the lid and took his thumb. "One stroke down the middle," she did so, "to the left and right," and showed him.

  He'd been spying her face during the beginning and toward the end knew he had to pay attention.

  She wiped off the slightest bit on his skin beside with her own thumb. "And the cool thing about mistakes is," she got up to go to the kitchen and sort through the bags, "they're easy to fix."

  He watched her dip a Q-tip into a container marked: Nail Polish Remover.

  She stroked the end of the Q-tip gently against his skin to remove the mistake and sat back. "Easy," she looked up at him for confirmation.

  He nodded.

  She did the same process on his forefinger. "One, two, three," she recited as she went along to his pinkie. "Now, don't let that touch anything cause this smudges way too easily," she rolled her eyes. She was about to ask for his left hand when she remembered. Instead she picked up the blue one and handed it to him. "Careful," she warned.

  It wasn't difficult to follow, nevertheless he wanted to get it perfect so, he took her hand in his left and held her carefully while putting her method into practise. He went over once or twice, which she was quick to say was okay, he smiled each time she did that.

  She handed him the Q-tips and remover to fix his own on her one hand, still having to do the second. "Okay, let me check for smudges." He spread his fingers. She nodded with a grin. "You're surprisingly good at this..." she commented and gave him a suspicious look before giving him her other hand.

  He learnt from the last time rather quickly and almost perfected the craft. He could see she was in awe. She surveyed his work carefully. "How'd I do?"

  She took a moment. "Magnificently..." she glanced up at his small smile as the timer on her phone went off. "Okay... this'll be hard," she predicted and stood.