Page 95 of Okay, Cupid

“It’s not funny!” he says with just as much levity in his voice.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” I try to straighten my face, but when I look at him again, I crack up all over.

“I’m glad that my pain is humorous to you. It didn’t help that all my gender envy came from K-pop idols, with their perfect skin and nice hair, the androgyny that seemed so effortless. God, Jungkook had me spiraling for weeks one time.”

“Would it hurt your feelings if I said I don’t know who that is?”

“No. In fact, it’s probably better that you don’t. I don’t want to cause you any accidental dysphoria.”

“I appreciate it,” I say, hesitating, wondering if I should say the next words that come out of my mouth. “Do you want me to do your makeup?”

“Would you really?”

I nod. “I don’t have your tone for concealer.” Much like Alice, Huy has these golden shades to his light brown skin, and he’s darker than her, so there’s 100 percent no covering up or blending in. But makeup doesn’t begin and end at concealer and foundation. And I can still do plenty with the tools I have on hand.

“That’s okay,” he tells me.

“Then sit.” I grab my primer, and my go-to bag, the place I keep all my usual choices when I don’t want to think too hard about what I’m putting on my face. I signal a space on the floor in front of me.

“Do we have time?” he asks.

“I can do this in five minutes, trust me.” I open the bag.

Huy finally sits down, and once I sit down too, I’m face-to-face with him again. It feels oddly intimate, to be on the floor together. He’s looked at me before, but now, it’s like he’s looking into my soul. He bats his eyelashes like it’s on purpose, and I have to look away.

“I promise it’ll be light,” I tell him. “Nothing heavy.”

“Okay.”

“And if you want it taken off, please just let me know. I’ve got wipes here. It can be washed away in seconds.” I hand him a hair band, showing him how to loop it around his neck first and then pull up to get his hair out of his face.

“Thank you.”

I carefully rub his skin with the primer, and he finally closes his eyes when I ask him to so I can actually focus on something besides the way he’s looking at me. I can imagine bolder greens and yellows making his eyes pop, or maybe even a soft purple on his cheeks. But we’re not going for anything out of the box, not right now. With no concealer or foundation to use, it means that I get to focus on his eyes, and since this is a test for him, I decide to go a little more natural. Deep browns with golden undertones that match his skin almost perfectly.

He smiles as I bat his face with the brush.

“What?” I ask him.

“Feels weird.”

“You get used to it.”

With the first layer looking good, I grab a softer pink shade for his lips, applying a thin layer. “Look at me,” I tell him, and his eyes open. “Do your lips like this.” I press mine closer together, making them an awkward line and rubbing them together like I do to get my gloss to spread evenly.

Huy laughs again and does exactly what I say.

“Don’t laugh. You have to do it.”

“I’m doing it!” he argues, closing his eyes again when I grab the eye shadow palette, settling on my natural nude colors, going for a soft brown and a harsher brown to really bring out the shape of his eyes and the warmth of his gaze.

“Open again.”

When he does this, his eyes pop with the softer color that now surrounds them. He doesn’t look like a new person—I’m good, but not that good. But the softer touch brings out his eyes so well.

“I’m going to do eyeliner.” I show him the pen. “Then mascara, and you’ll be done.”

“Okay.” He closes his eyes again.