37
AREZOO
Arezoo stood before her closet in a state of complete panic. Every piece of clothing she owned seemed wrong. Too conservative or too casual. Not that she had much to begin with, and she'd worn all of it to work at the café.
What was she supposed to wear for her unsupervised adult outing?
A knock on her door interrupted her mental spiral. "Come in," she called.
Laleh poked her head in, took one look at the clothes strewn across Arezoo's bed, and grinned. "I've heard the incredible news. Do you need help getting ready?"
"Desperately," Arezoo admitted.
Her sister entered and began sorting through the options with the critical eye of a fifteen-year-old who'd been consuming Western fashion content at an alarming rate since gaining internet access.
"This." Laleh held up one of the two pairs of jeans Arezoo owned. "With this." A deep blue blouse that was a little fancier than basic. "You can borrow a necklace from Maman to spruce it up. Accessories show you made an effort without trying too hard."
"Did you learn that from a YouTube video?"
"So what if I did? I've watched so many makeover videos that I'm an expert on Western fashion by now. This outfit says that you are confident and yet approachable. I can send you a link to a video about signaling that you are interested. Apparently, the average guy needs no less than thirty signals to realize that a woman is interested in him."
Arezoo's eyes widened. "Thirty? I don't know how to signal even once."
"I can show you." Laleh pretended to scan the area and then lingered on Arezoo a moment longer before continuing her scan. "See? That signals that you are intrigued. Next time, add a smile to that."
That sounded reasonable, but thirty times? She would look like an idiot. "What else?"
Laleh continued to demonstrate, touching her hair, her neck, and her jaw. It wasn't suggestive, but it seemed to signal insecurity more than anything else.
"How is that supposed to convey that I'm interested?"
"Pheromones," Laleh deadpanned. "Every time you touch your face or neck, it supposedly releases pheromones, and guys get a subconscious message that you are available and interested."
"That's ridiculous. You shouldn't believe everything that you see or hear on the internet."
Laleh shrugged. "Try it and see what works. I'd love to be able to validate or dismiss any of these tips, but for that, I will need to test them personally, and the only immortal boy my age in this entire village is already spoken for. He's in love with a girl that didn't transition yet. There are the Kra-ell boys, but they are too alien-looking and too intense. I'd rather stick to the immortals who look like humans." She grinned. "Very hot humans. Regrettably, I'm off limits until I'm seventeen, so all I can do is drool."
Arezoo shook her head. "Who are you and what have you done with my baby sister, who until recently still played with dolls?"
"The internet," Laleh said. "I realized that at my age, I should be much more aware of boys."
"You should do nothing of the sort." Now she sounded like her mother. "What I meant is that you shouldn't feel pressured to grow up too fast. If you still want to play with dolls, that's perfectly fine. We are destined to become immortals, so there is no rush to do anything. You can enjoy your childhood for as long as you want."
Laleh nodded. "I know. Do you want to know the real reason I still played with dolls at fifteen?"
Arezoo frowned. "Wasn't it because you enjoyed it?"
Laleh shook her head. "I knew that Father was looking to marry off all three of us, and I was scared that he was going to do it before I finished high school. I acted like a little girl so he wouldn't even think of that. But then we were taken, and our abductor didn't care what I acted like. He touched me as if I were a woman, but I didn't want his hands on me." She shuddered. "When we were rescued, I clung to my shield, pretending to beyounger than I was, but when I started to feel safer, I dropped the act and started researching. I found a lot of help on the internet."
Arezoo felt guilty for not realizing that before. She'd been so focused on her own survival that she hadn't noticed her sister doing the same in her own way.
"You are so brave." Arezoo hugged her. "Braver than I am."
Laleh pulled away. "Are you still scared?"
Arezoo sighed. "I'm not scared, but I'm not ready to flirt or signal that I'm interested because I'm not. I can't think of a male that way without remembering what was done to me. To us. Drova doesn't understand that because she's never been in our situation, but you do."
Laleh nodded. "I do, but I won't let fear rule me. If I do, he wins. You know what I mean?"
