I could be anyone you want me to be. I could change my hair as easily as these lashes, buy thick librarian glasses because I know that’s your kink.
Writing by Ashley McCurry
Art by Featured Artist Summer Benton
Eyelashes
I wonder if you’d want to try again if you saw me with these eyelashes. If I had fluttered these Tammy Faye cartoon lashes at you, instead of seducing my ex-boyfriend from high school, maybe you’d have stayed. It was that talent show performance, his Tom Waits growl under those searing stage lights, that came flooding back when he messaged me. It reminded me of another version of myself, of happiness.
If I had exhibited self-restraint, we might be watching Star Trek and eating cold pizza, wrapped in the blue wedding blanket your mother made.
I apply mascara under unforgiving fluorescence and stare at dishwater grey peeking through layers of cakey concealer. During my pinup phase those last few months, I was never without my trademark cat-eye and crimson lip—just pretty enough for a midlife crisis. You always said I was more beautiful without all the makeup, but he had a type.
I could be anyone you want me to be. I could change my hair as easily as these lashes, buy thick librarian glasses because I know that’s your kink.
I could lose or gain weight and be goth this time instead of pinup and sing you love songs from a high school talent show. I could force my way back while you battle a restless sleep, with one phone notification, without your consent.
About The Author
Ashley is a chronically anxious Xennial who writes flash fiction and reads for lit mags. She currently lives on a mountain with her best-friend-turned-spouse and four rescue dogs, in a home full of 80s music, horror movies, and vintage arcades. You can find her work in FlashFlood Journal, Switch Microfiction, Surely Magazine, Sky Island Journal, and others. She’s probably drinking iced coffee and thinking about Halloween right now.
About The Artist
Summer Benton is a 25 year old Chicago based artist and writer with a passion for creating stuff that makes people happy. She loves to draw all the same things she did when she was a kid, like butterflies, and flowers, and her dream wardrobe. Summer’s work is playful to the extreme, whimsical to the max, and color saturated within an inch of its life. Her first picture book, The Fanciest Flower, is set to be published by Harper Collins next year.
Insta/Tiktok: @sumbenton
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