I narrowed my eyes. “Al of us? Who is ‘al of us’?”
She bit her lip, scraping off a tiny bit of lipstick from the surface, and looked at my house. “Perry, look, can we talk?
Maybe inside? You must be freezing your knickers off.”
I was only wearing my jogging tank top and pants and the sweat on me had cooled, but I’d never felt warmer. Stil , part of me did miss Rebecca’s company and did yearn to talk to someone different for a change. She also looked a bit awkward, standing on the side of the road like a jilted lover. It would have taken a lot of guts for her to just show up at my house, randomly, especial y when she knew I didn’t want anything to do with that life anymore.
I nodded reluctantly and headed up the driveway, hearing the clip clop of her boots as she fol owed.
Inside, the house was even warmer thanks to the stone-wrought fireplace in the living room that was giving off a cozy amount of heat. It was Saturday so my father was working in the study, grading papers probably, and my mother was out getting groceries. I didn’t feel like introducing Rebecca to my father though (it would have opened a can of worms), so we went upstairs to my room.
“Nice little room,” she said as she gazed at the posters on the wal s. I grabbed my robe from behind the door and told her to stay put while I had my shower. I didn’t need to impress Rebecca but I didn’t want to smel like a dirty gym sock either.
When I was done, feeling refreshed and more able to handle my unexpected visitor, I emerged from the steamy bathroom to hear a few strange squeals and giggles. I walked down the hal to Ada’s room and pushed her door open.
Rebecca was sitting on Ada’s fluffy bed, watching her bring out various amounts of clothes from her closet, an impromptu fashion show.
Ada swirled on the spot, the fringy dress she was holding swaying with her movement.
“Hey!” she said to me with an excited grin. “I was just showing your friend here my closet.”
I tightened my robe and leaned again the doorframe.
“Your entire closet? She’s not staying for a week, Ada.”
“Perry’s right, I just popped by to say hel o,” Rebecca put in.
Ada placed the dress in Rebecca’s hands, who in turn played with the silky fringes.
“Popped by to say hel o and check up on her,” Ada said knowingly.
Rebecca and I exchanged a look. Had Ada been listening to our conversation outside?
Ada shrugged, swung her bleached hair over her shoulder and went back to peering at her overflowing walkin. “What? Rebecca’s your friend, right Perry? If I were your friend and I heard what...” she lowered her voice “...happened to you, I’d come check up on you too.”
“You’re not my friend?” I asked wryly.
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Only because I have to be. Bound by blood and al that.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“So, thank you for showing me your clothes,” Rebecca said as she got up and handed the dress back to Ada. “But Perry and I have got some catching up to do and I real y can’t stay long. And I am checking up on her, natural y. But I just had to come visit her famous fashionista sister as wel .”
She sure knew the right things to say because a pink flush appeared on the apples of Ada’s cheeks and she waved at Rebecca bashful y. Rebecca nervous, Ada bashful; what was going on with people today?
We went back to my room and I shut the door behind us.
I sat on the chair at my desk, feeling a little too exposed, while Rebecca perched graceful y at the edge of my bed.
My bedroom seemed incredibly juvenile with her presence in it.
She drummed her magenta nails across her knees.
“Your sister seems lovely.”
“She can be.”
“You told me you guys weren’t al that close, no?”
I cleared my throat, wanting Rebecca to get to the point, why she was real y here.
“No, we weren’t. But we’re getting better.”
She got the hint and sat up straighter.
“I know you think I’m here because of ulterior motives,”
she began, “like Dex hired me to come here or something ridiculous, but just know it’s not true. Natural y he knows I am here, or that I was going to try and see you, but it was al my idea. I’ve been real y worried-”
“You’ve said that. And you obviously don’t need to be.
Look at me, I’m fine.”
She nodded. “I know. You look…good.”
I could have sworn there was a slight hesitation before “good.”
“Wel , I just got out the shower,” I protested.
“You look fine, Perry.”
Ah, downgraded from Category Good to Category Fine.
What was next? Category OK?
“I wanted to see how you were handling things.”
I opened my mouth to say something but she continued.
“Come on, we both know what Dex did was a terrible, terrible thing. When I found out, I was livid for weeks. I knew how he felt about you-”
The anger built up in my abdomen again and caught the edges of my chest.
“Felt about me?”
“Yes. I mean, he didn’t mean to hurt you. He meant to hurt himself.”
I sprang to my feet, knocking the chair backward.
“I hope he fucking did hurt himself! Look, I don’t care about what Dex did and why he did it. OK? That’s in the past here. We were both to blame. I shouldn’t have been so stupid and I shouldn’t have believed for one minute that he thought of me more as more than a friend.”
“But he does.”