“I figured it was the least I could do since you let me borrow your wheels.”
“I really appreciate it.” I gave him a halfhearted smile.
He took a deep breath and looked around awkwardly. A dump truck rumbled past and dried leaves kicked into the air. “So, I guess I better get going.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, Evie.” His hand was on the door. “You okay, I mean you don’t look so good.” He flustered. “I mean you always look good…” His face burned red. “Ah, what I meant to say was you don’t look so good right now. Shit! This isn’t coming out right.” He shook his head.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “I’ll be fine,” I told him even though I wasn’t so sure. “And thank you for getting my window fixed.” I leaned forward and gave him a quick hug. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around me. His hand brushed down the length of my hair. I stayed like that for a moment, letting him hold me. It was nice, the hug…I needed a hug.
Barnaby pulled away first. He gave me a lopsided grin and adjusted his glasses. “I’ll see you later, okay.”
“Yep, I’ll see you.” I grabbed my bag and keys and climbed out of the car. Turning, I shut the door.
Barnaby stood on the other side of my car like he was going to say something. “About last night…”
“Yeah.” My heart leapt in my chest suddenly.
“Did Colton do something to you, cuz if he did…just say the word and I will kick his ass for you.”
“What?”
“I mean…did he do that to your face?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I fell...I think.” My brow creased, trying to remember.
“Oh good!” he said, relieved and then hit the top of the car. “Sorry, I don’t mean it like that. I was just worried.”
“I’m fine. He left me though.”
“Yeah, I heard. What a dick, right?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. Hoisting my bag up on my shoulder, I sorted through my dangling keys.
“I can still kick his ass if you like.” He jabbed his fists in the air. “I can give him a one…two, right in the kisser.” He did an upper cut. “Pow!”
“Thanks, Barnaby.” I laughed. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that.”
He looked worried suddenly.
“Kidding, I was just kidding,” I assured him. “I am fine really…promise.”
He laughed. “You are so awesome!”
I looked over at him, not sure what to say.
His face burned brightly and he looked like he was about to implode.
“You’re pretty awesome too,” I rushed out, not wanting him to be embarrassed.
He smiled and his face nearly split apart. “Yeah, yeah I am.”
“Yeah, you are.”
He stared at me for another minute. He looked like he wanted to say something else and what that might be I wasn’t sure I wanted to know right now. Luckily, my phone bleated, saving me. “I better get this.”
“Okay.” He stood there for another moment and then hit the top of the hood lightly, drawing my attention back. “See you.”
“Yeah…” I looked up. “See you.” I waved as he took off and rounded the building. My phone bleated again. I hit the button and put my phone up to my ear. “Hello,” I said climbing the stairs.
“Evie…honey, can you hear me?”
“Yeah Mom, I can hear you.” I opened my door to my apartment and dropped my bag on the floor.
“Oh, thank God!”
“Mom, are you okay?” I kicked a pile of clothes out of the way and dropped my keys on the counter.
“Yeah, honey,” her voice caught. “How’s everything going?” She sniffed.
“Are you crying?”
“No. I have a cold,” she said. “So how’s everything?”
“Um, I guess all right.” I rubbed a dark spot on my counter.
Mom laughed, like really laughed. It was weird. “Oh Evie, it’s your birthday. It should be better than all right.”
“No it’s not. My birthday was…” I looked at the date on my phone. “It is?” I squeezed my phone, feeling sick. How was that possible?
“Yeah, you are officially legal…well kind of.” She laughed again. “Your father is going to be so excited. I told him…” The phone crackled, breaking up.
“Mom, I can’t hear you.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said breezily. “We sent you something. Did you get it? I mean you must have if you are there, right?”
“Um, no, I didn’t get anything.”
The phone crackled again like my mom was holding it against her body or something. All I could hear were mumbled words.
“Mom, are you talking to me? I can’t hear what you’re saying.” I sat down on one of the barstools at the counter.
“Oh…” Her voice came out clear again. “Don’t worry about it. Your father must have forgotten to send it.”
“Well what was it?”
“Nothing important…now,” she said. “Gosh it is just such a relief to hear your voice and hear that you are okay.”
“Yeah…” I frowned. “It’s nice to hear your voice too.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
“What?”
“Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday dear Evie…I love you!”
“I love you too, Mom, and thanks for the serenade but I have to get back to work.” I was using my staple excuse to get off the phone. If I didn’t I was going to start balling my eyes out and at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Oh right. How’s that going?”
“You know, same ole, same ole.” I took a breath and looked around my apartment.
“Okay,” she said. “So what plans do you have for your birthday?”
“Um, I’m not sure. I might have to work.”
“Evie, can’t one of your friends cover for you so you can do something fun for your birthday?”
“Like what?” I sighed.
“I don’t know. Maybe you should go to the beach. You used to love going there when you were little.”
“I did?”
“Yes.” She laughed. “Don’t you remember, sweetheart?”
“Not really.” I rubbed my head. “Besides, it’s a bit cold for the beach.”
“Well, maybe you should check out the sights,” she suggested. “There are some really great places not too far from you.”
“Really…like what?” I picked up an empty glass off the counter and walked over to set it in the sink.
“Well there’s the lake or…hey, I know, take a boat ride or something like that. Doesn’t one of your friends give tours there?”
“Yeah, Chance does.” I pulled a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water.
“Chance?” she asked. “Oh right, he’s Francine’s son. He’s cute, right?”
“Yeah, but he’s not really my type.” I turned and step on something crunchy. I leaned down and picked it up. It was bright pink Styrofoam packing peanut. I stared at if for a moment, another weird dèjá vu thing made me think I had done this before, but that wasn’t possible. I shook my head and tossed it into the trashcan in the corner. .
“Oh Evie,” she sighed. “You shouldn’t be so picky. He might turn out to be the guy of your dreams.”
“Ah…I doubt that.” Walking back to the island, I set the glass down on the counter and sat back down on the barstool.
“Well, you really should try to do something fun. I wish I was there.”
“Yeah, me too.” I squeezed the phone tighter.
“I know, you could always come and see us. I’ll email you a ticket.”
“No!” The mere mention of leaving made my heart speed up. “I can’t…you know, with work and all, but thanks for the offer.”
“Oh, okay honey.” She sounded disappointed. “Well, try to do something fun, all right…for me.”
“Um…well, maybe,” I told another lie. “Hanna might stay and close up for me tonight, I
don’t know.” Saying Hanna’s name made me feel really unsettled and I suddenly felt like I might need to throw up.
“Well, sweetheart, I will call you tomorrow and you can fill me in on all the stuff you did.”
“Yeah, all right,” I told her even though I doubted I was going to be doing anything fun. At this rate, I didn’t even feel like going to the party. I glanced over at my bed. It was torn to shit, which meant Kingston and Moriah had probably been rolling around in it since I made it before I left. At least I thought I did. I frowned at my bed, something niggling in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t seem to remember what.
“Okay,” she sighed. “Well your dad wants to say hello.”
“Bye, Mom.” I stood and walked over to my bed. Holding the phone between my shoulder and my ear, I leaned down and pulled my comforter back on the bed.
Mom made a kissing sound into the phone.
“Yeah, right back at ya Mom.”
“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?”
“Grreeeat!” I lied. “You catch Mom’s cold or something?”
“No, just allergies,” he choked out. “So you made it.”
“Huh?”
“You’re finally legal…well, sort of.” He laughed.
“Ha, ha, funny Dad,” I said.
“Hey, sorry I forgot to send your present. I will make it up to you. What would you like? I can get you one of those new-fangled phones?”
“No. That’s okay, the one I have is fine.”
“Oh, well. If you think of something let me know. The sky’s the limit…well…you get what I mean.” He laughed again but it sounded strange, forced.
“Yeah,” I said. “I will let you know.”
“So…anything interesting happen lately, like maybe something you want to talk about?”
“Um, not really,” I dumped out another lie.
“Well good,” he sounded relieved. “I knew everything would work out. I told your mother as much.”
“I’m not sure what you’re saying.”
“Oh, no worries,” he said. The phone made that weird noise again like it was being covered up.
“Dad, you there?” I shook my phone.
“Oh yeah, kiddo. It’s all good,” he said. “Well, I guess I should let you go.”
“Okay, Dad.”
“Happy Birthday!” he said. “Oh and kiddo,” he added.
“Yeah?”
“If they ask, just do it.”
“What?” I stared at my phone like it was about to sprout wings and fly away.
“Yeah, if your friends ask you to go out you should. Just do it.”
“Oh,” I exhaled shakily. “Oh—kay.”
“I love you, kiddo.”
“I love you too, Dad.” I ended the call and dropped my phone on the counter. Unzipping my hoodie, I pulled it off. Something was all over the sides. “Gross.” I dropped it to the floor along with all of my other clothes and went to take a shower.
The warm water turned cold too soon. Turning off the shower, the water released down into the tub. Pushing aside my sticky plastic-fish curtain, I grabbed up my favorite Balboa Island towel, wrapped it under my arms, and climbed from the tub. Wiping the mirror with the palm of my hand, I stared at my face. “What are you doing Evie Harrington?”
I stuck out my tongue, making a face. “Well thanks for all the information.” Reaching out, I grabbed my toothbrush, put a glob of toothpaste on it, and brushed my teeth. I smiled at my reflection and then made an ugly face. “Gross. I look like death.” Jelly bean bruises covered the side of my face and the rest of my skin look sallow, almost green.
Turning away, I slid across the tiles and out of the bathroom. My room was a mess. “God, I’m such a pig.”
Leaning down, I picked back up my Zombie-killing hoodie and held it out with two fingers. “What the hell did I do, roll in something?” It stunk, like really bad. I tossed it into a basket to take to the laundromat. Hiking up my towel, I made my way across the room. I felt like crying and didn’t know why.
My phone buzzed. I walked over and grabbed it up. The picture on the front was of a gargoyle. Funny, I didn’t remember putting that on there. “Speak to me.”
“Evie, you ready yet?” Moriah asked.
“Um, not yet.” I swiped at my tear-filled eyes.
“Oh come on Evie,” she sighed. “I thought you were driving to the party?”
“I can, I just have to…”
“Tell you what,” she said. “Why don’t you just meet me there and I’ll wait for you by the front.”
“I don’t really want to go there by myself.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“Fine. I’ll meet you, okay.” I didn’t feel like arguing with Moriah right now. I looked back at my bed, almost ready to blow off the party and go to sleep for like, ever.
“Do you have a pen?”
“Why?”
“I want to give you directions.”
“Moriah, I think I know how to get there.”
“Well it’s not at their house.”
“Oh, where’s it going to be then?”
“Get a pen and I will give you directions.”
“Fine. Hold on.” I set the phone down and lifted up some magazines, pulled out some drawers and still I couldn’t find a damn pen. “God, where is all my shit?” Frustrated, I walked across the room and pulled out my nightstand drawer where I always kept pencils for my sketches. When I opened it up, I spotted my sketchbook, lying on the top. I stared at it for a moment, blinking stupidly. Instead of pulling it out, I grabbed one of my pencils and walked back to the counter. Lifting back up my phone, I pressed it to my ear and cradled it against my shoulder. “Okay, tell me the directions.”
Five minutes later, I had the directions written down on a paper towel. “Okay, I got it. Keep your phone on in case I get lost for like…ever.” This wouldn’t be that big of a stretch since I had no idea where the party was supposed to be. “Why isn’t he having it at their house, like always?
“Oh, his mom didn’t want it there this time. They just had some work done or something. I don’t know.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. I gotta go and finish getting ready.”
“Don’t take forever, okay.”
“I’ll try to make it before Christmas.”
“Ha—ha. It doesn’t take you that long to get ready.”
“Yeah, normally, but I look like crap today.”
“You can’t ever look bad.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Make sure you wear something nice,” she said. “I think it is like a cocktail thing and Colton will be there.”
The mere mention of his name made me want to vomit. “I don’t care about Colton.”
“You don’t? Well that’s a switch.” She laughed. “Oh right, I forgot…last night.”
“What about last night?” I felt anxious suddenly, hoping…
“You know…you and Colton… I want all the gory deets later…got it.”
No! “Yeah, later.” More like never.
“Promise?” she asked.
I squeezed the phone and held my breath, shaking my head no. “I gotta go…I have another call coming through.”
“Oh, okay. Call me when you are leaving and I will meet you. Remember, wear something nice.”
“Yeah, talk to you soon.” I hit the off button and tossed my phone back on the counter since I had lied about the other call. I just didn’t feel like talking any longer. I looked around my apartment and blew out a slow stream of air. I didn’t have any nice clothes…really. Crap.
Instinctively, my gaze drifted back to my nightstand. I smoothed my damp palms over my towel. “Okay, gotta get ready.” I looked back at my nightstand, ignoring the niggling little voice in the back of my mind. What would be the point? Every time I tried to think about last night, I kept coming up with a big fat blank. It was almost as if it hadn’t even happened. That thought depressed me even more and yet I couldn’t figure out w
hy.
An hour later, I had managed to find something decent to wear. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and smoothed my hand over the full-skirted dress. It was Vintage. I had picked it up at a thrift shop a while ago and had bought it on a whim for twenty dollars. It was pretty in a fifties-style kind of way.
“Ohmigod! I look like a poor version of Sandra-freaking-Dee.”
I pulled out the full skirt and stared down at my bare feet. I didn’t even have any shoes. Well…I did but my choices were on the slim side. Either I could wear my converse, my lace-up combat boots or a beat up pair of ballerina flats which I hated. Most of the black was worn off the side. I tried on each pair…and the converse looked stupid. Kicking them off, I tried on my lace-up combats boots, which weren’t too bad if I was going to a club or if I wanted to look like an eighties reject.
“UGH!” I kicked them off, too.
“Ugly flats…it’s you or nothing.” Sliding my feet into them, I looked down at the big white spot where the faux leather had come off. “Perfect. I look like thrift-store reject.”
Walking over to my nightstand, I rummaged through my art supplies and pulled a black Sharpie that I used for hard lines on my pictures and scribbled in the white spots.
Turning my foot sideways, I examined my handy work. The shoes didn’t look terrible but…
Nope, not even close. They were still ugly.”
Sighing, I walked over to my old ballerina jewelry box on my dresser. The lid creaked when I opened the box and the little pink ballerina twirled around in time to the tinkling music. I used to love listening to it when I was younger and had a bad dream. I still did sometimes when I was depressed…like now, I thought, except I wasn’t sure why I was so depressed. I was going to a party and it was my birthday—I should be ecstatic. But I wasn’t.
Actually, I was practically wallowing in the dumps and I felt like throwing myself a pity-party instead of going to one. I didn’t know if it was from my craptastic night with Colton, the one I could barely remember but there was something else niggling in the back of my mind …something bigger. I just didn’t know what.
Tucking my hair behind my ears, I looked down in my jewelry box and pulled out a vintage sweater clip with rhinestone bows, I got from my grandma. “Sorry grandma.” I broke the chain and clipped each bow to the top of each one of my ugly shoes. Walking over to my bed, I sat down and slid on each shoe on. I lifted out my feet.
Briarcliff Page 33
