by Laura Gibson
She looked in the direction he was facing and saw the skirt on the sewing table.
“Yeah.” She felt her cheeks flush a little. “I guess.”
When she looked back at Kelly she was surprised to see that he was staring straight at her, his face holding an expression of pure curiosity.
He tilted his head to the side and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but in an instant he had changed his mind and moved farther into the room, inspecting everything with a silence that made Rachel nervous.
“I never knew you could sew,” He mused, walking closer to the sewing machine, his long fingers lightly touching the skirt sitting there.
“I don’t really make it a talking point.” Rachel responded laughing, pretending his entire presence in her room wasn’t throwing her completely off. Her room had been her private space, even back at Phillips, she was the only person she really allowed entrance.
Until, of course, Melody Jeffords.
Now, Rachel was watching Kelly Hill move all around, picking things up, putting them back down, filling his mind with any sorts of thoughts about what she kept there.
There was no control now for Rachel.
She felt the frustration grow in her chest, a tightening restriction that made her take a deep breath and then exhale slowly.
Why was he here? Why did he insist on inserting himself into her life so suddenly? She had made it perfectly clear last time they spoke that she never wanted to see him again.
With a smile as tight lipped as she knew she could get, added in with a small curl of a snarl, she responded to him, “Are you ready to go?”
Rachel had decided in that instant she was going to bypass the entire conversation if she had to. She walked into her bathroom, grabbed her shoes and hat and walked out of the bedroom, past Kelly who just watched her go.
She slipped her tiny feet into her heels and lightly set the hat on her hair, waiting for Kelly to show himself.
Sure enough, he bounded down both flights of stairs with the exuberance of a young man.
Unfazed and unamused, Rachel reached up and grabbed her keys from their hook by the front door and secured her clutch with the other. “Shall we?”
She was looking at Kelly, but not really looking at the same time. He made her uncomfortable and uneasy, two things Rachel had worked very hard at not being.
He was smiling at her, almost laughing and her eyes narrowed as she wondered why. “What?”
His grin softened and his warm green eyes sparkled in the faint light of the entry way. “You’re different than I expected.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow, “And what did you expect?”
Kelly shook his head and reached around her, his hand covering hers on the doorknob, his body hovering near hers, his lips brushing the tips of her ears.
She felt him softly exhale and a shiver ran down her arms from the sensation.
Rachel heard him laugh to himself, but he didn’t respond. His hand turned hers with the door knob, gently and he pulled it open, stepping around her frozen body, into the sun of the morning.
She took a moment to relax before joining him and she asked herself one simple question, ‘What in the world was she going to do about Kelly?’
He waited for her to walk down the driveway to her car before sauntering after her, his hands in his pockets, a pair of sunglasses magically produced from some hidden pocket that she hadn’t noticed.
When they were both buckled in he finally answered her question... sort of.
“I sure didn’t think you’d be this pretty still,” He was looking to his right, out of the car, avoiding eye contact.
Rachel checked her rear view mirror and moved the car into reverse, thinking about what he said and trying desperately hard not to jump to any sort of conclusions.
“Oh?” Was all she managed to get out as she pulled onto the quiet street in front of her house, trying to come up with a different line.
But Rachel had never been very good at awkward conversations and so she let the two lettered word fall flat between them, expecting Kelly to pick it up.
“I mean, the last time I saw you, you didn’t look nearly as put together as you do now.” Kelly didn’t miss a beat.
Rachel refused to take her eyes off of the road. Her brain replayed the sentence in her mind and she thought of all the different things it could have meant.
“I was hoping you had forgotten me.” Rachel was honest with him finally. Rachel gave him a sideways look, hoping he wouldn’t notice her eyeing him.
Kelly’s reply was simple and terrifying, “I don’t think I could ever forget someone like you.”
Chapter Three
Phillips Academy
Charleston, West Virginia
August 12th, 2008
Rachel
Rachel had never had a roommate before. She had always managed to land a single, but this year she wanted to try something new, just to be slightly adventurous. Now, sitting there at her writing desk, waiting for her roommate to arrive the day before classes were scheduled to start, she was rethinking her ‘adventure’.
What if Rachel didn’t like this Melody Jeffords? What if she had poor hygiene and only cared about what type of alcohol the townies could supply her? What if she liked sequins? Rachel shuddered. There could a number of things wrong with Melody if she let her imagination run wild, best to keep it pinned down and only worry about the absolutes.
The absolutes, as they were in the order of how Rachel found out, were her name was Melody Jeffords. And although she had spent a lot of time in Charleston, she had never attended Phillips Academy, but rather spent most of her education abroad with her family. She was very active in track and was marginally decent at women’s lacrosse.
Her mother had requested a tutor for the political science class Melody would be taking in the fall, and Headmistress Grear thought since Rachel had taken the course a year earlier and received a 127 percent completion she was perfect for the job. Rachel was more than gracious to accept the job with the promise that it would work as a credit in her favor. Never mind the fact that Rachel detested poor work ethic and she believed that if you required outside help, you had no business in the class whatsoever.
Melody had also had her things sent in the day before by professional movers who seemed to want to touch everything.
And as Rachel stood there, more than partially horrified, they placed box after box on her bed to make way for Melody’s custom dresser and bed set, making their small room all the more cramped.
It went without saying that after everything was done, Rachel immediately took her duvet and sheets across town to get dry cleaned.
Now, on that Sunday morning where most students were spending the last day of summer soaking up all the sun they could, Rachel sat at her desk, wondering when she would ever get to meet this Melody Jeffords. Did they have anything in common at all?
“No, mom, I’ve got it.” Rachel’s ears perked up at the sound of two people standing outside the door, trying to unlock it, even though Rachel had left it thus.
She heard the lock turn over and someone tried the knob. “Well isn’t that just the strangest thing.”
Rachel shifted her body to look at the door as they tried it again, this time successfully unlocking it and opening it.
“Well that looks nice.” A matronly figure pushed greying blond hair out her face, looking at the matching bed and dresser set. “I was worried it was going to be too big.”
“It looks fine, mom.” The girl next to her said, brushing past her mom and placing a small suitcase on her bed. She was wearing tan straight leg ankle pants and a silk white blouse with matching white flats. Her blond hair, a box blond if Rachel had ever seen one, was pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck and her amber eyes were twinkling with mischief.
They both had yet to notice Rachel and Rachel wasn’t sure what to do. Should she introduce herself? Or had she missed her mark? Would it just look awkward a
nd out of place? This was why she didn’t have roommates.
“Oh!” Melody’s mom was the first one to see there was a third occupant in the room. She looked shocked and perturbed all at the same time. Had she thought Melody was getting a single?
Melody shot her mom a look and then warmed her face to Rachel’s with a friendly smile, “Hi. I’m Melody, you must be Rachel.” She stepped forward, her hand extended.
Rachel returned the smile and stood, “Yeah, it’s nice to finally meet you.” She shook hands with Melody and had to admit, the girl wasn’t that unappealing. She seemed decent enough, was well dressed and it didn’t look as if the large bed was her idea either.
“I was so worried that I would be stuck with a weirdo.” Melody made a face, “You know, since I applied so late.”
“I told you that you had plenty of time, dear.” Melody’s mom rolled her eyes, then addressing Rachel, “She always worries.”
Rachel could relate but she wanted to move on from the introductory phase, “Have you gotten your class schedule yet?”
Melody smirked and held up a white folder, “Got it this morning. Then spent two hours with the Headmistress while she went over the rules.”
“It’s not her fault you’ve been unable to follow simple ones this far, remember, that’s why you’re here after all.” Melody’s mom admonished. “She was only trying to be helpful.”
Melody rolled her eyes again, “I learned my lesson, mom. Let’s just drop it.”
Melody’s mom sighed and looked at Rachel, “You’re gonna need to look after this one.”
Rachel was suspicious of the small skirmish that had just taken place in front of her but decided not to ask any questions. Each family had their own dynamic, hers included, and it wasn’t her place to interject an opinion.
“Don’t worry.” Rachel forced a smile, “She’s in great hands.”
“Yeah, see mom, Rachel says I’ll be fine.” Melody was moving towards her closet now, looking for something.
That wasn’t exactly what Rachel had said, but if that’s how she wanted to take it then Rachel wouldn’t argue. She was still trying to figure out how she was going to get out this mess. Signing up for a roommate had been one of the worst ideas she had ever had.
Her phone chirped with the signal of a text being received and Rachel glanced down at the lit screen, it was from Jefferson. She bit her lip and fought the urge to pick it up and read it immediately. She still had Melody and her mother to deal with.
“Well, it looks like I should get going.” Melody’s mom started to move towards the door and Melody looked away from the boxes stacked in the closet.
“You’re leaving already?” Melody was frowning, a sad frown, as if she didn’t want her to leave yet, even though they had been bickering just moments before.
“Yeah, honey, I’ve got a plan to catch and I still want to stop by the Prescotts’ to say hi.” She responded, her hand now on the door knob to the small room.
“Well, I love you then.” Melody hugged her mom, “Have a safe trip.”
Melody’s mom smiled but she was holding back tears, “Have fun, darling, don’t get into too much trouble.”
To give them space, Rachel had picked up her phone and was texting Jefferson back.
He had asked how the roommate meeting had gone and Rachel wasn’t sure how to respond, she was still on the fence about Melody. As she listened to the goodbyes Rachel formed the sentence, ‘Melody Jeffords, have you met her?’
As the door closed and Melody sat down on her bed opposite Rachel’s Rachel hit the send button, completely unaware of what was going through Jefferson’s head.
Agoura Hills, California
June 6th 2010
Rachel
Rachel waited in her car impatiently patient. Agonizing over the time being wasted, but not letting it show on her face.
Ethan needed a ride to an auto parts store, apparently something in the van had finally fallen out and they couldn’t get around under their own power anymore. Leaving their only source of transportation as Rachel. A very reluctant and bedraggled Rachel.
It had been a whole week since she had spent the entire day with Kelly and she had resituated her plans for the summer to avoid him at all costs.
They hadn’t talked about Jefferson and she was glad for it. Instead they had pretended like everything was normal between the two of them. Like everything was alright.
Although, over the past few days he had become rather standoffish, giving Rachel her space, Rachel still knew that the conversation was coming. It had to have been. Those two people couldn’t be in the same room and ignore what had happened. That’s not how life worked, that’s why she left Phillips in the first place.
But Kelly had settled into the basement with Logan and Ethan and only resurfaced when they did, which was rarely, if ever, leaving Rachel to consider all the possible times he could bring up Jefferson.
Rachel had been working on a new project she had been thinking about for quite a while when Ethan knocked on her bedroom door.
She let up the pedal on the sewing machine and got up with a sigh. She was really hoping to cover more ground on the 1920s inspired dress she had patterned out.
Opening the door slightly, she looked out into the hallway. Only Ethan’s and Logan’s faces greeted her.
“Yes?” Rachel asked, looking as pleasant as she possibly could.
“Someone, I’m not gonna say who, kicked my muffler a while back and now we’ve gotta get a new one,” Ethan stated flatly.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, she had a sneaking suspicion that it had indeed been he that did in the previous muffler, but decided not to press the issue.
“Well, I’m fresh out.” She responded back, just as flat.
Ethan rolled his eyes, “Can we get a ride?”
Rachel felt her shoulders fall, but she forced a smile anyways, “Of course.”
Ethan beamed, completely oblivious to her discontent. “Thanks, Rach. We’ll meet you in the bomber.”
The bomber was what Ethan had taken to calling Rachel’s car ever since he had arrived. He ignored the name she had given it, or her protests that she didn’t think ‘The Bomber’ was a suitable nickname for Jamie. She had always pictured him as a very mild-mannered vehicle.
Ten minutes later all four of them were packed into her car as she was pulling out of the driveway, hoping this excursion wouldn’t take too much time from her day.
Kelly was sitting in the backseat, withdrawn, sunglasses over his eyes, looking at the side of the car, staying as silent as the grave. Rachel hoped that he would stay that way.
Ethan was blabbering on about how he had never really liked the neighborhood Rachel had grown up in. How it wasn’t as cultured as his own back home. How he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to live there.
Rachel wanted to remind him that he grew up in the suburbs as well but she bit her tongue, it would do her no good to argue with him.
Like arguing with a wall is what her dad used to say. Couldn’t get anything through to that boy. Had his own idea about truth and didn’t want to hear anything to the contrary.
“So Rachel,” Logan leaned forward so his head was resting on the back of Rachel’s seat, “What do you do for fun around here?”
“There’s a cinema a couple blocks away.” Rachel answered mechanically, she had never been, but she knew other kids her age always enjoyed it. She was much more interested in other things than going into a theatre and buying over priced tickets, along with overpriced stale popcorn just to sit around for two hours doing nothing but watching someone’s interpretation of a book that a screenwriter had butchered.
“That’s a good idea.” Logan moved his head a bit closer to Rachel’s neck, “Would you like to go sometime?”
“To a movie?” Rachel didn’t take her eyes off the road. “Maybe.”
“What’s playing right now?” Ethan interjected, ignoring the fact that Logan was actively hitting on his sis
ter.
Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Kelly who didn’t move his head to look at them, “Rachel doesn’t like movies.”
His voice was monotone and Rachel wondered what he could possibly have to be upset about.
She hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Oh don’t be such a sour puss.” Logan teased Kelly as he leaned back in his seat, hitting the back of it with a thud, clearly feeling slightly defeated.
Kelly didn’t move or even acknowledge that Logan had spoken to him. Rachel glanced at him in the rear view mirror but couldn’t see anything on his face passed those black sunglasses.
Something was bothering him; that was for sure. She would recognize that face anywhere. But before she could say anything about it, or even get his attention, Ethan changed the subject.
“Hey, mom wanted you to call her later.” Ethan said, his normal, carefree attitude coming back.
“Oh?” Rachel swallowed. She hadn’t spoken with her mother in quite some time; communication had never been high on their list of priorities. “When did she say this?”
Ethan shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe a couple weeks ago.”
Rachel suppressed the feeling of exasperation that filled her throat and constricted her air. If she called her mom now, she’d be accused of ignoring the request for too long. Again, Rachel was faced with the side effects of having an emotionally stunted, negligent brother.
She would have to call her mother sometime soon though; it would only do more harm to put it off.
Soon she was waiting outside the auto parts store while her brother and his friends perused the aisles looking for anything and everything that could make their old van better, as if anything ever could.
Rachel ran her fingertips over the white steering wheel of her own car and again was reminded of how she had come across such a lucky find.
