9

A few days went by, most of which I spent with Nate, enjoying his company and hanging out. One of these days, however, was when I heard Lia wasn’t even in town anymore. Carol had told me indifferently she had gone home, because Chris had got worse and she couldn’t bare being away from her husband who was battling cancer. Carol then told me that Chris was feeling so bad about having her come home to him, that he insisted on traveling up here to be with her, and to make sure she gets her permanent job.
I missed Lia when she wasn’t there, especially that all my time at the bookstore was now spent with Carol, who would never do much only if asked, and even then without a smile on her face.
I’d find it amusing, however, the way she’d half-heartedly wave a customer to the right isle, or how she’d point at me, who was cleaning up books after people and say, “Go ask her.” She had become a character, a funny muse. So now instead of me trying to ignore her or keep away from her eyes when she did these things, I would smile and laugh, which surprisingly, earned me another one back.
We bonded over the two days without words, just by our actions and now how about she’d joke about her laziness by saying it out loud to a customer.
    “… That would mean getting up, and I’m much too tired and far too old for that… ask Liz, over there.”
I wondered what it was like here if it were her, Daisy and I over by the fan, ears flopping around.
It was one of those says when I didn’t mind her, when I noticed the pictures of Daisy in the storage room in the corner. She was a cute little Pomeranian, one of those dogs you could see Paris Hilton carrying on a red carpet or something. One was of her and Daisy, leaning over a birthday cake with a big candle shaped like a 10. Daisy was wearing a party hat. Another one was Halloween I assumed, where Daisy stood in front of a jack-o-lantern wearing a frilly and pink ballerina costume with a gold plastic crown.
    “Carol” I said, noticing this was one of the rare times I spoke directly to her.
She peered over from behind the counter, through her dark and heavy eyeliner and blue shadow.
    “Ever think about getting another one? Another dog, I mean?”
Her expression was blank, empty and hollow. No emotion, just whatever was hidden behind her make-up.
    “No,” She finally answered flatly. She returned to whatever she was doing.
I figured that that one syllable was all I was going to get out of her, and began to leave the storage room.
    “Lia wanted me to ask you,” She started up again, no eye contact. “If you wanted to have dinner at her place. You know, when she comes back.”
    “Yeah, sure.” My voice was low, worrying that we wouldn’t joke any more. I wondered if Carol was invited to Lia’s when she came back.
She looked up for a moment, and grabbed a piece of lined paper from the drawer, and started to scribble on it with her pen.
    “Here,” she grunted, handing it to me. It was Lia’s address. It wasn’t so far from my house, but I would still need to borrow the car.
    “Thanks,” I said, and returned to picking up after the customers.
I was walking down the street after finishing up at the bookstore, and I see Nate and Gabby sitting on the steps leading up to the front door. Gabby had her pink fairy tale book, and Nate was pointing to something inside. Gabby saw me, shut the book, and leaned a little closer toward Nate. I thought she had gotten over it, but apparently not.
I walked over, sitting next to Nate. He looked over at me, and kissed me on my cheek.
    “Yuck,” Gabby mumbled.
    “Deb came by,” Nate announced, shifting slightly but not obviously over to me a little. “She seemed really upset, and said she needed to talk to you.”
I lowered my eyebrows in concern. “Is she home now?” I asked, and stood up.
He nodded. I excused my self, leaving Nate and Gabby to their fairy tales, and walked back over to Deb’s house. I got to her front door and knocked on it. After a wait, I knocked again. I looked back to Nate, who was watching me stand there trying to get Deb to open her door. There was still no answer. I opened the door for myself, entering her impeccably clean house. I tip toed around her foyer, trying not to drag in dirt from the outside.
    “Deb” I yelled, but again, there was no answer.
I went up the stairs, trying to listen for Deb. The hallway was darker, since there weren’t any windows, just doors. I saw light spilling from under Deb’s door, though.
    “Deb?” I called again, and opened her door.
She was lying face down on her bed, in her spacious room with purple walls, and a huge vanity mirror with bright bulbs against her wall.
    “Liz?” She said into her pillow.
She sat up, and I almost took a step backwards when I saw her. Her hair was unsightly pinned up, sprawling in all different directions. Her make up was streaked across her face, and she was wearing lazy grey sweatpants.
    “Deb, what happened?” I sat where there was free space on her bed, and put my hand on her arm.
    “They’re together.” She squeaked, grabbing a tissue from a box beside her, and wiped her face.
    “Who? Who’s together?”
    “They are. Those two. I can’t believe it!” She let out another sniffle, and grabbed the tissue box.
    “Deb, I’m not following.”
She threw the box down from her bed in frustration. “Adam! Adam and Beca. How could she? I mean, she could do it to someone else, someone she’s not so close to, but to me?” She wiped her wet eyes with her hand, and continued. “I saw them together yesterday. I was picking up lunch for my mother and I, and they were there. Together. Sitting at one of the back tables smooching. In public! That makes me even more upset. In a public restaurant… How could she? And another thing,” She added, avoiding my eyes. “She’s hiding it from me, like she’s ashamed! And for a damn good reason! She should be ashamed!” She stopped, looking down at her hands wrapped around her knees. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t have to say anything. She moved on. “Liz, I want you to stop listening to me. About everything. I have no idea what I am talking about.”
    “No Deb,” I said finally. “Yes you do. Do you think I would be with Nate right now if I wasn’t for you?”
    “Yes” She answered. “Yes and sooner.”
    “That’s not true Deb and you know it.”
    “No…” Was her final argument.
I paused for a bit, I still didn’t know what more to say. “Look. It’s not your fault that Adam is a jerk. It’s not your fault Beca is a nasty friend, and it’s not your fault that they’re together. Deb, you are one of the nicest people I know, so stop moping around and crying! Isn’t that what they expect? You shouldn’t be falling apart, in fact, you should be putting it together. Next time Adam sees, make him feel as though he regretted the day he was born.”
Deb looked up at me, smiled, and hurried over to her vanity.
    “You’re right.” he flipped open bronzer and widely applied it to her face.  “I’m going now.”
    “Going where?”
She smeared shiny lip-gloss on her lips. “To Adam. I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind.”
    “A piece of your mind- Deb, what are you going to do?”
She scurried over to her dresser, and pulled out a powder blue top.
    “I told you, I’m telling him off.”
She looked again at the blue shirt, shook her head, and returned to rifling through her drawers. “ I need to pick something perfect. You pick, Liz.”
She held up two shirts. A baby pink halter, and a purple to match her walls with a bow in the back.
    “Deb, you know I’m no good-“
    “Liz, honestly. Please?” She had that look in her eyes like she really just wanted to know from her.
    “Alright fine.” I said. “The pink one.”
She held it up to her chest. “Then the pink one it will be!”
When Deb was good and dressed, we headed out passing Nate and Gabby still outside on the porch.
    “Where are you two going?” Nate called.
I stopped, wanting to explain, but Deb grabbed my arm and lurched me forward.
    “We’re going to kick some a*s, common Liz!”
I shrugged my shoulders to Nate, and heard Gabby gasp to him, “She said a bad word!”
    “Deb, where does this guy live?” I said, after she had been dragging me for a good five minutes.
    “Right down here, at this brown house.”
It was relatively large, and they were rich by the look of the pathway, how they had two Mercedes in the driveway, and the small boat out by their dock.
We got to the front door, and Deb stood in front of me.
    “How do I look?” She ruffled her hair and twisted her top.
    “Perfect.”
She rang the doorbell, and we stood there, silently, until she rang it again and heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Adam opened the door, and looked baffled to see Deb standing there.
    “Uh, Deb. Hey.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Hey? That’s all you have to say to me? Hey? How about a month due ‘I’m using you to get to your friend?’ But I guess you’re just too much of a selfish a*s to even say it!”
I felt so awkward just standing there, watching Adam’s face from go baffled to mortified. He glanced over at me, wondering who I was and why I was even here.
    “So you seriously wasted one month of your time and your pathetic life pretending to like me? And just to get some girl that takes interest in a guy and moves on to the next guy the next morning?” Deb yelled.
    “That’s where you’re wrong!” He spoke up. “I didn’t waste a month of my life Deb, I really liked you-”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes.
    “But I thought you were Beca’s friend?” Adam continued. “And you just said that about her?”
    “She’s most certainly not my friend! A friend wouldn’t steal my boyfriend away from me!”
I then noticed the anxious look on Adam’s face, just wanting to shut the door and get this over with. “We’re not together-” As he said this, Beca came trotting down the stairs, hair extremely ruffled, re-buttoning her top.
    “Who is it?” She said, still looking down at her top.
    “You’re a good liar, Adam.” Deb snapped, her face getting red with rage.
Beca looked up, startled as well as Adam to see Deb standing there.
    “Oh. It’s Deb. And friend.” She said smiling, trying to make it sound casual.
    “You…” Deb said, her voice getting even angrier. “No wonder you can’t keep a friend for five minutes! You don’t even have the courtesy to tell me that you might have feelings for my boyfriend?”
    “Deb.” Beca spoke.
    “Oh no, sorry. Of course you don’t have feelings for him. Just the constant urge to take something you can’t have!”
Beca didn’t say anything, but just crossed her arms and pouted. We all just stood there for a second, Adam finally looking at me.
    “So you brought back-up?” He asked.
Deb twisted her head to me, looking as if she almost forgot I was standing there the whole time. “This is Liz. My friend.” She sneered at Beca. “She told me to come down here and tell you off-”
    “No, no I didn’t.” I said. “I just didn’t want her-”
    “I know you.” Beca said, coming to the door. “We met at the party. So I hear you’re with that Nate guy?”
    “We’re not here to talk about Nate, Beca.” Deb snapped again. “And you probably still don’t get it.”
Beca was still glaring at me, like she was still pissed that Nate didn’t want to give her any attention at the party when she threw herself at him.
I realized this is what I needed, what I never got. I needed to end things with Adam, give him a slap in the face. Deb took this literally as we left with Adam’s red face, her hand slammed into his cheek. I never really ended it with him after he started those rumors about me. When I’d see him in the hallway I would look away, as he gave me that cocky look like he knew he made me miserable, that’s what he aimed for, that’s what he hit. I left that year still knowing I had my real friends by my side, those who sneered at him in the hallway, said nasty things to him if they had classes together, and I even heard one of them egged his car the day after they knew what happened.
I didn’t say anything to Deb as we walked back. I didn’t think I should. She had a proud look on her face, the look I wanted. As we walked by my house, I told Deb goodnight, and that I was proud of her. She smiled, and retreated to her own house. Gabby and Nate had left the porch, Nate probably exhausted from reading with her for so long.
Sitting on the couch, I pulled the piece of paper that Carol had gave me from my pocket. The dinner was tomorrow, and I bet she forgot to tell me about it until today. I leaned back and rested my eyes, waiting for night to come.

 

Reviews

[Hannah Olivia]

thanks jen =D
and sure thing!

[Jenn Gold]

OK. I like it. Gimme more. :)

[Jenn Gold]

I didn't like this chapter as much. It was kind of boring. I mean, it was interesting to see what happend with Deb, but I was somewhat wondering how this connects. And I take it the dinner is an important part to the story, since you left this chapter with it...but it could have been made a little more clear when Liz gets the paper from Carol. I'll read it again in a little while to get a clear perspective.