The Near & Far Series

by Serena Clarke

  “Is it just me, or was there some serious atmosphere in here?” Gavin asked the room in general, when they were gone.

  “That was kind of intense,” Reid agreed.

  Cady shook her head. Shelby had given a master-class in handling catty bitches, but she wanted to enjoy her night, not get caught up in drama. “No, it was fine.”

  Then she gave Reid a look. “Why did you—why did you both—keep it a secret? You were part of this and you didn’t even tell us.”

  Reid laughed. “I don’t know. It was too easy…plus some girls get kind of crazy about Kyle.”

  “God knows why,” Gavin muttered.

  “Charisma isn’t a muscle group, man,” Reid told him. “You can’t pump it up at the gym.”

  Gavin flexed a bicep at him. “Yeah, yeah. Tell that to these babies.” He raised the other arm and gave them a gun show. After the colossus that was Tino, they paled in comparison.

  “Shit, put it away dude.” Reid shook his head, and turned back to them. “Anyway, sometimes if you mention you know Kyle, people sort of latch on. That’s why the girls were so wary about you last night, and today. We’ve had some weird ones.”

  “And what about us?” Cady asked him. “Weird, or…?”

  “Oh, completely. You’re all weird over there, right? Plus, you talk funny. Must be the chill in your castles.”

  Cady laughed. “Stop being such an ass.” She used her best American accent just for that one word. “In my realm, you’d be beheaded for that, and your head displayed on a spike outside my castle walls.”

  “Stop blowing smoke up my aah-s,” he returned. “Your puny knights are no match for me and my henchman.” He pointed at Gavin, who was looking perplexed.

  Damn, that cheekiness was too, too good. “Now you’re talking out of your aaass,” she said. By this stage she was laughing too hard to think of another quip.

  Shelby and Gavin were staring, incredulous. “What the hell?” Gavin said. He looked at Shelby. “I think we’re missing something here.”

  “Nothing new there,” Reid said, as Shelby shrugged. “Come on, man, we’d better help puny King Kyle get finished out there. Can’t let Tino do all the work.” He looked at the girls. “See you later then?”

  “Yes,” they answered in unison again, making the guys laugh.

  “Nice teamwork,” Gavin said teasingly, as they all went out of the bus.

  Shelby shot Cady a glare. Then she smiled at Gavin, slightly less tantalizing than before. She was saving those smiles for Kyle now, Cady knew. Whether they’d work was yet to be discovered.

  * * *

  “Why do you do that?” Shelby asked as they left Dolores Park, heading for the guesthouse.

  “Do what?” Cady thought she was in trouble for her crazy back-and-forth with Reid. She still had a warm glow from it, despite the uncertain Jennifer factor. And despite the whole California dude thing he and Gavin had going on, and the beard, and the ponytail…yep, those poor neglected man receptors were screaming with the sudden Reid-induced overload. Well, things had changed lately. Clearly her taste in men was changing too.

  Shelby gave her a shove. “Answer the same thing as me, at the same time. It pisses me off. And it makes us look silly.”

  Cady snorted. “You answer at the same time as me! You don’t need any help looking silly, anyway.”

  “Oh, shut up.” She was all over-charged. “And, those two girls bring me out in a rash. Talk about princesses.”

  Cady didn’t like to say anything about Shelby’s own princess tendencies. She suspected that ‘takes one to know one’ wouldn’t go down well right now—but that probably made her sister more equipped than anyone to take the California girls on.

  “They’re obviously not keen to share any of the guys,” Cady observed.

  The competitive high made Shelby extra indignant. “They can’t have them all!”

  “But they were here first,” Cady pointed out. “Sounds like you’ve decided you’d like one yourself.”

  A little smile. “Maybe.”

  “Not Gavin, though.” She waited to see if Shelby would admit her Kyle plan.

  “Um…no.”

  “I thought not. You’ve obviously set your sights higher. And you definitely got under Alison’s skin.”

  She grinned. “It was too tempting to resist. Sometimes being bad is so damn good.”

  “I can see that. But they’re leaving tomorrow, you heard that, right? And we’re going off on our travels too, in a couple of days. LA, baby. Remember?”

  “I know!” Shelby looked away, concentrating on the windows of the boutiques and coffee houses they were passing. She was thinking about something—and Cady was pretty sure she knew what it was. They knew each other too well.

  “Shelby...are you thinking what I think you are?”

  They stopped outside an ice-cream parlor. “Well, we could, couldn’t we? If they asked us?”

  Cady imagined being on a luxury bus—overnight—with Reid. Oh, mama. Then she imagined being trapped on a luxury bus with Alison and Jennifer. Hmm. Maybe not…

  “Well, they’re not going to ask us, so don’t get your hopes up. Just enjoy the night, and don’t get yourself into trouble. Or me.” That might be asking too much, knowing Shelby, but she had to say it. If only because the inevitable ‘I told you so’ would be so much more satisfying.

  A defiant look came back at her. “We’ll see.”

  Six

  At quarter past eight that night they were outside Diorama, showered, made up, and, in Shelby’s case, over-perfumed. She’d taken an age to decide what to wear, finally settling on her tightest jeans, with a sparkly top and plenty of bracelets along her newly spray-tanned arms. Cady didn’t have many going-out clothes, but she’d gone shopping before they left London. Dreamily imagining what San Francisco would be like, she’d fallen for a 60s-inspired peasant dress with a tiny floral pattern. Although it had three-quarter sleeves, the deep v-neck, fitted high waist and short hem meant there was nothing matronly about it, even with a cardigan over the top. When she bought the dress, she’d planned to wear it with tights, but now it was warm enough that she left her legs bare, just clad in her old brown cowboy boots. They weren’t really tanned enough yet, but hey, who was looking anyway?

  She wasn’t going to say anything out loud—even in her own mind—about Reid maybe looking. There’d probably be enough conflict as Shelby trampled over what was obviously Alison’s territory, without Cady starting a fruitless battle too. Maybe Reid and Jennifer weren’t a couple at all, but Cady didn’t want to get into one night of trouble over a guy, and ruin her long-awaited Flashpoint experience. Even if that guy set her dangerously, deliciously off-kilter. She was on new ground here, literally and figuratively, but she could embrace her new start without walking herself straight into difficulty.

  “Come on,” she said, as Shelby hesitated in the blue diamond-tiled entranceway, doing a final fluff of her hair. “This is your territory, remember.”

  Shelby had told her enough tales of London nightlife to fill a (pretty low-brow) book, and now she was ready to create some stories of her own. Low-brow or not, either way was fine at this point. Since meeting the Flashpointers, she’d started to think that ‘fake it ’til you make it’ might actually work. She’d been bottled up for so long, being the good daughter that they all relied on her to be (including Shelby, who counted on Cady to be there, so she didn’t have to be). Now she was bursting for some living. She just had to cut herself loose, which was easier said than done after years of being dutiful and responsible. But the longer she was away from home, work and reality, the more unfettered she felt. Her teeny bedroom seemed unconnected to her now, like it was the set of a play she might have seen once upon a time. She could see herself sitting on the bed, pillows behind her back, laptop on her knees, listening for any sound from her mother’s room as she watched clips of other people living, in other places.

  Her mother hadn’t specified what kind of fun
she wanted her to have, and now she’d never be able to tell her about these adventures. There was no one to answer to or be responsible for. That reality was gone, which made her terribly sad—but it was kind of freeing, too. She took a breath and stepped through the door, pulling Shelby in with her.

  Their eyes took a moment to adjust to the light as they went into the long, narrow bar. It wasn’t crowded, but there were enough people to make the place hum. It glowed in the red lighting, and at the end of the room a screen played an old movie that Cady didn’t recognize. She looked up at the stuffed animals on the wall. Was that one a rabbit…with antlers? She nudged Shelby—what the?—but she just laughed and shrugged, and pointed to the ‘Sanctuary’ sign at the far end of the bar.

  Past the bathrooms, they found the secret bar, tucked at the end of the corridor like a hidden speakeasy. The whole team was there, already each in possession of a fabulous-looking cocktail.

  “Hi,” Cady said, as they all looked up. Shelby echoed the greeting, and there was a general ‘hi’ from the group. Alison and Jennifer looked less than pleased to see them, but the guys squashed up to make space in the booth.

  “Choose your poison,” said Gavin. “Kyle’s buying—it’s tradition.”

  They looked at the drinks list, a lineup of potent and exotic treats. Cady wished she’d had a decent dinner. Shelby had taken so long to get ready that they’d only had time to grab smothered fries from a food truck on the way there, and they hadn’t had time to eat them all. She was so out of practice with drinking, just one of these delectable-sounding creations on a half-empty stomach would probably put her on her ear.

  As they were considering their options, Reid leaned on the table. “Someone here is newly famous,” he announced. As everyone wanted to know who, looking around at each other, he winked across at Cady.

  Jennifer, sitting next to him, caught the wink instantly. “Is it you?” she asked Cady.

  “Famous for two minutes, on KPIW,” she clarified. “It was just a couple of questions. No big deal.”

  “You did great,” Reid told her. “He wanted to catch you out, but you made us all look good. I had no idea we were doing something so noble.” He raised his glass to her. “Lady Cady.”

  Cady felt herself flush pink, and noticed Jennifer do the same.

  Kyle leaned back in his chair. “You’re only here five minutes and you’re doing PR for us. Nice.”

  “It wasn’t anything, really. I don’t even know if they’ll use it.”

  “Alison will check,” Reid said. “She’s been keeping up with the traditional media stuff.” Alison looked peeved, but nodded.

  Kyle pointed to the bar. “Go get some drinks,” he told Cady and Shelby. “Just put it on the tab. Order the Killer’s Lullaby.”

  They looked at each other, wondering what the heck they’d be drinking, but obeyed. It turned out to be a concoction of strong gin and cider, as well as other ingredients Cady couldn’t identify as the barman spun and tipped bottles in a Top Gun-worthy performance.

  When they got back, each carrying a tall, dangerous-looking glass sprouting a sprig of mint, Kyle was frowning, reading something on his iPhone. “Shit.”

  Everyone turned to look at him. “What is it?” Reid asked.

  “That blogger at SF-ly. He’s done a total hatchet job.”

  Immediately everyone was on their iPhones, looking it up. Cady found the site and started reading, but Shelby sat on her hands. “What does it say?” she asked, leaning close.

  “Just look it up on your phone too,” Cady said.

  She shook her head, looking embarrassed. “I don’t want to. It’s a Huawei.”

  Cady laughed and held her own iPhone so that Shelby could see the screen, and they read the blog post together. It was hilariously scathing, brilliantly written, and completely tore Kyle to pieces.

  There was silence as everyone absorbed the eviscerating genius of San Francisco’s most popular blogger. If it had been about anything else, Cady would have laughed, and admired the evil talent at work. But in this case…ouch.

  Quietly, she signed into Twitter and searched the #Flashpointers hashtag. The blog post was being shared and commented on at a rate of knots, and as fast as she clicked, new tweets were popping up. 2 new tweets…5 new tweets…9 new tweets. Some of them were supportive, telling the blogger not to take everything so seriously. But most of them were joining in the fun. They were on a roll, loving the thrill of tearing down something that only hours before had, by general agreement, qualified as ‘cool’.

  She caught Kyle’s eye. “Look at Twitter.”

  Her tone made it clear that he wouldn’t like what he saw. Especially the tweeters who were reveling in being snarky about him in particular, and the ones who’d taken it from snarky to cruel.

  He immediately looked it up, and sat reading, his face growing darker and darker.

  “For fuck’s sake, don’t these people have anything better to do on a Saturday night?” He rubbed his beard vigorously, making part of it stick out sideways, and despite the situation Cady had to try not to laugh. She knew he was the height of cool for a lot of people, but for anyone not on board with the hipster thing, he provided a lot of material for snarkiness.

  Now he adjusted his vest and sat up straight, taking his drink in hand. “Screw them,” he announced. “Twitter can do what it likes until we’ve had our drinks, all right? That was a fucking good day.”

  “Screw them,” echoed Alison, and they all nodded and put their phones away.

  “Let’s get on to the next round,” Kyle said. “Drink up.”

  So they did.

  By the end of their second cocktail—this one involving mescal and white vermouth—Cady knew she definitely should have had dinner, but no one was ordering food. She whispered to Shelby that she was going to the bathroom, and got up, feeling less than a hundred percent composed.

  Shelby was clearly feeling the lack of food too, as she wavered a little when she stood up. “I’ll come with you.”

  In the ladies’ room, Cady looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. “I really need to eat. What about you?”

  “Pfft, nah.” Shelby leaned over, letting her hair fall forward, then stood up and quickly flipped it back over, so that it fell lush around her shoulders. She wobbled a little as she checked the result in the mirror. Satisfied, she put on red lipstick, looking sideways at Cady in the mirror as she rolled her lips together. “Wouldn’t hurt you to use a bit of this.”

  “Oh, shut up.” But she smoothed on some lip gloss, and tousled her hair a little, squinting at her slightly blurry reflection. “I don’t need lessons from you.”

  Shelby raised an eyebrow in her direction. “You could learn something from me, you know. You might not be single now if you followed my example a bit more.”

  “Your example? Oh, please. And he wasn’t worth having anyway.” It was true. Jeremy was no loss. His ego couldn’t stand that he wasn’t always at the top of Cady’s list of priorities. She shook her head at Shelby. “I’m better off being single, than being stuck with a complete dickhead. That’s something you obviously haven’t learned yet.”

  Shelby turned to face her, hands on hips. “At least there are men out there who want to be with me.”

  Cady sucked in her breath. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be here. You’d still be in London, playing at being the wild one.” She knew she should walk away now, but she kept going. The wind was in her sails, and the mescal was running hot in her veins. “You might be fooling everyone else, and yourself, but I know that wild and free schtick is an act. If you were really wild and free, you wouldn’t need a man to hold your hand all the time.”

  That well-aimed arrow struck home, and Shelby’s face grew red. “Yeah, whatever. I doubt you would have come here at all if I hadn’t agreed to hold your hand. You’d still be living through your laptop. Sad.”

  She smirked, and Cady felt her temperature rise as anger grew in her chest, and years o
f resentment threatened to overflow.

  “You little…I carried the whole show at home while you kept on being a teenager way past the point where it looked cool.”

  Shelby flinched, but regrouped. “You didn’t want me to help! If I helped, you’d have to take off that cloak of martyrdom you’re so attached to. Then you might have to actually go out and live your life.”

  “Like you, I suppose. You must have run out of fingers and toes to count the men on.”

  “Well, why shouldn’t I? I’d rather be out having fun than floating about at home like a tragic old spinster. You should have stuck to that. It suits you. You’re not cut out to be anything more than a boring banker, like Dad.”

  By now the red mist was threatening, and Cady’s head was pounding, a combination of cocktails and rage about to tip her over the edge. “He’s not even our…” She stopped, realizing what she was about to say.

  But Shelby was all over it. “Not even our what?”

  Cady looked away, but her face obviously gave something away.

  “Our what?” Shelby persisted.

  “Nothing.” She tried to push past and go back to the bar, but Shelby planted herself firmly in the way.

  “You think you know me so well, but I know you too. I can see you’re hiding something. And you’re so boring you never have anything worth hiding. What is it?”

  The thought I’ll show you flashed through Cady’s mind, and she snapped.

  “He’s not even our father, okay? Happy now?”

  For a moment she basked in the power of the blow she dealt, as Shelby’s face went from shock to pain to disbelief, and around again. Then she realized what she’d done. Broken her promise to her mother, and pulled the rug out from under Shelby’s feet. Her sister may have rebelled against home and family, but at least it was something steady to rebel against. Now she was staring at the same empty space that Cady had been swimming in since Anne broke the news and promptly died. In her down moments Cady cursed her mother’s flair for the dramatic, even in death.