Bedhead: A Romance

by Kayt Miller

  I flop onto my bed. “I miss my best friend.” If I could talk to her about everything, she’d… she’d probably tell me to stop being a pussy and tell those people upstairs to suck it. But I’m not Tayler, no matter how much I wish I could be.

  I roll over to my side to face the faux wood–paneled wall. Or walls. All four of my walls are covered in brown paneling. I’d call it vintage or even retro if I weren’t positive it’s been here since the seventies. I had plans to make this room more personalized. Covering up the paneling was stage one. I planned to use posters. I have a bunch of them in my room at home that I was going to bring back after the holiday break. But there’s no reason to do that now.

  Sighing, I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to think of something other than my roommate issues. I do my best thinking—or meditating, as Tayler likes to call it—when I’m lying on my bed, eyes closed, so I do just that. But just as I’m about to get into the zone, my phone pings.

  Cooke: It’s just money. It makes me happy to help you, but if you don’t want to spend it right now, save it and buy a plane ticket to the UK for a visit sometime soon.

  I read his text, then reread it. He wants me to visit?

  Me: You want me to visit?

  Cooke: Sure. Bring along some of your mates.

  Oh, okay. For a second there, I thought he wanted to see me.

  Cooke: How’s the pub?

  Me: Fine.

  Cooke: Only fine?

  Me: No, good. I’ve a lot to learn, but it’s a useful skill. I can always fall back to it if I need to.

  Cooke: ?

  Me: You know, if I need a second job down the road, I can always bartend.

  Cooke: I see.

  I can’t think of anything else to say. I’m not feeling very talkative tonight.

  Me: I’m probably moving out of my house.

  Cooke: Why?

  Me: Long story.

  My computer buzzes suddenly. I hit the FaceChat button. “Hello?”

  “Love. Tell me the long story.”

  With a sigh, I do.

  “Where will you go, Quinn?”

  I love how he says my name. Lying down on my stomach, facing the computer, I honestly answer with “I don’t know. There’s not a lot available, especially in my price range.” I decide to add, “I didn’t say that so you’d send more money, either. Please don’t send more money.”

  Cooke chuckles. “You could use the money I already sent to—”

  “No.”

  He chuckles louder this time. “You’re a lot different than any of the girls….”

  He doesn’t finish his sentence, so I ask, “How so?”

  “Most women have only wanted me for my money.”

  “I highly doubt that, Cooke. Have you looked in the mirror?”

  “Aye. But I hope you see there’s more to me than a pretty face.”

  “Sure.” At that, he laughs loud and long, which makes me start to laugh right along with him. “I think you’re going insane, Cooke.”

  “Aye. Insane for you.”

  Huh? I’m about to ask him what he means by that when there’s a knock at my door. “Hang on, Cooke.”

  Pushing myself up to sitting, I yell, “Come in.” I blink as I watch all five of my roommates enter, single file, into my room. This ought to be good.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I ask, “What can I do for you?”

  Patsy speaks first, because of course she does. “We wanted to tell you that we don’t want you to move out.”

  I look at each roommate one at a time, ending with Susanna. “Oh?”

  “Look. We know Kara is….”

  Oh, I’ll finish her sentence. “Mean?”

  “She’s, well, challenging.”

  “Oh come on, Pats,” mutters Robbi. “She’s a bitch and you know it. And not just to Quinn.” She looks over at me. “But she’s especially terrible to you, Quinn.”

  “Fine.” Patsy sighs. “The thing is, her dad is our mom’s boss. We don’t want to rock the boat with her because our mom really needs her job.”

  I want to scoff, but I don’t. “You think Kara has that kind of power?”

  I look at Susanna, who is slowly nodding. “She’s a daddy’s girl.”

  “So, you want me to move out so she can give your mom job security?”

  “No, we don’t want you to move out,” says Kat. “None of us can stand her, okay?”

  “So, when she took the gift card and wanted to use it herself, you were okay with that?”

  “Pardon?” says the man on my computer screen. When he says it, it’s like there’s no o, so it’s just “Pardn?”

  “Oh, sorry, Cooke.” I turn the screen around so he can see the girls.

  “You’re talking to Cooke?” asks Lindsay.

  “Cheers, ladies,” he says in a husky voice.

  “Hi, Cooke,” they all say at once.

  “Did you say this other person took the gift card I sent to you?”

  “She tried to,” Robbi snaps. “But Quinn took it back.”

  “Quinn.” He looks at me. “That’s naff. She sounds like she needs a good bollocking. Would you like me to take care of that, love?”

  I have no idea what any of those words mean, but it sounds like he may want to beat her up. “That’s very kind of you to offer, Cooke, but I can handle Kara.”

  “I’ve no doubt. You’re quite something, Quinn.”

  Looking back up at my roommates, I say, “So, now you don’t want me to move out?”

  Kat speaks first. “We never did.”

  I glance at each woman. “You never did.” It’s not a question.

  “No, we were fucking relieved when Patsy said she promised the room to you,” Robbi adds.

  Awkward. That’s how I feel right now. They’re telling me they want me to stay, and I can feel Cooke’s eyes burning a hole in my side. “Well, finding a new place was going to be impossible. Doesn’t Kara have an apartment?”

  “A nice one,” mutters Susanna.

  “So, why does she want to live here?” With the spiders?

  “Because she lives alone. She doesn’t like it.”

  Probably because she couldn’t find someone to bunk with her. “So, now what?”

  Patsy has all the answers. “Nothing. We’ll tell her you can’t find a new place.”

  I look down at Cooke, who seems concerned. “Fine.” I sigh in relief. My shoulders don’t feel as tense either. I can barely afford this place, and it’s cheap. Well, maybe with my new job…. I just need to make it one more week, then maybe….

  I watch the ladies file out, saying good night as they go. A couple of them say goodbye to Cooke too.

  “That was interesting,” Cooke says with furrowed brows. “Do you believe your mates?”

  “I do.” I don’t have any reason not to. “I’ve gotten to know them some over the past few weeks, and I really like them. I believe they’re sincere. It sounds like Susanna and Patsy are in a tough spot.”

  “What will you do about this Kara? She’s a right cow, she is.”

  That makes me laugh. I love those British euphemisms. “She is that.” I sigh. “I had to deal with a girl just like her in high school. I found it easier to ignore her rather than engage. I could never win.”

  “I think it’s bollocks that your other mates won’t stand up for you.”

  “It’s not their job. I’m a grown-up, Cooke.” Well, most of the time. “There will always be Karas in the world.” I need to learn how to deal with them effectively. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Bollocks,” he grumbles. “You weren’t taking the piss about the gift card? She took it from you?”

  “She did, but I took it right back. You know….” I look up at the ceiling and see one of my eight-legged friends skittering across the tile. He’s small, so I decide not to freak out.

  “You know what?” Cooke asks.

  “Maybe if I tried to be her friend….” Maybe she’s just misunderstood. It’s possible tha
t the death of her sister has really made her that way.

  “Love….”

  “I mean, maybe she’s lonely.” I know what that feels like. It feels like shit.

  “If she is, it sounds like she did it on her own.”

  “Maybe.” I need to think about this.

  Cooke and I end our video chat, and I get ready for bed. As soon as I lay my head on my pillow, I do my best to put myself in Kara’s shoes. I ponder the issue for so long, I fall asleep with the light on and a plan to take the high road. I’m going to be the better person. Maybe then she’ll see I’m not the enemy. We could be… not friends. No. But we could tolerate one another. And that’s good enough for me.

  It’s decided. The next time I see her, I’m going to make an effort to turn things around.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I don’t have to wait long, because the next morning, Kara is standing in the kitchen with the rest of the girls to go for our walk. Before I speak, I think back to the night before. You know, when I decided to take the high road. Stepping up to Kara, I smile as much as possible this early in the morning. “Kara?”

  She turns her head and scowls. “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” she snaps.

  Wow, she’s not making this easy. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Her fault, totally.

  “How so?” She’s now turned to face me, her hands on her tiny waist.

  “Um.” Shit. How so? “We just did.”

  “Wow, you’re a real wordsmith.”

  “Look.” Now it’s my turn to snap. “I’m trying to get along here.”

  “Why? So you don’t have to move out? Sorry, but you’re in my bedroom.”

  This is so not working. “I was just trying to….” To what? What’s that expression? Oh, right. “To extend an olive branch.”

  “A what?”

  “To make peace.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m at peace with how things are,” she deadpans.

  “Well then….” I look at the rest of the girls. Shrugging, I say, “I tried.” Then, looking back at Kara, I add, “I’m not moving out.”

  “What?” she squeaks, then points to my roommates. “But they told you it was supposed to be my room.” She presses her thumb into her chest. “Besides, they don’t want you here.”

  I look at the girls and know they aren’t going to say a word, but at least now I know why. “I can’t find a place. There’s nothing available.”

  “Here.” She grabs a folded piece of paper from somewhere behind her. “I found some rentals.”

  I scan the sheet and scoff. Every place on this list is double what I’m paying now, if not more. “I can’t afford these places.”

  “You can with your fancy gift card.”

  “No.”

  “No?” she sneers.

  “No.”

  Turning to Patsy, Kara barks, “Aren’t you going to do something about this?”

  Patsy shrugs. “What can I do? I can’t kick her out; she signed a lease.”

  No I didn’t. She made that up. Jesus, this is getting ridiculous. “Can’t we just get along, Kara?” I mean, seriously.

  “No!” Kara screams. She literally screams. I’m a little afraid the neighbors will think there’s a murder in progress thanks to the volume and intensity of the sound. Piercing. That’s the best way to describe it. Or horror movie worthy. That’s another good one.

  In shock at the scene before me, I step toward the door to get out of the house. I need to get away from all of this, but Kara isn’t having it. As I pass her, she grabs hold of my ponytail and yanks. Hard. So hard that I’m pulled back and off balance. I swing my arms around, doing my best to stay upright, but it doesn’t work. I fall back, hitting my head on one of the old kitchen chairs.

  “Kara!” shouts Patsy. I hear the others yelling too. I just can’t make out what they’re saying. Looking up, I see everyone yelling and screaming all around me. The women are all in one giant scrum. Ha! Did you see what I did there? I used one of Cooke’s terms.

  I do my best to roll onto my side and scoot back from the melee so I don’t get trampled. And that’s when I hear it. Sirens.

  “Great,” snaps Robbi. “This is bullshit.”

  I’m not sure who she’s upset with. Hopefully not me. When I see her glare turn to Patsy, I think I know.

  Before I can figure it all out, Kat is on her knees next to me. “Quinn? Are you okay?”

  I push myself up until I’m sitting. The back of my head hurts, but I’m not bleeding. At least I don’t think so. I run my palm over the back of my head, then look at it. Nope, not bleeding. But I’m definitely going to have a headache, along with a nasty bump.

  “Ladies.”

  I look over to where all of my roommates and Kara are sitting on the couch. The cop in front of them has both of his hands up, attempting to talk over all of the voices, while I’m on the other side of the room talking to the other policeman, Officer Golden. He’s nice. He’s checked my head several times and asked me to tell the story of the events of the morning—multiple times.

  “Ladies!” the other officer shouts.

  It’s enough to get everyone’s attention.

  He takes a deep breath before he continues. “I’m going to write up a report. If Miss Maxwell would like a ride to the hospital—”

  “No,” I say instantly, shaking my head too hard. It hurts, yes, but there’s no way I can afford a visit to the emergency room. “I’ll go to the University Health Center later today.” It’ll get me through the weekend. Good thing, because I’ve got to work all day at Cy’s tomorrow. It’ll be my first day working on a football game day.

  “Miss Maxwell?” asks Officer Golden. It’s a perfect name for him. He’s blond and tan and, well, he reminds me of Cooke, if Cooke were the boy next door rather than a badass rugby star. “Miss Maxwell?”

  “Oh.” I giggle. “Sorry.”

  “Will you be pressing charges against Miss Becker?”

  “What!” the she-devil screeches from across the room.

  She stands up and begins to move toward me at a fast clip until the other cop steps in front of her. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, miss.”

  “B-But—”

  Part of me would love to press charges, but I have a feeling I’ll need a lawyer and lots of time to deal with that when all she’ll get is a slap on the wrist. Okay, I know none of that for sure. I’m basing that solely on my binge-watching of police procedural shows. “No. I’d just like her to stay away from me.”

  “You’ll need to seek a civil protection order, then. We can help you get that started,” says Officer Golden softly.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Kara spits. “It was an accident.”

  I look up at the blond policeman, then over to Patsy, but she’s on her phone. I scan the rest of my roommates, but I can’t read their expressions other than they’re a combination of pissed and worried. Well, except for Lindsay. She’s got tears in her eyes. This whole thing is upsetting everyone.

  I shake my head. “No. That’s okay.”

  He looks surprised. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” I shrug. As evenly as possible, I add, “I think she was just overzealous. She reacted without thinking in the heat of the moment.” Heat she created herself, but whatever.

  Officer Golden hands me his card. Before I take it, he flips the card over and jots something down. “My personal cell number is on the back if you change your mind, or if you just need to talk.”

  Grasping the card, I pull it from his fingers. “All right. Thank you.” When I look up, he’s smiling at me. It’s not a big smile, but it’s warm and kind. “Thanks,” I say again and give him a smile of my own.

  Just before he turns to leave, he leans down and quietly says, “Be careful, Quinn. And go to the clinic today, yeah?”

  I nod and whisper, “Yeah.”

  Patting my shoulder, he moves toward our front door, the
other officer following.

  When they’re both gone, that’s when the yelling begins. It starts with Patsy. “I think you need to leave, Kara.”

  Her reply? A smug “I know. I’m late for class.”

  I look at my phone for the time. Shit. I missed ceramics, and if I don’t get a move on, I’ll miss art history.

  As I begin to stand, Patsy adds, “And don’t come back.”

  Uh-oh.

  “What!” Kara shouts. “Why?” That time it was more of a loud whine.

  “You can’t be seriously asking me that.” Patsy has her hands on her hips and her feet in a wide stance. She’s ready for a face-off.

  Kara points at me. “She started it.”

  “No, I—”

  “She didn’t,” Patsy cuts in. “She was trying to make peace. You have five witnesses to that fact, but you wouldn’t have it.”

  “Why should I? She’s in my room.”

  “First of all, that’s not her fault. That’s mine. I wanted her here. She’s my friend.” Patsy must be feeling brave.

  “I-I’m your friend too.”

  Susanna steps up next to Patsy. “Kara, a friend wouldn’t threaten to get our mom fired.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “You did,” snaps Patsy.

  “Well, if your mom—”

  “Nope.” Patsy holds up her hand and shakes her head. “Do not go there.”

  “Well, my daddy—”

  “He knows. I just called and told him the police were at our house and the reason they were here.”

  “You didn’t,” Kara sneers

  “I did. I also told him about your threat to get my mom fired.”

  Kara’s mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water. It’s not a very good look for her. She finally says, “You’re lying.”

  Patsy shrugs. “Call him. You’ll see.”

  With her nose up in the air, she huffs. “I will.” We all stare as she marches out of the living room and down the short hallway to the front door.