Between Now and Goodbye

by Hannah Harvey

  'I guess we do.' I smile.

  Thirty Seven – Libby

  Julie and I have been playing phone tag since Charles turned her down. Whenever she calls me, I'm busy with Charles so I either can't answer, or if I can, then it's just to tell her I already have plans. When I call her or go to her place, I get no answer, or I'm told that she's busy working on the secret project with Carly. I can only assume, like Charles does, that its preparations for the party at the end of August. If it is then I don't see why she isn't letting me help her. I helped plan last years party, and it went off without a hitch. This year she's freezing me out. I know she's probably annoyed that I took Charles' side with them getting back together, but it's been almost two weeks of near complete silence.

  I turn over in bed, throwing my covers onto the floor. Across the room from me, Pippa is sleeping soundly, and I have absolutely no idea how because it's boiling hot in here, even with the window open.

  I turn onto my back and stare up at the stars. It's a clear night and the stars are blinking in and out above me. I know that if I climb up onto the roof, I'll be able to see the starlight reflecting off of the water, and the moon casting its glow over the town. I can't sleep anyway, so I may as well get up. It's almost three in the morning and I've been in bed since midnight, and still I haven't managed to fall asleep for even a few minutes.

  I sit up, and then pull myself carefully and quietly up through the open window. The air is thick with warmth despite the fact that the sun has been down for hours. Still, the air out here is cooler than it was inside and that feels good against my clammy skin.

  I breathe in the air, sweet from the flowers in my yard and salty from the sea that's so close I can hear the waves crashing against the sand.

  The stars are twinkling above me, and the moon is bright and it seems really close tonight. I lay back against the roof tiles, cool against my bare legs and arms, and any other part of me which isn't covered by my pajama shorts and camisole.

  The breeze doesn't come along very often, but when it does it brushes over me and sends small shivers through me. It's a welcome change to the heat of my bedroom.

  After a while I glance over towards the side of the roof, which is over the Charles' house. His window is open as well, and I carefully crawl towards it. I look down and see that Lewis' bed is empty, and I remember that Charles mentioned he was staying at a friends. My eyes then travel across the small empty space to Charles' bed. He's fast asleep, curled up on his side with the covers kicked to the ground. I then see that at the end of his bed, he has a to-do list tacked to a cork board. I ease myself down into his room, carefully treading to make sure I don't make any noise. I look over the list. It's long and mostly includes housework. The most notable item, which is written in bold lettering, in red ink and had been circled, is ironing. Then under it in black, in Charles small, neat handwriting, he's written about how the laundry that needs to be ironed is starting to take over the lounge.

  I smile at his note, and then tiptoe out of his bedroom and down the stairs until I reach the lounge.

  It's been a while since I've been in here, and now I can tell why he's been mostly spending time in the kitchen when I'm over here. On each of the chairs and on the couch, there are piles of clothing waiting to be ironed. In the middle of the room, the ironing board has been set up, and the iron is unplugged standing on top of it. There are clothes hanging from the curtain pole, and the back door, and the whole room smells strongly of detergent.

  I walk inside, close the door behind me, switch on the light and plug in the iron. It's the best chore for me to tackle, not only because it's one which desperately needs doing, but it's also one which I can do quietly.

  Getting through all of the clothes takes me until around five in the morning, at which point I slip back up the stairs, into the attic and carefully climb back out of the window and up onto the roof.

  I don't stay up there though, not this time, because my body is tired from standing up ironing for so long. So I climb back through my own window, sit down on my bed and see Pippa watching me.

  'Have you been out all night?' She asks, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

  'No.' I shake my head. 'Just a couple of hours.'

  'Where?'

  'Next door.'

  'With Charles?'

  'No. He was asleep. I was...ironing.'

  'You broke into his house to do chores?'

  'I didn't break in, his window was open.' I defend, 'But basically, yes.'

  'You're really weird.'

  'I know.' I lay down on my bed, close my eyes and fall asleep.

  When I wake up, it's to Charles staring at me. I let out a yelp and he laughs loudly. I sit upright and blink a few times, wondering if somehow I'm dreaming that this is happening, but he's still here, and I'm wide awake now.

  'What are you doing in my room?' I ask, my hand flying to my heart to make sure it's returning to a more regular pace.

  'Funny thing,' he says keeping his eyes on me. 'I woke up this morning, and went downstairs, and there were all these neatly folded piles of freshly ironed clothing. Separated into piles for each person's room. Any ideas how that happened?'

  'I don't know.' I shrug, 'Maybe Katie, or your mom...'

  'I asked everyone, nobody in my house touched it.' He says.

  'Perhaps you got transported into a Disney movie overnight, and a bunch of animals came by and started doing your chores for you.' I suggest, reaching for my bottle of water which I keep near my bed. I take a sip. It's warm, but at least it's wet.

  'Libs, did you break into my house and do the ironing?'

  'Why do people keep calling it breaking in?' I sigh, 'Your window was open.'

  'So you did?'

  'You needed help.' I say, leaning my back against the wall so that I'm facing him, since he's sitting on Pippa's empty bed, with his back against the opposite wall.

  'Thank you.' He smiles, 'You didn't have to.'

  'Hey, if you don't want people sneaking into your house to do your chores, you shouldn't leave the window open. Besides, I couldn't sleep, so it's no big deal, and I knew you wouldn't ask for help.'

  'That's only because if I did ask for help I know you'd say yes, and you're not even supposed to be here this summer, so I shouldn't dump a bunch of chores on you.'

  'That is the most ridiculous reasoning, I have ever heard. I am here this summer, so feel free to ask me to do any housework or cooking, or anything. I'm here for you.' I smile over at him. 'However, I'm not here for you right now, because I really need to take a shower.'

  'Ok.' He gets up from Pippa's bed and starts pulling himself through the window. 'Oh, and thanks again.'

  'No problem.' I call after him, and then head off to have a shower.

  The rest of my day is wide open, because my mom and Matt are out at work. Pippa has gone out with Katie. Charles is busy with his family and though I'm tempted to go over and help out, I don't want to seem like I'm being too pushy and taking over. I tried calling Julie, but again it went to her voice mail. So once I'm done with my extra long shower, I take my time getting dressed, and then decide to try out a few more recipes that I've been working on putting together. If they're a success then I'm planning on starting up my own blog where I'll try out the recipes I find in books or online, and also share my own creations. As well as talk about other food related topics.

  I make a run to the grocery store, pick up a stack of ingredients and then head straight back home. I spend the whole morning and a large chunk of my afternoon baking and cooking, and then freezing whatever can be put away. The rest of it, I portion up into pots and I take them over to Charles house. He's not home when I get there, nobody is, so I use the spare key and take them inside. It's not the first time I've used the key, and he's used our spare key before. It's just something we've both done from very early in our friendship.

  Once I'm done dropping off the food, I head home, clean up the kitchen and myself and then just because there's nothing else t
o do, I head down to the beach for a swim.

  I'm just coming out of the water when I spot someone standing directly next to my things. I'm too far away to tell who it is, all I can see is that it's someone young, probably my age.

  As I get closer, I recognize Colin and walk over to meet him. He smiles at me and nods down to the pile of clothing, and my book on the sand.

  'I thought it was, your stuff.' He says, 'I recognized the top.'

  'Good memory.' I say, wrapping my towel around me.

  'Did you have a nice swim?' He asks.

  'Yeah.' I nod, ' The water's amazing today, really warm.'

  'Do you maybe want to go for a walk?' He asks, 'Since it's such a nice day.'

  'Oh, uh... sure.' I nod to my clothes, 'I'll just put these on.'

  'Sure, no problem.' He nods and turns away to wait for me to pull on my things over my wet bathing suit. It takes a couple of minutes, but then I'm ready and we set out along the warm sand.

  Thirty Eight – Charles

  'Please tell me you have coffee in your house, and please tell me that you still like me.' Libby walks in through the open back door, pulls herself up onto the counter and sits beside me. Taking a dish towel from the counter, she starts to dry the dishes I've been washing from dinner.

  'Um, there's coffee in the cupboard and why wouldn't I like you?' I raise an eyebrow and watch as she groans dramatically.

  'Well Julie doesn't seem to like me all that much, she's been basically ignoring my calls for ages now. I called her several times since you and her became officially over, and she's always too busy to talk for more than about a minute. I wanted to check she was ok.'

  'I think she's fine.' I reply.

  'Still, I wanted to be a good friend and check, but she hasn't called me back, and I've tried her again all day today and it's radio silence. I went to her house and her parents said she was out with Carly. I don't see why I've made her so mad, and then there's the other thing.' Libby stops talking, blushes and hops down off of the counter, searching through the cupboards, I assume for the coffee that I've told her is in one of them.

  'The other thing?' I ask, pulling my hands out of the soapy water, and drying them off on the dishcloth that she's just put back on the counter.

  'I don't want to talk about it.'

  'Ah,' I nod, 'is that why you burst into my kitchen.'

  'I didn't burst, the door was open so there was no bursting. Walking, yes, bursting, no.' She finds the coffee and lets out a huge sigh of relief. You'd think she just found a supply of oxygen in an oxygen free zone.

  'Ok,' I grin, 'so you didn't burst in, but you definitely had something to share.'

  'The Julie thing was sharing.' She says, but she won't make eye contact with me.

  'Uh-huh.' I say as she pours a lot of coffee into the machine. 'I'm not buying it.'

  'You should, I'm extremely trustworthy.' She turns to me now that the coffee machine is on.

  'You're blushing.' I stifle a laugh.

  'Am not.'

  'Are too.' I grin even wider than before, 'Something, I would assume the thing you referred to as the other thing, has made you uncomfortable enough to blush. I don't think I've ever seen you blush so deeply before. So, what's the other thing?'

  'You're not allowed to make fun of me.'

  'Why would I?'

  'Because...it's embarrassing.'

  'Ok,' I lift my hands up, 'I promise, wholeheartedly, that I will not laugh at you, tease you, or make fun of you in any way.'

  'Ok,' she breathes out, 'you know Colin?'

  'Yes,' I laugh, 'considering I'm the one who introduced him to you, I'm pretty sure I know who he is.'

  'You said you wouldn't make fun of me.'

  'You made it too easy.' I smile.

  'I don't have to tell you.'

  'Sorry, sorry. So about Colin?'

  'I ran into him this afternoon while I was at the beach.'

  'Uh-huh.'

  'And he's sort of...well he kind of...asked me out on a date.'

  'Oh.' I don't laugh. I clear my throat and take the pot out of the coffee maker now that it's finished. I pour out a large cup.

  'Oh. Is that all you can say?' She asks.

  'No, I just... so you're going out with Colin?'

  'That's the embarrassing part,' she looks down at her shoes, 'I kind of didn't say yes.'

  'Oh, so you didn't say yes and now you realize that you should have, and you... you want me to call him and tell him?' I hand her the coffee and walk over to the sink again. I don't know why this is bothering me so much. Maybe it's because it means that Julie was right about the two of them.

  'No,' she laughs, but it doesn't sound all that happy, 'that wouldn't be half as embarrassing as this.'

  'So...' I turn back to her, 'you don't want to go out with him?'

  'No,' she shakes her head, 'I mean he's a great guy and everything, but I just don't think he's right for me.'

  'I agree.'

  'You do?' She looks at me surprised, and maybe I'm imagining it, but I think she looks just a little happy.

  'Yeah, I uh...I mean he's great and all but...he uh...' I scratch the back of my head, 'He's really into fast food.'

  'Ah.' She laughs and this time it doesn't sound off, it's just happy. 'So the embarrassing part, is that when he asked me, I kind of froze.'

  'Froze?'

  'Well, yeah. I wasn't expecting it, one minute we were talking about school starting up soon, and then the next thing I know he was telling me how much he liked me, and asking me if I'd be his girlfriend. It was a bit sudden, so I just kind of...switched off.'

  'Did you say anything?'

  'I think I said oh.'

  'Oh.' I suppress a smile. She hits me hard in the arm. 'Ow.'

  'What am I supposed to do?'

  'You didn't say anything else?' I ask, rubbing the spot on my arm where her fist just hit me.

  'I said I had to go, and then I ran here. I think he probably hates me.'

  'He doesn't hate you.' I assure her.

  'It would be easier if he hated me.' She groans, leaning her back against the counter and drinking her coffee, 'Why do relationships have to be so messy? Even when you're not in one.'

  'I don't know,' I shrug, 'but they often are.'

  'Ok so...I need to tell him that I don't want to date him, right?'

  'That would probably be the best thing to do.' I agree.

  'He'll hate me.' She says in a high pitch, 'He won't talk to me, and Julie's already not talking to me.'

  'I'm still talking to you.'

  'Yeah, until I do something stupid to make you freeze me out.' She groans.

  'Hey,' I walk over and stand beside her, nudging her side gently, 'nothing you could do would ever make me freeze you out.'

  'Good.' She drops her head against my shoulder, 'Then would you tell Colin that I don't want to date him?'

  'Absolutely not.'

  'Char.' She whines.

  'No,' I shake my head, 'no way, not happening.'

  'But what do I say?'

  'Tell him that you're far too in love with me to ever consider anyone else.' I grin. She looks at me for a second, and then shakes her head a little.

  'Ha.' She swats my arm again. 'You wish. Come on tell me honestly, what do I say?'

  'Tell him the truth. That he's a really nice guy, and you don't want to lose him as a friend, but that you're not interested in taking it any further than just friends.'

  'You think he'll hate me if I say that?'

  'No.' I shake my head, 'Libs, he's a really decent guy. He'll understand, and he'll be hurt but he'll get over it. I got over my eight month relationship in three weeks, so I think he'll spring back fairly quickly.'

  'I've never rejected anyone before.' She sighs and starts pacing the floor, 'What if I mess it up?'

  'What you think you'll mess up and accidentally say yes to dating him?'

  'I wouldn't put it past me.' She groans.

  'Well then just pr
actice what you'll say.'

  'What?' She stops pacing, puts her coffee down on the table and stares at me.

  'I'll be Colin, and you be you.' I offer, 'Practice on me.'

  'You're serious?' She raises an eyebrow.

  'I'm always serious.'

  'Yeah, right.' She looks at me disbelievingly.

  'Ok, fair point, but I'm serious about this. You're worried about what to say, so practice.'

  'You really don't mind?'

  'I really don't mind.' I assure her.

  'Ok.' She nods, takes a breath and then, standing in front of me, she starts to talk again. 'Colin, I just want to start by saying that I'm sorry for running off earlier.'

  'It's ok.' I say, pretending to be Colin by making my voice a bit higher. She raises an eyebrow, but I don't let it deter me. 'I figured I kind of sprung it on you.'

  'Uh, yeah, you kind of surprised me.'

  'It's just that, you know...I've liked you for a while.'

  'Char you're not helping.' She groans.

  'I'm being Colin, and he's very likely to say something like that.' I reply. 'Keep in character.'

  'I'm playing me. I'm always in character.' She points out. I just give her a look, 'Ok, fine,' she concedes and clears her throat, 'that's really... flattering.' She pauses.

  'So is that a yes?' I say.

  'It's...uh...'

  'Too many pauses.' I say in my regular voice. 'Try again.' I speak in a higher tone again, 'So is that a yes?'

  'Colin, I really do like you, it's just that I don't really see you that way.'

  'You don't think I'm good enough?'

  'That's not it. You're a great guy and any girl would be good enough for you.'

  'Just not you?' I know I'm pushing her a little bit, but this is actually the most fun I've had in a long time. She's starting to get flustered.

  'No, no, that's not it at all. I don't think I'm too good for you, if anything, you're too good for me. It's just that I don't really think that we'd make a good couple.'

  'Well, how do you know if you don't give us a try?' I ask. It's actually something I can imagine Colin saying, and I guess that Libby agrees, because she continues in the role.

  'I don't want to hurt you Colin, I just don't think that we'd be good together. I don't see you that way.'