by SR Silcox
“Oh.”
“Aren’t we staying at Lizzie’s tonight?” Maddie asked, looking confused.
“Yes we are. I just didn’t know whether Jo would let you stay out.”
“Pfft,” Maddie said, waving her hand like she was swatting a fly. “Jo’s a pushover.”
“Okay then,” Tess smiled. Her stomach fluttered at the thought of spending the night with Maddie. She opened the door to Piggies’ and ushered Maddie inside. The heat from the fryers hit them as they walked over to the counter, and it was just starting to get busy with the lunch rush.
Mrs Hemingway, the owner of Piggies’ and one of Gran’s oldest friends, greeted them and said, “I heard about the fire. Hope no-one was hurt?” She wiped her hands on her apron and pulled a pen from behind her ear.
“Everyone’s fine,” Tess said. “The cane paddock's trashed though.”
“Shame,” Mrs Hemingway said. “What can I get you girls?”
Maddie leaned in to Tess and asked, “What do you think?”
“The chicken burger is one of the best you’ll ever have,” Tess replied. “Unless, you know, you want a salad or something.”
“A chicken burger is fine,” Maddie said, giving Tess a nudge with her shoulder.
“Two chicken burgers,” Mrs Hemingway said. “Chips?”
Tess glanced at Maddie who said, “We can share some?”
Mrs Hemingway nodded. “Chips for two. Any drinks?”
“Lime milkshake for me, thanks,” Tess said.
“Make that two,” Maddie said.
Mrs Hemingway shook her head and said, “Now I know two crazy people who drink green milk.” She rang up the order and Tess paid, despite Maddie insisting on paying for her half. As she took Tess’s money, Mrs Hemingway asked, “Do either of you girls know someone called India?”
Tess shook her head. “No. Why?”
“A young man, about your age, came in yesterday afternoon looking for someone called India something-or-other. Something like that. Said he was a friend of hers and thought she might be staying around here somewhere. I thought you might’ve known her from school or something.”
“Not me,” Tess said, though she thought there might be something vaguely familiar about the name. “Maddie?” Tess asked.
“No,” Maddie said. “No-one I know.”
Tess thought Maddie had gone a little bit green. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little sick.”
“I’m okay,” Maddie said.
Tess led Maddie over to a table in the corner to wait for their order. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Maddie nodded. “I’m fine. It’s just really hot in here.” She fanned herself with a menu. Though she couldn’t be sure, she had a funny feeling that the man may have been asking about her. Could her father have hired someone to track her down? She certainly wouldn’t put it past him. She didn’t want to think about it so she asked Tess, “Is the festival still cancelled?”
“I haven’t seen Pop much, so I don’t know. Gran’s okay I guess."
“What about you?”
Tess shrugged. “I’m okay. I just don’t know what I’m going to do if Pop doesn’t change his mind.”
Maddie took Tess’s hand and said, “I’m sorry, Tess. I’m sure we'll come up with something.”?
“I hope so.”
Mrs Hemingway brought out their lunch and Maddie said, “Can we go somewhere where there’s not so many people?”?
∞
Chesterfield wasn’t exactly a buzzing city, but Tess guessed that Maddie just wanted some privacy, so she led her across to the show grounds. The gates were always locked but there was a hole in the fence that had been there since forever that backed onto the horse stables.
Tess held up the wire fence for Maddie to duck under and handed her the lunch bags and ducked under herself. She took Maddie’s hand and lead her past the stables and around to the old grand stand. They climbed right up to the last row of seats and sat down. Tess unfolded the newspaper covering the chips and spread it out between them. Maddie bit into her burger and laughed when mayonnaise dripped down her chin.
“Good?” Tess asked, biting into her own burger.
Maddie nodded. They sat and ate in silence and when Maddie had finished her burger, she leaned back on the seat and said, “I’m so full.”
Tess licked the mayonnaise and salt from her fingers and wiped her hand on a napkin.
“What’s the plan when we get to Lizzie’s?” Maddie asked.
“Movies I think. And most likely karaoke. Lizzie loves karaoke.”
“You don’t?”
Tess shrugged. “Not really. I’m pretty much tone deaf so it’s not my thing.”
“You don’t like music?” Maddie asked.
“I like music. Just not as much as Will and Lizzie do.” Tess thought she’d disappointed Maddie with her answer, but wasn’t exactly sure why. “What about you?” she asked. “Do you like music?” Tess stuffed the last of the chips into her mouth, and took a long drink of her milkshake. Maddie looked out at the show ring and sighed. For some reason Tess couldn’t put her finger on, she felt like she’d hit a nerve.
Maddie brushed her hands off on her dress and said, “So you know that thing I was going to tell you at the tree house?”
“Your big secret?” Tess teased.
Maddie smiled and said, “Yeah.” She took Tess’s hand and said, “If I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out.”
“Okay.”
Maddie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them she said, “I’m Indiana Rose.”
She looked at Tess intently. Tess looked back at her, waiting for more information. When Maddie didn’t say anything more, Tess said, “You know I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You know Lizzie’s favourite band? Three’s Company?”
It hit Tess all of a sudden where she’d heard that name before. “Holy shit,” she said. “Holy shit. You’re Lizzie’s favourite band?”
“Part of,” Maddie said.
“But, Lizzie said she’d, I mean you’d, gone to rehab.”
“Do I look like I’m in rehab?” Maddie asked.
Tess laughed at the absurdity of it. “Of course not,” she said. She shook her head. “Lizzie’s going to pee her freaking pants when she finds out.”
“No, Tess. You can’t tell her.”
“But—”
Maddie pulled her hand away and turned away from Tess. “I didn’t tell you so you could tell Lizzie.”
“Okay. Tree house rules, remember?” Tess said, taking Maddie’s hand back.
“That applies even though we’re not in the tree house?”
“Sure. You were going to tell me last night, so the rules still apply.”
Maddie smiled. She seemed relieved.
“Why did you tell me?” Tess asked.
Maddie shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just… I really like you, Tess and I felt like I’ve been lying to you about who I am.”
“So you’re not who I think you are?”
“What do you mean?”
“The jumping off diving boards, running in the middle of the day in white track suits, the sweet tooth. That’s not really you?”
“Of course it is,” Maddie replied.
“Then you haven’t been lying to me,” Tess said.
Maddie smiled. “Thanks.”
“So should I still call you Maddie?” Tess asked.
“Maddie’s my real name. Indiana Rose is just a stage name.”
“Right. So, you being up here is the reason the concerts were cancelled?”
“Sort of,” Maddie said. “It’s complicated but the short story is that I had a fight with my dad and I guess I just had enough. I needed a break.”
“And you picked Chesterfield because…”
“Jo’s family owns the McGregor house.”
“So Jo’s a McGregor,” Tess said. Now it was all starting to come together. Except
for one thing. “How do you know Jo?”
“She’s my bodyguard,” Maddie said, like everyone had one.
“No wonder I feel like she’s going to shoot me every time she sees me,” Tess said.
Maddie laughed. “She can be overprotective, but that’s what I pay her for.”
“Why isn’t she here then? Protecting you from me?”
“You’re not a threat, Tess.”
“What am I then?” Though Tess was only teasing with the question, she was dying for Maddie to confirm that what they were both feeling was real.
Maddie looked down at the ground and twisted her napkin. She looked sideways at Tess and said quietly, “You’re someone I’d like to kiss.”
Tess’s heart leaped straight into her mouth and she had to remind herself to breathe. Maddie leaned in and Tess moved along the seat closing the gap between them and scrunching the empty chip wrapper. It seemed to take forever, but when their lips met, Tess finally felt like she could breathe again. She felt like the world had stopped, and there was no-one else in it except for her and Maddie. When they broke apart, Maddie said, “You taste like chicken salt.”
Tess laughed. “You taste like mayonnaise.” She took a long drink of her milkshake and looked out over the centre ring. She knew she should still be feeling bad about the fire and the state of the festival, but Maddie’s kiss had just wiped all of that away. At least for the moment, and it was hard to see how today could get any better.
TWENTY-ONE
Lizzie’s games room was a testament to her older brother Lee, who’d bought every high tech gadget known to man thanks to working at Michael’s Electronics before he went overseas three years ago. A massive flat screen TV took up one wall and below it sat a cabinet with games consoles and games dating back to the 1980s. Tess wasn’t sure if some of the older ones even worked but Lee collected them like some people collected stamps.
Lizzie’s pride and joy though was her karaoke machine. Tess and Maddie hadn’t been at Lizzie’s for more than an hour when Lizzie started hooking it up to the TV. Tess groaned.
“Oh come on, Tess. You knew this was what we’d be doing today.”
“I thought you’d at least let Maddie get settled before subjecting her to karaoke,” Tess said.
Lizzie pulled a face and continued connecting and disconnecting chords and microphones.
“Well, I’m going to get another drink and refill the chips,” Tess said. “Do you want to give me a hand, Maddie?” Tess gave her the ‘you need to come with me now’ look and thankfully, Maddie got the hint and followed Tess out into the hall.
When they got to the kitchen, and far enough away that Tess thought Lizzie wouldn’t be able to hear them, she said, “You don’t have to sing if you don't want to.”
Maddie opened a packet of chips and dumped its contents into the bowl and said, “I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t you think Lizzie will guess who you are as soon as you start singing? She is your number one fan.”
“Give me some credit,” Maddie said, crunching on a chip. “I can sing badly when I want to.” She winked at Tess, picked up the bowl of chips, kissed Tess on the cheek and headed back down to the games room.
Maddie certainly wasn’t wrong. Lizzie insisted they sing duet battles on some of Maddie’s own songs, which Lizzie had made into karaoke versions on her computer, and despite Tess’s reservations, Maddie killed them. Really, terribly, killed them. Maddie sang so badly that Lizzie pulled Tess aside after only the third song and whispered, “She’s almost as bad as you. I think we should just watch a movie before she destroys any more of my favourite songs.”
“I think she’s a great singer,” Tess said.
Lizzie, obviously missing the sarcasm, said, “You would think that since you’re tone deaf.”
The insult didn’t bother Tess. She was secretly happy to get out of singing karaoke herself. Lizzie opened the movie cabinet and instructed Tess and Maddie to choose one movie each. Tess’s only stipulation was that Lizzie couldn't choose ‘The Sound of Music’ because there was only so many times she could listen to Lizzie sing ‘Do Re Me'. Lizzie picked ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ instead and, Tess thought, just to spite her. Maddie picked ‘The Lion King' and Tess picked ‘Footloose’. The original, not the remake.
“We should watch yours first,” Tess said to Lizzie. “Just to get the singing out of your system.” Lizzie poked her tongue out and put the DVD into the player. Tess and Maddie settled down side-by-side on the lounge. It was thrilling for Tess to be snuggling so close with Maddie, even though Lizzie was in the same room. It was even better when Lizzie closed the blockout curtains to make the room dark to stop the glare on the TV screen. Maddie curled her legs up beside her, slipped her hand into Tess’s and leaned her head on Tess’s shoulder. Tess was hyper-aware of every part of her skin that Maddie touched and found it hard to concentrate on the movie. It didn’t matter. She knew it off by heart, thanks to Lizzie’?s obsession with musicals.
∞
After a three movie marathon, and even though it was late, Lizzie insisted on watching one of Lee’s D-grade horror movies before they went to sleep. They were about two-thirds through the movie when Will came in. It must have been almost midnight, so Tess was surprised to see him.
“What are you doing here so late?” Tess asked as Will took a handful of chips and plopped down on a beanbag beside Lizzie.
“I was bored,” he said, like he did this sort of thing all the time. “What are we watching?”
“Murder in Scarlet,” Lizzie said.
“Ooh, have you gotten to the part yet where we find out the secret of the murderer?”
Lizzie whacked Will on the arm and said, “Shh, Maddie hasn’t seen it.”
“Sorry,” Will said and stuffed more chips into his mouth.
“Where have you been?” Tess asked.
“Messing around with the band. And talking to—Ow!” Lizzie had punched him hard on the arm.
“Talking to who?” Tess asked.
“No-one,” Lizzie said at the same time Will said, “People.”
Something was going on, Tess thought, and she didn’t like it. “What’s going on? Lizzie?”
“Watch the movie,” Lizzie said.
“You’ve seen it a hundred times,” Tess said.
“Maddie hasn’t,” Lizzie replied.
“I don’t mind,” Maddie said. “Your conversation sounds much more interesting.”
Tess paused the movie just as the main character walked in on one of the killers. It was a pivotal moment in the movie and Lizzie said, “It’s just getting to the good part.”
“Spill,” Tess said to Will.
Lizzie shook her head and said, “Not until Saturday.”
“Why not now?”
“Because nothing’s been finalised yet,” Will said.
“What hasn’t been finalised?”
Will opened his mouth to say something but Lizzie was quick and covered his mouth with her hand. “It’s a surprise.”
“I hate surprises,” Tess said.
“Do you?” Maddie asked.
“No. She doesn’t,” Lizzie said. “She loves surprises. She just hates finding out about them beforehand. Which is why we’re not telling you until Saturday.”
Tess glared at Will and Lizzie but they just looked at her innocently. “Fine,” Tess said and pressed play on the movie. The main character screamed when the real killer turned around, holding her red-haired wig in her hand revealing that she wasn't really a red-head in the first place. They all jumped when someone’s phone rang at the exact same moment.
“Sorry,” Maddie said, digging her phone out of her bag. She swiped the front of her phone and said, “It’s Jo.” Tess looked back to the TV, not wanting to spy on Maddie’s text messages. She wondered whether Jo had a tracker that told her when Maddie was having too much fun so she could spoil it. Maddie sat up and said, “Oh no.”
“What?” Tess sat up too.
“Now?”
“But the movie’s nearly finished. Can’t you wait until the end?”
“Apparently not,” Maddie said. “That thing I told you about today?” she said to Tess. Tess nodded. “I have to go sort it out. Jo said she’s out front waiting.”
Tess stood up and helped Maddie collect her things. “I’ll walk you out.”
“Thanks for having me, Lizzie,” Maddie said, tossing her backpack over her shoulder. “I’ve had a great time. And I loved karaoke.”
“Any time,” Lizzie replied.
Tess walked Maddie to the front door and before she opened it, she pulled Maddie into a hug.
“Thanks for today,” Maddie said. “You’ve made me feel like a normal person.”
“And you made me forget about the festival. At least for a couple of hours,” Tess replied.
“I’m sorry I have to go. I really wanted to stay tonight,” Maddie said. She leaned in and kissed Tess on the lips. It was soft and sweet and promised more to come. When they broke apart, Maddie leaned her forehead on Tess’s.
“Is everything okay?” Tess asked.
“I hope so,” Maddie replied.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Maddie paused and then said, “Yeah.”
Tess opened the door and sure enough, Jo’s car was waiting in the driveway. Maddie kissed Tess on the cheek and said, “Bye.”
“Bye,” Tess said. She waited until the car pulled away before she closed the door. She took a few deep breaths and then headed back to Lizzie and Will.
“I worked out who Maddie looks like,” Will said when Tess returned.
“Who?” Tess asked. She plopped down onto the lounge.
“He’s got no idea,” Lizzie said.
“That lead singer from Three’s Company,” Will said. “Don’t you think?”
Tess’s breath caught in her throat. “No idea,” she said.
“Her hair is too short and too dark,” Lizzie said.
“What do you think, Tess?” Will asked.
Tess took a handful of chips and shoved them into her mouth and just shrugged.
“Well, she can’t sing to save herself,” Lizzie said. “And besides, don’t you think I’d know if Indiana Rose was in town?”