Thin, Rich, Pretty

by Harbison, Beth

  All she needed was to run into them at the mall after school or something.

  She resented them so much she could almost taste it.

  Lexi’s thoughts were interrupted by a crackling sound. “Do you want some Zotz?” Holly whispered.

  “Yum!”

  There was more crackling as they opened the candy. Lexi thought she could hear the fizzy centers bubbling in their mouths.

  Lexi loved Zotz.

  She loved them so much, she was tempted to ask if she could have one. But she knew how that would go. They’d say no and go back to their little private meeting, feeling all the more superior for having shot her down. So she just lay in bed, wishing she’d fall asleep so she wouldn’t have to listen to them sucking on candy and talking about how they’d be friends forever.

  “Is everyone asleep?” one of them whispered.

  The bunk bed creaked as they looked around. Lexi closed her eyes.

  “I think so.”

  “Let’s go, then.”

  The bed creaked again, and Lexi could hear them walking across the wooden floor and opening the door as slowly and quietly as they could. The wood planks squeaked quietly as they passed Lexi’s bed.

  Where were they going?

  Lexi waited, holding her breath, until she heard their footsteps go down the steps and out onto the dirt. Then she sneaked out of bed and peered out the window. The two of them were walking through the dark in the direction of the bridle trails.

  That was really odd.

  “What are you doing?” Sylvia’s voice startled Lexi.

  “Holly and Nicola just went out somewhere,” she said.

  “Where?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “They are going to be in so much trouble!”

  Lexi shrugged. “If they get caught.”

  Sylvia threw her legs over the side of her bunk and jumped down onto the floor. “They’re going to get caught. Because I’m going to tell on them. Which way did they go?”

  “Toward the trails.” Lexi was secretly glad Sylvia was going to take the initiative. She wanted those two to get in trouble as much as anyone, but she didn’t want to be the one to make it happen. Just in case that kind of karma came back to get her.

  Jill had told her all about karma when she didn’t want Lexi to tell anyone she’d tried a cigarette down the path by the school and she was sure Lexi didn’t want anyone to know she’d taken that bottle of Love’s Lemon Scent from Sears.

  “Not for long,” Sylvia singsonged, and marched out the door, letting it slam behind her.

  “Wha’ was that?” Tami sat up, rubbing her eyes and trying to make sense of the sight of Lexi standing in the middle of the room in the middle of the night.

  “Sylvia went to find Brittany,” she guessed.

  “Oh.” Tami dropped back against her pillows. “She’s in the shed by the pond. That’s where the counselors go to make out.”

  “I know.” Lexi nodded. “That’s probably where she’s going.” And she was probably motivated, at least in part, by wanting to catch them in the act of something.

  Something really good so she could tell everyone about it in the morning.

  Tami closed her eyes and was out again, like one of those baby dolls whose eyes close when you tip her backwards.

  With no one to talk to and nothing to do but wait, she went out onto the front porch and sat down to watch the moon shimmer on the lake in front of her.

  “We’ve got to hurry,” Nicola said urgently. This had seemed like such an adventure last night. Tonight she just had the bad feeling that they weren’t going to make it to get the ring.

  A couple of times she’d almost stopped Holly, but that was silly and superstitious. It wasn’t like that movie where the Scarecrow Man killed people who ventured out into the night—they were at camp.

  It was safe.

  Wasn’t it?

  “We shouldn’t have done this,” Holly panted. She was flagging, Nicola could tell. “It was a dumb idea.”

  “We have to get the ring back!”

  “I know! The stupid thing was hiding it in the first place!”

  “Well, it was your idea.”

  “I know!” Holly gulped and stopped. “Wait up a second. I need to catch my breath.”

  “You wait here. I’ll go get it myself.”

  “No way. You’ll get killed, and I’ll be haunted by it for the rest of my life.”

  “I wouldn’t be too thrilled by that, either.”

  “We shouldn’t do this.”

  “We have to. You know we have to.”

  “I know.”

  “Let’s go, before anyone notices we’re gone.”

  “Okay.”

  They took off again and were almost at the tree line when a bright spotlight hit them like an open hand. It was huge, lighting a wide circle around them, throwing their shadows—huge and grotesque—against the leafy curtain in front of them. “Stop right there!” someone called.

  Nicola and Holly froze, and looked at each other sideways. Holly was crying. Nicola was doing her best not to. “Just stay still,” she said quietly. “We’ll be fine.”

  “This is all my fault,” Holly whimpered. “I’m so scared.”

  “Shh! It’s not your fault.” But it was, sort of. It had been dumb to steal the ring. What if it was real?

  But it couldn’t be!

  Footsteps came up behind them, and the light moved with them, growing closer with every step. Holly was shaking so badly that Nicola thought she’d fall down.

  “Names, please.” It was Mr. Frank.

  Nicola didn’t realize how badly she herself was shaking until the moment when she realized it was him. “Nicola Kestle and Holly Kazanov,” she supplied, since Holly didn’t seem able to speak for the moment.

  “What are you kids doing out here?”

  “We . . . were . . . going f-for a . . . walk,” Holly stammered.

  Another person spoke then. “Number one, you know that’s against camp rules.” It was Danny Parish. “And number two, with someone potentially breaking into the cabins at night, it’s not safe for you to be outside without supervision.”

  “Parish!” Mr. Frank hushed. “No need to scare them more than they are.”

  “Yes, sir.” But Danny still flashed them a warning look.

  “Is anyone else out here with you?” Mr. Frank asked them.

  “No,” Nicola said, and Holly stammered the same.

  “All right, then. We’re taking you back to the cabin. But understand that we’re setting up electrical fences out here to protect the borders.”

  “We are?” Danny asked.

  Mr. Frank growled at him to be quiet, then said to Holly and Nicola, “You might have gotten quite a shock if you’d kept going.”

  Nicola put a hand to her chest, imagining the horror of running blindly into an electric fence. Imagining it was probably even more terrible than experiencing it would have been.

  “What’s your cabin number?” Danny asked.

  “Seven.”

  “Brittany,” Danny said to Mr. Frank. “She’s not careful enough.”

  Mr. Frank nodded. “We’ll keep a special eye on cabin Seven until the campers leave.”

  It was only then that Nicola realized Mr. Frank was in a tattered robe, cinched over what looked like flannel pajamas. Someone had roused him from his sleep to tell him they were out here.

  “I’m sorry to have woken you,” Nicola said to him.

  “It’s all right, Ms. Kestle. But let this be a lesson to you: No leaving the cabins after dark. Period.”

  “Yes, sir,” she and Holly both said, and followed the bouncing flashlight beam back to the cabin.

  The crickets were so loud, it would have been hard to have a conversation out there, but Lexi liked it. It allowed her not to think about the things that really bothered her.

  She was really starting to enjoy the solitude when she saw a group of people—three of them tall, three of them
shorter—come out from a dark corner of the lake and move toward cabin 7.

  Before long, she could tell it was Mr. Frank, his wife, Brittany, Holly, Nicola, and Sylvia.

  As soon as they got close, Lexi could see that Sylvia looked very pleased with herself.

  “Alexis, what are you doing out here?” Mr. Frank asked, his usually calm voice edged with tension.

  She thought for a moment, then said, “I heard some noise and got up and almost everyone was gone from the cabin. It scared me”—she felt a little bad about lying—“after what happened last night, with the robbery and all.”

  “I don’t blame you one bit,” Sylvia said. “In fact, I was so worried that the same guy might get Nicola and Holly that I ran down to the boathouse to find Brittany, but then she and Brian were asleep there, that is, I think they were asleep because they were lying down—”

  Mr. Frank and his wife exchanged a look.

  Brittany looked miserable.

  “—so then I had to run to Mr. Frank’s to tell them what was going on.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “I might have saved your lives,” she added to Nicola and Holly.

  They just sneered at her.

  “Everyone get into your bunks,” Mr. Frank said, then looked at Brittany and added, “Everyone. We’ll deal with whatever discipline we have to tomorrow. For now, I want you all to go to sleep. And if even one of you steps foot outside the cabin before reveille in the morning, you will go home immediately, do you understand?”

  Everyone mumbled their agreement.

  “And that goes for the remaining week you’re here,” he added. “Sylvia is quite right: There’s been some nefarious action going on around here, and we don’t need anyone to get wound up in it.”

  As far as Lexi could tell—and she was up very late for the rest of the week—no one left the cabin between taps and reveille again.

  13

  The Present

  Within a month and a half of Randy’s conditional proposal and Holly’s starving-for-matrimony act, she lost 16.8 pounds and, apparently, all Randy’s interest.

  The secret to the former was easy: She didn’t eat. All told, she probably clocked in at about five hundred calories a day, and those were just things she thought she needed to stay alive: a little protein, a little vegetable juice, no carbs. It was miserable, but she was so determined to “win” (though she never determined exactly what she felt like she was competing for—Randy? A wedding ring? Just plain beating the weight?) that she persevered. Eventually even the hunger felt like a triumph.

  She knew it wasn’t a lifestyle choice. She was going to return to normal eating habits just as soon as she reached her goal.

  The secret to the latter—losing Randy’s interest—was not so easily determined. When they were together and she ate light, he looked pleased, so it wasn’t that she was a drag to be around. Also, she made an extra effort to be cheerful with him and considerate of his needs.

  So why did he seem to be losing interest?

  At first Holly thought it was just her imagination that Randy was distancing himself from her. But after her disastrous attempt at seduction, she grew certain of it. He didn’t return calls for hours, and sometimes not even until the next day. He broke dates or ended them early.

  They had sex only once, and it ended . . . with a whimper, rather than with a bang.

  The more he pulled away, the less she ate. It was a terrible cycle of longing, aching, feeling sick, feeling sad, being emotionally exhausted, being physically exhausted. . . . Finally Holly decided she just had to face Randy with it. She needed to know what was going on, one way or the other.

  And the worst thing about it all was that she was the thinnest she’d ever been in her entire adult life. This was the Holy Grail of Happiness, or so she’d always thought.

  But it just wasn’t all it was chalked up to be.

  In fact, she was less happy than she’d been in recent memory.

  Eager to get things back on track with Randy, and hoping that would make everything feel better, she arranged to meet him at the gallery at closing after they hadn’t seen each other for a couple of days.

  “So what are you doing tonight?” Lacey asked as she turned the sign on the door from OPEN TO CLOSED. The sign was an original piece by Erik Heller.

  “Randy and I are going out for drinks.”

  “That’s weird, right? Going out for drinks when you’re, like, engaged? It sounds so formal.”

  Holly shrugged, but of course it was weird. Everything that happened with Randy lately was weird. “We need to talk.”

  Lacey nodded and, for once, didn’t add a snarky comment. She didn’t seem to like Randy. Even before the pre-engagement, which she thought was the height of stupidity, she’d always been standoffish with him. “So afterwards, if you’re up for it, me and some friends are going to the Zebra Room. You should come.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see if I can make it.” Holly had no intention of going out with Lacey and her wild friends. She would feel like a boring old woman alongside them. Hopelessly uncool.

  She’d felt like that since she was eight.

  “You can bring him if you want.”

  And that was an even more pitiful mental picture than just Holly going. She laughed. “I can’t see Randy shakin’ it at the Zebra Room.”

  Lacey nodded. “But I think I’d pay money to.” She went to the cash register and booted it down. “By the way, they’re cutting back my hours at the Smithsonian, so I can pick up more here, if you want. Maybe you should go on vacation.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Why not? The place will keep on making money without you. And you’ve been really tense lately. I think you could use some relaxation.”

  She sure could. But it also felt like she couldn’t even remember how to relax. Actually, she wasn’t sure she’d ever known how to relax. She wasn’t high-maintenance, and most people probably wouldn’t think she was high-strung, but she had been so awkward and self-conscious all her life that it felt like her motor was always running on high.

  “I’m fine,” she said simply.

  And it felt exactly like a lie.

  “Right. There’s Whatshisname.” Lacey gestured at the front window.

  Randy was peering in, his hands cupped by his eyes to block the glare of the setting sun.

  Holly gave a wave and went to the door. “I’m here.” She looked over her shoulder at Lacey. “You’ll lock up?”

  “Obviously.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Or tonight!” Lacey added, knowing full well it might draw Randy’s attention, but it was lost in the whoosh of the closing door.

  “What did she say?” Randy asked.

  “Nothing. So where should we go? Maggie’s?” Maggie’s was an old pizza joint a few blocks away. Holly loved the brick walls and the soft lighting and the smell of garlic that hung in the air.

  “Sure.”

  They walked the blocks in a thick silence. Holly tried to think of something to say, but fell short over and over again. How could they have a casual conversation now, then sit down at the table and backpedal to the topic of how to fix their relationship?

  He asked me to marry him, Holly reminded herself as they walked. There’s no way he’s gone from marriage to uninterested in one month. No way. I have an overactive imagination. Always have.

  He’s not even looking at you, another voice in her head said.

  He’s not touching you.

  “I’m glad you suggested this,” Randy said after what seemed like ages. “I’ve been wanting to talk.”

  What? Glad you suggested this? Been wanting to talk? Anyone overhearing them would think they were business associates or acquaintances, not engaged!

  “What do you want to talk about?” Holly asked. They stopped at the Veazey Street intersection across from Maggie’s and waited for the light to change.

  Later, she’d wonder what she was hoping he’d say. Wedding plans
? What cut of diamond do you want? Platinum or gold? Or even, How about we get onions on the pizza this time?

  What he said instead was, “Us. I don’t think it’s working.”

  Holly shot him a look. She had to have heard him wrong. Or he was joking. Or someone else had said it. “I’m sorry?”

  His mouth was a thin, tight line. He glanced at her, then back at the light and said, “Our relationship doesn’t fulfill me anymore.”

  She looked around at the six or seven people standing at the intersection with them, wondering if they were hearing this—how could they not?—and if they found it as unbelievably cold as she did.

  The walk sign flashed, and Randy began to cross, but Holly grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute! Let your audience go without us.”

  “Audience?”

  She gestured. “Them! I can’t believe you just dumped me in a crowd of people like that!”

  He looked at the retreating backs, then at Holly. “I didn’t dump you, Holly. Don’t make it sound like that.”

  Hope surged in her chest. Hope that she hated herself for later. “You didn’t?”

  “It’s mutual, isn’t it? Don’t you feel it, too?”

  Tears burned at her eyes, but she refused to cry. “I’m not even sure what the hell you’re saying. What’s mutual? Are you breaking up with me or not?”

  He expelled a long, even breath, then gave a single nod. “I guess, when you put it that way, I am.”

  “When I put it that way? As opposed to what way?” Her voice rose. “You’re not dumping me but you’re breaking up with me? Is there a distinction there?” Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. “Because if there’s a difference, I sure don’t know what the hell it is.”

  He put up a hand and shhhed her. “You’re making a scene, Holly.”

  “I’m making a scene? You’re the one who decided to—” She stopped. She wasn’t going to do this. She wasn’t going to have this conversation. What was the point? There was no changing his mind. She didn’t even want to. “Forget it. Nice knowing you.”