Jealousy at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

  When Vanessa got home she swung open the door and bowled inside. The girl was there, sitting on the couch with her mother and smiled on Vanessa’s entry. ‘Hi Vanessa. I saw you at school today.’

  Vanessa gaped at her. It was the same girl - Nadia Harrison.

  ‘Come and sit down,’ her mother said. ‘This is all quite a shock. It seems your father wasn’t the loyal, faithful husband he made himself out to be.’

  Vanessa walked slowly to one of the chairs and sat down, her eyes not moving from Nadia. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

  ‘No, it’s true.’ She handed over a birth certificate as well as some medical papers.

  Looking at the birth certificate, it showed her birth date as her being nearly a year younger than her. Nadia’s father as unknown. The medical papers showed the results of a recent paternity test and that her dad was indeed Nadia’s father.

  ‘So... so how is it that we’ve found out this now?’

  Nadia replied. ‘Dad tracked me down. He’d been searching for a long time. We met for the first time last year.’

  ‘What?’ Vanessa said. ‘He never told me that.’

  ‘Obviously not. At the time, I didn’t know whether I wanted anything to do with him. But then we became quite close. He told me all about you and more recently, how he’d tried to patch things up with you a couple of months back. Mom didn’t like it when I started communicating with him. We had a huge falling out and then Dad offered to take me in. He said he was moving here... well New Plymouth exactly and he wanted for me to be able to attend Te Arawa College so I could get to know you.’

  Vanessa saw red right away. ‘This is a trick. This is Dad trying to get back in my good books, isn’t it? He’s trying to re-establish contact with me after all those lies he fed me about dying of cancer. Well you can tell him to forget it.’

  ‘It’s not a trick, Nessie,’ her mother said. ‘Your father was here with a lawyer. These papers are official. She is your half sister.’

  Vanessa stared at her again. No wonder she looked so familiar. No wonder Rex said Nadia reminded her so much of her. No, this wasn’t a joke. It was real. She could feel it.

  ‘I haven’t upset you, have I?’ Nadia asked. ‘I... I didn’t realise you were so angry with Dad.’

  Vanessa sighed. ‘Oh, it’s not so much that. I guess it just comes as a shock that’s all. I can’t believe I have a sister. So you’re coming to my school?’

  ‘Yes. Is that ok?’

  Vanessa smiled. ‘Of course.’ She rose to her feet. So did Nadia. ‘I’ve really got a sister?’

  ‘Yep.’

  The two embraced. It still seemed unbelievable to Vanessa that she had just gone from being an only child to having a sister nearly one year younger than her. ‘So is Dad coming to pick you up?’

  ‘In about three hours.’

  ‘Then we have some time to get to know each other?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Alright. Then let’s do that.’ She turned to her mother whose face was expressionless. For a moment Vanessa paused, wondering what must be going through her mind. ‘Are you ok, Mum?’

  ‘Of course.’ She delivered a weak smile and rose to her feet. ‘I guess it’s all just a bit of a shock to me, that’s all. It’s going to take some getting used to.’

  Vanessa reached over and hugged her mother. For a few minutes they held each other and then stepped back.

  ‘You take Nadia up to your room for a bit,’ her mother said. ‘Show her some of your stuff. Let her get to know you. I’ll be down here. I think you two have a lot to talk about.’

  It seemed they really were sisters, because Vanessa felt right at home with Nadia. After the initial shock, she found her very easy to talk to. Next thing they were talking about their interests and their friends. Of course one of the first topics Vanessa had to bring up was Rex.

  ‘Would you believe he has a half sister too? Her name’s Skylar and she’s freaking gorgeous. She lives in Wellington with her mother. I’ve met her a couple of times.’

  ‘So what’s he like this Rex?’

  ‘He’s spectacular and the most wonderful guy ever. I know he’ll really like you too.’

  ‘Doesn’t that worry you?’

  Vanessa laughed. ‘Not at all. We have this really amazing relationship. We trust each other implicitly. We have this really incredible connection, it’s like something you just can’t break.’

  ‘He was the guy you were sitting with in class right?’

  ‘Yes. Here, let me show you some photographs.’ She pulled an album off the shelf and proudly displayed it to her, showing pictures of Rex on his own and also with her.

  ‘Wow,’ Nadia said. ‘He is so hot.’

  ‘Yeah huh!’

  ‘He’s drop dead gorgeous. His eyes... wow...’

  ‘Once you lock onto them, you just can’t break the gaze.’

  ‘You are so lucky.’ Nadia spent several minutes flicking through the albums, her eyes wide. Vanessa was quite happy to sit there with her and tell her about the shots.

  ‘That there was at the beach during summer. It’s not far from here. We love it because of the rocks.’

  ‘Wow, look at his chest. So muscular. Washboard abs. Mmmmmm. Oh God, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be drooling over him like this.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it. Drool as much as you like, everyone does.’

  Nadia turned and smiled. ‘You are so cool. Most girls I know would be growling at me, telling me to keep my eyes off him.’

  ‘I’m not most girls. Besides, we’re sisters, right?’

  ‘Yeah!’ She paused to peer around at the room. ‘I like those groups you have up on the wall. I guess we have the same taste in music. Miss Googoo. She's great.'

  'She is. I love her.'

  'Sexy shot too. You have a lot of actresses and female pop stars up on your wall.’

  ‘Yes, I do.’ Vanessa could already imagine the questions that might be going on in her mind.

  ‘What about actors? You’ve got none. I’d expect to see a picture of Robert Pattinson or someone like that with no shirt on.'

  'No, I'm more of a Kirsten Stewart type of girl. Ooh la la. But so far I haven't been able to find a poster with her topless.' She delivered a cheeky grin, which she realised might make Nadia think she was joking, but she liked to do that sometimes just for fun. Keep them guessing whether she was serious or not.

  Nadia cast her a sideways glance. ‘Huh?’

  She decided to come clean and be done with it. ‘I’m gay, Nadia.’

  Nadia’s eyes widened.

  ‘Didn’t dad tell you?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Is there a problem with that?’

  'Of course not. I was just surprised, that’s all. I would have thought you were totally straight. I mean, you’ve got a boyfriend. You’re in love with him, right?’

  ‘Yeah huh. Don’t try to figure that out, I can’t either. It’s just the way it is.’

  Nadia paused for a few seconds, looking far away. ‘I guess.’ Suddenly her eyes flicked over to her PC. ‘What’s on your computer?’

  ‘Apart from lots of pictures of Rex and sexy female models?’

  ‘Well I’ll gladly look at more pictures of Rex.’

  ‘I have hundreds.’

  ‘Cool. Do you also have the Internet?’

  ‘Of course. Let’s hop on for a bit.’

  They soon had the computer powered up and Vanessa showed her more things of interest, including folders of photographs.

  ‘Do you have any real sexy shots of him?’

  ‘Of course. But if we start looking at those, we’ll be here all night. Perhaps another time? Give you something to look forward to.’

  ‘Yes please.’

  ‘Hey, I just wanna check my FaceLink messages. See who’s been on. Maybe one of my friends is on line now.’

  ‘Cool.’

  Vanessa logged in and went to her messages page. ‘Cheeky Cherry has left me some
messages.’

  ‘Who’s she?’

  ‘Some girl who says she knows me.’

  ‘She’s very pretty.’

  ‘I know. I reckon I’ve seen her before, which I guess is possible, because she’s from a school in New Plymouth.’

  ‘Or so she claims. That might not even be her. She might look like a complete hag in real life.’

  ‘Could be. But I’m not stupid. I’m not just gonna believe everything she tells me.’

  ‘If she’s even a she.’

  ‘Yeah, well that’s always a good question isn’t it?’ Vanessa laughed. 'I wouldn't put it beyond some guys I know to set up a fake profile and pretend to be a girl.'

  She read Cherry’s message while Nadia peered over her shoulder and snorted, ‘God, she’s illiterate.’

  ‘Yeah… her first messages were great. Guess she used the spell checker then and has gotten lazy.’

  ‘So she’s gay too?’

  ‘So she says.’

  ‘Are you going to IM her?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘But what if she’s not who she says she is?’

  ‘Well I’ll hopefully find out that by chatting with her. Hello. She must be on line right now, another message has just come through from her.

  Vanessa opened it up. It read:

  Hi Vanessa. This is difficult for me, but I hav something you need to c. I sore your boyfrend, the wun u hav pitchers of in your albim, the wun called Rex. I rekognised him when I sore him erlier this evening here in New Plymouth. He was with this girl. I could’nt beleeve it. She was kissing him and evrything. They were really going at it. I just thort u should no about this, becuse I beleeve he is being unfaythful to u. Chek out the fotografs I took.

  ‘Whoa!’ Nadia said. ‘Is she for real?’

  ‘Rex was in New Plymouth today?’ Vanessa frowned. ‘He never said he was going there.’ It only bothered her slightly. No doubt he would mention it to her later.

  ‘Well, if he was seeing someone behind your back, he wouldn’t tell you.’

  ‘Yes he would.’

  ‘What, when he’s seeing other girls?’

  ‘Yeah huh.’

  ‘Oh, you don’t mean in that way though, do you? You mean like in hanging out as friends.’

  Vanessa didn’t reply. For the moment she really didn’t want to have to explain the nature of their relationship. She opened up the first photograph and viewed it. ‘It’s Rex alright. With Chelsea.’

  ‘Who’s Chelsea?’

  ‘One of our friends. You saw her in some of my photographs.’

  ‘Oh yeah.’

  Vanessa checked the other two photographs as well, both showing a similar scene. She shrugged, not particularly concerned, and deleted all three. ‘No big deal.’

  ‘What?’ Nadia stared at her. ‘No big deal?’

  ‘It’s only Chelsea. She’s one of our best friends.’

  ‘So? She’s making out with your guy!’

  ‘So what?’

  ‘So what? Oh my God, Nessa, you must be joking!’

  Vanessa couldn’t help but burst out laughing when she saw the horrified look on Nadia’s face. ‘Relax! Chelsea and Rex have been close for ages. Why would I get jealous over that?’

  ‘Because he’s messing around with her. Being unfaithful to you.’

  Vanessa laughed some more. She realised now she’d have to offer her sister further explanation. ‘Chill out, Nadia. He sees other girls, so do I. No biggie. It’s the way things are with us.’

  ‘You don’t mind?’

  ‘Nuh uh. Haven't you ever heard of compersion?'

  'No.'

  'It's when you get pleasure from a loved one gaining pleasure from someone else.'

  'That's bizarre.'

  'I have a lot of girlfriends like that.'

  'So it's a lesbian thing?'

  'Not necessarily.'

  Nadia stared at her horrified. 'I couldn't handle that. I'd be worried he might decide he likes the other girl better.'

  'I know where I stand with him. I know that ultimately I’m his girl and he’s my guy. I know it seems crazy, but that’s the way it is with us. I wouldn’t want it any other way.’

  Nadia continued to stare at her. ‘If you say so.’

  ‘Yeah huh. I do.’

  Vanessa wrote a reply to Cheeky Cherry:

  I’m surprised you saw him in New Plymouth and recognised him. Don’t worry about it. I’m ok with it. If you want to send me your IM address I’ll be happy to chat with you for a bit.

  ‘You’re going to chat with this girl? But you don’t even know if she’s who she claims to be.’

  ‘Hopefully by chatting a little I might find out. People tend to trip up and make mistakes. I’ll soon expose her... or him as a fraud if she is. But she did get those photographs, so she must at least be living somewhere around this part of the country.’

  She logged into her instant messaging service and waited to see if Cheeky Cherry would come online.

  ‘Vanessa...’ Nadia said. ‘How can you be so sure Rex would never fall for one of his other girls and decide to dump you?’

  ‘There are some things you can be so confident of, like a new day is going to dawn or that some time in the next two weeks it’s going to piss down with rain here in Te Arawa. I’m perfect for him and he knows it. He’ll never find another person he is so completely and absolutely in synch with.’ She turned to look Nadia in the eye. ‘I guess you’ll never understand. I don’t think everyone is lucky enough to find their perfect match.’

  Nadia fell silent. Vanessa checked out a few places on her profile for updates. She could feel Nadia’s eyes upon her as if trying to figure her out, as if trying to work out whether she was for real.

  Cheeky Cherry came up on her Instant Messaging.

  Hi their! Its me cheeky cheery. is so kool i can tork to u on instint massaging. i kant beleeve u arnt upset about yorr boy fiend kissing that girl. If I waz u and if I waz strate, i wood be relly pissed of! I theenk he iz beeing unfaythfull to u.

  ‘Good God,’ Nadia said. ‘Her spelling and grammar is atrocious.’

  ‘You’re not kidding. Pity IM doesn’t have auto correction.’

  ‘I don’t know if even auto correction would help this girl.’

  ‘I think you’re right. But still, if that really is her in her photograph, who cares about her spelling.’

  She replied:

  I’m fine with it. I’m not worried, so neither should you be. So what school do you go to in New Plymouth?

  The next few minutes she messaged backwards and forwards, mainly small talk. It took a long time for Cherry to compose her messages and it was hard to decipher her words at times, with her atrocious spelling and grammar, but Vanessa managed.

  ‘I really hope we can continue to chat for a while,’ Cherrry said in her IM. ‘I don’t mean right now, but over the next few days. I’m so lonely because I have no one who I can talk to who’s like me. It’s really hard.’

  Vanessa felt compassion for Cherry. It was still hard to judge whether Cherry was sincere. It seemed from many of her replies that maybe she was perhaps mentally challenged. She certainly didn’t look it in her photographs, but it was hard not to escape that conclusion.

  Vanessa replied, ‘It can be hard. For me, I always took it in my stride. I’m not ashamed of who I am and I’m just not the type of person who cares what other people think. If they don’t like me, that’s tough for them. But I know what it’s like for others I’ve gotten to know.’

  ‘Wish I could meet you. But I want to IM first.’

  ‘That’s fine. But you know, if you’re interested me and a group of friends are going to be at the Aquatic Centre on Saturday afternoon. Maybe if you’re there we can say hi.’

  ‘Possibly. I’m not sure I have the guts though. And I don’t mean that in a fat unattractive way.’

  ‘LOL’

  ‘It’s funny that you’re in love with a guy. Does that mean you might fa
ll in love with another guy?’

  ‘I very much doubt it. He’s the only guy I’ve ever met who I’ve ever been attracted to.’

  Nadia spoke up at the moment. ‘Really? Is that true?’

  Vanessa turned her head to her. ‘Yes. The God’s honest truth.’

  ‘Wow that’s just so bizarre.’

  Vanessa turned back to the monitor to see Cherry’s next reply. ‘Well it’s just as well I’m a girl then.’

  ‘Yeah huh.’ Vanessa typed.

  ‘Do you think you would like me?’

  ‘Well if you are who you say you are and those are really your pictures, then I’m sure I will. Anyway. Have to go. My sister is here and I should spend some more time with her before it gets too late.’

  ‘But you don‘t have a sister!’

  ‘How do you know?’

  There was a very long pause this time, before Cherry replied, ‘It doesn’t say you have one in your profile.’

  ‘Is there a rule that says I have to put that information on my profile?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Well there you go.’

  ‘Can we chat some more another night?’

  ‘Maybe. It depends whether I’m on line and feel like chatting.’

  ‘Cool. I’ll see you.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  Vanessa turned her head to face Nadia again. ‘Strange girl.’

  ‘You’re telling me.’

  ‘But she is really hot.’

  ‘Well I don’t know, I don’t look at girls in the way.’

  Vanessa smiled. ‘I guess you don’t.’

  ‘So… ah… Vanessa.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘You really are that confident that you and Rex are so rock solid?’

  ‘Yeah huh. Absolutely.’

  ‘And you don’t mind other girls chasing after him, making the moves on him?’

  ‘Not at all. Girls do it all the time. I don’t get threatened by that sort of thing.’

  ‘So then if I chased him, you wouldn’t mind?’

  Vanessa reeled. ‘What?’

  ‘If I chased after him, you’d be ok with it?’

  She found it hard to believe, that Nadia, having only just walked into her life, would already be suggesting trying to move in on her guy. In fact, for a moment she felt threatened. Nadia was very beautiful and she had Vanessa’s blood. What if there was even the slightest chance that Nadia had that same something that Rex saw in her?

  It was a thought she tried to force back. She smiled. ‘No problems. Good luck.’

  Nadia smiled. ‘You may live to regret those well wishes.’

 

  CHAPTER 9:

  Relief