Painted Over

by Sofi Keren

  That never took away from her own dad. Even though he’d been working a lot when she was a kid, she knew he’d been doing it for her. It couldn’t have been easy for him, and she loved him all the more for it.

  The crowd quieted as Ria made her way to the center of the gym floor, flanked by administrators and a few teachers. Paige didn’t recognize any of them. Surely some of her former teachers were still there. It had only been fifteen years, but if they were there, she didn’t see them.

  A tall, partially bald man in a suit strolled up to the mic and coughed into it to get everyone’s attention. Paige figured he must be the principal.

  “Thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon for this honorable occasion. I’m sure you all have heard of our hometown hero and today’s guest of honor, Ria Worth, but please allow me a few minutes to share some key features of her biography.

  “Ria graduated in our class of 2001, and even then we knew she was talented and destined for greatness. She is a shining example of what Carmel High School’s athletes can achieve when paired with dedication, passion, and grit. She was a key member of our girls’ soccer team for all four years of her high school career, scoring many goals along the way, and twice leading the team to state victory. In the year 2000, she received the title of Indiana Girls’ Soccer Athlete of the Year, and she has not slowed down since.

  “After graduating from these hallowed halls, Ria accepted a scholarship to Indiana University, where she quickly became an MVP of their girls’ team. Her scholarship, like many of the sports-based scholarships our students have received over the years, demonstrates the important intersection of athletics and academics.”

  Benji chuckled a little under his breath, and Paige exchanged grins with him. She knew what he was thinking. Academics had been the least of Ria’s worries. The girl was naturally smart and her teachers loved her, but soccer was her first and only true love. School was a chore to get through on the way to the field. Paige had always been a little jealous that schools seemed to value sports above all else—including art—but she was never jealous of Ria.

  The principal continued narrating Ria’s path toward the Olympics and the World Cup. He missed plenty of details, but the broad strokes were all true. Finally he concluded.

  “We are so proud to have Ria Worth back on our campus today to dedicate this gym. But before we get to the official ribbon-cutting, she would like to say a few words.” He moved aside as Ria stepped up to the mic.

  She pulled it off the stand and looked around the room, taking it all in. Then she smiled.

  “You guys, this is pretty amazing. Well, at least for me. You’re probably just glad to have an excuse to skip class.” The kids laughed.

  “I don’t blame you. I was an okay student but I lived for soccer. Sorry, Principal Daniels, but it’s true. I would get so annoyed at having to learn all these things I didn’t think I’d need in the real world. But a weird thing happened along the way. All those random things I had to learn? A lot of them came in handy. And not just at trivia night at the bar.

  “About halfway through college I realized something. That it wasn’t just about memorizing facts and calculations and historical events. Learning those things was a kind of training, just like the drills at soccer practice. They were teaching me how to think. How to solve problems. How to evaluate information. And a weird thing happened that I never could have imagined—I fell in love with math.” Assorted groans echoed throughout the gym.

  “I know!” Ria grinned. “It sounds insane, right? Everyone hates math. I hated math! Or so I thought. But my freshman year of college, I took the required math class, Finite Mathematics, or something else complicated like that. I was hoping to skate by on a ‘C’ since that was the lowest grade you could get and still have the class count and not have your coach yell at you.

  “And probably that’s what I would have done, except that I had an amazing professor. She was actually an adjunct professor, which is slang for teaching a class like a regular professor but getting paid crap. She taught math like it was interesting, like it was something she was excited to be teaching. And that enthusiasm worked. It made me interested. All of a sudden, it wasn’t a chore to learn how the numbers fit together. It was a puzzle. It was like watching the game play out on the field, seeing where the players were located, what direction they were going and how fast, all of those things my brain just naturally figured out.

  “I decided to major in math, which I know might sound crazy. But it spoke to me. And I really think it made me a better player too. I could bring more to the team. So don’t let anyone tell you all jocks are dumb. Yeah, if you interview us right after a game, we’re going to sound like idiots because our blood is everywhere in our bodies except our brains, but some of the smartest people I’ve met are athletes.

  “School is a tool. Use it. Take every kind of class, because you never know what you’re going to love. And enjoy it. Because once you graduate, you don’t get summer break anymore, and that’s really unfortunate. Thank you.” She handed the microphone back to the principal as the student body clapped.

  “Everyone please join us at the entrance to the gym for the symbolic ribbon cutting of the building that will now bear Ria’s name.” And with that, they were dismissed. The Worths hustled to beat the crowd. Even now, Ria’s parents photographed every milestone. Paige tagged along.

  “That was awesome,” Benji said. “Did you see how she had those kids just eating out of the palm of her hand?”

  “I know, they actually seemed interested in what she was saying. That’s no small thing.” Paige was starting to see how Ria might be a good coach. If she could hold these kids’ attention, just imagine the impact she could have on college students.

  “Do you want to go out for lunch with us after this, Paige?” Mila asked.

  “Sure, Mila, that would be nice. Thanks for the invitation.”

  It was funny how easy it was to slip back into this family. It was as though all those years she’d been away never happened, like they’d been erased. They’d barely given her a hard time about it. Maybe they were just as glad as she was that things were back to normal.

  Ria and the VIPs posed outside by the entrance, as a crowd of students gathered in front of them, a few of them busily Instagramming the moment and each other. Ria’s mom had her camera ready and was trying to get Ria’s attention. Ria scanned the crowd and smiled when she found them. She waved a hand. Paige raised a hand to wave back, but Ria’s expression changed to something like surprise and a pleasant confusion.

  Paige turned around and saw a woman waving her fingers at Ria, smiling broadly. Tall and willowy, her effortlessly tousled, shiny brown locks tumbled down her back. The woman carried a small suitcase, the kind of luggage that Paige knew cost more than her monthly rent. Benji turned to see what caught Paige’s attention.

  “Oh hey,” he said. “Elena’s here. I didn’t know she was coming.”

  Elena. Paige’s stomach dropped. She already knew who that was, though she’d never seen her in person. Ria had mentioned her in interviews, being thankful for, “the support of my wonderful partner, Elena Martine.” Gossip sites had posted photos of them leaving various restaurants together, their fingers intertwined as they walked. But they had split up a couple years ago, hadn’t they? Or maybe not. Elena was from Europe—Spain, Paige thought she remembered reading—so what was she doing here now?

  “Here we go!” Mila said, holding up her phone to record the moment for posterity.

  Holding an oversized pair of scissors, Ria held them open over the red ribbon tied across the gym doors and smiled for the cameras before she cut it free.

  Chapter Seven

  The family descended upon an unsuspecting restaurant not far from the high school, the kind of restaurant that offers small plates of food that are somehow also supposed to be shared. The waiter looked a little panicked when they asked for a table for nine outside, but it wasn’t particularly busy. After a few mi
nutes of completely rearranging the furniture, he led them to the tables that had been shoved together to accommodate them.

  “Elena, come sit by me!” Mila called out. Paige fought off a pang of jealousy. She hadn’t known that Elena was so close to the family. And god, did she have to be so pretty? Ria had always dated girls who looked like models. She felt her usual confidence dissipate.

  Paige found herself sitting next to Vina and her four year old, Kelsey. The toddler excitedly told her all about the field trip they’d taken to the Children’s Museum last week. She tried to pay attention and look excited, but she strained to hear snippets of the conversation between Ria, Elena, Mila, and Henry at the other side of the table. She made eye contact with Ria a couple times, and she smiled and acted as though she was having a great time even though she didn’t feel it. She’d started feeling like she was a part of the family again, but just like that, she realized how far away they were.

  They ordered half the items on the menu and passed them from person to person until everyone was well and truly full.

  What am I doing here? Paige shifted awkwardly in her seat. She surreptitiously checked the time on her phone, trying to think of an excuse to go that wouldn’t be obvious. Not wanting to be rude, she tried to listen to Benji’s stories about the farm and what Kelsey was learning in preschool, silently begging for the meal to be over so she could escape.

  Ria, her parents, and Elena were all smiling and making excited gestures. Elena laid her hand on Ria’s wrist and whispered something into her ear, and Paige felt the bottom fall out. It was like looking through a window into a place she no longer fit in.

  Finally all the plates were empty, the leftovers boxed up to send home to Vina’s always-hungry brood, and the check paid. All of the siblings insisted they were going to pay, but Ria’s dad shot them down.

  “How often do I have you all here together? And we got to visit Ria’s high school without it being because she got in trouble! I am more than happy to pick up the check for an occasion like this.”

  “Is everyone coming back to the house?” Mila asked the group. “I have a cake and we have that espresso maker we never use.”

  “Sorry mom,” Vina said, helping Kelsey gather up her things. “We have to run a couple errands before the other kids get home from school.”

  Paige took that as her cue and got up to leave as well.

  “Oh Paige! Not you too! You must come back with us.”

  “I really wish that I could,” she fibbed, “but I have a big project I have to get working on.”

  “Yes! Ria told us about your wonderful large painting in Chicago. How exciting!”

  “Thank you so much. And thank you for lunch. It was very sweet of you to invite me.”

  Paige mumbled her goodbyes to everyone and walked quickly out of the restaurant. Halfway to her car, Ria caught up with her.

  “Paige! Hold up!”

  “Oh hey, Ria.” Paige fumbled with her keys. “Congrats again on today. That was very cool. Thank you for inviting me.”

  “I just wanted to say I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk much. I had no idea Elena was coming. She’s unpredictable like that.”

  “It’s not a problem. Hey, I need to go.”

  “Hold on. I had a good time hanging out with you last night. We should do it again sometime.”

  “Yeah. That would be nice. You should bring Elena.”

  “Oh. Maybe, I guess. I don’t really know what her plans are.”

  “That’s cool. Anyway, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Paige turned and rushed off to her car, afraid to say anything else. God I’m such an idiot. How had she managed to get her head turned around again so easily? Maybe they could be friends, but that was going to be it. She was going to focus on work. That was what was really important right now.

  Instead of heading to her studio, Paige drove out to Garfield Park, her favorite place in the city to be alone with her thoughts, a pencil, and a blank pad of paper. She knew she should be working on refining her design for the mural, but when she felt like this, it was best to just start drawing without a goal in mind.

  The park was quiet today. The kids weren’t out of school just yet, and the pack of guys who sometimes lurked around must have either been on the other side of the park, or they’d gone off to score some food or drugs. Either way, she had the Sunken Gardens to herself. Somehow she’d managed to go through her entire childhood without ever visiting this park, and she’d only discovered it once she moved back, even though it was over a hundred years old.

  It was a huge park, with different pockets—tennis courts, a pagoda, jungle gyms, and lots of green grass, but the Sunken Gardens were her favorite part. The ancient fountain shot water skyward in calming arcs in the center of the formal garden. Depending on the season, the park planted different types of flowers, and Paige loved it best when the tulips bloomed. They were past that now. The summer plants were already blossoming.

  She found a stone bench and sat cross-legged on it, pulled her pencils and notebook out of her messenger bag. Maybe she could clear her head by sketching some flowers. She tried outlining some of the newly planted annuals, but she couldn’t concentrate. How had she let this happen again? How had she let herself get all mixed up when she knew better? It wasn’t as bad as before, thank god for that. She’d been so stupid. It might as well have been yesterday for how little time had eroded the memory.

  If she had a time machine, she’d travel back to the end of senior year at IU and tell herself not to answer the door that night. That night when she’d fallen asleep on the couch studying for finals and woken up to someone knocking loudly.

  She’d glanced at the clock. It was midnight, a little too early for a college student to be asleep on a Friday, but senior year was so much different than when she was a freshman and wanted to go out to parties all night. She was just now hearing back from the grad schools she’d applied to, with one exciting prospect having come in just that day. Grades didn’t really matter at that point, now that her applications were all out, but it still mattered to her. She cracked her back and uncurled herself from the couch cushions. The knocking continued, its volume only increasing.

  “Paige!” Ria’s voice called out from behind the door. “Your light’s on. Are you in there?”

  “Jesus, Ria,” she mumbled as she undid the chain and pulled the door open. “Dude. You’re going to get me reported to the leasing office.”

  Ria smiled big, and Paige realized that Ria was completely and utterly drunk.

  “You better come inside.” She led Ria to the couch and went straight to her tiny kitchenette to make coffee.

  “Please tell me you didn’t drive,” she called out behind her as Ria made herself at home.

  “Nope. I got a ride. I’m in no condition to be operating a motor vehicle at this juncture.”

  She laughed. Ria was the one person she knew whose vocabulary actually increased when she’d been drinking.

  “All right, well at least you were safe. But why, exactly, are you showing up at my apartment in the middle of the night, drunk off your head?”

  “That is a very good question.” Ria smiled. “I want to tell you my good news!”

  “You have news at midnight?”

  “Well, I had news at six o’clock, but then I fell into a pitcher of Hairy Bears.”

  “Yikes,” she replied. “I haven’t had one of those in a couple years now. They’re pretty lethal.”

  “They are very potent and also cost-effective.”

  Paige sat next to Ria on the couch and turned toward her. “So what’s this news? Don’t leave me in suspense.”

  Ria looked up at Paige, her face bright. “I got the call.”

  “The call?”

  “The call. The coach of the women’s national team called me.”

  “Oh my god. What did he say?”

  “He said that…” She hiccupped. “Well, he said that I’m still not ready yet.�
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  “Hold on. That doesn’t exactly sound like good news.”

  “But wait! There’s more.”

  “Okay…”

  “He wants me to go play for a year in Europe, and then he wants me to come back for camp. He said if I can improve my teamwork that I might have a shot after all.”

  “Ria, that’s awesome!”

  “Right? He already talked to a team in France and they want me to come play after graduation.”

  “You’re going to France? That’s amazing!”

  “I’m going to eat all of the cheese and drink all of the wine.”

  “And then roll down the soccer field,” Paige joked.

  “Yes, I will become the ball. Completely round. And I will squash all other teams when they attempt to score on me. I’ll roll right over their feet.”

  “Well now I see why you went out and got wasted. That is definitely worth celebrating.”

  “Speaking of drunk, I think we should toast,” Ria said.

  “I think if you have any more to drink you might barf all over my sofa.”

  “Fine. I’ll have some of that coffee, and you have some sort of booze, and we’ll toast with that.”

  “Fair enough.” She poured Ria a cup of the freshly brewed coffee and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

  They held their drinks up.

  “To being the ball,” Paige said.

  “To getting what we’ve always wanted.”

  They clinked their drinks and took a sip.

  “Ow. Hot.” Ria stuck out her burned tongue. Paige laughed and rolled her eyes.

  Ria set her coffee mug on a side table and turned back to Paige. She got a funny look in her eyes.

  “What?” Paige asked.

  Ria looked at her and bit her lip, considering something. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Paige’s.

  For a moment Paige fell into the kiss. She let the room dissolve around her. It felt like something she’d been waiting for. And then her eyes flew open, and she jerked back.