A Fine Mess
Page 17
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Harper felt her feet tingling beneath her as the whirring in her ear grew louder. She glided seamlessly along the pavement trying to build up enough momentum with her rollerblades to reach the top of the hill along the final stretch back to her house. She was thankful there wasn’t much further to go since an undeniable sense of thirst was overpowering her and she had run out of water a few miles back.
The uneven strides of the dawdler behind her were becoming increasingly audible. Harper turned around to see Kiley, who was bringing a whole new meaning to the term “second place.”
“Come on! Only another half mile!”
“Shut up, Harper.”
“Seriously. This is the last hill. Then we’re done. You want to get enough momentum for the hill.”
“Shut up, Harper.” Kiley’s legs were burning. Three miles ago she wanted to ask
Harper to head back, get her car and come back to pick her up while she rested on the curb, but she opted to suck it up instead.
Harper continued skating backwards. “Wow. Either you like feeling inferior to me and all of my awesomeness, or you just really love staring at my ass.”
Kiley tried to stop herself from grinning and concentrated on her footing.
“Shut up, Harper.”
Harper smiled and turned back around to make her way up the hill. She was actually surprised that Kiley hadn’t given up a while ago and was genuinely impressed with her determination.
Kiley struggled up the hill as each stride stoked the flames that were growing in the fire that was once her legs. What the hell was she thinking when she agreed to do this? Rollerblading definitely wasn’t her sport. She was okay at it and was good enough not to fall, but it didn’t come easy or naturally to her. Every time she worked out with Harper, she’d get inspired to get in shape after seeing the stamina that Harper has built for herself. But by the end of every workout Kiley just wanted to curl up and die, thinking it was best to just be thankful for being naturally thin and fit looking. But Harper inexplicably had this way of talking her into doing anything. Kiley found it difficult to resist.
Harper was now on the descent of the hill and turned the corner, resisting the urge to cheer on her friend because it would undoubtedly sound patronizing in some way. She slowed her pace as she turned left onto her street and waited for Kiley to catch up with her. She knew Kiley hated their exercise outings together and never really knew why she always agreed to go along. But it was certainly charming and somewhat endearing listening to Kiley’s rants about how much she hates it and how her body should never be subjected to this sort of hell.
An out-of-breath Kiley finally caught up with Harper.
“I swear, the only thing that should require this much panting and sweating is sex.”
Harper turned around and began to skate backwards again. “You know, I often wonder how I ended up with such a classy friend.”
“Well…we DID meet in a bar, so…”
Harper turned back around, skated up her driveway and came to a stop using the break on her right blade. Kiley then rolled up the driveway, put her hands out and used Harper’s car as a stopping device.
“You know, one of these days, you should actually learn how to stop,” informed Harper as she sat down on the porch.
“What’s wrong with my way? It works every time.” Kiley joined her friend on the porch as they began to take off their rollerblades. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“How do you live with being so good at everything you do?”
Harper couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you kidding me? I’m really not that good at much. I mean, have you seen me dance?”
“Yes, I have. There’s a spastic charm to it.”
Harper massaged her foot as her left rollerblade came off. “It’s overrated. Being good at things. Because it becomes a frustrating burden when you can’t figure out how to use those things to generate income.” She struggled to yank off the other rollerblade. “Besides, there are several things I’m not good at. Look at me. I’m a klutz. And I’ve never been good at math. And apparently I’m really bad at sparing people’s feelings.”
Kiley looked at her quizzically.
“Finn.”
“Oh.”
Harper continued. “I also suck at having honest conversations with the ones I love.”
“You mean Emily?”
“Emily is among them, yes.”
“Well, how can you say you can’t have an honest conversation? You’re having one with me right now. You do all the time.”
Harper grew quiet, unsure of how to respond to that statement. If only Kiley really knew. While she did divulge more to her than she has anyone else, Harper could still write a Bible-length book about all her secrets Kiley didn’t know about.
“Let’s go in. I’m thirsty,” suggested Harper.
They walked inside to get some water and Kiley took this opportunity to sprawl out on the couch in order to attenuate her aching legs.
Harper threw her a bottle of water. “By all means, make yourself at home.”
“I may have to. Since Jane moved out, I’ve had to handle the rent on my own for the past few months. I’m meeting with a potential roommate tomorrow. If it doesn’t work out, I may have to call this couch home for a while.”
“Oh great. Another mouth to feed.”
“I think I can safely say that I am NEVER sleeping with my roommate’s boyfriend again. It’s just too much drama.”
“Yeah, not to mention the fact that it’s just common courtesy.”
“That too.”
As Harper finished her bottle of water, Emily walked through the front door.
“Hey. I thought you were still asleep,” said Harper.
“No, I woke up about an hour ago. I felt like getting out, so I went for a walk.”
“You look nice.” Harper examined her sister’s wardrobe further. “Is that my sweater?”
“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind me borrowing it. I wanted to look somewhat presentable.”
“That’s fine. It looks good on you.”
“Thanks.” Emily looked over at the couch and finally acknowledged Kiley. “Rollerblading too much for you?”
“Eight miles of it is, yes.” Kiley sat up and took notice of Emily’s appearance. Her blonde hair was now more prominent as the black dye was nearly faded. It also looked like she had put on some weight, which was a good thing. She appeared to be almost fully recovered.
Kiley took a drink of her water. “Actually, I hate to break it to you guys, but I think that’s MY sweater.”
“Hey,” protested Harper. “It’s been in my closet for over a year. The one-year rule makes it officially mine.”
Emily took off the sweater and curtly tossed it to Kiley. “Here. I’m done with it.”
“Hey, I was kidding. I don’t even wear it anymore.”
“Whatever,” replied Emily. “I just borrowed it to apply for a job.”
“You applied for a job?” asked Harper.
“Yeah. Actually, they were looking for someone right away, so they hired me on the spot. I start Saturday.”
“Where?”
“Gulcher’s down the street. I just got tired of sitting around the house doing nothing.”
“That’s great! Congratulations! We should celebrate, or something,” said Harper.
Kiley took that as her cue to leave. She wasn’t in the mood for any more of Emily’s jabs. “You guys go right ahead. I’m gonna go home and shower. I’ve gotta get ready for my date.”
“Date?” This was news to Harper.
“Yeah, just this guy I ran into at the store. It’s nothing, really.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, have fun, I guess.”
“I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Great,” replied Harper, half-heartedly.
“What are you guys gonna do?” asked Kiley.
“I don’t know. We’ll think of something. Maybe we’ll go crazy and order some Chinese and play a board game.”
Emily laughed. “Do we still even have any board games?”
“Oh yeah, I’ve kept them all.”
Regardless of how Emily treated her, Kiley suddenly felt the need to warn her about something. “Uh, Emily, you probably don’t want to play a game with Harper.”
“Why not?” asked Emily.
“Just trust me.”
“Why? What happened?”
Harper started to get nervous. “Kiley, don’t!”
Kiley couldn’t resist. “I’m sorry. I have to.” She turned to Emily and started to recall the infamous story.
Harper’s eyes grew wide as she realized that Kiley was actually going through with it.
“Kiley, please don’t.”
Kiley stood up, preparing to act out the story. “So this one night—”
Harper jumped up from the couch and grabbed Kiley by the arm, twisting it behind her back. “Don’t even think about it!”
Kiley started giggling and tried to ignore the discomfort of her arm while she continued the story. “Your sister and I were bored and we decided to play a board game. Well, we were at my place and it turned out Monopoly was the only game I owned at the time.”
Harper took her hand and attempted to cover Kiley’s mouth while her other hand was still holding firm to the taller girl’s arm. “I’m begging you not to do this,” pleaded Harper, while forcing herself to hide her smile.
Instead of conceding, Kiley playfully tried to bite Harper’s hand, while trying to finish her story. “So we opened some wine and ordered a pizza and started playing what turned out to be a pretty intense game of Monopoly...”
At that point, Harper jumped on Kiley’s back using both her hands to cover Kiley’s mouth. Emily, meanwhile, was enjoying this odd series of events being played out in front of her. Part of her kept telling herself to be annoyed with the petty childishness they were portraying. But another part was somewhat jealous of their relationship, since she never really had anyone she could mess around with like that. And she pretty much screwed up any chance she may have had at a normal, easy going relationship with her sister. Emily flinched as Kiley started charging towards the couch. She turned around and threw Harper off of her, making sure she landed safely on the cushions. Harper hid her face in embarrassment.
“I can’t believe you’re gonna do this to me.”
“People have a right to know, Harper. You get crazy and a bit cocky when you win,” informed Kiley.
“It was the wine!”
“Yeah, okay. We’ll go with that.” Kiley turned toward Emily, who was on the other end of the couch, waiting for the story to continue.
“Okay, so after about seven excruciating hours, the game was coming to an end. A dumb move on my part made me lose the rights to Park Place and in the end, Harper won. But she refused to leave it at that. She took a swig of wine and a celebratory bite of her pizza. Then she proceeded to do a little victory dance around the room singing ‘I’m the best, I’m the best, it’s written on my chest. Try to sneak a peek and I’ll punch you like the rest.’” Kiley was demonstrating Harper’s dance.
“It was a chant I remembered from grade school,” interjected Harper, whose face was purple right about this time.
“She just kept repeating it over and over until she suddenly stopped and started coughing. And I started laughing. Then, the coughing stopped and she was silent. Then, she started pointing to her throat and I stopped laughing long enough to realize that she was actually choking. So I jumped up, gave her the Heimlich, and she managed to spit out a huge chunk of pizza. That stuck to the wall. It was probably the most disgusting, hilarious, memorable event I’ve ever experienced. And all because she had to do a little dance and sing a little ditty to rub it in my face that I lost.” Kiley looked over at Harper. “Two words for you, hun: kar-ma.”
Harper was bright red from embarrassment. “It was a chant I learned in the third grade! And I swear, to this day, I still maintain that was my sexiest moment ever. Don’t be jealous.”
Emily studied the interaction between the two of them with a sense of longing and curiosity. The longing stemmed from wanting to have a bond like that of her own with her sister. She was never quite able to compete with Kiley that way. The curiosity came from watching Harper’s face whenever Kiley was around. It seemed as though there was a permanent smile tattooed on Harper’s face. Emily had never seen her sister that happy, not even when Finn was around.
Emily continued to watch them and grinned. “Okay then. We’ll nix the game and just do Chinese food and a movie.”
“Probably a safe bet,” assured Kiley. “All right, so I’ll see you later Harper. Depending on how everything goes, I’ll either call you by nine o’clock tonight or I’ll call tomorrow morning.”
Harper nodded solemnly as Kiley headed out the door.
“Kiley?”
“Yeah?”
Harper inhaled deeply for a moment. “Nothing. I’ll see you later.” She closed the door after Kiley walked out and stood there for a brief moment.
Emily observed every moment of what had just played out before her and decided to vocalize what she had been thinking for quite some time.
“Wow. So how long has THAT been going on?”
Harper turned around, still keeping one hand on the doorknob. “Huh?”
“How long has that been going on?”
Harper shot her sister a clueless look. “How long has what been going on?”
Emily gestured toward the door. “This thing with you and Kiley.”
“What thing?” While Harper was trying to figure out exactly what Emily was getting at, her heart started beating rapidly.
Emily knew she was going to have to spell it out. “You obviously have a thing for Kiley.”
Harper stood there awestruck. Her lower lip hung open, moving slightly to try to form a word, but to no avail. Her breathing had quickened and she suddenly felt all the blood drain from her face.
“What?!”
“Harper, it’s okay. Really.”
Harper finally loosened her death grip on the doorknob and started walking toward her room.
“I’m actually not that hungry. Just order whatever you want. I’m gonna go lie down for a bit.”
Emily got up and tried to follow her sister, but stopped abruptly when Harper’s door closed in her face. She tried knocking.
“Harper? It’s really okay! I promise.”
No response. She knocked again.
“I’m sorry, okay? I take it back.” Then Emily mumbled to herself, “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
CHAPTER 18
Harper was horrified. She began to pace around her room. Unsure of exactly what to do, she took a seat on the floor and leaned against her bed. She brought her knees up to her chest and tried to drown out the sound of Emily knocking on the door. Harper was so upset that she couldn’t fathom facing her sister at this moment. So many thoughts were swirling around in her head, it was hard to pin one down.
Where the hell did Emily get off suggesting such a thing? She abandoned Harper for two years, then all of a sudden reappears and automatically she’s an expert on her life? She couldn’t possibly know what goes on inside Harper’s head. Then to state it as a fact, not even a question, showed an immense amount of audacity and disrespect. It simply wasn’t true. It just wasn’t. Harper had grown to deeply care about Kiley. Did she love her? Yes. It was a love built out of mutual respect and admiration. But to suggest that she was “in love” with Kiley was a preposterous notion and one that she would be sure to set straight with Emily.
Harper was beginning to feel restless, unable to get Emily’s words out of her head. Once the knocking had stopped, she opened the door and, without her sister noticing, quickly slipped down the hall and through the door that leads to the garage.
There was no possible way Emily was right about this. There were times when Harper would perhaps allow a sideways glance in Kiley’s direction to turn into a mild gaze or let a hug linger a little longer than it should have. Mainly lately since she lost her entire family and needed as much human physical interaction as possible. But that by no means meant she had a “thing” for Kiley. Theirs was a bond stronger than friendship. It was hard to explain, but from the moment they met, they just understood each other. Harper had never had that kind of connection with someone before, or that kind of intimacy or honesty. They had always been brutally honest with each other because they both knew that no matter how bad a confession was, there would be no judgment among them and their friendship would always forge on. Harper pondered this as she tried to control her breathing while attacking the punching bag. Nothing she had shared with Kiley so far had damaged their friendship, but that’s not to say something wouldn’t eventually harm them. Harper couldn’t even imagine what would happen if Emily had been right. How would Kiley react? Well, that didn’t matter anyway because it simply wasn’t true. Emily was wrong. After a cross-hook-uppercut combo, Harper was beginning to question whether Emily was doing drugs again seeing as how you’d have to be really out of it to suggest such a thing. She absolutely did NOT have a thing for Kiley.
She continued throwing left and right punches, even adding in a few front and round kicks for good measure…anything to get her mind off of this. Her pace quickened rapidly as her punches grew stronger to the point where she pushed herself away from the bag.
Slow yourself, Foley. Breathe, she thought to herself.
She stepped back, entranced by the punching bag swaying side to side. She removed her gloves and sat down, almost unwilling to believe the notion that just entered her mind.