There Can Only Be Six

by Andrea Levesque

  I shifted. “Yeah, hi… I’m here to see Adan?” I said, letting the question in my tone do all the talking.

  She nodded. “They’re in the back, honey. Head straight until you hit the kitchen, and then take a left.” I hesitated, and she added, “Would you like me to escort you?”

  “No,” I said quickly. “Thanks.”

  I stepped inside, very aware of the dirt my boots were probably tracking on this lady’s pristine floor. I walked slowly, hoping vainly that I’d accidentally run into Adan and avoid chatting with the “they” the housekeeper referred to. But considering I passed three separate sitting rooms, a rec room and a media room on my way to the back of the house, I knew the chances were slim.

  Of course, just as I was thinking that, an unfamiliar voice echoed behind me.

  “Um, hi?”

  I whirled around and had to catch my breath. A tall girl about my age, though she could certainly pass for older, stepped into the kitchen in nothing but a bikini the color of onyx. A puffy white towel was thrown over her shoulder. She slinked by me and tossed her dark hair over her other shoulder, the silky strands landing far down her lower back. She stopped in front of the refrigerator in the massive room and spun around, the muscles of her face schooled into what my guy friends back home would call a “bitch face”. I watched the girl look me up and down. When I didn’t respond to her earlier comment, she stuck her tongue in her cheek and leaned over the wide granite island.

  “Are you going to tell me what you’re doing in my kitchen?” She asked. I tried to keep my eyes on her face, but it was all I could do not to let them lick over her body. She drummed her nails on the counter, and I noticed that they were done to perfection like most of the girls probably had around here but were quite short. Unlike the pastel pinks I was used to seeing on girls our age, hers were a neutral pink, almost nude.

  “See, I know you’re not staff.” She glanced down at my feet, her dark eyes lingering there. “Staff don’t wear Prada.” She added, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smirk.

  I swallowed, looking down at my boots and forcing myself to pull it together.

  “You’re Adan’s....” I waited a beat, hoping she’d finish the sentence. If she lived here, she couldn’t be Adan’s girlfriend. Adan and the girl were similar heights, with him being a bit short and her being tall. They were both physically fit like they were athletes of some kind, but whereas Adan’s skin leaned more towards medium than light to offset his green eyes, this girl’s brown eyes contrasted to her fiercely pale skin. Not to mention Adan’s blonde hair was the complete opposite of the brown hair she had, which was so dark it could pass for black in the right lighting. The girl’s eyebrows bounced upward. “Sister?” I finished.

  She smirked at me again. “We’re twins, actually.”

  “You don’t look -”

  Before I could finish my sentence, she cut me off. “Alike? A set of boy/girl twins can’t be identical. We can’t split from the same egg, or we’d be the game gender.” She stuck her two pointer fingers together and then pulled them apart, demonstrating an egg splitting. “Don’t worry. Most people are too stupid to realize that.” She added, tilting her head at me.

  I blinked. Did she just insult me? The butterflies that had been dancing in my stomach did a little flip, turning to annoyance.

  “Actually, I was going to say, ‘like siblings’. You don’t even look like you’re related.” I corrected her. “It has nothing to do with whether or not you shared a uterus. Believe it or not, I actually paid attention in science class.” This time, I leaned on the counter across from her and tilted my head.

  She bit down on her jaw. “Well, good to know they actually teach you something in public school.”

  I blinked hard. “How did you -”

  “You must be the public-school dropout, right?” She enunciated the word ‘dropout’, making my cheeks flame red. “The Fontaine girl Adan gave a ride to from the airport? If you’re here for Adan, you must be. I know everyone around here, and you, I don’t know.” Her eyes trailed me up and down. I wondered how I looked to her, standing there with windblown chunks of dark blonde hair sitting awkwardly on my oversized coat.

  I plastered on a fake smile. “Ah right, now I remember, you guys are the neighbors that usually spend your summers in some European country. Well, too bad, we could have been beach buddies for the last seventeen years.” I said sarcastically. I forced the image of her laying on the beach from my brain, her skin glistening with sunscreen and her bikini bottoms pulled up high on her waist.

  She bit her lip and looked at me intently from beneath her lashes. “Yeah, too bad we’re just forced to visit Barcelona every summer.” She said, matching my tone. “I just know my mom would love it if I were friends with a troublemaker.”

  My face fell. She laughed, then stretched her arms up over her head. “Yeah, I heard all about your mom exiling you to Newport until you graduate. Poor little rich girl, got tired of being the only spoiled princess in public school, did you? What, New York didn’t have any fancy prep schools willing to take you?”

  I don’t know, I thought. My mom had this idea that public school would keep me humble, being that I was the only child of one of the six richest families in Rhode Island. Probably in all of the East Coast, even. Of course, clearly, that plan backfired big time. Being the rich girl made me stick out like a sore thumb, and I hated how the other students treated me because of it, especially the girls. That’s why I usually goofed off with the guys instead, not that they’d really had my back when everything went down.

  “I didn’t start the fire,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Whatever your mom said is untrue. I wasn't even at the gym when it burned down. I just got pinned for it.” Because I’m the spoiled rich girl acting out for my parents’ attention, as far as the school was concerned.

  She pressed her lips together. “How did you get in here anyway? Did Adan actually invite you, or are you trying to figure out if the two of you hit it off earlier?” She glanced down, then back up at me again. I forced my eyes not to roll into the back of my head, her never-ending assessment of me starting to hit a nerve.

  “Your housekeeper let me in. Adan has something of mine.” I said coolly, my arms crossing tightly against my chest. The material of my coat crinkled with the movement.

  She snorted. “A favorite scarf or sweatshirt, no doubt. I’ve seen that trick a million times.”

  Adan’s sister moved over to the intercom placed conveniently nearby and pressed the “talk” button with one skinny finger. “Mabel, I see you let Miss Fontaine in. Just a reminder, your job is to take out the trash, not bring it inside.” She said, her eyes cutting to me. Something inside me clenched.

  When she removed her finger from the “talk” button, I heard a voice reply through the speaker. “Oh honey, don’t act like you know when trash day is.” The girl scowled, and my hands shot up to my face to cover a snort. I chuckled, earning daggers from her.

  It’s funny, I realized, watching this girl with interest. Here in Newport, I wasn't the spoiled rich girl. If anything, I was the one used to slumming it. Maybe my mom had been right, and a change of pace would be good for me. Although, not being around this chick specifically. She looked like I’d just ruined her day or something.

  “Uh, I’m sorry,” I said, not meaning it one bit. “I didn’t mean to interrupt whatever you were doing.”

  She crossed her arms. “I was just grabbing some drinks for the guys. You know, for those of us who have actual friends around here.”

  I pulled at my coat, which was starting to look ridiculous compared to the limited amount of fabric Adan’s sister was wearing five feet from me.

  “That’s funny. You said earlier you didn’t know me. Now you think you do?” I bit back. I let my eyes trail down her again, but this time I mimicked the distaste I often saw on my mom’s face when I told her my best friends were a bunch of boys.

  I watched
her hands grip the island between us, and she leaned forward, ready to pounce. Before she could get a word out, Adan’s voice broke the tension.

  “You’ve said more to V in the last ten seconds than you did to me in the entire forty-five-minute car ride from the airport.” He said, his voice getting closer. At that, V blinked in surprise and straightened up, her focus jumping between me and what I imagined was Adan coming up behind me. For just a second, she smiled, then quickly concealed it.

  Adan sauntered in the kitchen in a fitted white T-shirt and pressed jeans, clearly having changed into something more casual since earlier. A pair of swim trunks were draped across his arm, bearing the words Wellsley Prep Swim Team. Had he dressed up just to pick me up from the airport?

  “Oh, so the devil has a name?” I said, nodding at Adan’s sister. He laughed.

  She smirked at me sarcastically. “Valentina. My friends call me V.” She leaned on the counter again and pulled her towel around both shoulders. “You can call me Valentina.”

  I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her, then turned my attention to Adan.

  “I’m so glad you took me up on my offer." He said brightly. I could see Valentina watching us with interest out of the corner of my eye. I licked my lips and considered my next move.

  “Actually,” I said, touching his arm sweetly. “I really appreciated that. But… you kind of took my phone.”

  With that, V turned and opened the fridge, the sounds of plastic bouncing against plastic filling the room. I cut a look in her direction, but she ignored us, her head poked deep inside the massive silver refrigerator.

  “Oh no,” he said, realizing his mistake. “I’m so sorry. I guess I was… distracted.” I swallowed hard at that, immediately regretting the flirty arm touch and wondering if pissing off Valentina was worth egging Adan on. “It’s probably still in my coat pocket.” He added.

  The bouncing of rubber echoed through the kitchen as Valentina piled an armful of water bottles onto the counter. Weird. For some reason, when she said she was grabbing drinks, I expected her to be collecting a bunch of beers for her party. Isn’t that what kids like her did around here?

  Adan glanced in her direction. “Let me just help V bring these to the guys first. Why don’t you come meet them?”

  “Great.” I lied.

  Adan pressed a button on the intercom and asked someone to bring his coat to the pool house. Suddenly, Valentina’s choice of clothing made sense. Of course they’d have an indoor pool for the winter, didn’t everyone?

  I watched Adan gather up all the water bottles in one fell swoop and head towards a corridor I hadn’t been through yet.

  I started to move in step behind him, but Valentina stepped in front of me before I had the chance and swung her towel over her shoulder, hitting me in the face. I batted stray molecules of lint from my face and hung back, eager to distance myself from the ice queen. Her hips swayed with intention as she walked, and when she turned to shoot me a look, I cringed, realizing I’d just been caught staring. Did she know I was watching her?

  The smell of chlorine filled my nose as we entered the pool room. The teenage boys Adan must have been referring to were laying casually in swim trunks by the edge of the pool. Some were even wearing the same Wellsley Prep shorts Adan held, and I wondered if these were actually Adan’s friends instead of Valentina’s.

  One guy was in the water doing a backstroke. Another was chatting and gesturing wildly while the others nodded enthusiastically along. When they saw us, they jutted their chins up in our direction. Valentina nodded back and pulled her towel from around her neck to twist around her body, covering the bare skin I’d been struggling to keep my eyes off since I met her. Huh, I thought.

  Adan tossed water bottles to the boys one at a time, then handed one to Valentina. She took her place at the head of the group, laughing along to something one of the guys said. I watched them for a moment, and the way she interacted with them made me think of the way I was with my boys back home. Close. Friendly. Nothing more. There was a distance between them that was hard to describe. Did Valentina play for the same team as me? At the thought, my pulse quickened. Valentina looked up at me, our eyes meeting, her expression unreadable. Adan put his hand on my shoulder, and the gesture broke through the moment. She looked away, and I turned to face him.

  “Here,” he said, my iPhone stretched out to me in the palm of his hand. He must have grabbed it from one of the staff while I was watching Valentina. How long had I been staring at her? “I’m really sorry about that. I’m usually less of a mess.” Adan added with a sheepish grin.

  I looked him up and down. “You seriously don’t look like a mess to me.” I joked, hoping to lighten the dynamic between us. Adan ran a hand through his hair.

  “And actually,” I added. “I’m kind of a mess. I’m sorry I was so rude earlier. Tough transition, you know? I wasn't really ‘with it’ this afternoon.”

  “No worries. Listen, come over anytime. Our door is always open, and don’t mind V. She’s always like that.” I fought the urge to glance back over my shoulder at her. “She’s been through a lot." He said quietly. Again, I probably wouldn’t take him up on that, but the gesture was sweet enough.

  “Thanks,” I said and let myself out.

  When I finally made it back to my own house, I headed straight for my bedroom. Before I made it, though, I found myself slowing down outside my grandfather’s study. The door was closed, as usual, until I reached an arm out, pushing the door open a crack. I leaned in and sniffed, the lingering smell of cigars never fully leaving the space, even though he wasn't much of a smoker himself. My dad said the minute I was born, my grandfather implemented a no smoking policy in his office, adamant about making the space comfortable for me to spend time.

  I closed my eyes and imagined myself as a child coloring on his floor, his roar of laughter echoing throughout the room as I held up poorly drawn stick figures of the two of us. My grandfather never hesitated to look up from what he was doing, making me feel like I was the most important thing in the world. The moment he disappeared from my life, I forgot altogether what that felt like.

  I swallowed and shut the door, willing the tears pricking behind my eyes to subside and the tightness of my throat to relax. I made a beeline for my bedroom this time and threw myself on my king-sized bed, pulling out my newly recovered phone.

  “Harper!” A girl’s voice chirped from the other end. “Are you here? Please tell me you made it!”

  I laughed, grateful for a distraction, and rolled over onto my stomach. “Yes, Nina, I’m here.”

  “I’m coming over right now!” She squealed, and I could basically hear her jumping up and down on the other end.

  I blew my dirty blonde hair out of my face. “No, Nina, not yet. I literally just got home. We’ll do brunch together tomorrow at the Country Club, remember? I’m too exhausted to hang right now.”

  Nina was an only child, and as far as those go, there are only two kinds. There were those like me who tended to get overwhelmed by lots of social interaction and preferred to spend time alone. And then there was Nina, perpetually lonely and constantly starved for friendly attention.

  “Ugh, fine!” She whined. “But come out on the balcony.”

  “Aw, Nina, come on. I won’t be able to hear you. There’s too much wind. You always do this.”

  “Harper, get your ass out on the balcony right now! I haven’t seen you for four months, and you’ve only called me like three times!”

  “Nina,” I whined, rolling back over and managing to drag myself to my second-story balcony. “I text you all the time.”

  “Shh!” She said, and then there was a moment of silence, followed by the distant howling of something far away. I leaned towards the house to the left of us, opposite the twin’s mansion.

  “Did you hear me?” Nina asked hopefully.

  “Yes,” I lied, my voice unenthusiastic. “I totally heard that.�
�

  “Hello!” I heard faintly as I squinted my eyes through the darkness. Far in the distance, a lighthouse shone its light across the water, lighting up the houses to my left and right. To the left, I just barely made out a figure standing on a balcony like mine. Her hands shot into the air in a wave. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Hello!” I shouted back, her enthusiasm finally infectious. My free hand cupped my mouth, directing the sound towards her. “Hello!” I said again, pulling the phone away from my mouth so she wouldn’t get an earful. I could swear I saw Nina jump up and down. I threw my arms in the air sporadically and wiggled my body around a few times, a grin plastered on my face. Out of breath, I pulled the phone back to my ear.

  “Oh,” she yelled into the speaker, fighting against the sounds of the wind. “By the way, be sure to thank the guys for lighting the gym on fire and getting you out here full time!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Nina, I told you. I don’t think my friends did it.” I shouted back.

  “I thought you said you’d left them smoking outside the gym that day?”

  I had, but the guys were just as surprised as I was to hear the gym had burned down and even more surprised when the principal called me to his office to pin the crime on me.

  “Yeah, I did say that, but I’m telling you, Nina, they’re not the thugs everyone thinks they are. They’re not trying to cause trouble. They’re just bored.” Like I was. “Plus, we were friends. Why would they do that to me?”

  “Well, someone told the school they saw you do it. Either the witness really did see another five-foot-five girl with long blonde hair and killer cheekbones throwing gasoline on the outside of the building, or someone really hates you. That, or...”

  “Or what?”

  “I don’t know.” She said, “Does anyone really hate you at that school?”

  “Lots of people,” I admitted. I didn’t fit in in New York. Everyone knew it. “But only because they think I’m stuck up. And not enough to get me expelled. To be fair, they only think I act like I’m too good for them because I’m quiet, but I’m only quiet because they hate me. So, what came first, the chicken or the egg?”