AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mara didn't press for any answers. She knew Jacqui would tell her more when the time was right.
"You want a cig?" Mara asked, offering the only solace she knew Jacqui might accept just then.
"I thought you didn't smoke," Jacqui said, taking a seat on the grass next to them.
Mara shrugged. "I thought I didn't do a lot of things."
233
vacation is never long enough, is it?
Early the next morning the Perry kids ran scrambling into the room. They galloped up the rickety stairs, completely ruining the girls' plans to sleep in. Remnants of the party the night before were in evidence in their little domicile. Jeremy had left his coat under Eliza's bed. Ryan's sweatshirt was draped over the armchair. Several dirty cocktail glasses were breeding fungus in the bathroom.
"We're back! We're back!" Madison yelled, jumping up and down on Eliza's bed. "Did you guys miss us?"
"Wanna go swimming?" Zoe asked.
Eliza groaned. "Is it Sunday already?"
Mara couldn't even raise her head from her pillow. "William, stop pulling my hair, please!"
"Oh my God, I am SO hung over," Eliza complained.
"Me too," Mara said, clutching her stomach. She scanned the room. "Where's Jacqui?"
Eliza gave Mara a blank look. Jacqui? Hello, where had Mara
234
been all summer? Jacqui was never around. She was their phantom roommate.
"She was here last night," Mara explained. "I can't believe she bailed! It's her turn to take the kids somewhere. Ugh."
"Well, I haven't seen her." Eliza shrugged, trying to hide underneath the covers.
"Seriously, there is no way I can go to the beach today," Mara yelled over the clamor as William and Madison fought over who got to sit on the armchair.
"I've got an idea," Eliza said.
They drove into one of the few movie theaters in town. Unlike the sprawling suburban megaplexes in Sturbridge or the high-tech high-rises in Manhattan, where a movie ticket cost upward of ten dollars, the East Hampton theater was a small, brown-shingled building that showed obscure foreign films, art house indies, and, luckily for them, a Disney animated feature that afternoon.
"I wanna see Alien versus Predator!" William demanded.
"Sucks to be you; it's not showing." Eliza yawned.
They ushered the kids into th
e theater. Eliza was thankful for the air-conditioning and the darkness. She was planning to catch up on her sleep through the entire thing in an attempt to exorcise the events of the night before from her memory. After she had left the screening room in disgrace, she had tried to look for Jeremy, but all she found were assorted half-naked people passed out on the porch.
235
He had to understand--she'd been put on the spot in front of people she had known her whole life. It wasn't anything to do with him, really. God, it was all such a mess. She gnawed her cuticles anxiously.
Mara walked in with Madison, carrying a huge bucket of popcorn and a Coke.
Eliza stuffed a handful into her mouth and instantly spit it out. "What? No butter?"
"That motor oil they pass off for butter has more calories than a porterhouse steak!" Mara reminded her, nodding toward Madison.
