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Nothing. I needed a shower. She was driving me insane, and she wasn’t even saying anything. She wasn’t here, but I swore I smelled her on my clothes, the scent of raspberry and amber, but something else too.
ME: What perfume do you wear?
Nothing. The shower didn’t help. Maybe I needed to change my tactics when it came to her own little story.
ME: Do you go to church?
No response.
I gave up on the story. I needed time to think; I had all weekend.
ME: Are you a morning person? Or a night owl?
I couldn’t sleep, I rarely could anyway. I usually played some movie or show on my laptop as I dozed on and off for hours, but even that wouldn’t distract me. All I saw was her face and when I closed my eyes, I could see her standing by the bonfire, flames making her skin glow. In my mind’s eye, I could stare at her as long as I wanted, the way her eyes flickered, the smooth skin on her neck. She always wore jeans. And those boots. I hadn’t seen her wear any other shoes.
ME: Why do you wear the same pair of shoes every day?
The vibration of my phone made me sit up and grapple for my phone, nearly knocking over my laptop in the process. I was going to be pissed if it was my mom or Karina. But it wasn’t.
ELIZA: Maybe one day I’ll trust you enough to give you the answer.
7
ELIZA
Ileft the house early, making sure I had enough time to stop by the gas station to pick up a few cards to add minutes to my TracFone. It was an easy process, buy the gift cards, scratch off the code, and text the code to the number on the card.Boom.Minutes added. Texting didn’t even take a full minute, only a third. I was loaded.
I ended up being way too early and figured it was time to splurge. That’s right, on top of adding double the number of minutes I normally did, I also bought a dirty chai latte. It was a new week, and I was determined to make it a good one.
I didn’t see Trask at all on Friday, but he did text me (several times and throughout the weekend). He asked how the Friday math quiz went. He sent me an obscene number of exclamations in his congratulations text when I told him of my solid B performance.
I wanted to text him more. Sometimes I gave in and answered some of his questions, but most of the time I was just content to wait and hear from him. It felt, I don’t know, wrong? To put myself out there, to give him answers and talk to him like a friend I’d known for years. But damn if he didn’t make it easy.
I sipped on that hot chai, enjoying the quiet moments before the chaos of the week.
“Eliza Walsh! It has been so long!”
I whipped my head around to find the scathing voice that ruined my moment of peace. Karina Denvers just smiled at me, her white teeth nearly covered by her extremely puffy scarf.
“Karina,” I said, not bothering to rise from the small table. She sat across from me and I straightened, looking for the nearest exit.
“It had been too long,” Karina said, beaming.
“Has it?” I asked. “Maybe not long enough.”
“Stop it.” The smile vanished. “Look, I get that you are still dealing with stuff, but I wanted to come over and say how proud I am of you for rising above everything. I heard what happened and I am just so glad that everything worked out for the best.”
I scoffed. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” she asked, blinking slowly.
I shrugged. “I am fully aware that you are the anonymous witness that testified against me. So don’t sit there and be all happy and neutral when I know you are far more involved.” It was a bluff, the records were sealed, but her reaction was all the proof I needed.
“For fuck’s sake,” Karina mumbled. “You think I wanted to do that? But it had to be done! You know I couldn’tnotsay anything. You needed help.”
I stared at her, slowly sipping my drink.
“What? You blame me for the mess you are in?”
