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“Wow, time hasn’t felt like it’s gone that fast,” I replied sarcastically, because waiting for Bradley to come home had felt extremely draggy unless I’d spent time with Donnie. “I’ve seen you all since then.”
“Yep, well it has,” Alice drawled sarcastically, snatching the bag which ripped and left me holding what had been a handle and nothing else. She immediately resumed the task she’d set herself and moved around the room again, picking up more trash from my bedroom floor. “You have only seen us because we’ve come here. You haven’t called any one of us. Actually, come to think of it, you haven’t made the tiniest amount of effort with us,” she continued, staring me down. When I hadn’t bitten and answered back, she continued. “You haven’t even been interested in anything we’ve said when we have been to see you. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for the long history we’d had as friends I’d have told you to go to hell by now.”
I watched Alice pushing the garbage down until she couldn’t cram any more in and tied the bag off at the top in frustration.
It wasn’t a great feeling being roasted by my best friend in the world and my heart sank to my stomach. My chest felt tight at how disappointed she sounded with me. Catching sight of myself in the mirror, I knew I looked dishevelled and pale, and I realized I appeared on the outside pretty much how I’d felt on the inside.
An immediate thought struck me, and I felt less guilty for spending time with Donnie without telling Bradley about it. It wasn’t as if I’d gotten dressed up to go meet with him. Math tutoring was a pure act of kindness toward Donnie, nothing else.
The reason I hadn’t told my boyfriend was because he’d have been mad at me on the phone, and I thought there could be nothing worse than arguing with him from a distance. I sighed, my suspicious eyes darting from Jenna to Sandra and finally back toward Alice. A pang of regret shot through me, and I knew in part I’d ignored how hurt she was by what she’d perceived was my withdrawn behavior.
“Look, I’m sorry. This summer vacation has been tough on me with Brad being away. It’s the first time we’ve been apart in the two years we’ve gone out together. I never meant to neglect all of you.” My eyes scanned the room as a sense of embarrassment washed over me. “That wasn’t my intention at all.”
“I get it, you’re lovesick, Tricia, and perhaps you’re right, we don’t understand because we don’t have Bradleys of our own. However, you really shouldn’t sacrifice all of your relationships with other people for the sake of one. You’re sixteen, and if this boyfriend doesn’t last, you’re going to need your friends to nurse you through a broken heart,” Alice said in a much kinder tone, which would have sounded patronizing had I not known her as well as I did.
“Don’t say that,” I mumbled, hugging myself. Jenna stepped forward immediately and wrapped me in a hug.
It would have been funny because at five feet to my five feet nine, she had gone on to her tiptoes and wobbled as she tried to stay in place.
“Alice, you can be tactless at times,” Jenna scolded, smoothing my hair. Breaking away, I shook my head because I couldn’t think of anything else to say at that moment.
“So are you still insistent on staying home, or are we going to get out of here and have some fun for the rest of the day?” Alice asked, pointedly, a challenge in her eyes.
Although I’d been reluctant, I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right … all of you. Why don’t you give me fifteen minutes? I’ll make a better effort… freshen up my appearance and meet you?
“Yay!” they all said in unison.
“Finally,” Alice added. Their smiles alone made my change of heart worthwhile.
One by one they filed out of my window, along the branch, and into the tree house my father had made for my sister and me as kids. I was sure if my mother caught on that Marnie and I used it to sneak out of the house at night, it would have been dismantled in a heartbeat.
Once the girls had gone, I slipped out of the old T-shirt and overall shorts I had on. I’d noted how nicely dressed and made up they all were so decided to surprise them by wearing a dress.
During the previous trip to the mall, the girls had coaxed me into trying on a tight-fitting lilac dress, telling me it would look amazing against my fair hair. After slipping it over my head and tugging it down over my frame, a little thrill of excitement shot through me when I glanced at myself in the mirror.
In normal circumstances, my boyish, straight up and down body with my two fried eggs for boobs had looked less than flattering in a dress. That was the reason why I’d always worn loose-fitting sweaters and jeans. However, for twenty-nine dollars and tax, not only did the little stretchy number cling to curves I hadn’t known existed before I’d tried it on, it gave my skinny frame the illusion that I actually had breasts.
With the dress on, I tackled my long dark blonde hair, which had more than its fair share of knots. After several minutes of untangling and restyling, it looked far more presentable in a long French braid. Finishing my hair, I applied moisturizer to my face, mascara to my eyes, and finalized my natural look by adding a small swipe of lip gloss.
One last glance in the mirror brought a smile to my face when I’d imagined how Bradley would likely react when he finally saw me wearing my new dress.
“I’m off to meet the girls, Mom,” I shouted when I was halfway out the front door of our house. I’d timed my escape perfectly because she’d been out on the patio at the back of the house and by the time, she had come into view I’d made it halfway up our long dirt driveway. From there it had been easy to pretend I hadn’t heard her calling me from the distance I’d put between us.
* * *
All eyes were on me when I walked into the coffee shop, and for once I didn’t mind being the center of attention for my looks. “Good grief,” Sandra said, while Jenna gasped and Alice stood smiling, speechless.
“I told you that dress was made for you. Now that you’ve styled your hair like that, it makes the whole look even better,” Jenna added.
“I’m glad you had the foresight to put on something fancy because we’ve been invited to a party, and we’re not taking no for an answer since we’ve gotten you out of that house.” Alice folded her arms and flashed me a look of determination.
“You never said anything about a party,” I shrieked, suddenly wishing myself back home. “Please, girls, don’t make me go. I won’t enjoy myself knowing Bradley won’t be there.”
“Are you saying you need a man to have fun? Go on, Tricia, what harm can it do? You’ll know some of the kids from our school. What’s wrong with playing catch-up, finding out their news, it’ll be fun. Linda Bell just came back from Paris, David and Gary, the twins … from Italy. Best of all, Tanya Roberts met that rock band you like. I can’t wait to hear what they said to her. She’s so lucky—”
“Jenna, take a breath,” Sandra said, stopping Jenna from rattling on, gushing about everyone’s vacations that summer.
“I didn’t mind coming to hang out for a while, but I’m not in the mood for a party,” I muttered, knowing my mom would be angry if I went off to some grad party without her permission. She would have never approved.
