KEISHA’S POV
By the ti I got back inside, the breakfast table had cleared.
Nadia was already heading upstairs and I followed and we went back to her room where she pulled her wardrobe open and started going through it with a furrow of her brow.
That only ant one thing. She was going sowhere.
I sat on the edge of her bed. "Where are you going?"
"Lisa’s birthday." She said as she pulled out a dress and held it against herself. "She asked to help with the decorations weeks ago. I forgot about it completely until she sent a ssage this morning." She looked at the dress. "Too much?"
"For decorating?" I raised a brow. "Yes."
She put it back. "Co with ."
"I want a quiet day." I flopped back on the bed.
"You’ve been having quiet days." She said. "Co. It’ll be good for you. Lisa always has good food and you can just sit in the corner and exist if you want, nobody will bother you."
"I’m fine here." I whined.
She looked at over her shoulder. "You’ve been fine here for a while and you still look like sothing is sitting on you. Riven just left, you look like shit, my dad looks like shit, even Dane looks like shit. You all need a fucking break." She turned back to the wardrobe. "Lisa has a dog. You like dogs."
"I’m not coming because of a dog." I frowned at her.
"What if it’s a really good dog?" She asked.
"Nadia. What do you think I’m going to say?"
She sighed and pulled sothing else out and held it up. I nodded and she put it on before she sat at her mirror and started on her hair.
We talked about Lisa for a while. She and Nadia had been friends since childhood, she was getting married in the spring, the birthday party was really a pre-wedding celebration disguised as a birthday party because Lisa’s family was traditional about the order of things.
"Will there be people there I don’t know?" I asked.
"Loads." Nadia said. "But they’re nice people. Pack families mostly. So from the east side you probably haven’t t yet." She caught my eye in the mirror. "It would actually be good for you to et more people. You’ve been here months and you know and Becca and Evelyn and Dane and my dad and—" She paused. "That’s quite a small circle."
"I have Sera at work." I smiled.
"You have Sera at work. Work?" She repeated. "Keisha."
"I like small circles." I shrugged.
"Small circles are fine until sothing happens and you need people." She said as she turned to look at directly. "You went through sothing awful with Orin and the only person you really talked to about it was . You’ve had Riven showing up all week making things complicated, and the only person you talked to about it was ." She paused. "I love being your person. But you should have more than one person."
I looked at her.
She wasn’t wrong.
"Maybe." I said.
"Co today." She said. "You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to. Just be sowhere that isn’t this mansion or your office or your house."
"Your dad’s making stay in his mansion." I said. "That’s not my fault."
"You know what I an." She rolled her eyes.
I did know what she ant.
"I’ll think about it." I said.
She turned back to the mirror looking like she would take that as a partial victory. She was quiet for a mont, doing sothing with the back of her hair, and then she made a sound.
"Oh for—" She winced. "Brilliant timing."
"What?" I asked, sitting up imdiately.
"My period." She said flatly. "Always when I have sowhere to be." She went to her drawer and started looking through it. "The cramps are already starting and I have to spend four hours helping hang decorations." She found what she needed and turned around. "You’re lucky yours ca last week. I always get it worse when it cos late."
My hands went still in my lap.
"Mm." I said.
"Mine is here so yours should be coming soon if it hasn’t already." She looked at . "Have you seen it yet? You used to always be a day or two behind ."
"Yes." I forced the words out even though it tasted bitter.
There was absolutely no need for her to know that I had not in fact seen my period.
She looked at for a second with sothing in her face. "You sure?"
"Why would I not be sure about my own period, Nadia." I asked, keeping my voice steady.
She held up her hands. "I’m just asking." She turned back to the mirror. "Because you went a bit—" She made a vague face gesture. "When I ntioned it."
"I’m fine." I assured her. "Let’s talk about sothing else."
She let it go.
We talked about other things. The birthday party, what Lisa’s fiancé was like, whether Nadia should bring a gift or money and if a gift what kind. I gave opinions and she argued with most of them which was normal.
She asked if she should bring sothing from Becca’s kitchen and I said that was always a good idea. She went downstairs to ask and ca back up with a small wrapped package and a small smile on her face.
"You really won’t co?" She asked one more ti when she stood at the door.
"Really." I said.
She looked at . "Eat sothing while I’m gone." She said. "Proper food, not just tea."
"I will." I nodded.
"And call if anything happens." She said.
"Nothing is going to happen." I laughed.
"Keisha." She raised a brow. "I’m being serious."
"I’ll call you." I said.
She kissed my cheek and left. I heard her footsteps go down the stairs and the front door open and close and then the mansion went quiet around .
I sat on the edge of the bed for a long mont.
Nadia’s period had co.
Mine hadn’t.
I did the calculation in my head that I had been refusing to do for two weeks. Counted backwards, counted forwards, counted again differently and arrived at the sa answer every ti.
Late.
Not a day. Not even a week late.
Properly, undeniably late.
And I had just looked my best friend in the face and lied about it without blinking.
I stood up, went to the window and looked out at the quiet morning grounds for a while.
Once more, I thought about the kit at the bottom of a toilet.
I needed to see the pack doctor.
Today.
Reviews
All reviews (0)