Slow Twitch - Реинхардт Лиз. Страница 30

“They do,” she said with the blunt honesty I loved so much about her. “They look down their plastic noses at everyone else in the whole wide world. Don’t you dare let them treat you like shit. And stop feeling bad about slapping that drunk tramp across the face. She was asking for it, loud and clear. Do I have to stomp up there in my new stiletto boots? I sent you a pic of them, by the way. Are you in love?”

“So in love!” I gushed. “You need something short and tight, but kind of girly and soft to wear with them. Do you have anything like that?”

“I know exactly what would work.” I heard the clack of her shaking her nail polish container. “But I can’t wear it in this damn soupy heat. And I don’t think Rabin deserves it. But no more Rabin talk! He’s stricken from the record. Other than Jake’s insane family, is everything else alright? Did he climb into your window, Romeo style, after your little sexcapade on the boat and seal the deal?” She broke off from blowing on her nails to laugh at my silence. “Are you blushing, Ms. Blixen?”

“The answer is no. No to all your crazy questions.” I dug around in my makeup bag for my own container of polish. “It was hard enough to get him to go that far. He’s nervous.”

“They need to make a movie about the two of you. I swear to God, I bet he had a golden halo around his head. Does he sparkle?” she teased.

I switched the phone to my other ear and put one quick, slightly messy coat of silver polish on my toes. “He doesn’t. He’s just got a weird background in sex, you know?”

“I’m sorry did you say ‘weird’ or ‘extremely enormous’?” She crowed at her own dumb joke, and I could picture her tilting her head back as she laughed.

“Hardy har har.” I wiggled my toes and grabbed the Q-tips and nail polish remover so I could fix all my mistakes. I hear a loud, obnoxious car horn on her end.

“Good Lord almighty, I’m coming already!” Evan screamed, and I almost dropped the phone. “Sorry, sweets. My knight awaits.” Her voice was too grim to even be appropriately sarcastic.

“It’s okay. I promised Jake I’d chill with him down by the docks. Have fun, be careful, love you!” I hopped up and walked on the sides of my feet so I wouldn’t smear my still-wet polish.

“I will, Mama Bren. Love you!”

The connection clicked off, and I felt a moment of dread, wondering what her night and, eventually, her whole year would be like. I only knew Rabin based on what Evan told me, but he struck me as egotistical, mean, and shady. Not the shoulder to cry on she was going to need when shit hit the fan.

I kept thinking about her as I got ready to go to the docks with Jake. My first instinct was to tell my mother where I was headed, but her room was eerily empty. I held the doorframe a little too tight as I glanced in at her neat little space, her familiar things draped here and there. I missed her.

My mother had been pulled into this whole warped universe. Mama D took a liking to her, and dragged her on antiquing day trips and gallery openings. Those were things Mom and I would have totally done together in New Jersey. It was weird here, though.

Only really young kids hung out with their parents, and it was clear that they were just counting down the years until they were old enough to hang out at the beach and boathouse and pool and game rooms. Once they hit that magic puberty time, they only saw their parents for the big dinner we all had together.

I was shocked by how naturally Jake took to it all. Not that he liked it or wanted it. He was just cool with it. He was polite to the dozens of maids and cooks and gardeners scampering everywhere and polite to his family, but nothing really impressed him at all.

The way he’d grown up, I would have expected him to be a little more awed by it all.

We had been able to spend a lot of time together. A lot. The adults ran around and did what they wanted. Jake told me that this place was like a casino, and he was totally right. Or maybe it was like a big cruise ship, where everyone just did whatever and as long as everyone was having fun and laughing, no one questioned anything.

But I just couldn’t get into it.

It felt wrong and weird, and I felt, for the first time in my life, like I would never fit in. Like there was no way I could prove myself to these people. And it was strangely sucky. More so than I ever thought it would be.

I thought about it when I knocked on Jake’s door and kept thinking about it on the short walk to the lake. Jake and I were lying on the enormous dock that jutted over the glistening water. Alone. We were more alone than we would have been just by choice, because once I’d slapped Caroline, no one would speak to me anymore. She was pretty intimidating, and I had humiliated her.

I thought that one would feel better than it had, too, and even Evan’s insistence that I hadn’t done a single thing wrong didn’t make me feel any better.

“Does it bug you that everyone here has such a superiority complex?” I fanned my fingers over Jake’s face.

His eyes were closed, but I could tell that he wasn’t sleeping because he was playing with a straw of grass in his mouth, whirling it around and chewing on it. He spit it out and turned to look at me.

“No.” He put his hands under his head.

“That’s it?” I popped myself up on an elbow. “Just, ‘no’?”

“No, it doesn’t bug me.” He kissed me on the palm of my hand. “It’s exactly what I expected from them. ‘Cause they’re assholes, Bren.”

“Why are you here?” I hugged my legs tight to my chest and rested my chin on my knees.

“Because I get to be with you every single day. I don’t have to work for a little bit. That’s pretty much my idea of perfection.” He smiled and leaned his head against my legs. “Were you surprised by them?”

“Yeah.” I felt a little silly even admitting it. “I just kind of always fit in. I mean, I’ve had friends who had lots of money and friends who didn’t, and it’s never been this issue, you know? I always just got along fine. And here, I don’t.” Okay, so I downplayed it a little. It was way too embarrassing to admit how much it bothered me.

“It really bothers you, doesn’t it?” He grinned and chuckled, plucking a fresh piece of grass to gnaw on. “Why would you care? You’re ten times cooler and smarter than any of them.”

“I know!” I felt the sting of defensiveness shoot through my spine. “I’m just saying it’s weird, okay?”

He was quiet for a minute. He took the straw out of his mouth with his long, strong fingers and said, “Oh.”

Only it wasn’t just ‘ Oh,’ like ‘ Oh, I see.’ It was ‘ Oh’, like ‘ Oooooohhhh, it’s just become really clear to me, and I’m a little shocked by it.’

“What do you mean, ‘oh’?” I asked, and it was pretty clear that I was more than just a little irritated.

“You’re in the Kelly boat.” He took the blade of straw and drew it along my bare leg so slowly, I could see the trail of goosebumps startle on my skin.

“What’s the Kelly boat all about?” I leaned over to pop the brim of his cap up high enough that I could see his gray eyes, dancing with adorably obnoxious self-satisfaction.

“The Kelly boat is the boat for all of the losers and nobodies.” His handsome face cracked into a smile. “Everyone thinks they’re better than the people in the Kelly boat.” He shrugged and nestled his head against my legs until it fit right into my lap, then yawned. “You might not’ve had the chance to take a ride on the Kelly boat if you’d been a better ass-kisser.”

“What do you mean?” I pulled his cap off and stroked my fingers through his sun-gold hair. “Whose ass would I have kissed?”

“My phony grandmother’s. My drunk loser father’s. Slutty Caroline’s. There’s a big list of asses that really, truly think they deserve to be kissed.” He turned his face to my belly and kissed it with a warm, suctioned pop of his lips. “I love that you’re happy to be on the Kelly boat instead of an ass kisser on the Rich Bitch boat.” When I didn’t say anything, his voice dipped, low and nervous. “You arehappy to be on the Kelly boat, right?”