Chapter Twenty-Seven
After a sluggish night and a day of fitful sleep, I wake again to a phone notification, though this one is far more welcome: a video call from Sophie and Elaine.
I’m still half asleep, with bedhead and puffy eyes from all of the crying I did yesterday, but a cold call from my friends is rare enough that I scramble to answer.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, holding the phone a couple inches from my face and squinting, since I didn’t even bother to grab my glasses first.
“Good evening, madam,” Sophie says. “Why do you look like you just woke up?”
“Probably because I just woke up,” I grumble, fumbling for my glasses on the nightstand.
“Oh, shit, that’s right. You’re like, nocturnal now.”
“Yup.” I find my glasses and push them up my nose. Sophie’s face comes into focus, grinning. “Why do you look like you’re up to no good?”
“Me?” she asks, too innocently. “I’m always up to good!”
“She lies,” Elaine says, poking her face into the frame.
Seeing the two of them together without me gives me a strange surge of mixed emotions. Fresh loneliness, an undeniable tug of envy… but mostly, happiness to see them, and gratitude that they thought of me even though I’m not there.
“Aww, look at you two,” I say, smiling. Heat pricks the back of my eyes, but thankfully, I think I cried too much last night to manage any embarrassing tears now. “What are you up to?”
“Just a little weekend trip,” Elaine says.
Again, I fight back a tug of bitterness. I miss those little trips away, going to concerts or the beach, like a weekend-long sleepover. “Where to?”
“Well…” Elaine taps her chin thoughtfully, and spins the camera. “Any guesses?”
It takes me a second to realize what I’m looking at: a house, modern and square and gray, and all too familiar.
“Wha…” I sit straight up and then scramble out of bed, almost falling over in my haste. “Is that…?!”
I rush to the front door, fling it open, and there they are, giggling like the evil masterminds they are.
My best friends. I screech and throw an arm around each of their shoulders, yanking them in for a group hug.
They embrace with just as much fierce affection, and then there’s yelling and excitement and a few tears shed.
“How are you here?” I ask, pulling back to wipe my eyes. “How did you know where to find me?”
“Well…” Sophie starts, exchanging a look with Elaine. “Your loverboy contacted us.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to refer to actual vampire nobility as loverboy,” Elaine says.
“Lord Loverboy,” Sophie corrects in a mock-snooty tone.
I barely hear their playful bickering, though. “Claude…? Claude did this?”
“Well, I guess Claude contacted Benjamin, and Benjamin got him in touch with us,” Sophie says. “He wanted to surprise you, so he offered to fly us out. All expenses paid. Car service from the airport and everything.”
“He didn’t get into specifics,” Elaine says, “but it sounded like you needed company.”
“But what about work?” I ask. Another wave of tears is threatening to overtake me. “And… I’m sure you had other things to do this weekend, you didn’t have to do this…”
“Babe,” Sophie says, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me. “We’re here because we want to be.”
“I mean, I’m glad you’re here, obviously! But you didn’t have to drop everything and fly out.” I bite my lip to stop it from wobbling. “I’m fine. Really. And I know you both have your own stuff going on, so…”
“Nora,” Elaine says, somehow gentle and stern at the same time. “We’re your friends. Stop pushing us away.”
The words catch me off guard. Pushing them away?
That’s never what I intended. I just didn’t want to be a burden.
But… looking at them now, I imagine how I’d feel if they were intentionally concealing details of their lives from me.
I’d be hurt, because I want to be there to support them.
I see myself as a burden when I talk about my problems, but I’d never view them like that. I’d be offended if they thought I did.
I thought I was being selfless by keeping everything to myself. But really, all I was doing was keeping my friends at arm’s length.
After a deep breath, I nod and manage a watery smile. “Let me make some coffee,” I say, “and I’ll tell you everything.”
* * *
A note by the coffeemaker, written in Claude’s slanted handwriting, informs me that he’ll be away for the weekend and I should enjoy my time with my friends.
It’s agonizing not to be able to thank him right away, but as soon as I settle on the couch with Elaine and Sophie, I know he was right; I needed this time alone with them.
It takes hours to explain everything to them, especially with breaks for tears and snacks.
But it’s such a relief to be able to share it.
I don’t get into the details of the situation with my contract and Claude’s court—I’m nervous at the thought of involving them too deeply—but I tell them the gist of it.
I also vent about the phone call from my mom.
And most of all, my growing—and impossible to act upon—feelings for Claude.
Sophie actually tears up when I admit it. “Oh, Nora,” she says.
“I know it’s hard right now,” Elaine says, “but once the year is up, you can be together, right?”
I curl up with my knees to my chest. “I don’t know,” I admit. “We haven’t talked about it. I get the feeling it will be more complicated than that.”
“Such bullshit,” Sophie says, still teary.
“Until this is resolved…” I stare down at the floor, the words sinking in as I speak them aloud. “We’re safest apart.” I clutch the blanket closer to me. “But… it may never be resolved.”
Silence is thick after I speak. Both of my friends cuddle in closer around me.
“I don’t have any answers,” Elaine says, “but I’m sorry this is happening.”
I nod, leaning my head against her shoulder.
“Yeah,” Sophie says. She wipes her eyes and takes a shaky breath. “It must be hard, spending all this time around an undead hottie but never getting that vampire di—”
Elaine smacks her on the back of the head before she can finish, and despite myself, I laugh, and keep laughing until I end up in tears again.
* * *
The weekend passes too quickly. We eat and vent and laugh and cry, watch movies in a cuddle puddle on the couch, splash each other on the beach, order in my first taste of fast food since I started living here with Claude.
They tell me what’s been going on in their lives: Elaine groans about work, and Sophie about getting accustomed to moving in with David.
It feels like so much time has passed since we were last together like this, and yet now that we’re reunited, nothing has changed.
It eases something in my heart, to know that distance won’t take our friendship.
To know that they don’t just love me when I have something to offer, in the form of rent or cleaning the apartment or cooking for everyone.
They’ll be here during the hard times, too, as long as I let them in.
They can’t fix my problems, but they can help shoulder the load. At least I know that I’m not alone in this anymore. And if the worst happens, if Claude and I truly can’t be together… I know I’ll have them to support me through that, too.