Chapter 6 #2
“Oh, Jesus, I’m even still wearing it today. It’s like autopilot.” She covered it up, like it was a weapon. Apparently was, in the right hands. She was genuinely embarrassed about it, blushing bright pink. Kind of cute.
I hated pretty girls. Basic human psychology, halo effect and everything, made it hard to be annoyed with someone as pretty as she was. Whatever. I turned to Cat, signing as I spoke. “She was just talking about slapping me in the face with her ring.”
Cat laughed, a big bright sound, as she put a hand near Alyssa’s on the table. “Don’t worry, she was totally blasé about it yesterday anyway. I think she’s hoping it scars.”
“Oh—yeah. Girls love a sexy scar,” she said, and when I translated it for Cat, she snorted. Alyssa’s blush deepened. “I—I’m not just saying that, I’m quoting you. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with saying that, I just thought it was funny.”
“I’m going to go grab a drink,” Cat said, completely unsubtle with the way she patted me on the back and left the two of us to our own devices. I guess that was Cat for you… I sat down across from Alyssa.
“So,” I said, giving her a darkly serious look.
“Yeah?” She tensed.
“How long have you been judging me for saying girls love a sexy scar?”
“I wasn’t—that’s not—” She put her hands up in panic, and then she stopped, scowling. “You’re making fun of me.”
I laughed, relaxing. “You’ll have to forgive me. You’re just a bit easy to wind up. Any reason you’re so nervous? When I first saw you, I figured it was because you almost hit a tree, but seems like it’s just your default state.”
She scratched her head. “Oh, yeah, no, that’s classic me. I overexplain, I guess. My boyfriend… well, my ex-boyfriend always said clear communication, but mostly it just feels like I’m justifying myself.”
“So, here from Boston to get away from an ex.”
She winced. “I’m sorry. I can stop talking.”
“I asked a question, and you think I’m mad at you for answering it? What do you think I’m doing, trying to trick you in my evil trap?”
“No, I just… figured you weren’t looking to chat.
” She twisted her ring from side to side—a big diamond-shaped ring with a gemstone in the same blue as her eyes.
“I mean, I’m not stupid. I can tell Cat did this to get us to talk.
She was confused when I said you gave me her number but not yours—I mean, not that I’m asking for your number. ”
“Oh, are you not? Maybe I need a few more sexy scars first. Hit me another couple times.”
“Oh my god.” She rolled her eyes, flashing a smile. “I am so happy to know how much fun you’re having.”
“Did you get your car back, by the way?”
“Yeah, just now. Dan… Daniela took me there to pick it up and come here,” she said, hesitating on Daniela’s name but pushing through. “And yes, to answer your question. Came from Boston to escape an ex. And now I’m here, camping out in someone’s basement.”
“She’s got you in the studio, huh?”
“Oh.” She relaxed. “Yeah, it’s a bit dark with the tiny basement window, but it’s cozy. I guess you’ve been around?”
“Watched her draw in there a couple times. Cat, too. Cat likes to model for figure drawings.”
“That’s so fun,” she said, eyes twinkling. “She does seem very… charismatic. I feel bad not knowing any sign language, though. I was trying to make it clear for her to read my lips, but I still had to write out words for a lot of our conversation.”
“Probably because you made it clear. Lipreading isn’t about seeing the sounds, it’s recognizing speaking patterns. If you try to enunciate everything, then it looks unnatural and it’s actually harder to read.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “Well, don’t I look the fool?”
“We all do it. Just learning the letters is a good start. It’s a little clunky at first, but once you’ve got the hang of it, you can sign out the letters of a word she didn’t get much faster than writing it on your phone and showing it to her. And usually she’ll get it after just a couple letters.”
“Okay, great,” she said, sitting up taller. “That much, I think I can do. Am I ever glad to have something I can actually do… Daniela’s just letting me stay rent-free as long as it takes to figure my life out, and she’s even cooking for me.”
Damn, I missed Daniela’s cooking. “She is remarkably stubborn,” I said offhandedly, and she winced a little.
“Yeah. I mean, I know her pretty well, too. We’ve been friends for years. She even mentioned you before.” Judging by the way she winced harder, she hadn’t meant to say that part. I shouldn’t have focused on it the way I did.
“Oh, yeah?” I said, trying for casual. “What’d she say?”
She forced a laugh. “That you, um… that you make candles. Really nice candles, actually. She’s obsessed with them.”
For a while there, I’d kind of wondered if Daniela and I maybe…
I don’t know, had something. We’d been friends for some time, and then things shifted, and suddenly we were spending an awful lot of time together.
An awful lot of time with just the two of us.
And I swear we almost kissed one time… late-night camping trip under the stars, we’d been lying side-by-side while I talked constellations and she listened patiently, and then the conversation had died down, we’d turned and looked at each other, and it was hard to tell in the low light, but I swear she’d looked at my lips.
I wondered if things would have gone differently if we’d kissed. Probably worse. I’d have had to either break up with her or abandon Cat all to herself.
So I guess I was glad. But knowing all she said about me was that I made candles somehow sat badly in my stomach.
“She have any favorites?” I said idly. “I always asked her, and she refused to answer, said I love them all.”
“That jerk. She wouldn’t let me get away with oh, I’m happy with anything about breakfast this morning. This… noon. I slept in late.” She laughed awkwardly. “She really liked the sea salt one.”
“Well, guess I’ll keep it in mind if she ever asks me for another candle,” I said. She strained a smile.
“I… don’t want to get involved in things I shouldn’t be involved in, but… can I ask what happened? I heard about it from Daniela and Linda, but I feel like I should hear both sides of the story…”
I pursed my lips. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. “Not my place to say,” I said. “I don’t want to be involved in causing problems between you and Daniela.”
“That’s not your responsibility to consider.”
“Well…” I looked away. “You should ask Cat. She’s the one who was actually affected.”
“I figured, but that’s why I thought it might be uncomfortable for her to talk about…”
Maybe… maybe she wasn’t too bad. That did make sense. Considerate.
I sighed.
“Long and short of it is,” I said finally, “Drew wanted her to do a ton of unpaid work. And when she tried to push back, he said a lot of horrible things to her.”
She looked at me incredulously. “Drew did?”
Seemed like she’d been won over by his charm too. “Yep,” I said, the bitterness coming through on the edges of my voice. “Well, Cat says he did. Up to you if you believe her or not. Think I’m the only one in town who does.”
“Oh… that’s awful.” She wrinkled her nose, and I got a rush of antsy nerves.
“Don’t go around trying to argue with people about it,” I said. “We don’t need the topic relitigating.”
“Well, it’s just—”
“I mean it. Cat’s trying to find a way to move forward as it is.” My voice came out harsher than I meant it to, but that wasn’t the part she focused on—she furrowed her brow, looking at me in confusion.
“But you’re not?”
“Well—” I frowned. She folded her hands on the table.
“Are you just planning on… not talking to anyone ever again?”
“How is it any of your business?” I snapped, and she flinched—I regretted it the instant I’d said it, but she didn’t pull away this time, an intense gaze in her soft blue eyes that made me feel strangely exposed, like she could see right through me.
“I guess it’s not,” she said. “But… if you want to talk to somebody, I’m the best person, aren’t I?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Are you?”
“I mean, I think so. I’m only here while I search for a job. Clean slate before long.”
Oh… now that she mentioned it. Maybe she wasn’t wrong.
But I didn’t get a chance to respond before Cat got back to the table, a hand on my shoulder, an iced coffee in hand, grinning ear to ear and dropping, “What are we talking about? I heard you gossiping about me.”
“You heard—wait, what?” Alyssa furrowed her brow.
“She just likes to say that to get reactions from people,” I said, and I moved from my seat, sliding around the table to sit next to Alyssa.
She sat taller, stiffening nervously, and she tried to move away from me, but I put a hand up to stop her.
“Easy. Try not to bolt. Cat can’t follow a conversation if she has to look in two different directions to see us. ”
“Oh—right. I didn’t even think about that.
” She laughed a little too quickly, settling slowly back into her seat, holding her drink in both hands.
Weird thing to think about, but she smelled nice…
I’d always been keenly attuned to scents, and something about Alyssa smelled ever so faintly like the ocean.
Like sea breezes and pink sands. Maybe a haircare product, but whatever it was, it was subtle enough I didn’t notice until we were sitting right next to each other.
Weird to be thinking about how she smelled. But hey, what was the harm? Clean slate with her before long.
“So,” I said, turning back to Cat and signing keywords as I spoke, “now let’s get into that name sign you picked for Alyssa.”
Cat gave me a scandalized look. It was fine. She’d do the same for me if I tried something like that.