Chapter 14 Mischa #3
“All that matters is that you don’t get more than four of the same kind in front of you,” I nod at Austen.
“I’ll start. I offer a card to you. I don’t let anyone see it, but I’ll tell you what it is.
” I put a card face down on the table. “This... is a queen.” I slide a card over to Austen.
“I’m either lying, or telling the truth.
If you believe me, take the card, and turn it over.
If you don’t believe me, slide it back to me. ”
He looks at the back of the card for a moment, and then pushes it slowly with his finger back to my side of the table. I flip the card over to show the queen of hearts.
“You were telling the truth,” Isobelle says, “so what happens to the card?”
“Austen gets it in front of him, if he gets three more queens, he’s out. Now it’s his turn.”
“This is the King of Hearts,” Austen sighs.
He presses his lips together for a split second, and slides the card in front of Sabrina.
“You don’t need to say the suit,” I tell him. “Just king.”
Sabrina looks down at it. “I can’t decide.”
“So don’t,” I say. “Take a peek at it. Then slide it to someone else, and tell them what it is.”
She carefully lifts it up to see and then pushes it toward Isobelle. “Do I tell her it’s a king?” she asks.
“That card is anything you want it to be.”
“I’m fine with king,” her eyebrow twitches.
In the corner of my eye I see Austen wiping his hand over his mouth. That’s not a king, and Austen has told on himself again.
“Can’t I just look at it too?” Isobelle asks.
“Yeah,” I smile. “Then give it to me or William, and say what it is, or lie.”
She looks at it and slides it over to William.
“It’s a queen!”
She’s lying. Too enthusiastic.
“I still don’t know what it is,” I say. “If Will doesn’t call the bluff, he could look at it too, and send it to me.”
William takes it, looks at it, and slides it to me. “King.”
William has a fake, masking smile, though not over the top. He’d be a good liar if he didn’t try. Austen and Sabrina have stiff, wooden postures, trying to hold in the lie.
“Three people say king and one says queen,” I say, and tap my hand over it. “I think I believe you,” I tell Isobelle.
“You do?” she frowns. “Why?”
“Because you said queen so enthusiastically.”
Austen and Sabrina seem to deflate a little as their tension dissolves. They both saw the card, and know if I believe it’s a queen or a king, I will be wrong, and either way I would lose the round.
I flip the card over to show the Jack of hearts to the surprise of nobody. The card goes in front of me.
I take a king of diamonds and tell Sabrina it’s a ten.
She looks at it and tells William it’s a king.
William believes her and turns it over, and the card goes in front of her.
Pretty soon everyone has quite a few cards in front of them, and we’re running out of cards to play.
Sabrina struggles, never grasping everyone’s motivations enough to be good.
Austen is good, but William and Isobelle make things interesting by conspiring against me.
They send every Jack to each other, and then pass them on to me.
I offload a couple, and end up with a three in front of me.
Soon everyone is sending the last Jacks my way.
Halfway through the game there is something happening.
Sabrina, Isobelle, William and Austen trust each other deeply, but it’s all a little dry.
Maybe it’s a British thing, but it isn’t even lukewarm in their corner.
I already know Sabrina and Austen are dead in the water.
They all want to help William win and they are all protecting Austen.
People usually don’t work together like this.
Isobelle also looks out for Sabrina, even if it means losing.
Sabrina is outgoing but submissive toward Isobelle, but not her boyfriend, or William, or me.
Interesting. These people are not two couples with a gay bodyguard on the side. They are a squad. A well-oiled machine.
Austen spends the whole game acting as if I’m not here, as if a single glance will hurt. I know the feeling. William and Austen are also off balance, but I knew that already. Once I have caught the drifts, I start looking under the surface.
“How long have you guys been dating?” I ask the group.
Sabrina’s eyes shoot up in alarm, “What?”
“You and Austen?” I gesture toward them, “how long have you been together?”
Everybody is so stiff I have to squash the smile that wants to spread over my lips.
“Oh,” Sabrina says, and looks at William, and he nods. “Since high school.”
Why are they lying?
“You too?” I ask William, but he looks to Isobelle to answer.
“Same,” Isobelle says, and brushes a strand of hair behind her ear.
Everyone has forgotten about the game.
“Did you go on the ski trip when they stole the plane?” I ask.
I said the wrong thing. The mood changes in an instant.
Cold fury radiates from every pair of eyes.
Kane, across the room, playing pool with Hayden, is at my full attention.
Isobelle looks like she’s deciding how to kill me, and William is murderous too.
He has to sit on his hands to stop them from balling into fists. Austen looks very sad.
“No,” Sabrina says. “I wasn’t there.”
“I was not there either,” Isobelle says, but it seems like she’s lying.
She nestles into William and suddenly they are touching each other like they really are lovers. Sabrina looks over for one split second like she’s threatened. Blink and you’ll miss it. Maybe her and Sabrina have a thing, and I’m watching some beard-on-beard action.
Sabrina leans into Austen. He caresses her midriff with one hand and her inner thigh with the other and it bothers me. She gives him butterfly kisses all round his fucking face, then they press their foreheads together like nobody else exists.
Sabrina and Austen whisper “I love you, baby,” in each other’s ears and smile. They mean it. It’s real, and it hurts. They really do love each other. Deeply. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
If it’s fake, they are really committing to the performance.
William stares at them and tries not to look uncomfortable.
I’d be uncomfortable too, if my girlfriend’s girlfriend was kissing my brother.
It strikes me that they are all good at lying, because they believe their lies. People like that are often dangerous.
“Why is everyone acting so weird?” Amelia frowns, looking up from her coffee.
“Everyone knows you stole a plane from a ski field and crashed it into the snow. It’s not a big fucking deal.
The Harlow boys have done way worse, and Martin Henderson stole a boat and killed his best friend.
Sorry if you thought you lived it down, but nobody cares anymore. ”
“Except our grandad,” Will rolls his eyes.
Austen studies the carpet and sighs. “Not our finest moment.”
William’s mouth curls into a cheeky smile. “It’s all true, the things they say. All the rumors.”
Isobelle laughs. “One hundred percent fact.”
“Really?” Amelia says. “People told me to stay away from you guys.”
“And you should have listened to them,” William tells her.
“Our grandfather is a vampire, we ran away, we stole a plane, got disowned, have a drug problem, I impregnated a famous actress, the body of a stripper was floating in our pool after a wild party and our entourage covered it up, I’m violent, Austen’s crazy, Isobelle’s a lesbian, Sabrina drank so much semen at an orgy she had to go to hospital and get her stomach pumped, and all four of us sleep together and we’re incestuous. ”
“Ugh,” Austen groans. “Fucking gross.”
“Hey,” Will shrugs. “It’s only right, because I am drop-dead gorgeous, so who would I be to throw another version of me out of bed?”
“God,” Austen throws his hands up. “Please kill me, then kill yourself too.”
Sabrina looks horrified. “People don’t really say I had jizz pumped from my tummy, do they?”
Everyone laughs, but Hayden’s face gives something away. He believes some of those things. Probably the lesbian one.
Whatever secret Austen and William have, the girls know what it is. I think maybe Kane does too.
“Who’s turn is it anyway?” I ask.
“Mine,” Austen says, and slides a card over to me. “It’s a perfect ten.”
I take it. It’s a jack; I’m out, and I’m surprised.
???
I wake up the next morning more heartbroken than I ever thought I could be. The sight of Austen pressing his forehead to that succubus kept me up all night. I see it behind my eyes. I want to die.
I need to let it go. One fucking day left and I never have to see these people again and look at Austen ever again and ever have to think about that asshole as long as I live. He tries to talk to me at breakfast so I put my bowl down and walk out.
We arrive at Taronga Zoo around nine-thirty in the morning.
Koala interactions are limited to certain times and groups of just four, and tickets are first-come, first-serve.
William, Isobelle, Austen, and Sabrina plan to go as a group.
I ask a few of the other students, and get Amelia, Taylor B and Kai and the Stupid Backwards Hat into a group with me.
The only trouble is, by the time we all arrive, the koala experience is sold out.
A gloom settles over everyone, and they head into the zoo.
“Are you sure we can’t see them?” I ask the ticket attendant, after the others leave, and offer her some money.
“They might be able to fit you in. You can ask if there are any free spots at the plaza,” she says, and points to the building opposite.
I walk past Austen and William. Austen seems a little upset and William seems angry.
“We’ll stay in Australia another week if we have to,” I hear William tell Austen.
I go to the small information desk and the assistant checks for me.