Chapter 3
Chapter three
Universal Monsters
Universal wasn’t what I imagined it would be.
I don’t think it was what any of us imagined it would be.
Sure, I’d never been to an amusement park like this; they weren’t really my scene to begin with, but somehow it never crossed any of our minds that we were going to the one amusement park in the world famous for making money based on characters that looked like two out of the three of us.
“Oh my god! Do you work for the park? Is this for a new ride?” Two college-aged girls, still on the upswing of their day, hounded V, posturing for a selfie. When she hissed and bore her fangs to drive them away, they just shouted with delight before snapping a pic.
Gabby and I watched from a bench outside the mummy ride, sharing a popcorn. “Gabs, did you really not think about the fact that there’s a mural with two of our faces right over there?”
Gabby turned to look at the large faces painted on the side of a squat brick building.
They weren’t us exactly. I’m obviously not the original Bride, and V isn’t Dracula’s Bride, but you see a pretty girl with a streak of white hair and scars, and another one with fangs, and the conclusions aren’t hard to draw.
Gabby collected a handful of popcorn out of my bag. “Okay, minor oversight, but at least we get to skip most of the lines.”
“Easy for you to say, no one’s clamouring for ghoul selfies every five feet as we try to get on the Hogwarts Express.” Gabby pouts, though part of me wonders if it’s at my comment or another flock of college coeds closing in on her girl. “You know you could help her.”
“I know, but sometimes it’s nice to remind her how lucky she is that she’s with me and not those floozies.”
The edge in her voice catches me by surprise as I turn to look at her. “Are you? Is there something up between you two?”
Gabby presses her face into her cheeks, not an admission, but certainly not an “everything's fine.”
“You know we can talk about it,” I continue.
“No, it’s whatever.” Even for someone undead and partly incorporeal, it’s odd to see the way her jaw can still form a tight line, the way her brow knits as she chooses her words. “Besides, we’re supposed to be here to cheer you up.”
V finally breaks free of the coeds, snaking through the rest of the crowd like a shadow before reaching us. “Thanks for the assist, you two were a real help.”
“In my defense, you do look exactly like the mural,” I reply, pointing back to the building-sized painting.
V doesn’t even bother acknowledging the joke. “Well, I’ve had enough fun for one day. What’s say we get out of here and hit a club?”
“But we haven’t seen the fireworks yet!” Gabby protests. “And I was hoping to haunt the park staff after closing.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were still doing that.” The moment V says that, I catch something sharp pass unspoken between them. Maybe a frustrated glance or a pout, but whatever it was, it’s over almost as soon as I notice it, with only its lingering effects as proof it happened at all.
The pause stretches for so long I’m not sure it’s safe to take another bite of popcorn. By the time I think to offer some in hopes of quelling whatever is passing between my two best friends, Gabby is already bursting out, frustrated. “You always do this!”
Suddenly, my popcorn is just for me as I spectate this unexpected lover’s quarrel.
“You always agree to do stuff and then change your mind at the last minute!”
V takes a step forward. “Whoa, babe, it’s not like that. I just-”
“No, I spent a lot of time planning this weekend because our friend needed us.” She points in my direction, but all I can do is raise my hands in a surrendered look of don’t drag me into this. “You’re so selfish sometimes!”
Gabby turns to march off, V goes to give chase, but is stopped the moment Gabby passes through a wall, leaving only her clothes and things behind.
The sight is surreal, bubbly Gabby acting betrayed out of nowhere, and confident, dominant V suddenly left abandoned, awkwardly squatting to collect her girlfriend's clothes. With the small bundle in hand, she returns to sit next to me with a long exhale. I offer her the popcorn, knowing that this isn’t one of the two things she typically eats, but hoping the gesture shows I’m here for her.
“Sorry about that,” V finally says.
“Yeah, I’m guessing there’s something you wanna share?”
V gives another exasperated sigh, and this is when I know something is serious, the moment when V starts to pack away her boisterous bitchy facade in favor of the calculating friend that makes me still want to hang out with her. “Yeah, well, things have been a little rough since…”
“Since what?”
“Since you left.”
My face twists as I try to understand what I have to do with their relationship issues.
V doesn’t make me ask; she sees my expression and continues.
“When you ran off with Chadwick, we wanted to be happy for you. I mean, I knew he was an asshole, but you liked him, so who were we to judge? Anyway, at first things were fine, but without you there anymore, it was just us, and I suddenly realized how much extra work in our relationship you were doing.”
I scrunch my face at this explanation. “Sure, I left, but I didn’t abandon you. I called, I texted, I sent the occasional meme. It’s not like I died.”
“That’s not it. You like books and stuff.
You are way bigger into the music and movies she likes than I am.
I’m more of the party girl, but all the homebody crap, that was you two, and when you left, she got lonely in a weird way.
I love her; that hasn’t changed, that’ll never change, but she misses you, misses the stuff you two do together. ”
As if to punctuate just how distraught V is, she mindlessly collects a handful of popcorn and starts to chew on it before realizing what it is and spitting it in the bushes with disgust.
“Oh, I had no idea.” I think long and hard about the moments leading up to this trip. The effortlessness with which my friends, who hate Florida, who hate the sun, rushed to see me. Suddenly, I see the bigger picture. “So, that’s what all the talk in the car was, about wanting me to move back.”
V nods, silent, but clearly embarrassed she’s been found out. “We get why you left, but now that you broke up, why not come back?”
The way V tells my own lie back to me as some lazy justification to steal her friend back makes my chest tighten. That stupid pain I thought I had sworn off. Now’s my turn to be honest. “We didn’t break up. …He cheated on me.”
The words take so much effort, and the moment they are out, they hang there like an ominous smog, choking me. I almost don’t register the sudden shift in V, switching from a near begging to a visceral rage only she can seem to conjure.
“He did what?!” V’s fangs look sharper, more pronounced, her fingers more clawlike, as she looks back at me, wishing she could summon Chad in front of her and rip his heart out for me. But that’s not how these things work. Maybe they did in her time, maybe in my time, but not anymore.
Another pair of park guests sees the scene and runs up enthusiastically. “Oh wow, are you doing a show?”
V’s burning violet eyes turn to them, searing a command into their soul. “Fuck off, we’re having a moment!”
The couple flees, leaving me with the vampiric valkyrie. Even as her hair swirls like a tempest, I can’t seem to will emotion; all I can do is tell her the truth, my answer, my honest answer to her question.
“That’s why I can’t go back.”
My words temper the storm, leaving her face a facade of placid confusion. “What? But he hurt you! We should eat his heart and head back home! You know, classic Monster Girls shit.”
I shake my head, my grip on the popcorn growing limp.
“I don’t really think Chad was the reason I left.
I think now, he was more the excuse. I think I really left because I was jealous of you two.
I wanted my own happy ending. I’ve lived so long, and all I’ve had are toxic relationships and you two. ”
My eyes start to burn, a single tear welling at the edge.
“When he did what he did, I was almost grateful because he showed me what an idiot I’ve been.
I’ve never really been running towards anything like you and Gabby; I’ve always just tagged along.
Hell, I’m a fucking Bride of Frankenstein, I’m literally a mad scientist's fetish creation! I’ve never really learned how to pick for myself, and Chad was just another example that I still don’t know how. ”
V sits back down on the bench, her hands returning to their more human shape, as she reaches for mine.
“Oh, oh, Franky. You never tagged along. You’re our friend, we love you.
We don’t want you back because you’re a prop; we want you back because we miss you, how you fill our lives.
Hell, I miss making cocktails with you. No one makes a Manhattan like you. ”
I know V means well, I know she does love me, and I’m sure somewhere deep down she believes what she’s saying, but her words bounce off me like pebbles flung at a large stone. “I’m sorry, V, but this is just something I gotta figure out first.”
I get up and toss out the stale popcorn, trying to will myself back into a state of calm, one where the turmoil inside me is replaced by that blank, methodical questioning of how I got here and where I actually want to go next.
With it, the tightness unwinds, and while I haven’t decided my future, I’ve at least decided my next move.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sure we can find a place that makes a decent Manhattan somewhere nearby. No reason not to start drinking now.”
V gives a slight chuckle, as if slipping her old mask of dominance back on, and stands to join me, Gabby’s clothes in hand. “It’s gonna be overpriced as shit.”
“Yeah, but I don’t wanna wander too far, you know.” I gesture to the clothes.
“Fair enough.”