7
I don't like to hold back, because that's how you hurt yourself.—Chester Bennington
“So?" Mel was almost bouncing on her toes with anticipation. "How'd the date last night with Carl go?"
When Rhett entered the kitchen with its stainless-steel appliances and black granite countertops, Mel was on the search for sustenance. Cup of coffee in hand, she pulled open the door of the fridge and peered inside.
"We got any bagels and cream cheese?" she asked.
"Not unless you went to the grocery store yesterday. You'll have to settle for toast or cereal." Rhett took a mug from the gleaming white cabinet above the coffee maker and eyed the decreased level of coffee in the carafe with a jaundiced eye.
"It'll have to be toast, then. We're out of milk." Mel pulled a jar of blackberry jam from the refrigerator. "Where's the butter?"
"Blue tub, top shelf." Rhett gave in to the inevitable, She'd be having breakfast with her sister, and they would end up discussing Rhett's date. She pushed aside the thoughts of Rhys until later and went to the pantry to get the bread for toast.
When she returned, she found Mel staring at the tub in her hand with a frown. "What is this stuff? It says yogurt."
"No, it's vegetable spread. It's just made with yogurt. And don't have kittens," she added as Mel opened her mouth to protest. "It doesn't taste like yogurt. Besides, it has half the calories of butter or margarine, and it doesn't have any trans-fat."
A snort of laughter interrupted her. "Aren't we the fun ones? Worrying about trans-fat and crap like that?" Mel pulled a knife from a drawer. "Sure makes dining out an adventure."
"I didn't worry too much about it last night." Glad to have an excuse to turn her back, Rhett popped two slices of bread into the toaster. Screw waiting to think about Rhys. There was no way she could get him out of her head. "I had tacos for dinner, and hell with any kind of fat."
"Do what?" Confusion colored Mel's voice. "Carl said he was taking you to Le Beaujolais."
"He did." Uncomfortable, Rhett shifted her feet as she stared at the toaster. "I left before we ate."
"You ditched him? Jesus Christ, Rhett, what's wrong with you?"
Irritated at the condemnation she heard in Mel's voice, Rhett whirled around and pinned her sister with a hard glare. "No, what's wrong with you? How could you set me up on a date with that guy?"
Mel's own glare sent daggers at Rhett. "Carl's nice, and if you'd just given him a chance, you would've seen that."
"I did give him a chance." Rhett ignored the sound of the toaster popping up the bread behind her. "As long as a chance as he deserved, anyway. If I'd had to sit through a whole evening with him, it would've been torture. I'm lucky I had a rescue call set up."
"I can't believe you." Mel's mouth thinned to a firm line. "You actually set up a rescue call?"
"Damn straight. I ran into Rhys yesterday afternoon, and I told him I wasn't looking forward to this date, and he asked me if I had one.
" She ignored the growing outrage on Mel's face.
"When I told him I didn't, he programmed my number into his phone, and he called me at the restaurant.
I told Carl there was an emergency, and I left. "
"And I suppose Rhys had something to do with the tacos, too," Mel bit out.
"As a matter of fact, he did. When I got back here, he was headed out to Taco Bell and asked me to go with him. So I did. What of it?"
"I should've known." Mel folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the countertop. "You were too good for Carl. No, you had to have the rock star."
"Too good for..." Even though she hadn't yet had coffee, Rhett's blood was stirring. "Let me tell you something, oh sister of mine. That guy you set me up with? He was pretending I was you."
"Oh, bullshit." Mel turned away, but not before Rhett saw the dramatic eye roll that accompanied her comment.
"Not bullshit. You want to know what he said to me? He said it was his lucky night after all because I look so much like you. Yeah, he's had a thing for you for a while now, but he hasn't had a chance to ask you out because he can't catch you between boyfriends."
Clutching a plate to her chest, Mel did a slow turn to face Rhett again. "He said that?"
"Yeah." Some of Rhett's anger drained away at the stricken look on her sister's face.
"You'd better watch out for that guy, Mel.
He actually said that if he couldn't be with you then at least I was the next best thing.
Those greedy little pig eyes kept looking me up and down like he was a hungry wolf and I was an unattended meat wagon.
It was the first time since I moved here that I felt like I was back in Claiborne. "
"Claiborne?" A puzzled frown pulled Mel's brows together. "I don't understand."
"Because in Claiborne I was the next best thing.
" She repressed a sigh as Mel's look of bewilderment deepened.
"When I started high school, the guys in the Junior and Senior classes were overjoyed.
Mel Vandergriff might have graduated and moved away, but hey!
Here came her sister who looked like her.
They might not get to nail you, but they could try for the next best thing. "
Sorrow replaced bewilderment as Mel absorbed what Rhett said. "I had no idea," she all but whispered. "I mean, I knew everyone looked down on us because Dad ran off and left us, but I never dreamed they'd expect you to behave the way I chose to."
"Seriously?" It was Rhett's turn to be astounded. "You lived there for eighteen years and you seriously had no idea how they'd treat me? Come on, Mel. Small towns are like...You remember that movie Mean Girls?"
A corner of Mel's mouth twitched with amusement. "Are you saying you were personally victimized?"
"The whole damn town was Regina George," Rhett yelled. "You know as well as I do that once they form an opinion of you then it's set in stone. I was the fatherless kid with the hard-as-nails mother and the sister who was..." She bit her lip. As worked up as she was, she knew that was going too far.
"The sister who was the town slut," Mel finished for her.
Remorse tightened Rhett's chest. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her sister. "Mel, I didn't mean..."
"It's okay. I mean it." No condemnation showed in Mel's gentle smile.
"I was the town slut, and I liked it. After all, it's what I set out to do, right?
But I honestly never thought people would just assume you'd make the same choices I did.
" She looked at Rhett, her expression wary. "You didn't, did you?"
"Not really, no." Rhett turned to push down the button on the toaster again. "I didn't run through the high school attendance roster like you did. But you know as well as I do that Todd wasn't my first." She paused. "Or my second."
"Third?" Mel asked.
"Fourth." Rhett popped the again-warm toast from the machine and reached for the plate Mel still held. "Plate?"
Mel handed the plate over. "I'm not going to pry much but was it your choice to sleep with those guys?"
"If you're asking if I felt like I was supposed to, then I guess I'd have to say yes.
" Rhett put the toast on the plate and handed it back to her sister.
"But I never slept with anyone I didn't want to, okay?
And honestly, it didn't matter if I'd kept my legs welded shut, because every boy I turned down just went ahead and lied about it to his friends.
To hear it, you'd think I beat your record. "
"Well, you're out of that stinking little cesspool of a town now, so fuck 'em. Figuratively, I mean." Mel cast a glance over her shoulder as she went about adding butter and jam to the toast. "I am sorry about Carl, though."
"Not your fault," Rhett reassured her. "You didn't know."
"Well, I know now. But it doesn't look like you need me to set you up with anyone. You managed to end up at Taco Bell with Rhys James all on your own."
They sat down at the small round table set in the sunny bay window. Rhett munched on her toast as she watched the Saturday morning traffic snake past so far below. "You know, I think I really ended up at Taco Bell with Rhys Collinsworth."
"Who?" Mel asked with her mouth full.
"Collinsworth. That's his real last name. James is his middle name."
"Oh." Mel swallowed but still looked confused. "I'm not sure I get you, though."
"What I mean is that I didn't feel like I was out with a famous person.
" Rhett tore the crusts from the bread as she tried to find the words to explain.
"He was just a regular guy. In fact, I kind of forgot he was the lead singer for Illicit until some guy came up to him and asked to take his picture.
We talked about our kids, and what we thought about living in apartments versus houses, and whether we liked mild or hot sauce. Things like that."
"That sounds nice." Mel's tone was neutral.
"It was. He was." A corner of Rhett's mouth tugged up at the memory of her evening. "We laughed and just had a good time."
A sly look came into Mel's eyes. "Did you tell him you lost your virginity while he sang on the radio?"
"No, I didn't." Rhett stared hard at her sister. "And you're not going to, either. If I want him to know I'll tell him myself."
"Hm." Mel appeared to direct her attention toward what was left of her breakfast, but Rhett still detected an air of mischief. "Did he sing to you last night? Serenade you with songs that got your motor running?"
Were all older sisters so irritating? Rhett pretended to find the remnants of her toast of extreme interest. "Don't be an idiot. He doesn't run around bursting into song at every moment just because he's a singer. He isn't Stacee Jaxx, you know."
Mel looked blank. "Stacee who?" Her eyes widened, and she burst into laughter.
"That movie! Rock of Ages, right? Oh my God, I haven't seen that in forever.
I sure hope Rhys isn't like Stacee Jaxx, 'cause that dude was some kind of messed up.
I still think he could've at least hummed a few bars of something, though. "
"Actually, he did hum a little. 'She's A Rainbow,' as a matter of fact." So much for savoring the memories in private. Mel should have gone into interrogation instead of finance. "The fact remains that I didn't really think about the whole singer thing when I was with him."
The look Mel gave her over the rim of her coffee cup was full of skepticism. "Well, you can call him Collinsworth or James, or you can call him John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. But the fact remains that you've been hot for him since you hit puberty, and I think you should do something about it."
"I'm not you." Rhett shrugged, uncomfortable. "I can't just—"
A loud raspberry from Mel interrupted her. "You like him. I assume he liked you or he wouldn't have taken you out to dine on such fine fare. Actually, the fact that he did take you to a place as relaxed and casual as Taco Bell means he feels comfortable with you. You should go for it."
Rhett huffed out a sigh. "Did you not hear anything I said? I said I had fun with him. It was nice. I like that nice stuff."
"I've seen the man, you know," Mel said. "Nice doesn't even begin to describe it. So don't sit there and tell me you don't want to get him nekkid."
Heat washed up Rhett's neck and into her cheeks. "I'm not saying I don't. But I'd just like to spend more time with him, okay? Just sitting and talking, or listening to music, or stuff. And maybe hold hands, and kiss after a while."
"So basically, you want to go on a date in the 1950s."
"You're impossible," Rhett declared, and devoted herself to her cold toast and lukewarm coffee. Several minutes passed before Mel spoke again.
"You'd still like to bang him, though, wouldn't you?"
Rhett grinned before she could stop herself.
"Like a screen door in a hurricane."