3. Chapter 3 #2
“I don’t pay rent either,” I reminded her. “Gio won’t ever take money from either of us. The two of us living here makes Mila happy, and what makes Mila happy makes Gio happy. So by being here, we’re causing a lot of happiness!”
My attempted humor didn’t even crack a smile.
“I know that Mila wants us to be somewhere nice and safe,” she said with a little shrug. “But I’m trying to become an actress, shouldn’t I be a starving artist or something?”
I didn’t answer right away because Em was only nineteen and had every right to be questioning her place in the world. I wished I’d questioned myself more in my teens and twenties. Now at the ripe old age of thirty-one, I could see I hadn’t demanded enough out of life.
“Being a starving artist is one way to go,” I said. “Mila wants you to be happy so if starving would make you happy, then I’m sure she’ll try hard to control her instincts.”
“That’s the other problem. I don’t want to move into a place where I have to share a one-bedroom apartment with five other people and work seven jobs to afford rent.”
“It’s expensive here, but I don’t think it’s that bad,” I said.
“Still, it’s nice to have an entire room to myself,” Em said. “This is the first time in my entire life I’ve got that. I don’t want to give it up.”
“You can always starve later,” I said.
She laughed. “That’s true.”
We watched TV for a few minutes before she spoke again.
“I almost forgot, do you want to go out with me tomorrow night?” Em asked. “The guy who plays my executioner in the play says he knows the best dance club to go to. They even have a dance floor that lights up.”
“Sounds fun,” I agreed. “I’ll drive us.”
I was following one rule: If someone asked me to do something new, I had to say yes. I wasn’t that interested in dancing, but I’d never seen a light-up dance floor. If I didn’t have fun, I didn’t have to do it again.
Em looked pleased. “Great! He has a roommate that needs a date.”
“Please tell me this roommate isn’t nineteen also,” I said.
“No, he’s super old, just like you,” Em said. “He’s thirty-something!”
Laughing, she ducked away from my exaggerated attempt to smack her upside the head.
“You’re just jealous because I can order alcohol,” I taunted.
“Trust me, I can get all the alcohol I want,” she said.
It worried me when she made comments like that. “Em, do I need to stage an intervention?”
“Oh stop,” she said. “I only mean that guys at clubs are always eager to buy me drinks. Don’t worry, I only take sealed drinks that I get to open. I’m not going to wake up in a bathtub of ice with my kidney missing.”
“Damn, you jumped to a dark place with that one,” I said, grabbing the remote and changing the channel to a sitcom. “No more murder mysteries for you! And don’t think I’m not going to mention your underage drinking to Mila. I don’t think she’s going to be happy about that.”
“She already knows,” Em said, unconcerned. “She knows I’m smart enough to keep myself safe. Remember, no losing a kidney here. But, speaking of dating, how’s it going with you?” She raised an inquiring eyebrow at me.
“No, you were speaking of organ theft!” I responded with a laugh.
“I’m referring to earlier in the conversation,” Em said with a huff. “Speaking of our double date with Don’s roommate, do you think we should invite the twins? You know, Danzig and Marduk.”
I gaped at her. “What?”
“Well, they’re into you,” she reminded me.
“They showed up every day the first week we moved in until Gio warned them that they couldn’t come onto the condo property unless invited by you.
I haven’t seen them since, but I’m sure they’re still interested in you.
I mean, they’re super intense about you.
That doesn’t disappear because Gio shooed them away. ”
The fact that she was suggesting I take both of the men out on a date made me both uncomfortable and excited. That was the real secret: I wanted them both, badly. What kind of woman ended up with twins? Outside of porn.
No, I couldn’t date those two. At least not yet. I needed time to come to terms with them and finish figuring out who the new Bec was.
“No,” I said.
“No, we shouldn’t invite them, or no, they aren’t interested in you?” she asked.
“Drop it,” I said.
“But they’re soooo cute!” Em said. “I don’t understand why you won’t at least go on a few dates with them. Come on, they’d treat you like a princess.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said.
“Huh?”
“Princesses get locked in towers,” I explained. “I lived that life back in South Dakota. I don’t want to be safe and boring any more. I want to be wild and exciting.”
“Was it really that bad?” Em asked. “You and Mila were always laughing when you two were together.”
“She was the highlight of my life back then,” I admitted. “Then she left, and I felt…”
Em filled in the words I couldn’t say. “Left behind?”
I nodded. “In several ways. I couldn’t believe my most stable, responsible friend had dropped everything and moved with almost no notice. It was the jolt I needed.”
“Yeah, she shook everyone up!” Em said with a little laugh. “And the family is way better because of it.”
So much had changed for the better over the last few months that I had to agree. “Very true.”
The sitcom ended, and I flipped through channels until I finally switched to one of our streaming services and put on a black and white movie.
“You’re obsessed with old movies. You know you're allowed to enjoy movies that were made within the last decade,” she said, even as she settled down to watch it with me.
“Color movies have been around a lot longer than a decade,” I said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, this one is a comedy.”
She eyed me suspiciously as the credits for Some Like It Hot played.
“Does it have a happy ending?” she asked.
“Absolutely!” I promised. “You’ll love it. No one dies. Well, some do, but they’re the bad guys. It’s all very satisfying.”
We were about fifteen minutes in, Em enjoying herself enough to chuckle several times as Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis displayed amazing comedic timing, when something hit me.
“Tracking tags!” I shouted, finally figuring out how to find Hugo.
“What?” she asked, turning her attention away from the movie to me.
“I’ll mail some tracking thingies to Leif. He’ll have to come by to collect his mail at some point. Or maybe his roommate will take them to Leif. Either way, I might be able to track them straight to where Leif and Hugo are staying,” I explained, feeling proud of myself.
Em nodded her head. “That’s a great idea.”
“I know,” I said, grabbing a last slice to celebrate my solution. It turned out Em was right; pizza was great for working out problems.
We were about halfway through the movie when Em gave me a curious look. “You keep checking your phone. What’s going on?”
“Nothing!” I said, closing PixUs.
She looked startled by my vehement denial and turned back to watching the movie. I forced myself not to turn my phone on again.
There were no new messages from Danzig or Marduk. They knew I was mad and were giving me space. That was good.
Except why did I feel so disappointed?