Chapter 33
Alessa
It’s rare for me to have a whole Saturday to myself these days. Between Julianna demanding more of my time, and finals creeping up on me, my weekends are usually packed with homework, romance, more homework, and those fancy gatherings my girlfriend insists on taking me to. (You should’ve seen me when we met up with her parents at a cozy villa up in Washington Park. She practically twirled me around her mother’s Persian carpet and dipped me to the amusement of her half-drunk father.)
This auspicious weekend, however, I have so much precious time to myself. I’ve handed in a bunch of term papers and I’ve permitted myself to take a break from studying to give my brain a rest. Julianna’s up in Seattle until later this evening. I’m supposed to go to her place around eight. But until then?
Shopping on her dime!
When I announced I was going shopping with friends this weekend, she immediately reached into her wallet and handed me her black card. “No limit,” she said with a yawn. “Knock yourself out. Buy something cute that we both enjoy.”
After I coyly suggested that my poor friends would only get so much enjoyment from watching me shop, she suggested that I spoil them too. The day would be on her!
It’s the perfect day for gal-paling around Portland. The sun is shining in a perfect cloudless sky, and the temperature is a dreamy eighty degrees. I’ve got on one of my breeziest sundresses, paired with comfy, stylish sandals that let me roam the city blister-free. My mom would flip if she saw these chic designer sunglasses I’m rocking! And my freshly styled hair? Let’s say it’s turning heads all over NW 23rd Street.
Even since dating Julianna, I don’t get to come up here that often. Bit too out of the way for my girlfriend to deign going somewhere for the evening, and honestly, the vibe is hardly hers. Julianna likes the right kind of pretentious. Touristy utopias don’t apply.
But it’s right up my alley! I’d come here every day if I could.
My friends Kelly and Selkie likewise love this neighborhood, especially on a beautiful day like today. We are quite the sight as we half-frolic down the shady sidewalks, gaping in storefronts, realizing that we can actually afford to shop in these stores when I have my girlfriend’s black card on me, and you know what?
It’s so much fun!
My friends don’t have a whole lot of money, but I go a little crazy. If they try something on that suits them, I buy it when they’re not looking. If nothing else, Selkie’s birthday is coming up, and Kelly is studying abroad next semester. She needs a new wardrobe, right?
We step out of a cute boutique in one of the converted Victorian houses, sharing happy sighs as our shopping bags weigh us down. I’ve got a new, gauche belt to cinch some of my favorite dresses. Besides, doesn’t Julianna love a good challenge when it comes to undressing me? Or maybe that’s me who loves giving her the challenge…
“My feet are killing me,” Kelly bemoans. “Why don’t we get something to drink? I’d die for a boba tea!”
Duh! Has she been reading my mind?
My favorite teahouse in the city is on the second floor. I’m feeling some cool iced tea, but my friends want boba… and the sign saying that they’re out of tapioca isn’t going to deter us from waiting for the stock to come back in. In the meantime, I order us a small pot of tea to share on the terrace overlooking the busy, touristy street.
We’re not the only ones out here. We grab the last table up in a canopy of trees shielding us from the warm sun. A cool breeze tickles my aching feet the moment I sit by the railing. I had no idea how much they hurt.
Selkie pops back inside to use the bathroom. Kelly groans when a political news alert hits her phone. While she babbles about something I don’t even pay attention to, I turn on my phone to find a message from Julianna.
“Can’t wait to see you tonight. I’ve been thinking about how good you taste all day.”
I squirm in my seat, crossing my legs.
Selkie returns the moment someone brings us our small pot of tea and three cups to share. Warm steam rises into the air as Kelly graciously pours us a cup. We toast to having what may be the last free day of the semester.
“To studying abroad,” we say to Kelly.
“To graduating,” we say to Selkie.
“To hot internships that lead to hotter girlfriends,” they say to me.
I blush. Well, when they put it that way…
Our conversations are perfectly meaningless as we take the loads off our feet and load up our bladders with tea. With the occasional flirty text from Julianna that says she’s thinking about me, I am so damned content that I can’t help but feel that the other shoe is about to drop.
Man, I have no idea.
A young woman steps through the door, carrying a Lush bag. Instantly, the scent of handmade soaps competes with the more exotic scent of our tea. Between that and the flowy, beachy pink skirt wrapped around the woman’s long, tanned legs, my eye is drawn to the beautiful face snorting at my presence.
Kelly and Selkie stop talking. I, in my endless stupidity, think it’s a great idea to acknowledge Cher’s sudden arrival.
I haven’t seen her since she was fired from her internship at Bradford & Marcon.
“Lovely day, isn’t it?” That’s all she says as she sits by herself on the other side of the terrace. She leans back in her chair, Chromebook out and sunglasses don her face. Her giant iPhone cover mimics Pride & Prejudice. Fitting, hm?
“Friend of yours?” Kelly asks. Both she and Selkie steal glances at Cher behind them. Damn, she blows us all out of the water in the looks department. And I say this while acknowledging that none of us are bad to look at. Kelly’s a cute blonde with bobbed hair and a hot style that suits her curvy figure. Selkie can wear shredded jeans and a torn band tank top and still look like she belongs anywhere she goes. And me? I may be the plainest of Janes, but the glow of love emitting from my heart lights me up more than the expensive clothes and hairstyles I now have.
“We were in the same internship until…” I text them so Cher can’t overhear me talking shit about her. “Until my girlfriend fired her for being a bully.”
Kelly laughs once she gets her message. Selkie shakes her head.
Someone brings Cher a large iced tea and tells us that they have tapioca back in stock. Both of my friends rush inside to order their favorite boba flavors.
Cher covertly glares at me from the rim of her Chromebook. I shuffle in my seat.
Now seems like a good time to text Julianna back.
“We still meeting tonight?”
“Of course,” she texts not a moment after. “I bought you a couple of presents in Seattle. I want to make sure you get them tonight.”
I giggle. What in the world has she gotten me this time?
When I look up, I notice that Cher is no longer at her table. There’s only one way she could have gone… and it’s not in the opposite direction.
“Hey.”
Yup. She’s standing right next to me.
“Hi.” What do I do? On one hand, I’m sad she was fired from something I know she fought hard to get. On the other? Asshole was talking shit about me to my girlfriend. She can rot.
Hello, conflicting feelings!
“How goes things?”
Now I know she’s not pretending that there’s no animosity between us. Does she think I don’t know why she was fired? Does she think Julianna wouldn’t have told me as soon as she knew? I mean, Julianna wasn’t going to tell me… probably. But when I found out Cher was getting the boot, I demanded to know why. Whether she hoped I would drop it or not? Didn’t matter. Woman doesn’t get to go around firing people at the drop of a hat without telling her girlfriend why!
“Things are good. How about you? Did you…” Am I going to ask her if she’s gotten a new job for the summer? Wow, Alessa. Nice.
“I got a job on my campus. Don’t see you around my haunts very often.”
I had forgotten that she went to college around here. NW 23rd is probably her home. Me? I’m a stranger encroaching on her territory. I suddenly feel like I’m at one of the Marcon estates imposing on Julianna’s parents.
“Take it Ms. Marcon is still treating you well?”
I flinch. “Of course she is. Thank you for asking.”
“Chill. I’m not trying to break you two up, regardless of what she might have told you.” Cher stands up straight, towering over me with her long skirt and white crop top. “I’ve got better things to do with my time. Although, there’s something you might want to know.”
This is going to be a nightmare, isn’t it?
“Do tell.” I brace myself for a load of bullshit to fall out of her mouth.
She doesn’t sit down. I glance into the teashop and see my friends still in line, poring over the menu with their heads bent together.
“While you and Ms. Marcon were the biggest open secret in town,” she begins, “Ms. Bradford and I were the biggest closed one.”
“What?” Seriously, what? “You said you had a crush on her, but…”
“But nothing. She and I had been fooling around almost as long as you and Ms. Marcon had been together. Not as serious, though, of course. And you bet your ass she dropped me like a hot potato once I was fired.”
“That so?”
“Oh, yeah. Presley was big on her pillow talk, especially if she had something to drink. I heard some super juicy stuff during the midnight hour.”
This smells like bullshit.
“You should ask your girlfriend why she really invited you up to her office that night you guys first fucked like monkeys. Because according to Presley, it was a bet.”
“A… bet?”
“Oh, honey, you honestly don’t know?”
“Know what?” I’m regretting this already. Shit.
She grins. Whenever Cher Lieberfield grins like that? Watch out, world. She’s about to drop some poison on your life.
“Presley bet Ms. Marcon that she couldn’t seduce any woman she was set up with. Presley picked you for the bet, Alessa. Some serious She’s All That shit.”
“What?”
“Your whole relationship is founded on a bet that Ms. Marcon couldn’t fuck you. Turns out you are as easy as the rest of us. Who knew?”
“That’s absurd. Shut up.”
“Offended? That’s fine. I would be, too. I don’t have any proof on me besides my word, which I know is worth nothing, but… if your girlfriend is as good as you think she is, you should ask her about it. See if she tells you the truth. And if you want some tangible proof? Ms. Bradford has your panties from that night.”
I can’t speak. My throat is clogged with too much tea. Or maybe it’s the heat.
“They were Ms. Marcon’s trophy from that night. Proof that she fucked you, Alessa.”
“Shut up,” I say again. “What do you care?”
“Care?” How dare she laugh like that? “Please. I don’t care. The closest I come to caring is thinking that it’s bullshit you would be unknowingly led into a situation like that. Pretty fucked up when you think about it. I only thought you might like to know before you go off marrying Ms. Marcon or purposely getting knocked up with an heir on her behalf.”
“I’m not…!”
“Relax. It’s a joke.” Cher goes back to her table and closes the lid on her Chromebook. “Perhaps it was fate that brought us here together today, Alessa. It had been weighing on me that I never had the chance to warn you.”
She finishes packing up the moment Kelly and Selkie come back out, gabbing incessantly about a cute guy waiting in line with them. They ask if it’s okay if he joins us at our table. Something about him being new in town and looking for friends. I’m too distracted to say no. Particularly when Cher sashays by with her tea in hand and laptop bag over her shoulder.
We make eye contact at the last minute. I wish I had never seen that stupid smirk on her stupider face.