Elizabeth. January 19, 2008
There was a knock on my door and it could only be Kaia, either offering me some of her truly disastrous minestrone soup or inviting me to another one of her girls night outs… or maybe both. I rolled out off bed and opened the door, a little surprised she wasn't holding any bowls of red mush.
"Hey Liz" she said, almost carefully as if I'd blow up any second. I felt a little guilty for a second. But it's not like she doesn't have billions of nice, normal people she can talk to.
"Hi"
"Umm…my cousin's going to stay here for a while…is that okay?" Kaia asked somewhat timidly. Timid my arse. Kaia's always been a good actress. Well to be honest she's always been good at everything.
Great. Another one of your glamorous cousins, sisters, friends your was hoping to befriend me with.
K looked at me, offended. Shit, I must have said that out loud. I'm going fucking delirious.
"Well no that wasn't the reason…… but would it hurt t-to talk and-and have friends? Jeez. Sorry" she muttered.
"I have friends" I said hotly.
She sighed, looking at me with disdain. Well fuck her. So she's got her perfect life at perfect NYU with her perfect rich lawyer boyfriend and
"Sorry. I wasn't saying you don't have- look lets just forget about it I'm just asking your permission" She said.
"Yeah, sure" I said reluctantly. She was the one paying three-quarters of the rent after all.
"great! h-"
My phone rang, and caller id turned out to be dad. What a surprise.
I stared at the screen. "Err… sorry, I gotta take this." I whispered "Night anyway" I said to Kaia.
She nodded. "Oh yeh, right. Sure! But um -"
I pressed the reject button and held the phone to my ear.
"Hello?" I said loudly. Kaia took the bait and closed my door. I chucked the lousy phone on my bed and glared at it for a more than a while, seething for no apparent reason. Unfortunately, my Oscar worthy stillness was interrupted by a gigantic growling sound coming from my stomach. I stared down at it. It's pathetic really.
Then, in my delirious state I laughed down at it, laughed probably for the first time in months, until tears were coming out of my eyes, the kind of laughter were you don't even make sound- I laughed until I couldn't breathe and and …and started to feel faint. I shut the hell up at once, taking deep breathes Fucking stomach. Hopefully it'll be the death of me. It makes another whining noise, and its so goddamn annoying.
Oh fuck it. All my poor tummy's had today are coffee and cigarettes. And cigs don't even count- I bet it's really jealous of my lungs ha. It bloody deserves at least something. I grabbed the phone and ordered pizza, defeated.
You win this time.
Oh my fucking god. I am giving my stomach a persona. I guess I'm seriously fucked up.
Suddenly a cold breeze blew into my room from the open window. Cold. So cold. It occurs to me I haven't had a nice hot shower in two days, and I gladly turn the silver knobs to full blast.
--
When the bell rang I was still in my bathrobe, but too hungry to care. I felt ready to faint, actually. But its probably what I deserve for being such a retard all the time. I pressed the green buzzer, "-I'm here-" almost smelling the pizza traveling up the lifts. Then I leaned against the door, hoping Kaia would come out of her room and see me with pizza and never question me again. Really, the look on her face would be priceless. I smiled to myself. Then-a knock on the door had me jumping in shock, but also relief- I hadn't ever been this excited about pizza in a very long time. I grabbed my purse out of my 2.55 and flung the door open, still looking for a twenty.
When I actually looked up I must have looked pretty retarded.
"You…again…" I said softly, a little breathless. Maybe I was hallucinating as a result of my apparent anorexia. But honestly- this was the third time I'd seen him in a matter of a few hours. I mean, it was him…again. All tall and dark haired-that William, again, right there in front an Indian guy carrying my pizza. I was still holding my twenty in the air. It was a long while before anyone spoke.
"Hi" he said a little sheepishly.
I cringed. "Sorry. That was rude" I swallowed. "… did you follow me?" I said in amazement. I really don't think he did, but what the fuck else?
"What? No!" He was positively blushing. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not. Another world-record of a silence.
"I uh-um-well… does Kaia live here by any chance?" he said, obviously embarrassed. It actually took me more than a minute to realize that he was the cousin Kaia was talking about.
"Ohhhhhhhh" I sounded like an idiot. A tired, dizzy, starved, stupid idiot! How on earth could I think he was following me? I ran a hand through my still-wet hair. God I must look attractive. Why do I even care? "Sorry… I-"
"-Excuse me miss, I give you pizza- you want? where's my money?" The pizza guy behind William looked impatient. I blinked half a dozen times, having totally forgotten. Then I gave him my note and he handed me my pizza, which I set onto the nearest surface in sight. I was so embarrassed that the growling of my stomach had disappeared. Then I realized I was still in my fluffy pink bathrobe… but I didn't care either. It was like my feet had been super-glued to the ground. William was frowning at me the whole time. We spoke at the same time.
"I should get cha-"
"She didn't tell you I was sta-"
More silence.
"-staying?" William finished
"Yeh she mentioned it" In fact she really did; I just didn't want listen. And I'f I'd just listen then I wouldn't be here looking like a train wreck and making a complete idiot of my self. Shit shit shit.
"Right" He looked at me strangely.
"I was-my phone sorta rang while she was mentioning it and-and"
"Oh well"
"Yeah. I-I live with Kaia"
"Great! I mean…that's-obvious I-I guess"
Well great, he must think I'm socially inept. Which I guess I am, but still… FUCK Elizabeth why do you even care what he thinks?! I was too into my crazy thoughts to notice that through both of our stuttering, Kaia had appeared, and was looking between the both of us confusedly.
"You two know each other?" she sad incredulously. William turned to her but didn't speak until he found the right words, or apparently the right words in his opinion.
"Well Elizabeth kinda helped me get home! And… thanks to her I am now certain Lacey's a whore and she can go fuck Jack how ever many times she likes 'cause I don't give a fuck about her or Jack."
Kaia and I stared at him. He sounded lethal. With good reason though. I think.
He turned to me. "So thanks, really"
I didn't know entirely why he was thanking me- I hadn't yet registered all of his previous words. All I got was 'Lacey's a whore'. Righteously said.
"Oh. Well you're… welcome." I had no idea what else to say.
"So you do know each other then! Great. That's great!" Kaia was beside herself with exitement. For me, probably. Elizabeth knows someone…fantastic! I refrained from saying 'I told you so' out loud.
"So what happened anyway?" she continued.
William looked at her comically. "I told you already…, after you yelled at me to go live with my parents? Who by the way, are in Vancouver, my kind, caring relative"
"Will, I'm so sorry! I didn't know- you didn't even tell me 'till after I-I said that. I'm sorry! Sorry!" Kaia actually looked sorry. " And anyway, I warned you didn't I? Lacey always been a bitch and she doesn't deserve you and your handsome-ness. So forget about her! Which I'm sure you already have!" She smiled widely. I wish I could be like her sometimes. Honestly Kaia's always cheerful. About anything and everything.
"But I didn't mean that, I meant you know- what happened after- how did you two meet??" Kaia continued.
William and I looked at each other for a fleeting, millisecond of a moment. But none of us spoke. Kaia did not look ready to give up.
'work' I shrugged
'traino' William muttered.
Kaia grinned widely. Not that she stopped grinning at any stage of this, this strange conversation. "cool two met twice? Whoa that's awesome, seriously. It's like good karma or whatever its called. epiphany! No not that… ooh pizza! Goody…who ordered pizza?" she sounded genuinely confused alright. Ha.
"Me" I said, very quietly. Kaia was obviously shocked, judging by the first round of silence since she had arrived.
"Great!" said Kaia enthusiastically. "Pepperoni, my favorite! Have some!" She shoved a piece at me, smiling, right in front of William of course. It was like I was a baby who had to be force fed. I wanted to kill her. I stared at the greasy slice in front of my face and felt slightly nauseous at the thought of eating that-thing after what had just happened.
"I'm not hungry anymore" I said slowly. "I think I'll go to bed. 'Night"
"Wait-You can't go to bed!" Kaia blurted out.
"Why"? I said, light-headed. I needed to go to bed. If I didn't I would faint in front of everyone.
"Well I have to leave!"
"So?-"
"-Like, right now"
I eyed her strangely. She was up to something. "Where?" I asked. She couldn't be going anywhere at 9pm on a weekday.
"Out! With Scott!-" She smiled brightly.
Bullshit "w-"
"-so you should show Will around this place because I'm already late! Bye guys!" Then she was out the door in the blink of an eye.
I stared after the door in shock. Obviously she'd probably been planning it all along. She probably wants me to get along with him and then fall in love with him or something. It's not the first time she's done something like this. But I didn't, well couldn't protest. Anyway, I owed it to William, being so rude before.
"Um…this is the living room and that's the kitchen-" (I pointed to the kitchen) My room behind there ( I pointed in the direction of my room) "- bathroom-" ( I pointed to the bathroom) other bathroom, dining room, Kaia's room…her shoe room … study, you can sleep there I guess"
"This place is huge" he remarked.
"Mhm"
There was a ghastly silence as I tried to figure out what else to say. I don't think I've spoken this many words to one person, let alone in one day, in a long, long time. I looked anywhere but him. I don't even know why.
Then, as if not enough unbelievable things had happened throughout the day, we both said the exact same thing.
"I'm sorry about before"
The same words at the same fucking time- although I think he was looking at me while I was still staring at the floor. But still- unbelievable enough for me to tear my gaze away from the floor, to him.
"Um I meant being so rude and all…" I said in barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry for being rude too" William said quietly.
"You weren't rude, that was Lacey" I said twelve semitones higher, somewhat accusatory. But seriously, he can't take the blame for that evil bitch.
"No I was rude, I thought you were being rude but you weren't"
I had to take extra time to think because I felt so exhausted. "Oh… Why did you think that?"
"Well you kinda walked away and I thought…never mind I'm an-"
"When was that?" I made an effort to speak normally. Last time I spoke I sounded like a child.
"Er Chanel"
"Oh"
"Sorry"
Sorry? "Why?" Shit. I swear he'd just told me. Something is seriously wrong with my brain. Or maybe not, seeing as I still have the ability to mentally abuse myself. Oh, god.
William stared at me like I was a lunatic, then chuckled.
"Goodnight Elizabeth. Sleep well" he said, smiling and all like usual.
I nodded slowly, then dashed quickly to my room, never looking back.
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A/N Just to answer everyone's questions, Will only asked Elizabeth for change so he could buy a ticket, which was why he went there in the first place…nothing else, ;)
Thank you everyone for your reviews- they make my day! despite tons of exams/homework, piano practicing for my competition with $4000 1st prize…haha anyway I'm trying as hard as I can to fit in time for this story- because I really want to finish it!
