One Week Later
"Ugh, you have no idea how jealous I am."
"Actually, I think I might. You've been bitching for how long?" Libba groaned and banged her head against the wall.
"Why do you get to meet all the cute rich boys who spontaneously take you to the Caribbean?"
"Because I did something brilliant to my karma in a past life. Besides, I have to deal with Darcy. And I have to spend my birthday there."
"Have to deal, she says. Please, he sounds gorgeous."
"He called me tolerable."
"It's not an 'ugly'."
"He said I was tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him."
"I don't believe he actually said that."
"He might not have, but that's not the point. He's just…ugh. I can't explain it."
"Drop dead gorgeous?"
"He's not actually that pretty."
"Uh, hon? Yeah he is."
"Libba, shut up. Besides, it's not like you could even go. You have class."
"Yeah, what about you? We go to the same school, I don't even understand how you're able to go."
"Beauty of grad school. Since I'm basically just doing thesis work now with a few classes thrown in, I took my finals early and get an extra week off.
"That is utter bull-shi—"
"Bye Libba!" Eva said, closing the door behind her. Her room was small, but reasonable enough when she was alone. Her unmade bed was pushed in a corner, surrounded by bookshelves. A tiny writing desk covered in loose sheets of paper was perched under the tiniest of windows, but it looked out onto the street, and there were some trees there. She sighed, flopping down on the bed, nearly banging her knees on the wall. She hated packing, she couldn't find anything resembling a swimsuit, and she'd nearly filled her ratty suitcase with books. She sighed. She'd never thought she would actually have to go shopping twice in two weeks.
"Jo, I hate you. I hate you and your stupid boyfriend and your stupid boyfriend's stupid friend and I hate—"
"Me? Eva, you just need to calm down. Just buy something cute and that'll be that." Eva contorted her face into something unrecognizable.
"Can we just agree that swimsuit shopping is the worst kind of shopping?"
"I think it's widely acknowledged. Here," she said, pulling something from a rack. "This is cute."
"Salmon's not really my color."
"Yeah," Jo said softly. "What about this?"
"Floral. I like the way you think, woman." The girls perused the racks some more, Eva loading her arms with more swimsuits than could be physically worn in a week and a half. She eventually settled on some floral bandeaus, a patchwork two-piece, and a few assorted nautical things that seemed appropriate. Jo, taking full advantage of the position she had Eva in, offered to buy her a few dresses and pairs of shorts, you know, while they were out and all. Eva grudgingly acquiesced, giving into a few maxi dresses and something made out of eyelet. They talked easily as they walked home, about class and the like. Eva found it easy to be with Jo, relaxing. Of course, she drove her crazy most of the time—Eva wasn't exactly a people person—but she was nice enough to be near sometimes. They picked up Chinese on the way back to the apartment.
"We're back," Jo shouted, dropping her keys into the bowl by the door and kicking her shoes into the closet. Libba and Katie tumbled out of their room dressed in metallic and clinging heels.
"We gotta eat quick, we're going out with some guys from class."
"Say no more. Can you two go set the table?" The twins grumbled but did as told. "Hey, Eva. Have you seen Maria?"
"Not today."
"Libba, Katie! Have you seen Maria?"
"She's around somewhere," said Katie. "Where would she go?"
"Eva, go find her please. Tell her dinner's ready." Jo was very big on family dinner. She hadn't had too much of a family growing up, though Eva didn't really know much. Jo wasn't big on sharing her innermost feelings.
Eva kicked off her shoes and stumbled around, tripping on the new rug Jo thought added ambience. Eva hated the damn thing. It got in the way of her sock sliding.
She knocked on Maria's door.
"Maria? You in there?" Eva knocked again. The door gave in and creaked open. It was dark inside, save for a whitish light coming from the bed. A pair of illuminated eyes looked up.
"What do you want?"
"Dinner. Come on." Maria sighed and stood, shielding her eyes as she walked into the hall.
"Why do you fools insist upon it being so damned bright?"
"So us normal humans can see. What was on?"
"Found a sweet list of Supernatural links, all Putlocker. Want me to send it to you?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Eh, your loss."
"Go get something to drink."
"Ok, MOM," she said, walking away. Eva smiled. Jo called for everyone to sit down. The twins bubbled around, heaping lo mein and twittering amongst themselves. Maria played with her chopsticks, massacring broccoli florets while browsing tumblr under the table. Jo attempted conversation with everyone but, finding the twins occupied and Maria unresponsive, settled for discussing the trip with Eva.
"We leave tomorrow. You excited?"
"Sort of," Eva said, pushing a piece of chicken around her plate.
"Why 'sort of'?"
"It's just… Darcy."
"Why do you hate him so much, besides the fact that he hasn't read Gatsby?"
"Come on, how can you have existed and not read Gatsby? It's like the quintessential book of ever."
"You're sanctifying literature again."
"I'm allowed, I'm nearly a doctor of English. I'm like six seconds away from a fancy piece of paper that lets me lie and still be right."
"Time well spent," Jo said, popping a mushroom into her mouth. "Come on, you guys should be best friends. He does something in books, I think."
"Of course he's a writer," Eva mumbled under her breath. "Shame I haven't read anything he's written. I'd assume he's been published in every journal under the sun. His glistening brilliance makes waves in the proverbial pool of artistic integrity. He shines new light on the modern novel. Anyone would be luck to dare touch the stick after he finally pulls it out of his –"
"Eva, come on. I'm just saying, you guys might actually have something in common. Besides, I don't think he's a writer. He does something, though."
"I should congratulate him on his accomplishments."
"Ok, lemme phrase this differently. Eva, can you please play nice with the mean man so I can spend time with mine."
"If you are in any way suggesting some sort of double date situation…"
"Of course not. I picked the only man worth dating." Eva's jaw dropped as Jo took a sip of her wine.
"You hate him too, don't you?"
"Hate is a strong word, Ms. English Major, you shouldn't throw it around willy nilly."
"I'm going to kill you in the night."
"Then you wouldn't get to go somewhere warm."
"I'm going to kill you in the night in two weeks when we have to come back to the frozen wasteland."
"And for a minute I thought you were losing your touch with words," Jo said. Eva stuck her tongue out. The two made small talk while finishing the potstickers. The twins cleared their plates and made an escape. In the flurry of metallic, Maria retreated to her room, leaving Eva and Jo to finish the wine and the clean up. They started on the first. Eva promptly became a touch more sentimental.
"Jo, I'm just so happy for you."
"I didn't know you possessed the capability for happiness. I thought they left it out of the blueprint," Jo mused with a smile.
"No, it's just, you're my friend. And I love you, and I don't tell you that enough."
"Alright champ, maybe it's time to put the bottle away."
"Jo, I love you. You mah BFF. I mean, you saved me."
"I got you an apartment with some bubbly twins. I don't think that really counts as saving you."
"I was living with Shane. Shane Collins." Eva hiccoughed. "And you rescued me. He was AWFUL. He was so short, and trust me, his height was not the only thing short about him." She hiccoughed again. "You got me out of there, girl. I love you."
"Alright, honey," Jo said, lifting Eva up and carrying her to her room. "Time for bed." Eva promptly fell asleep. Jo returned to the kitchen to finish the dishes.
The next day, Eva and Jo woke up, ate a leisurely breakfast, remembered the day's plans, and frantically finished packing. The girls put themselves together and choked down a cup of coffee, finishing just after nine, when the boys were due to pick them up. They arrived exactly on time. An exuberant Charlie drew Jo into a passionate kiss while Eva finished her coffee and Darcy scuffed the toe of his boot into the floor. He was still wearing that damned pea coat.
Jo walked Charlie into the living room, presumably to show him one of her current masterpieces, leaving Eva and Darcy to look at each other.
"I believe I'm supposed to offer you coffee," she said by way of an introduction.
"No, thank you."
"I'm glad you passed kindergarten manners class." He raised his brows.
"I'm sorry?"
"Nothing. I like the coat. Sit down, you're making everyone uncomfortable."
"I wasn't aware I had an audience," he said, drawing out the chair.
"Figure of speech," she said, "Or close enough to it. So, how are you to spend your days on the beach."
"Mostly inside, I'm guessing. Lots of reading to do."
"Please, it's the perfect thing to do next to the water. What's even the point of flying down there if you're just staying inside?" Darcy began to answer but was interrupted by Charlie, who was grinning like a fool.
"You two lovebirds ready?" he asked. Jo giggled as Eva rolled her eyes.
"Amusing as ever, Charlie. Glad to see you," she said, standing and giving him a hug. The boys insisted upon hauling the suitcases down the stairs, leaving the girls to turn off the lights and remind Maria not to play with the stove. They met them down by the curb, where Charlie was eagerly piling suitcases into the back of an Audi as Darcy stood and stared at the ground.
"Ooh," Eva said, running to the car. "Shiny. You keep a car in the city?"
"A few of them, remember?" Charlie said. Eva looked at him quizzically. "Huh, he said, scratching his head. "I guess you were pretty lit."
"The other one's an Aston," Jo offered, "though it would seem a bit impractical given the circumstances."
"Fair enough," Eva replied. The four piled into the car, Jo and Charlie nestling in the back and cooing at each other, leaving Darcy and Eva to attempt polite conversation. She started with the usual tricks of weather and politics but found him unresponsive. She figured she had picked boring subject matter to begin with and stayed quiet until Darcy took an unfamiliar turn.
"This isn't how you get to JFK."
"We aren't going to JFK."
"Darcy refuses to fly commercial," Charlie said. "And for some ungodly reason he keeps the jet in Westchester."
"You know why I keep the jet in Westchester, Charlie."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Eva, you'd better settle in. We have a bit of a drive ahead of us."
Eva took Charlie's suggestion as an opportunity to fall asleep.
She woke up just as Darcy pulled into a hangar. She got out of the car, attempted to shake life into her sleepy legs, and nearly fell over. Darcy stifled a giggle, though Eva didn't hear him. Jo and Charlie proceeded to fall out of the car, Jo smoothing her hair while Charlie straightened his jacket. A man in a fluorescent coat skittered over to the car and began to unload bags, dragging them to a small but impossibly shiny plane—Eva couldn't help but stare. She knew absolutely nothing about planes, preferring to live in a falsely created Victorian England, but this one was pretty. The man in the fluorescent jacket began to usher Charlie and the girls to the plane. Darcy was conversing with a man in a navy coat and rather excellent hat. As they walked by to board, Eva heard the mumblings of a conversation.
"So, how's Georgie doing?"
"As well as can be expected, given the circumstances. She's with her mother now." The man gave him a clap on the back.
"It'll all work out. It always does."
"I hope so," Darcy said. Seeing the others, he clammed up and turned. "Cal, you've met Charlie. That's Jo, his girlfriend, and Eva, Jo's close friend. This is, uh, Captain Zoller, a man to whom I owe my life."
"He overstates it. Call me Cal," he said, reaching out a hand. Eva took it eagerly.
"I love the plane, she'd gorgeous."
"We try to take care of her," Cal said with a smile.
"I know absolutely nothing about planes. Cars are more my specialty. I actually had a few questions. So, tell me, is it actually true that if you…" Eva blabbered on to Cal as they boarded the plane, leaving Jo, Charlie, and Darcy on the tarmac.
"At least try to smile, Darce," Charlie said before putting an arm around Jo and walked up the steps. Darcy ran a hand through his hair and swore quietly.
Author's Note: Everyone's favorite plot device, the Caribbean Vacation. Love y'all.
Best wishes,
Zoe
