Chapter 10: The Aftermath
Cosima wakes up with a pounding headache. She takes stock of her environment; of the blanket wrapped snugly around her body, of the empty red solo cup by her hip, of the cushion at her back, and realizes she has slept on the couch. She pulls off the blanket and swings her legs around to the floor, they land on something that it definitely not the rug she was expecting.
"Ow."
"What the hell?" Cosima shrieks, then looks at the ground. "Tony? What are you doing down there?"
"Beats me, guess I passed out here," Tony says nonchalantly.
Just then Delphine walks out of the kitchen with two mugs of coffee, handing one to Cosima and one to Tony, along with some aspirin for Cosima.
"Thanks Delphine! How'd you know I needed these?" Cosima asks as she shoves the pills in her mouth and downs them with her coffee.
"Lucky guess," Delphine says with a grin.
"Thanks dollface!" Tony says as he sips from his mug.
Cosima looks around. "Um, Delphine, do you know where-"
"Looking for these?" Delphine hands Cosima her glasses.
"Yeah, thanks." Cosima slips them on and the room comes into stark focus. "Holy shit! This place is a mess. I fucking told you this would happen, Tony." Just then her phone buzzes on the coffee table. She reaches down and picks it up. "Whoa, it's 1 in the afternoon?" She then checks her texts. "Shit!" She yelps, jumping off the couch. "My parents caught an early flight, they land tonight at 7. How the hell are the three of us gonna get this place in order by them time they get home?"
"Well, first of all, it's not just the three of you," a familiar voice calls out.
Cosima looks back towards the kitchen to see Sarah, followed close behind by Scott, Beth, Art and Helena.
"What are you guys doing here?" Cosima asks.
"You think we'd just throw a party in your house and leave you to deal with the wreckage?"
Cosima grins, not sure why she's surprised by their kindness. "Thanks Sarah. Thanks guys. Have I told you all lately how much I love you?"
"No, but you're welcome to keep saying it," Sarah laughs.
"Ali wanted to stay and help, but she had a curfew and her mom is taking her to the ballet this afternoon. She did, however, leave us with plenty of black garbage bags and Lysol wipes," Beth remarks, holding the supplies up.
"And Felix had to get back home or S would kill him," Sarah adds.
"S?" Delphine asks. "As in our English teacher, Mrs. S?"
"Yeah, Cos didn't tell you? She's our foster mum," Sarah replies.
"No, I didn't realize," Delphine trails off, lost in thought.
"So what the hell happened last night? Last thing I remember we were dancing to Water Prayer, then Original Don came on and after that is a total blank. What time did everyone leave?" Cosima asks.
"Yeah, you got pretty shitfaced, danced on the table, then passed out," Sarah responds with a chortle. "We kicked everyone out around 2am."
"I danced on the table?" Cosima considers. "Sounds like fun, wish I could remember. I do however, remember you, Beth, making out with Paul. What's up with that?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Beth responds with a blush.
"Yeah, sure. Alright, we really should get started on this mess, my folks will be home before we know it."
Everybody gets to work, dispersing around the house, cleaning supplies and garbage bags in hand.
About an hour later, Cosima notices Helena is missing and goes looking for her. She finds her up in her bedroom.
"Helena? Whatcha doing in here? This mess is actually mine, not a result of the party, so no need to clean it up. There is a method to my madness," Cosima laughs.
Helena is staring at the shelf. "It's missing."
"What's missing?"
"The Barbie I gave you."
Cosima gulps. "Oh, uh, that hasn't been there for a while, actually. I mean I'm not a kid anymore, felt a little weird still having that doll up there."
"Where is it?" Helena asks.
"Um, I'm not sure, actually, I think my little neighbors may have been playing with it the last time they were over. They must have misplaced it or maybe even took it home with them," Cosima lies, not able to tell the truth and not sure why Helena is so concerned with a doll she gave her 10 years ago.
"But you liked her, didn't you? I remember you carrying her around with you."
"Yeah, I did like her, but, like I said, almost 18, so kinda over playing with dolls."
"She was very pretty scientist," Helena remarks.
"Yeah. Um, Helena, what's going on? Why is this so important to you after all these years?"
"I know where I've seen Delphine before."
Cosima starts to sweat. "Uh, where would that be?"
"Right here. On this shelf," Helena states matter of factly.
"Excuse me?" Now Cosima's heart is racing. "Are you implying that Delphine and that doll are one in the same?"
Helena looks at her seriously, then starts laughing. "No, silly, that would be crazy. Delphine reminds me of the doll. Both have such pretty hairs. I wanted her to see it. If you find the doll, please show Delphine."
Cosima feels her heart slow, a sense of relief washing over her. "Yeah, sure, I, um, wouldn't have made that connection myself, but good observation, Helena."
Helena just smiles and wanders out of the room and back downstairs.
"Holy fuck!" Cosima shakes her head, composes herself, then heads down to rejoin her friends.
About 3 hours, two dozen garbage bags, and 142 Lysol wipes later, the house is back to its former glory. The gang flops down on the couch, exhausted.
"Damn you guys, we finished with plenty of time to spare. Thanks again!" Cosima says, relieved.
"No prob, Cos, but now I think I need to go home and take a nap," Sarah says with a yawn, and everyone else concurs.
Cosima walks her friends to the door, hugging each one as they leave. Cosima closes the door with a sigh, then turns around to find Delphine worrying her bottom lip.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Your parents. Are you certain they'll be ok with me staying here?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, they'll be totally cool with it," Cosima assures.
"I hope you're right."
"I always am," she smirks.
"Cosima, how come you didn't tell me Mrs. S was foster mother to Sarah, Helena, and Felix?"
"I don't know, guess it just never came up."
"Do you think maybe I'm an orphan? That maybe I'm a foster child and that's why nobody is looking for me?" Delphine asks, a hint of sadness in her voice.
Cosima feels her stomach drop. "No. I mean I don't know for certain, but even if you were a foster kid, surely your foster parents would be looking for you."
"Maybe, maybe not. I'm nearly an adult, maybe they're just happy to be rid of me. Maybe I was in a bad living situation. Maybe I ran and blocked it all out because it was so traumatizing."
"First of all, I don't think anyone would ever be happy to be rid of you," Cosima states sweetly. "Secondly, you really need to stop jumping to worst case scenario with all the maybes, you'll drive yourself nuts. I'm sure it was none of that."
"How can you be sure? Perhaps I should talk to Mrs. S, see if she can help."
"I don't think that would be a good idea. I mean once you tell her the truth, that you can't remember who you really are, that your last name isn't Cormier, the whole thing will snowball, everything we did to get you into school would come out. Delphine, they could take you away and…" I'll never see you again, Cosima thinks, feeling her heart tighten. Anyone finds out the truth, that Delphine is, no was, a doll, that's it, they'll want to examine her, they'll poke and prod, do who knows what to her. She won't let that happen, she can't.
"And what, Cosima?" Delphine asks, placing her hand on top of Cosima's, snapping her out of those scary thoughts.
"And, uh, well, Scott and I would get into a lot of trouble," Cosima lies, she could care less about getting into trouble. "Look, Delphine, please, let's just give it some more time. We'll keep investigating on our own and maybe you'll get a hit on that website that reunites missing people with their family. Or, hey, maybe you'll suddenly remember on your own." Even as the words pour out of Cosima's mouth, she instantly regrets them. Regrets giving this girl, this amazing girl, false hope. But what else can she do?
"Ok, you're right. I think I just need to borrow some of your optimism. I will figure out who I am," Delphine says with a newfound determination.
"Great, that's the spirit," Cosima says with exuberance, even as her stomach churns with remorse. She quickly changes the subject "Hey, I want details, what the hell happened last night after I blacked out?"
Delphine giggles.
"Tell me."
"Oh, nothing."
"Delphine! I'm giving you to the count of 3 to tell me or you're in for a massive tickle attack."
"Oh no, a tickle attack!" Delphine feigns terror.
"Ok, don't say I didn't warn you. 1… 2… 3." Cosima tackles Delphine on the couch and starts tickling by her ribs, moving up to her armpits. Delphine wriggles in uncontrollable fits of laughter.
"Merde, merde, ok, ok, I'll tell you," Delphine shrieks and Cosima halts her attack only to realize she's on top of Delphine, their faces mere centimeters apart. She quickly jumps off and sits beside her.
"Go ahead."
"Well you had quite a few drinks before you jumped up on the table and started dancing. It was very entertaining. This went on for maybe 15 minutes. Then a particular song came on and you started singing along until you nearly fell off the table. Tony caught you and sat you down on the couch. Then you just drifted off to sleep."
"Wait, back up. I sang? No way! I do not sing. What song was it?"
"I don't know, something about a wonderwall."
"No!" Cosima screams, horrified.
"Oui. It was quite a performance," Delphine laughs at the memory.
"Oh god, tell me nobody got it on video?"
Delphine just shrugs.
"Ugh. Please never let me drink again. And the blanket? Who was nice enough to cover me up?"
"Oh, well, actually, I checked on you at about 3am, just to make sure you were ok. I removed your glasses and set them aside. Then you kind of shifted, hugging yourself in the fetal position. I thought you looked cold, so I covered you with the throw."
Cosima smiles, touched by Delphine's thoughtfulness. "Thanks Delphine. So, what do you want to do now? My parents won't be home for a while still."
"I don't know. What would you normally do with all this free time?"
"Hmm, well, I'm not sure if you're into this, so you can totally say no, but would you wanna maybe play video games?"
"Video games," Delphine repeats, looking at Cosima's hopeful expression, before smiling. "Sure, but I don't think I know how."
"It's easy, I'll teach you. We'll start off simple." Cosima jumps up joyfully and quickly unplugs the PlayStation, hooking up her old Wii in its place. She powers on the console and turns on the TV. "Ok, this is an oldie, but a goodie."
The title screen come on. "Mario Kart?" Delphine asks.
"Yeah, it's a racing game, you can play as different characters from Super Mario Bros. It's really fun. I'm always Toad."
"A frog?"
"No, not that kind of toad," Cosima chuckles. "This Toad is little mushroom man. He's smart and hella fast. Take a look at the choices, who do you want to be?"
"Hmm," Delphine's scans the characters on the screen, examining each one carefully before pointing to the one she wants. "Her!"
"Excellent choice. That's Princess Peach."
"Ooh, I'm a princess," Delphine says, delighted.
"Hey, she kinda looks like you, no wonder you chose her. My dude is actually her loyal subject. But loyalty only goes so far, not gonna let you beat me or anything, your highness."
"I've seen you drive, I'm not worried," Delphine teases, causing Cosima to stick her tongue out.
"I'm a lot better at this than real life driving, just you wait and see. I've got these steering wheel accessories that I put the wiimotes in so it feels more realistic. Here's yours. So, you're just gonna turn the wheel in the direction you want to go. You basically follow the track around, racing all the other characters; you want to beat them as well as me. To accelerate, you'll press this button and to brake or reverse, you press this one. There's power ups you can get along the way, so you'll want to drive through the boxes with the question marks. Some of the items, like the mushroom, help boost your speed and stuff and others contain things you can throw at the other drivers to slow them down, like shells and banana peels. To use an item, push this. They will count us down from 3 to start the race. Right after the 2 disappears, you can hold down the accelerator to get a speed boost. You have to practice getting the timing down so you don't stall. You'll pick up on all the other minutia of the game the more we play. Now my view is the top half of the screen and yours is the bottom. You clear on all that?"
Delphine laughs. "Well, that was a lot of information, but I think I got it."
"Ok, great, let's race." Cosima starts the game.
3, 2, 1 - they're off. Cosima gets off to a quick start and easily takes the lead. Delphine starts off in 5th, then hits a wall, pushing her back into 8th and causing her to drive in the wrong direction.
"Turn around, Delphine!" Cosima shouts.
"No, no. Come on!" Delphine yells. She rights her car then drives through a box, picking up a thunderbolt and using it immediately, making all other characters miniature versions of themselves. She speeds over and through them, now hot on Cosima's tail.
"Damn, woman!" Cosima shrieks trying to avoid the full-size Peach from running her tiny Toad over. Cosima throws a banana peel at Delphine, causing her to spin out. "Ha ha!"
Cosima regains her size and speeds off, Delphine falls back to 4th. As the race continues, Cosima manages to fend off her enemies to stay in the lead. It's the 3rd and final lap, Cosima is still in 1st and closing in on the finish line. Delphine now in 3rd place, fires the blue shell she's been holding onto, with Cosima on the receiving end of the attack. Delphine uses that assault to her advantage as she zooms past 2nd and 1st to take the lead. A few seconds later, Delphine crosses the finish line with '1st Place' displaying on her half of the screen. Cosima ends up in 3rd.
"I won, I won!" Delphine screams in victory, her arms raised high up in the air. "What was that you said again about being better at this than real life driving?"
Cosima can't help the smile that forms across her face as she witnesses the other girl's pride. "Yeah, yeah, settle down, Princess, beginner's luck. This isn't over yet, we still have many more races to run. You may have won the battle, but you will not win the war."
They continue playing, laughing and screaming as they bump into each other and battle it out for supremacy. They take turns claiming victory throughout their gameplay. They're so caught up in the game, and having so much fun, they fail to hear the front door open and shut behind them.
"Excuse me, ladies," a loud, male voice shouts. "We've received numerous noise complaints from your neighbors about this residence."