"You did what?"
Skye feels a frisson of triumph at the anger in Rosalind's voice. "Stop yelling, Rosy. I can take it out anytime I want."
"What would possess you to do something like that?"
"I don't know, maybe I got tired of being predictable and wanted to do something more unorthodox."
"Or your roommate made you."
"You only met her once. You don't know anything."
"She did!"
Skye sighs.
"Peer pressure? Really?"
"It wasn't peer pressure! Aurora encouraged me. That's all. I have free will. No one can force me to do anything I don't want to. You have to know that about me by now."
"But she's responsible for planting the idea in your head."
"So what? Do you really have this much of an issue with piercings?" Skye flops onto her side and glares at the wall. "Of all the things to be worried about, why would you pick something so benign? Be angry about war, poverty, discrimina-"
"I'm worried because this is out of character for you."
"Yeah? Well. We all change. Maybe you should try getting to know me again."
"Maybe so."
The phone line crackles and breaks.
Then the weak whine of the dialing tone, a hospital heart monitor after someone has been dragged from the world.
...
6:42 PM
I have a date with Chloe tonight and I have absolutely no idea what to wear. – J
6:44 PM
Black shirt or blue? – J
6:45 PM
I'm standing in my room in my underwear and I've only got ten minutes. – J
6:45 PM
Skye? –J
6:47 PM
Black. – S
6:48 PM
Thought you might say that. – J
6:48 PM
Well, obviously. You look like a convict in the blue one. Not exactly prime date material. – S
6:49 PM
Don't sugarcoat it. – J
6:50 PM
Stop sulking and put some clothes on. You're going to be late. – S
6:50 PM
Fine. Talk later. – J
6:53 PM
Good luck. – S
…
8:25 PM
Is it customary for men to cover the bill on a date? – J
8:26 PM
How would I know? – S
8:27 PM
I ordered an appetizer and Chloe went for a three course meal. We probably spent over eighty dollars. I'm desperate. – J
8:28 PM
Not my problem. I'm studying for finals. – S
8:28 PM
And why are you texting on a date? – S
8:29 PM
She's in the bathroom. – J
8:30 PM
I see. How's it going? – S
8:30 PM
Not bad. – J
8:30 PM
No major catastrophes? – S
8:31 PM
I didn't spill soda down my lap like the last time. – J
8:31 PM
You're making progress. – S
8:32 PM
She's back. I have to go. – J
8:32 PM
Have fun. – S
…
8:55 PM
On subway. – J
8:57 PM
Done so soon? – S
8:57 PM
Chloe got a call from her mother. Her dad's in the hospital again. – J
8:58 PM
Too bad. – S
9:00 PM
Our conversation was dwindling anyway. – J
9:01 PM
Hey, I'm near that ice cream place we like. Want to meet me there in fifteen? – J
9:03 PM
Be right there. – S
9:04 PM
What about finals? :) – J
9:05 PM
The thought of ice cream seems to have made me delirious. – S
9:06 PM
Glad to hear it. Banana splits? – J
9:06 PM
With extra whipped cream. – S
9:07 PM
Obviously. – J
9:08 PM
There better still be two banana splits by the time I get there. – S
9:09 PM
Yes, wouldn't it be awful if something were to…happen? – J
9:09 PM
Don't you dare. – S
9:10 PM
Hurry. – J
...
The next time Skye speaks to Rosalind is at Christmas.
They sit, stuffing themselves with gluttonous portions of turkey, cranberry sauce, creamed spinach and potatoes, stoically refusing to make conversation until their great uncle Hugh gives an obnoxious belch and they meet eyes across the table, dissolving into flush of merriment that leaves them both breathless.
"So how does Jeffrey like the piercing?" Rosalind asks later that night.
"He hasn't mentioned it."
"He's slightly terrified of you, I think."
"Mm. All is as it should be."
Rosy snorts and Skye giggles, and that's it, they flop against the kitchen counter, laughing until their ribs ache.
...
Chloe breaks up with Jeffrey as the year is drawing its last breath.
The news fills Skye's stomach with a strange oozing warmth she prefers not to examine. She tries thinking about lactobacilli and staphylococci, about the evolution of meiosis, about the glowing precision with which the earth orbits the sun.
She fails, spectacularly.
So this is—well, she's not going to put a word to it, whatever it is.
Rats.