Turn My 6's to 9's
Chapter 5: Not rich enough, or grand
Sunlight dappled the sheet as Beth woke the next day, but she rubbed her eyes with a grimace, feeling groggy and tired despite sleeping in. All the emotions from the evening before rose to the surface, and Beth buried her face in her pillow with a groan. She wasn't any clearer on what to think about what Jamie had said. She replayed everything that had happened the evening before, recalling how charming and poised Jamie had been, how kind and welcoming he was. She'd obviously just misinterpreted his friendliness as something more, she decided, feeling embarrassed all over again. Even though the way he'd looked at her and the way he'd stood next to her...
She shook her head, trying to clear the thought. It didn't matter now; she wouldn't see him again. She wouldn't dwell on it, she decided, swiftly kicking off the covers and sitting up with a stretch. She didn't have to work this morning, and she basked in that luxury. The day was beautiful, at least. She would do a face mask, she decided. Pamper herself to make up for the unhappy ending of the night before.
Waiting for the mask to dry, Beth turned her face slowly from the left to the right, examining her features.
She liked her face. She had eyes, so she was aware that she didn't have the same stunning features as Jane, but she'd found over the years that she didn't really want the kind of attention it brought Jane anyway. She preferred her own looks. Sure, her nose was a little longer than Jane's, and she sometimes thought her mouth looked lopsided, but all in all it was a good face. With the right angle for a photo, she even thought she looked quite pretty sometimes. She smiled at her reflection, and the clay mask cracked. Time to wipe it off and reveal the goddess beneath!
"Yikes, that's a big zit," Jane said with concern as she joined Beth in the kitchen for a late dinner that evening. Beth scowled deeply.
"Well aware, thank you," she said in a dangerous tone. The face mask had been a horrible idea as it had upset her skin, with a new red pimple rising up near her chin. With each passing hour her mood dropped because the zit just kept getting worse, and she could not, it turned out, just banish what had been said the evening before from her mind. Beth couldn't stop herself from analyzing what Jamie had said over and over again. Her day had been filled with thoughts of Will, and whether or not he could really be such a bad person.
Jane poured herself a glass of water and then sat down at the table across from Beth, eating leftovers from a few nights before of a spicy tofu and rice dish. "Who were you talking with last night that you didn't want to mention in front of Lydia?" Jane asked slyly, wisely changing the subject away from Beth's face. Beth's expression drooped.
"Just a handsome young man who flirted with me the whole night just to tell me that he had a girlfriend at the last minute," Beth finished with annoyance while Jane looked at her, interest piqued.
"One of Carla's friends?"
Beth paused. "I think so." She realized she didn't know who or how he was connected to the party. "He graduated last year, so he's your age. I think he said he was from New York originally but knew some people in the area." She debated whether she should bring up the weird interaction with Charles and what she'd heard about Will. But if Charles hadn't said anything about it to Jane already, maybe it wasn't worth mentioning...
"Can I cheer you up with a movie night? We'll re-watch some old rom-coms and do our nails. A nice, boring send off before I leave this weekend," she said, rubbing her sister's shoulders.
Beth sighed sadly. Jane's semester started a few weeks before her own, so Jane and Charles would be packing up and leaving on Sunday morning. Beth wished she could have more time with Jane, but she'd take what she could get.
"Pick whichever one you want. Movie night was your idea, so you get to choose," Beth said with a forced smile, her hand self-consciously running over her chin. She was not having a good day. No, her mind had been overrun with confusion about Jamie, and now she was going to wallow with the biggest zit of the century while watching other couples fall in love on screen with her sister, who was blissfully happy in her own relationship. She wasn't mad at Jane and she didn't want to ruin their last evening together before Jane left for school, so she tried to keep her feelings under wrap, but she was annoyed with herself that she had been naïve enough to expect anything to come from someone flirting with her at a party.
She wondered now whether there even was a girlfriend. Jamie's demeanor had changed so much after Charles had interrupted them and he'd confessed what Will had done. He hadn't been able to get away from her fast enough. Maybe the girlfriend had just been a convenient excuse to take off. Of course, Jamie was wary of someone so closely associated with Charles and Will. He'd be crazy to come anywhere near Beth knowing that she was close to the people who had done him wrong. Why hadn't she thought of that last night? She'd told him Charles was her friend, and then he'd bolted. They'd had great conversation and chemistry, but she was sure he'd gotten cold feet as soon as he heard how closely she was associated with the kids who had ruined his life in high school.
After spending the day dwelling on it, she had convinced herself that there had to be some truth to what Will had done in having Jamie expelled from the school. Will and Charles had been best friends at St. Agnes, and she knew Charles was loyal enough and respected and deferred to Will enough that he would dislike anyone who Will disliked. Whatever Charles knew about Jamie was tainted by Will, Beth was sure of that. She believed what Jamie had told her, and she could also see why Charles had reacted so negatively to him. She felt embarrassed all over again about her long conversation with Will. Her first impression of him had been accurate, if Jamie was telling the truth. At least now she didn't have to worry about whether or not she liked him; it was out of the question in light of what he had done.
"Are you okay? I know this wasn't how you thought your night was going to turn out," Jane murmured, looking at Beth with concern.
"I just feel stupid," she finally said. "I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that he was going to ask me out."
Jane looked at her quizzically. "You didn't do anything stupid. You said you had great chemistry together. There's no way you could have known he had a girlfriend if he was flirting with you."
"I'm not even sure he does have a girlfriend. I think he made that up just to get away from me." Beth sighed as Jane looked even more confused, and then she launched into an explanation of everything Jamie had told her. "So, Will and his sister basically ruined his life, and then I told him what good friends I was with Charles, so of course he bolted. I mean, he practically ran away from the party. That's why I should have known."
However, instead of the immediate support Beth expected to receive from her sister, Jane looked troubled by the information.
"I don't know," she said slowly. "I've never heard Charles talk about Jamie at all. What a terrible thing for the Darcys to do! I feel like Charles would have told me about it before Will visited. I haven't met Will's sister, but Charles hasn't ever said anything about her being a mess, or whatever Jamie called her. And Will... you've met him. He does not come off like the type to go out of his way to hurt someone."
"I have met Will and he insulted me to my face! Remember? Maybe he's not going out of his way to hurt people, but he rubs people the wrong way, and if they were teammates, I could see it escalating. Will told me when you were sleeping that he was a really resentful person. Jamie was probably exaggerating the details, but I think there's some truth to the story," Beth added quickly as Jane looked like she was going to disagree more.
"Are you sure?" she asked gently.
"He and Charles didn't react well to each other, so there's something to it. Can't you see how well everything fits? The way Jamie was talking…it just made sense."
Jane was used to her sister's stubbornness and her desire to be right. She tried again to gently suggest a different perspective to Beth, knowing that once Beth had formed an opinion it was an uphill battle to get her to change it. "I know you and Will didn't hit it off in the beginning, and he shouldn't have made that comment about Pemberley, I agree. It was a dumb thing to say. But he's not a bad person. We spent the weekend with him, and he's just not. Plus, Jamie basically led you on while conveniently forgetting to mention a girlfriend until it suited him," she finished.
Beth's teeth clicked as she suddenly closed her mouth; Jane's point effectively silencing her. That evidence was undeniable.
"I don't know," she finally said, feeling weary of the conversation.
"I don't think we can know unless you ask Will directly." She paused as Beth let out a giant Ha! in response. Like Will would tell them anything so personal. Like she would ever be in a situation where she could ask such a question! "But I don't think he's as bad as Jamie made him out to be."
"None of it matters anyway. Nothing is going to happen with Jamie now." She took a deep breath. "I get one day to mope about it, but then tomorrow I'm moving on."
Jane looked like she wanted to say more but let the conversation drop, turning back to the movie.
Beth sighed. Everything she did romantically was a complete dud, but she couldn't dwell on that. She couldn't control what was happening with Jamie, but she could control her attitude. She lightly grabbed ahold of Jane's foot, giving it a playful shake to get her sister's attention and then smiled to show that her mood hadn't been ruined. Jane smiled back, giving Beth's hand a few consoling pats.
Lydia came home a little after midnight, wearing tight black pants and a sheer black shirt over a black bra. Beth wondered if she and her friends had taken the train in to D.C. to go to one of the 18+ dance clubs. She seemed in high spirits, and there was nowhere in their small town that would have let underage girls in.
"Beth!" Lydia cried out happily, sinking down onto the couch next to her and wrapping her in a big hug. Beth made a muffled response in shock and then hugged her sister back. Lydia sat back and stared at Beth with glittering eyes; her pupils were dilated so that only a small ring of the light blue iris was visible. "I totally love you, Beth. I just needed to tell you."
Beth blinked but smiled back at her younger sister. "Uh, I love you too, Lydia," Beth said after a moment. Lydia rubbed her nose, absently sniffing, and then moved to give Jane an enormous hug as well. "And you, Jane. You're so beautiful."
"Thanks, Lydia. You know I love you, too".
"You know those girls I met in line at the party yesterday? They invited me out, and holy shit do they know how to have fun. We saw the best DJ," Lydia said, confirming Beth's guess about where she had been. Lydia had an ever-changing group of acquaintances that she cycled through, so this was no surprise to Beth or Jane.
"We're just having a movie night if you want to join."
"Oh my god, yes!" She settled in between the two of them on the couch and kicked off her heels, laughing exuberantly at any of the comedic elements in the movie. "This movie is awesome," she added after some time had passed. "Like, it's really the best. We need to do this more."
Beth leaned forward to look at Jane, who telegraphed an 'I don't know either' look. Lydia was usually temperamental, confrontational, and almost never gave compliments or words of affection, so Beth decided to roll with it. She'd take a strange but nice version of her sister over Lydia's regular personality any day. Plus, it seemed right to have the three of them together on one of Jane's last nights in town before her semester started.
What Beth had taken to be exuberance the night before appeared to have been intoxication. Lydia was a mess the next morning as she and their mother prepared to go run errands for one of her school projects. Pale and haggard, Lydia had on her largest pair of sunglasses even though the day was overcast. Beth found that she couldn't feel sorry for her sister. Beth had the house to herself for the morning. She enjoyed the unusual quiet as she poured herself a glass of orange juice and grabbed a handful of cereal. Her phone rang from her pocket, and she happily answered for Carla.
"What are you eating?" Carla began as a greeting.
"Some Chex," Beth said, popping a few more in her mouth.
"So loud. So gross."
Beth chomped harder for emphasis. "What's up? How's the new place?"
"Ugh," Carla said. "I stayed out too late and I drank too much."
"Don't worry; you don't sound nearly as bad as Lydia. I thought she was going to puke in the kitchen sink this morning."
"That's Lydia for you. I'm not that bad. Just tired. My neighborhood is great. It's just one night, but I'm really liking it so far. There's a couple of nice bars, a little clothing boutique...sushi. I just finished unpacking last night after going at it for hours and decided to celebrate."
Beth laughed. "Sounds a lot more exciting than my night. Jane and I watched rom coms until she fell asleep at 12:30." While she was talking, she reached into their refrigerator for a cold slice of pizza, phone cradled against her ear and shoulder. "Hey, I wanted to ask you about someone at your party. Jamie Wickham. Do you know him?"
Carla paused, thinking. "I've met him a few times, though I don't remember exactly when. He's a friend of a friend; that kind of thing. I think he's a drug dealer."
"What?" Beth almost dropped the phone in surprise. She had wanted to get more information from Carla, but that was the very last thing she had expected to hear.
"Or wait—maybe he just used to be a drug dealer."
Beth was looking aghast, half eaten piece of pizza forgotten in her hand. She had not gotten that impression from Jamie at all. Sure, he'd had a laid-back vibe, and she would have said almost certainly that he smoked pot, but not anything more than that. "Are you sure?"
"Nope," Carla replied, laughing. "I really can't remember. Jess had a friend that used to deal pot and coke, and I was thinking his name was Jamie Wickham, but now I think it was probably someone else. If you were into him, then he can't be, right?" She continued. "Jamie has seemed cool every time I've met him."
Beth felt relieved at Carla's uncertainty but was still feeling a rattled. She had been hoping that Carla could at least give her a more clarity into his background and help her feel more certain about who to believe. But this new development raised even more questions than it answered, but then Beth remembered that Carla hadn't remembered who he was at the party. Maybe she was confusing him with someone else...
Carla was making a sympathetic sound into the phone. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, Beth. From what I know, Jamie is kind of a flake. You're too good for him anyway."
Beth smiled, thankful for Carla's support. "When do you start work?" she asked, changing the subject.
"In two days! And then you'll be here next weekend and I can't wait to show you around the neighborhood. We'll make you forget all about Jamie Wickham."