Vi hung up the reciever, satisfied that Wilbur could now stew in his own juice. She felt a little sorry though, but at the memory of his behavior, she came to the conclusion that he totally deserved that.
With Liz everything was much simpler. Within twenty minutes they had finished painting the rest of the room. Now they lay on the plastic wrapped bed and were happily chatting. They had a lot of fun. That was just how Vi had imagined this evening.
"He's such a baby!" Vi said after she had hung up.
"I hope he isn't angry now..." Liz said, overly insecure and cautious, her usual way of speaking.
"Oh, nonsense!" Vi contradicted vigurously, "That's totally fine. He can't assume that I jump every time he calls. I am not his monkey, who has time for him always and everywhere. Besides, I told you how he acted up!" she added a little annoyed and pointed to the color patches all over the room.
"This is so typical for Wilbur!" Liz chuckled sheepishly and was actually a little blushing. She put her hands on her hot cheeks. That bugged Vi for some reason. Liz had never spoken a word with Wilbur, so how was she supposed to know what was typical of him?
"Maybe," she said, causally.
"Oh ..." Liz said, her face was as red as a tomato, and on her neck and her décolleté red spots appeared too. She seemed to be nervous about something. The impression was intensified when she gave Vi a meaningful, yet insecure, shy glance. Liz almost looked pitiful. Then she closed her eyes and sighed heavily ...
"What?" Vi asked. Liz sighed again. Something seemed to oppress her very much. That was unusual. Normally, Liz was always very good to keep every sorrow for herself, she hardly let it show. She was not one of the girls who talked constantly about their problems. Vi felt sorry about that, because if her friend had problems, she was only too willing to help her. But Liz had the ultimate self-control. Vi felt that she had problems with her parents, which wasn't too suprising, from all Vi had experienced so far. But Liz never mentioned it. She had once said to Vi "Why should I burden others with my problems? That's nobody's business!"
And also today, Vi hadn't noticed anything unusual until now. But now Liz almost looked as if someone had died. Vi was restless because Liz didn't respond.
"What happened?" Vi asked anxiously.
"I gotta tell you something ..." Liz said quietly, and she blushed even more. She looked like she was about to cry at any moment. Vi was sure that something terrible had happened!
"What is it?" she urged. Slowly, she became impatient.
"It's about Pete ..." Liz murmured, and looked very sad.
"What? What about him ..." Vi asked with a softer voice. She feared that Liz could change her mind, and keep her problems for herself again, when Vi pushed her too much. Liz swallowed hard, and when she began to speak, her voice was just a hoarse whisper.
"Today, he came over without prior notice and asked if we could do something spontaneously... and then ..." she put one hand over her mouth and took a deep breath, to avoid that she began to cry, "And then I dumped him ..." she squeezed over the knot in her throat, so quiet you could barely hear it.
"You dumped him?" Vi cried in shock. Had she just heard right? Liz just drooped sadly. Then she straightened up, smoothed her top and made a face as if she was only talking about bad weather.
"Yepp ... I probably ruined his weekend ..." she continued drily. This was her sense of humor when she felt bad. She tried to play down the things as if they were not worth mentioning. Vi could not laugh, she was stunned.
"But, but ... why?" she said after a pause.
"Oh ..." Liz groaned heavily, "I felt for about two weeks, that this just doesn't work."
"But you guys are together for only three weeks ..." Vi replied skeptically.
"Thank you for stating the obvious," Liz said, and indeed with a sarcastic tone. Vi had never before heard her speaking sarcastically. Liz stood up and walked around the room with her arms crossed.
"He permanently wants to meet, to hang out, to smooch, makes me gifts, and just I feel uncomfortable with all this. I'm even happy when I can spend a day without him ..."
"Hm, hm ..." Vi said, without really understanding it though.
"And when he payed me a visit today to do something spontaneously, I just realized how bad my mood became all of a sudden. I had absolutely no desire to hang out with him and to listen to his silly twaddle again!" Liz said, annoyed.
Vi hardly dared to say anything. She had Liz, the exaggeratedly shy, always polite and courteous Liz, never seen like that! Finally she let her feelings out, instead of locking them up.
"I know he can be quite exhausting sometimes..." Vi tried to appease her.
"That's not even the problem..." Liz started, stopped and looked at an indeterminate point in the air, searching for the right words, "I mean, he's funny, personable and charming ... I like him ... But it is not enough for a relationship ... I don't love him." she ended, with a bit of regret in her voice. She sighed heavily.
Violet had to think of poor Pete. He was her friend, and she felt sorry for him ... However Liz decision was fully justified under the given circumstances.
Liz slapped her hands over her red face and fell backwards onto the bed.
"What did I do?" she cried frustrated, "I should have ended this long ago. But he was my first real boyfriend. I knew right from the start that something was wrong, but I thought it would go away over time ..." she continued after a heavy sigh.
Vi remembered her own first boyfriend, Tony, and with a little regret, she found that she never had the chance to get tired of him.
"But it only became worse ..." Vi added.
"Yes ..." Liz replied meekly. There was a long pause, Liz expression darkened.
"The worst thing is..." she began softly, "I think he really liked me ..."
"I know ..." Vi said, just as quietly, "He constantly talked about you..."
"That makes it even worse!" Liz cried, tortured, "I wanted to be with him, I wanted to hang out with him, I wanted to like him. But each time he annoyed me so much, that I was glad when he was gone again. And because of that I felt really bad. He annoyed me. And it bugged me that he was annoying me ... and that was really annoying me, you know? " Liz rattled excited.
"Um, well -" Vi began, but Liz cut her off and just rattled on.
"When I told him that I wanted to finish this thing ... Oh, he was so devastated. I didn't expect that. I thought, he feels just the way I do, that this relation feels wierd and cramped ... somehow ... that it just doesn't feel right... oh ..." she said, with pity, then her mood changed, however, "And then he suddenly started to argue and discuss! Why I want to dump him, what the reason was and that he could change ... and that there were thousands of good reasons why we should be together ..." she continued, a little annoyed, "He just didn't want to accept my decision, and he didn't want to leave, even when I asked him .. . So I had no other choice but to tell him the truth ... he annoys me to death, and he should leave me alone. And even about that he wanted to discuss! He left me no choice - I slammed the door in his face!"
She paused and played lost in thought with a strand of her blond curls.
"I am a bad person," she ended with a knot in her throat. Vi tried to resist an annoyed groan. Liz was probably the dearest person on this planet, and Vi thought it was pretty exaggerated that she now had to make such serious self-reproaches. Liz would never lie to someone or stab somebody in the back. To dump somebody was a pretty natural thing, and after all, she did it for comprehensible reasons. Calling herself a bad person because of such a trifle was grossly exaggerated.
The two talked for a while. It was getting late, and Liz decided to stay overnight. Together, they made the bed ready and exchanged their dirty work clothes with pyjamas. Then the chatter continued, and in spite of the bad news about her and Pete, it was a really nice girly night. At this time, Vi would have never imagined that the evening would turn out in a catastrophe.
"Well...?" Violet began, "Are there any more outrageous confessions that you want to make...?" she said casually, in an attempt to hide her nosiness. Finally, her best friend had opened, and Vi was really happy about it - okay, she was sorry for Pete, but she was happy that Liz had told her about it. Until today Vi had always had doubts... they should be best friends and Liz never shared her grief and her problems with her? Well, from this evening on this was history.
"Not really ..." Liz said and shrugged. Then she frowned as if she would think about something.
"Well ... although, there is one thing ..." she said, and started grinning inevitably.
"Yeah...?" Violet asked, when Liz did not continue.
"This is so embarrassing, I can't say it!" Liz exclaimed suddenly, excited and blushed.
"Aha! Is it another boy?" Violet asked, who couldn't think of another reason why Liz was blushing. Her guess was confirmed when Liz didn't answer, but just looked down sheepishly.
"Wooooh!" Vi cried excited and jumped around on the bed, "Who is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me! "
"Oh dear..." Liz started, tormented, and took a deep breath, "Well ...", was all she managed to say, however. She seemed to be incredibly nervous. Vi had only seen her like this when Liz had to do a presentation in front of the class. But here they were alone, there was no reason to be so nervous. Vi took her hand reassuringly. Liz closed her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Now please don't think that this would be the reason why I dumped Pete. I already had a crush on this boy, since my first day in Todayland..."
"And you never told me something!" Vi asked, a little disappointed. After all, it had been two years since they had both come to this city.
"Why should I?" Liz said and shrugged, "He would never notice me ... He is out of my reach ..." she continued, a little sad.
"Oh, nonsense!" Vi said, and changed immediately in defense mode. Liz was important to her, she was almost like a sister. Her problems were also Vi's problems.
"Nobody in the world can be so cool that you were not good enough! You're smart, funny, athletic, attractive - "
"And rich," Liz added.
"And rich, exactly. You have to be confident! There is no man in the world who would ignore you! You are everyone's dream girl! And if this guy still dares to reject you, he has to deal with me!" Vi said, clenching her fists. Her expression was almost a little grimly.
"That's nice of you to say that," said Liz, honestly touched.
"I'm not just saying it, I'll do it! So, who is it?" Vi cried, as if she couldn't wait for giving this guy a rubdown. There was silence for a while, while Liz tried bringing herself to speak.
"It's - oh, Vi, I can't say it..!" Liz exclaimed frustrated, "It will never happen anyway, so why should we even talk about it ...?"
"Who, who, who, who, who!?" Vi cried, now almost bursting with curiosity.
"Okay, so you want to know my biggest secret ..." Liz said and took another deep breath. Then she looked at Vi with shining eyes, the shine of amorousness.
"It's ... Wilbur!" she squealed, then pressed a pillow to her face, "Oh my God, I said it! I said it!" she cried hysterically into the pillow and rolled around on the bed, striking wildly with their feet. Vi looked confused.
"Robinson ...?" Vi asked. It was more a horrified statement than a question. Liz took the pillow from her face, and leaned on her elbows. She gave Vi a perky look.
"Sure, you silly, or do we know another Wilbur?"
Vi was so horrified that she was incapable of any reaction. But fortunately Liz didn't notic that. She let herself fall back on the bed and began to rave about Wilbur.
"He's so handsome, eloquent and witty and sooooo cute...!" she shouted in love; she had really got it bad. Then she straightened up, with a big grin on her face, however, her head was still red.
"It's just perfect! I'm rich, he's rich, I'm pretty, he's pretty! We have so much in common!" she cried. Vi wanted to laugh, but for some reason she couldn't. She had no idea why this confession bothered her so much. Maybe that wasn't even the problem, maybe she was just getting sick. She suddenly had sweaty hands, she felt queasy - this violent physical reaction confused her. It could hardly be due to what Liz had said ... or could it? She tried not to dissemble. Nevertheless, she suddenly felt the need to hide, like a wounded animal.
"That was a joke ..." Liz said dryly after Violet didn't respond.
"Yeah ..." said Vi and forced herself to give her friend a half-hearted smile. She couldn't think straight, it felt like her thoughts were stuck in a sticky, viscous substance, so that they could hardly move. Thinking was exhausting and somehow her head was completely empty. Frantically she tried to put together the puzzle pieces.
"Is that the reason why you are so silent when he's around?" she asked finally, and was glad that her brain still worked. She hoped that Liz had not noticed by her sudden change of mood.
"Yes..." Liz admitted sheepishly, "I just can't open my mouth when he's there! He's so cute!" she gushed, and put a hand on her heart. Vi knew this 'crap-I-forgot-how-to-speak!'-reaction very well from her own experience with Tony.
"Can't you put in a good word for me?" Liz asked hopefully after a pause.
"No!" Vi replied, maybe a little too quick, "I - I'm just saying, you should have the courage to talk to him yourself. You can't let it do by someone else. You have a crush on him, I don't - "
And at that moment she realized what was happening. She was jealous!
"You're right ..." Liz began thoughtfully, "I just have to be more confident ..."
Violet felt terrible, but tried to continue to be a good friend.
"You don't need to hide! You look good, better than good, since your braces are out, and besides, you have mouth to speak - " she said.
"And to kiss!" Liz giggled carefree, like only an amorous teenage girl could laugh.
"Yeah... right... " Vi said, only capable to give a dry, artificial laugh. A dull, numb feeling was spreading through her body. She shivered. The rest of the evening it was like she was in a trance. In shock, she listened how Liz raved about Wilbur. It seemed like hours were passing. Even Vi, who spent the better part of her time with him, didn't know that you could say so many good things about him. With great difficulty she managed to hide her miserable mood, but Liz was with her thoughts elsewhere anyway.
Finally they went to sleep ... or at least they turned off the light. Liz fell asleep pretty soon, however Violet stared into the darkness, troubled.
The evening was a disaster, Liz's voice was still ringing in Vi's ears. She thought about the whole situation for a long time.
Why did she never notice that Liz had a crush on Wilbur? Liz was good with hiding her feelings, but the longer Violet lay there, staring at the ceiling, the more tiny little things she remembered, evidences, which clearly revealed that Liz had a thing for him ... ever since. Vi had just never noticed it ... or maybe she didn't want to notice.
It was as if fire and ice collided inside her. She wanted to stand by her friend, but there was this cold feeling, this naked horror, fear.
Suddenly her best friend had become a rival. And Vi was aware of the fact that she would have no chance against Liz.
On the other hand Violet had never been aware of how much she actually liked Wilbur. Only now, since just now, she thought about the idea that they could be more than just friends. Was it true at all then, or was it just a phase? A crazy idea? Was it merely this annoying mechanism that forced her to like everything that Liz was liking? Like this one time, when it was about a stupid handbag. A few months ago, those ugly bags in squeaky neon colors with thick plush pom poms and flowers attatched on long lines were all the rage. Vi thought these things were absolutely shabby, and had never imagined that she would ever buy one. But then Liz had bought one of these ugly bags and promptly Vi had to have one too. Since then Vi had worn that bag only once, then never again, after all she thought it was ugly. It was the same with clothes or music ... Everything Liz had, Vi wanted too. Was it the same now with Wilbur? Did she want him just because Liz wanted him? And in case that she and Wilbur became a couple - what she considered highly unlikely - would she get tired of him just like the bag?
A frightening concern followed this thought. If she let it happen, and Liz and Wilbur fell in love, she would be the odd one out. Wilbur and Liz would only do stuff together, and so she would lose her two best friends. And if she would interfere and prevent them from coming together, or even took Wilbur for herself, it would hurt Liz, so she would lose her. And if it didn't work out with her and Wilbur, well, then she would lose him too... no matter how she looked at it, at the end she was alone ... she couldn't find a solution that everyone could be happy with. Wasn't a good friend obliged to pass on her own happiness so that their friends could be happy?
Finally she fell asleep completely exhausted, just before dawn.
