An Honest Lie(27)

“What happened to that guy?” Rainy asked.

“Who the fuck cares,” Ursa said, rubbing little circles on Mac’s back. “I hope he died a thousand deaths.”

“Nothing. He never really spoke to me after that.”

Tara said, “What?”

At the same time, Braithe said, “Hell, no!”

Mac shrugged. “He never spoke to me before then. He just kept coming to youth group and I pretended not to know him and then finally we moved and...”

“This is messed up,” Tara said.

“Someone take a turn and change the subject fast,” Mac laughed through her tears. She shoved the ice bucket toward Tara, who wordlessly stuck her hand in and pulled out a slip.

She didn’t bother to read it first like Mac had, wanting to digest the question before she shared it. Tara cleared her throat. “Why haven’t you had any kids?”

Tara’s smooth white throat spasmed as she laughed. Her face was tilted all the way up to the ceiling like she was conversing with God. “Who asked this?” she said between tears. The tension in the room deflated under her cackling and Rainy started to laugh along with the others. The question, though very valid, could have been posed to any of them; they were all childless. As the author of the question, Mac raised a hand, which for some reason made Tara laugh harder.

“Okay...okay...sorry,” she said, spreading a palm over her chest. “I don’t know why that tickled me so much. Matt and I tried for about four years, then we talked about adoption, but we never actually made a move toward those first steps. That’s really it. I don’t think we wanted it enough. And we’re pretty happy just the two of us. You’re going to be a great mom, though,” she said, pointing a finger at Mac, “when you’re ready. You and Viola are the graduating class.” No one said anything for another minute and Rainy considered that they were all wondering about everyone else’s reasons.

“What about you, Braithe?” Mac asked. So that’s who her question had really been directed to. Rainy was more interested in her answer than she’d like to admit. Stephen and Braithe had a box at the Seattle ballet, they vacationed to places like Greece and Italy and had a wine cellar in their house with bottles that cost anywhere from three hundred dollars to three thousand. Rainy had assumed they were too busy to have children; she’d never considered that maybe they couldn’t have them.

“I used to want children,” Braithe said. “I always thought I’d have three: a boy and twin girls. I wanted to name the girls Juniper and Orla, isn’t that funny?”

“Those are pretty names,” Mac said. “What about the little boy?”

“He’d have his dad’s name.”

Everyone fell silent, imagining a little Stephen with tight curls and dimples and waiting for Braithe to tell them why it never happened. But Braithe didn’t explain. She reached for the ice bucket. Her hand emerged and she curled her knee up to her chest and wrapped her arm around it to read the slip. She absently fingered the ends of her hair, her mouth moving as she read. Three to go, Rainy thought. Would she have to lie? If Ursa asked the first question, and Mac the second. That left her own, Tara’s and Braithe’s questions unanswered. She’d already decided that she wanted to be the last one to go. That way, she could make her answer short and sweet and end this game.

“Are you going to read it or not, Braithe?” Rainy wasn’t the only one watching her. To her right, Tara was smirking at Braithe. “Let’s hear it.” Tara nudged Braithe’s shoulder with her toe. “I’m getting bored with this, fast.”

“Well, I’m down to be done.” Braithe crumpled the slip in her fist and made to toss it away.

“No way, everyone has a turn. I’ll read it for you.” She wrestled the paper from Braithe’s grasp with a triumphant smile and, with the slip in her possession, Tara began to read silently, ignoring Braithe’s protests. When she saw the question, Tara exclaimed, “Yass, girl.”

“Ohhh, why doesn’t she want to answer her BFF’s question?” Ursa was sitting on a chair behind Mac. She’d retrieved her curling wand and was sectioning off the brunette’s hair.

“Because she’s being rude,” Braithe said, giving Tara a look. But instead of continuing to fight with Tara, she let her read it.

“Who was your first true love? Describe them.”

Rainy sat up a little straighter; that wasn’t Tara’s question, it was hers, but for some reason, Braithe had thought her best friend had written it. Why?

“He was, like, so handsome,” Braithe said to the room.

“Stephen is still handsome!” Ursa called from behind a piece of Mac’s hair.

“Just real easy to be around, you know?”

And now it seemed to Rainy that Braithe was talking to herself more than any of them.

“We were just around each other and it was this energy, like putting spit to pop rocks.”

“Oh, ew,” Tara laughed. “Can you not wax poetic about bodily fluids?”

“So you...popped?” Mac asked, clearly unsure of herself. Her eyes were still red from crying, but thanks to Ursa, she was starting to look like...Ursa. Waves framed her face, easing some roundness into her square jaw; with a little bronzer and wet lips, she’d be set for the twinsie life.