Genuine Fraud(28)

“You don’t wear anything.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know.” Jule wished she hadn’t engaged Brooke on this topic.

“I don’t want people to see me naked when I’m dead!” yelled Brooke into the air beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. “But I don’t want to wear clothes in the bathtub, either! It’s very awkward!”

Jule ignored her.

“Anyway, they’re building a barrier now, so people can’t jump,” Brooke went on. “Here on the Golden Gate.”

They drove off the bridge in silence and turned toward the park.

Eventually Brooke added: “I shouldn’t have brought that up. I don’t want to give you ideas.”

“I don’t have ideas.”

“Don’t kill yourself,” said Brooke.

“I’m not killing myself.”

“I’m being your friend right now, okay? Something is not normal with you.”

Jule didn’t answer.

“I grew up with very normal, stable people,” Brooke continued. “We acted normal all day long in my family. So normal I wanted to stab my eyes out. So I’m like an expert. And you? You are not normal. You should think about getting help for it, is what I’m saying.”

“You think normal is having a shit-ton of money.”

“No I don’t. Vivian Abromowitz is on full scholarship at Vassar and she’s normal, that witch.”

“You think it’s normal to get what you want all the time,” said Jule. “For things to be easy. But it isn’t. Most people don’t get what they want, like, ever. They have doors shut in their faces. They have to strive, all the time. They don’t live in your magical land of two-seater cars and perfect teeth and traveling to Italy and fur coats.”

“There,” said Brooke. “You proved my point.”

“How?”

“It’s not even normal to say stuff like that. You walked back into Immie’s life after not seeing her for years, and within days you’ve moved into her house, you’re borrowing her stuff, you’re swimming in her effing pool and letting her pay for your haircuts. You went to freaking Stanford, and boo-hoo, you lost your scholarship, but don’t make out like you’re some voice of the effing ninety-nine percent. Nobody is shutting any doors on you, Jule. Also, no one wears fur coats because, hello, that’s not even ethical. I mean, maybe someone’s grandma would, but not a regular person. And I have never said jack about your teeth. Sheesh. You need to learn how to relax and be a human being if you want to have any actual friends and not just people who tolerate you.”

Neither of them said anything for the rest of the drive.





They parked and Jule got her backpack from the trunk. She took the gloves out of her jeans pocket and put them on. “Let’s leave our phones in the trunk,” she said.

Brooke looked at her for a long minute. “Yeah, fine. We’re getting our nature on,” she said, slurring her speech. They locked up the phones and Jule pocketed the car keys. They checked the sign on the edge of the parking lot. Hiking trails were marked in several colors.

“Let’s go to the lookout,” Jule said, pointing to the trail marked in blue. “I’ve been there before.”

“Whatever,” said Brooke.

It was a four-mile hike round-trip. The park was nearly empty because of the cold and the Christmas season, but a few families were leaving as the day came to a close. Tired kids were whining or being carried. Once Brooke and Jule began heading uphill, the path was empty.

Jule felt her pulse increase. She led the way.

“You have a thing for Imogen,” said Brooke, breaking the silence. “Don’t think that makes you special. Everyone has a thing for Imogen.”

“She’s my best friend. That’s not the same as having a thing,” said Jule.

“She’s no one’s best friend. She’s a heartbreaker.”

“Don’t be mean about her. You’re just mad she hasn’t texted you.”

“She has texted me. That’s not the point,” said Brooke. “Listen. When we made friends freshman year, Immie was in my dorm room all the time: in the morning, bringing me a latte before class; dragging me out to movies the film department was screening; wanting to borrow earrings; bringing me Goldfish crackers because she knew I liked them.”

Jule didn’t say anything.

Immie had dragged her out to movies. Immie had bought her chocolate. Immie had brought her coffee in bed, when they lived together.

Brooke went on: “She’d come by every Tuesday and Thursday because we had this early-morning Italian class. And at first, I wouldn’t even be awake. She’d have to wait while I got clothes on. My roommate bitched because Immie was in there so early, so I started setting my phone. I’d get up and be standing outside the door before Imogen got there.

“And then one day, she didn’t come. It was early November, I think. And you know what? She never came again after that. She never brought me a latte or dragged me to the movies. She’d switched over to Vivian Abromowitz. And you know what? I could have been all grade-school about it, Jule. I could have gotten huffy and acted like, ooh, poor me because you can’t have two best friends and wah, wah, wah. But I didn’t. I was nice to the two of them. And we were all friends. And it was fine.”