Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“Yeah. He’s gonna tell his parents about the move after the wedding, but I don’t think I’m gonna tell Mom and Dad until right before we go. It’s just easier.”
“Easier in some ways, harder in others,” Jamie said.
“Probably. But I don’t have your knack for confrontation.”
Jamie was surprised. “I don’t have a knack for it.”
“Okay.”
“No seriously,” Jamie said. “I don’t like fighting with anyone. But if I don’t stand up for myself, who the fuck else will?”
They’d meant it rhetorically, but Emma drooped as if she’d taken it personally.
They sat in silence for a while, then Jamie slung an arm over her shoulder.
“Just because Mom and Dad are…the way they are, it doesn’t mean we have to be, you know. We could try and be…” They searched for the right word and found nothing.
“Okay,” Emma said. “You’re right. Yeah. We could just be.”
“Speaking of having or not having a knack for confrontation,” Jamie said. “I kinda told our parents to fuck themselves just now.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “When I wasn’t there to hear it?” she demanded. And then, “I fucking told you.”
“They were horrible about Edgar. It’s not acceptable, and I won’t have it,” Jamie said simply. “Which is what I told them. Among other things.”
“Damn.” She sounded…impressed?
Jamie didn’t know if it was the weed that made them ask the question or the fact that they had finally told their parents what they really thought of them, but suddenly it felt possible.
“Emma? Why didn’t you ever take my side? With Mom and Dad?”
It was something Jamie had never planned to ask her, though they’d wondered it a thousand times. But nothing about this conversation was going the way Jamie expected.
Emma stood up and went to the railing of the balcony. In her dress, with her hair dancing in the breeze, she looked like an art nouveau princess.
“Because I’m a bad sister,” she said.
For a moment, Jamie thought she was being sarcastic and braced for the kind of self-righteous defense of their parents they’d received in the past. But Emma just looked sad.
“Because if I used up Mom and Dad’s goodwill by picking fights over you, then they wouldn’t’ve had any left for when I had to pick my own fights with them. I’m sorry.”
Jamie swallowed hard, shocked. As they processed what Emma said, they realized that they hadn’t expected a real explanation. Clearly, Emma had thought about this though.
“Thanks for telling me the truth,” Jamie said, voice only a little thick.
“You deserve it,” Emma said. Then, “Do you have any more weed?”
She seemed appropriately ashamed, so Jamie decided to let it go for the moment and handed her another joint instead. They passed it back and forth, smoking in silence for a few minutes.
“This is beautiful,” Emma said, holding up the joint. The silver paper sparkled in the moonlight. “Everything you do is beautiful.”
“You really stoned there, Em?” Jamie asked, amused.
Emma nodded but continued. “Really though. Your clothes, your hair, your life. It’s all…” She looked at Jamie searchingly. “You make everything specifically the way you want it, and you don’t compromise just ’cause it’s easier. It always annoyed the shit outta me ’cause it was like nothing was good enough for you the way it is.”
She took a deep drag and exhaled a plume of white.
“But it’s ’cause things aren’t good enough the way they are, are they?” she said.
Hope, as fresh and green as a new leaf, bloomed in Jamie’s heart.
“No,” they said, leaning in. “They really aren’t.”
Emma turned to face Jamie on the bench and grabbed their hand. “You know what?” she said. “You shouldn’t come on Saturday.”
Jamie stared at her. They couldn’t be hearing this right.
“I’m serious,” Emma insisted. “Mom and Dad will be awful to you and Edgar. And honestly, I wouldn’t want him to even meet Dave’s other friends.”
She made a mortified face, and Jamie began to hope that she might be serious.
“What about Mom and Dad?”
Their parents would be furious, and the last thing Jamie wanted was for their parents to ruin Emma’s wedding because they were so angry Jamie wasn’t there.
Emma blew smoke heavenward and handed the joint to Jamie.
“I’ll talk to them. Honestly,” she said sheepishly, “I owe you one.”
“You owe me so many,” Jamie said. But they were feeling a strange sense of jubilance. Not just about Emma but for her.
“You’re right,” she said. “I do. So. Take Edgar out on a date in your beautiful new suit instead, and don’t worry about it.”
Things felt vertiginous with Emma, and this was all moving quickly. Jamie’s instinct was to dismiss the offer automatically. Their parents would be furious. And what if Emma looked back on it later and felt it was a mistake?
“Are you seriously telling me not to come to your wedding?” Jamie asked.
“What do you want, a formal disinvitation?” Emma joked.