The Third Wheel

Eighteen ~ Socially Accepted Misfits

“Well, thank god you’re still alive.”

Big green eyes blinked up at me accusingly. Panda meowed and trotted off indignantly, disappearing into the living room. I sighed. It would seem my weekend long absence hadn’t been forgiven yet.

“Waiting to be forgiven by a cat? That’s a new low,” I muttered.

I dumped my bag in the mess of my room and went straight to the kitchen. Laundry and cleaning could wait. Coffee could not. I’d deliberately come home when Kay was at work – or hooking, whatever you wanted to call it – so I had time to mentally prepare myself to confront her.

I wasn’t ready to forgive her, but I was ready to listen. Maybe. If I could keep my emotions in check and my anger at a reasonable level. So, this was likely to be a disaster.

A hooker for an only surviving relative. A slut for a supposed bestfriend. A man whore for a first kiss. I was sensing a pattern.

I waited in the lounge room staring at the black screen of the TV. The cable was out. No money for entertainment. Just good old real life drama. I should really have my own sitcom. Panda eventually curled himself in my lap and I drifted to sleep.

Keys in the door awoke me.

Panda leapt off my lap and went to greet Kay at the door.

“Traitor,” I said under my breath.

Kay came through the door, talking to Panda. That’s where I must’ve gotten it from. I heard her in the kitchen. I sat on the couch, tense and unmoving. She hadn’t realised I was here yet. I didn’t even know what the time was.

She paused in her doings.

“Ari? Are you here?” she called tentatively.

I moved into the kitchen. Kay looked as though she’d aged a decade. Purple circles were the only colour on her drawn, makeup free face, eyes dull and hair pulled into a messy bun. The sight of her, broken and battered and worn down by the world shattered something in me.

I threw myself into her arms and squeezed my eyes shut. Kay cried into my hair and pulled me closer.

“I love you Ariella, I’m so sorry!” she gasped through her tears. “I just wanted to protect you and keep you s-safe and we had no money a-and I made a mistake…I’m so so sorry…”

“Shhh, shhh, its ok, I’m here Kay,” I murmured, stroking her back and resting my head on her shoulder. “I’m here,” I whispered.

***

When she’d calmed down, we talked. We talked for hours.

Kay told me everything. She didn’t sugar coat any of it. We had been broke, going under. We were so behind on rent and bills we were going to be kicked out of the apartment. Kay had met her ‘male friend’ (I couldn’t bear to call it anything else) at her bartending job.

First they had just gone to dinner. Then he started insisting to pay for things and it grew from there. It wasn’t strictly a prostitute situation, it was more that he saw someone in trouble who he cared for and has more money than he needs. That’s how I tried to see it anyway.

Then I told her everything about Sasha, Tristan and even Justin. I mentioned Verity too, though I left out the part where she offered to help me win Tristan and tear Sasha down. I wasn’t entirely sure how Kay would take that. I figured enough truth had come out for one night.

When we finally went to sleep – at 3:55am – there were no nightmares.

***

“Would you sleep with him?”