Unfinished Business

CHAPTER 13: YOU'D THINK A PARTY WOULD BE MORE FUN

The music throbbing out of the wooden walls of the Tonks's place was loud enough that it echoed down the canyon. At the very least, it drowned out the mooing and splashing of the cows wading in the nearby river. Light poured out of the few windows that weren't obscured by silhouettes; the setting sun glared at us, as if it knew our sins; the clouds cast shadows on the lawn.

Willa was standing on the grass, lurking near a bush that was under one of the front windows. In one hand, she was holding a black plastic cup with glow-in-the-dark spiderwebs all over it. She put in one of her mint-colored earphones when I approached.

She was wearing the same clothes as earlier, though it appeared that the splotches of black, gooey monster blood had been spot-cleaned from her clothes. The cat ears were different; they were held in place by a clear headband I could barely see in this lighting. A peek into her cup revealed that it was some dark, bubbling liquid. It was probably an appropriately-festive root beer. 

"Who's that, with you? I've never seen her before and it seems like she's with you?" Willa cocked her head to the side slightly and gestured at Blanche. 

"Someone was born with a caul over her eyes," Blanche quipped.

I jumped a little. I forgot she was following me, even with Willa's reminder. I clutched at my unbeating heart as though it was somehow jump-started. "Jesus, Blanche."

Blanche held out her hand to Willa; Willa, clearly a little bewildered, didn't shake it. Blanche frowned, shoved her hand in her pocket, and muttered something offensive under her breath.

I whirled around to glare at her. "What the fuck?"

"Don't be so uptight, Eve." She grinned, like nothing happened at all, like I was the crazy one for getting upset. "I'm going up to the bathroom. See ya."

I watched her sashay into the house. My shoulders were tense; I was uncomfortable and angry. When she was gone-- finally gone-- I turned back to Willa, who looked angry and, at the same time, completely used to what had just happened.

"I'm sorry. I thought she was cool at first, but she's gotten so much worse and-- I wouldn't have brought her if I didn't think we needed her. Are you okay? That was fucked up."

"Let's just--"

Willa sighed and downed the remainder of her drink. "It doesn't matter."

"It does, but--"

She looked me in the eyes, cutting off any objections I had rising in my throat and sending a chill through my shoulders and back. "Eve. Please. Drop it. It's easier for everyone if you just drop it." She paused, looked down at her cup, and didn't look back up at me. "I need a new drink."

Without saying anything else, she walked into the house. Even though she said it was fine, I knew it wasn't. I could see her hands balled into fists that she clenched and unclenched, crushing the black plastic cup between them.

After she filled a new, orange plastic cup, Willa leaned against a wall and looked out at the rest of the world. I stood near her, watching the party. We stood around for a while before it looked like Ethan was going to be a no-show. When I was wondering why he wasn't here in the first place, and reminded Willa that he was supposed to come with you, so where is he, she sighed and told me that he wanted to get let out on the side of the road on the way there. He said he had something to take care of.

Willa stared longingly at her friends across the room. I watched her watch them dance. She took a drink from her nearly-empty cup. Willa was holding it like she didn't care, loosely with two fingers to support the whole thing, but I could tell that she did. It was written on her face like the wrong answers on a test she did worse than expected on. She cared about everything. The fact that she was chewing on one of her lips made that very clear.