Evangeline unlocked the door to her apartment and pushed the door in. She allowed Aurora to follow her in. More nervous than the night before, she struggled to set her keys in the teal dish by the door. The metal clinked fervently against the ceramic, making her shaking hands obvious.
"Would you like a drink?" Evangeline offered with a dry tongue. She needed liquid courage. She hadn't spoken to Aurora since she approached her during her break. She had been so stupid, being so blunt, but now that they're here, she tried to applaud herself for being courageous. Trey had to spell it out for her once upon a time, and it worked between the two (the three) of them, so it was worth a shot. Maybe Aurora was worth getting to know. At the very least, it couldn't hurt Evangeline to become more familiar with her.
Aurora shook her head timidly in response to Evangeline's offer. "I don't really drink anymore." She had only accepted the glass of wine last night because it was the polite thing to do; today she felt like she had a say. She wasn't a squatter tonight, Evangeline had invited her over. She was a guest tonight. As a guest, she didn't want to become obnoxious and unfiltered like she had been.
"Oh, no, no, no— I meant water or juice or tea even. I am sorry to make you think that I only have wine. I have other things to pick from." Evangeline cursed herself. Aurora must think she is a raging alcoholic. "Last night I was just— never mind it. I don't drink much either." She shouldn't drink at all.
Aurora smiled. "Water would be great." She was parched. She had drank the bottle of water Trey had given her, and then later in her shift, she finished the bottle of soda he had bought for her. She was still trembling from the caffeine. She hadn't had soda in months. It didn't help that she only had the remnants of the sandwich he offered her.
Evangeline had already gone into the kitchen and her mumbled words fell silent while Aurora lingered in the entry way and living space. Beautiful glass sculptures and old books lined the dark wood shelves. Distracted by the decorations, she called out to Evangeline. "By the way, thank you again for having me over again. I know you've got a lot going on right now, trying to list the back bedroom."
"Please don't thank me. I am just glad you said yes." Evangeline filled two glasses with filtered fridge water and set it across the counter. As Aurora came into the kitchen, she looked around, letting her eyes fall upon all of the artwork and false botanical decor. "Take a seat. Make yourself at home."
Aurora obediently sat on a bar stool and cupped her hands around the glass, pulling it toward her. The glass shrilled against the stone counter. She winced and blushed as Evangeline's surprised look met her eyes. "So, you and Trey...?" Aurora's voice didn't give to her nerves. She spoke strongly with blatant inquisition.
Evangeline scoffed, setting her glass down with a satisfying clammer. "Never insult me like that," she laughed. "Trey is my best friend, practically my brother. He's the closest thing I have to a brother. Nothing is going on there."
"He seems to like you," Aurora said. Trey had even admitted directly to being infatuated with Evangeline. By the way he looked at her at work, it was undeniable that he had feelings for her. If not romantic, at the very least familial feelings. He exudes love for everyone, including Aurora. Maybe one day she'd see him as a brother, too.
"Trey likes anyone who has a pulse." Evangeline shook her head, letting her blonde waves sway. "Besides, I only date women. Handsome as he is, he's just not my type."
Her type? What was her type? Girls with brown hair, for starters. Girls with daddy issues. Alcoholics with nicotine addictions. Girls with conniving tendencies. The last three women she had been interested in were all clones of each other, disturbingly. Their amber eyes and tanned skin. Evangeline thought of their big smiles, big chests, and small hands. Every single one of them was just like the last. They were all just like Chloe.
Chloe was her type.
Upon proximal gaze, Evangeline took in Aurora's almond hair and sun kissed skin. She was nothing like Chloe in personality, but small details about her perfectly emulated Evangeline's best-friend-turned-lover-turned-ex.
Evangeline cleared her throat. "What about you? How are you getting along with the other people at work?"
Aurora shrugged, balling her sweater sleeves into her clammy hands. "On my first day, everyone was nice and then after that, they just stopped being friendly. I guess my novelty wore off after the first 24 hours. I'm trying not to take it personally, but it definitely gets under my skin."
Evangeline admired Aurora's honesty. Her multi-dimensionality captivated her like nobody else had before. Aurora wasn't afraid to admit her faults. She was like a lamb, and telling Evangeline this information was as if the lamb sanguined itself in front of a hungry lion. Anxiety is Aurora's biggest weakness, yet she bore it bravely. Her courage made her vulnerability impervious to Evangeline's emotional weaponry. Aurora was obviously insecure, clearly paranoid, and grossly under-valued by those around her, so she'd be the easiest target for someone like Evangeline to hurt, but there was something about Aurora that not even she couldn't attack.
Aurora was like Chloe, in that respect. She was invincible. The difference was that Chloe had virtually no insecurities for Evangeline to prey upon.
Her only flaw was that she was better at this war than Evangeline was. Chloe was an expert while Evangeline barely scraped by with her schemes. Chloe learned from her wicked mother, Evangeline was self-taught. Chloe's influence is charming even at its darkest, while Evangeline appears cold to her victims.
Effortlessly, Chloe could flip the tables faster than Evangeline could ever keep up with. So fast that Evangeline never saw the fine line between her love and her contrive. One minute, Chloe would have Evangeline wrapped around her finger, praising her and doting upon her, telling her that she was gorgeous and valuable, to the next minute telling her how pathetic she was. Then without a moment of hesitation, Chloe would remind Evangeline that she was the only person who cared about her. She was right. Chloe was right about everything. Evangeline was everything told her she was.
Evangeline was beautiful, she was a bitch, she was worthless, she was perfect. Chloe never lied to Evangeline, which is what made her offenses so subtle over the years. Evangeline had never caught onto her. She still didn't accept the downs in their up-and-down relationship.
Evangeline watched Aurora carefully as she studied the room. Aurora was looking for any evidence of Evangeline's lifestyle, while Evangeline was looking for anything she could potentially use to pull Aurora in. The only thing Aurora could gather from the decor was that Evangeline had an interest in minimalism and nature. She quickly brought her attention back to Evangeline. "So, you said someone was moving into the back bedroom. What do you think of them?"
Evangeline sipped on her water, trying to recount the details of her blatant lie. She found her mouth dry as she tried to speak. "The applicants fell through." She couldn't double down on a lie that she could guarantee would bite her in the ass, she was smarter than that. Although, a better alternative escaped her.
"That's too bad," Aurora said, feigning sympathy. "Do you know what you're going to do with the room?"
Shrugging, Evangeline finished her drink. "I mean, I still have to write a contract and I still have a list of applicants. With the holidays coming up, the housing office is closed and I am dreading talking to the building manager."
"Was she the one who helped me yesterday?"
"Yes," Evangeline said. "You already know my thoughts about her." What had she called her? A cunt? A judgemental bitch? "She is my ex. Things ended poorly and she pretty much drove my last roommate out."
Aurora nodded patiently in reply.
"Women," Evangeline muttered with a dramatic eye roll. "Well, you get it."
"I understand perfectly," Aurora said. Her latest relationship was ideal and the girl was perfect, but she wasn't always so lucky. Her first girlfriend was nothing more than a fling, but their three months together was a brutal mind-fuck. The girl was manipulative and she was always gaslighting Aurora. From convincing her that she was always wrong to making her starve herself so she was "pretty enough" for people to see them together.
In hindsight, Aurora was 16 and the girl was barely 15, so it was a high school novella. It was an unhealthy relationship at its best. Being young lovers, it was destined to end poorly. Fortunately, before the abuse could get any worse, the girl moved away from Utah, and Aurora was able to recover shortly after. Mostly recover.
Her voice still haunted Aurora.
"Speaking of which, I was actually wondering," the words fell from her mouth before Evangeline could process the implications, "If you would like to stay until the new year? I won't have a contract documented until after the holidays, and it will take a while for applicants to fill out the paperwork and for the building to accept it, and all." The prospect of extending Aurora's stay brought with it a surge of conflicting emotions, yet beneath it all, there was a glimmer of relief at the thought of their continued companionship.
Aurora's relentless nodding spoke volumes, the gratitude evident in every fervent movement. "You have no idea how much that would help me," she breathed, the sincerity in her voice echoing the depth of her appreciation.
"I don't expect rent," Evangeline offered quickly as to not implement a power dynamic right away. "I can pick up a key at the desk for you and you can bring your things here, if you need. I don't know what the situation is, but if you need storage, you can use the back bedroom until you find a place."
The stones inside Aurora's chest tumbled down to the floor, relieving her. "Thank you, Evangeline."
Evangeline smiled. She never thought she'd get used to hearing her full name from anyone besides her parents, yet somehow, it sounded comfortable coming from Aurora. "You're welcome, Aurora."
With nothing left to say, Aurora stood from the barstool and took a panoramic glimpse at the apartment. It was obviously cleaner than the one she had just vacated, it smelled better and it was much bigger. The air was cold, yet somehow, the whispers of the air conditioning made her feel at home. Even if it is only temporarily, this was a step above her alternative.
"Do you want a tour?" Evangeline asked, rhetorically. She giggled at Aurora's simple pleasure in taking in her surroundings. "Go ahead and touch any of the knick knacks. God knows they haven't been handled in years."
Scattered around the dining area, living space, and entry way were hundreds of trinkets. Collected over the course of many weekend thrift store visits, Chloe filled the house with dumb antiques and worthless pieces of art. She adorned the house in swooping vines and geometric art. She had terrible taste, but it was perfect because Evangeline respected her artistic eye. Chloe was, after all, a better artist than Evangeline was.
Aurora floated into the living room and ran her fingers over a black glass-blowing sculpture, twisting in on itself. The Penrose triangle was covered in a light layer of dust, a testament to the neglect Evangeline mentioned. Aurora couldn't imagine letting such a beautiful creation weather like that. She'd keep it pristine.
She wandered the living space, eyeballing artifacts and treasures that scattered the white shelving against tan walls. Mixtures of earthy-tone materials accented the space.
She found herself standing before the front door before she knew it. Next to the door was a small end-table, standing waist high with a bowl of keys and a photo frame. In the photo was a younger Evangeline with a young woman. They were smiling widely. Their joy flowed from the black and white image. Taken by a cell phone, it was blurry when blown up to the size of it, but one thing was evident.
The girl was familiar. Too familiar.
"Evangeline?" Aurora called, not breaking her line of sight with the photo.
Evangeline appeared behind her. "Oh, she is just—"
The girl was Aurora's ex.
Evangeline turned over the photo. "I forgot to put that away when she left." She huffed, anxiously evading the memories. "Sorry about that."
Aurora contemplated the odds. She was probably just psyching herself out. There are 8 billion people in the world, there was zero chance that the girl in the photo was her high school fling.
Her ex had gone to Highland High School and Aurora had attended Provo High at the time, they were short-but-long-distance lovers because they didn't have a consistent means of seeing each other in person. Aurora would drive 30 minutes from Provo to Salt Lake every weekend, and at least once a week to see the girl, but most of their contact was over the phone. Their conversations were sultry and they only ever discussed pervasive topics. Whenever they were actually together, they didn't spend the time talking or getting to know each other.
Aurora couldn't remember her name, but she remembered being naked underneath her body while the girl criticized her (at the time) flat chest.
She batted away the prickling sensation in her eyes. She gave a weak laugh. "Your friend is beautiful."
"She is," Evangeline agreed. Her hands clapped together loudly as she dramatically stepped away from the table. "Anyways..."
Aurora broke eye contact with the overturned photo and she presented her best smile. "Do you have any wine left?"
"Yeah," Evangeline mumbled, instinctively going towards the kitchen with Aurora in tow. Unbeknownst to the other, they were both desperate to rid their minds of the same woman. Throughout the rest of the night, the pair of them shared the entire bottle of red, exchanging few words. Over the next few hours, there was a shared spiral with unspoken acknowledgement.
Evangeline couldn't puzzle together why Aurora was suddenly interested in losing her inhibitions, but it made it all the more comfortable for her. She wished she had stronger alcohol, but Chloe had dumped every bottle they had down the sink last week. She said she was tired of Evangeline always pressuring her to get drunk. Evangeline was, after all, a terrible influence on the alcoholic.
Once both Aurora and Evangeline were reasonably tipsy, Aurora went to the back bedroom and Evangeline found herself sleeping on the couch. She couldn't bear the thought of going into Chloe's bedroom. She fell asleep, silently scrolling through photos on her phone. Chloe insisted on taking thousands of photos of them together, but they all had to be sealed in a locked folder for Evangeline's eyes only. Nobody could know about the fun memories they shared. Evangeline wasn't good enough for her and that was alright. So many of Evangeline's relationships were public, it was nice to know she had something intimate and private with Chloe.
Alone, Aurora tried to put the thought of her ex back into the mental box where she belonged with the help of her buzz, but the relentless inquisition about her identity kept her up. Was her name Celeste? Caroline? Catherine? Aurora couldn't make up her mind. She had to settle with remembering her only as the fling that destroyed her. She closed her eyes tightly to envelope herself in a fantasy. Listening to her audiobook, she escaped into a fairytale. No sooner than the beautiful princess fell in love with the shy maiden, Aurora fell asleep.