Page 78 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)
“You’re right,” Hemi said, causing Karen to look very startled indeed. “And if you take off the stockings, you’re all good.”
Did that settle it? Of course it didn’t. “That makes absolutely no sense,” she said. “Then I’d belesscovered up. You want to put Hope into a burqa, fine. I mean,notfine, because I don’t see why she has to do what you say. But whatever.I’mnot your girlfriend.”
“You’re not myfiancée,no,” Hemi said. “But you’re sixteen, and I’m responsible for you.”
“Actually,” she said, “you’re not. Hope is. And how can she be your fiancée if…”
That was too far, though, and even she saw it. She shut up, and I said in one big hurry, because the alternative was actually leaping between them waving a flag, “Hemi doesn’t tell me what to wear.” At her snort, I added, “Does he try sometimes? Yes. That doesn’t mean I listen, unless I think he’s right on rational reflection. Heisa designer, you know.”
“For thirty-year-olds,” Karen said, thankfully abandoning the hazardous ‘why-Hemi-can’t-be-your-fiancé-because-he’s-already-married’ tack. “If I wanted to look like some society lady, I’d be all set. I can’t wearsocks,though? What am I supposed to wear instead, nylons?”
I tried to look as calm as Hemi, but I was sure I wasn’t succeeding. “I agree with him,” I said. “The stockings have to go, sweetie, sorry.”
“Why?”she demanded.
Hemi answered that one. “Because they’re a sexual fetish.”
That was the nice thing about men, they came right out and said it. Or maybe that was just Hemi.
Karen apparently didn’t think it was as nice as I did, because she crossed her arms and said, “It’s not up to me to dress so men don’t sexualize me. Men have the ability to control themselves. It’s not women’s responsibility not to show anything just so men don’t get excited. We aren’t in Saudi Arabia.”
“You’re right,” I said. This one might be better coming from me. “It’s not your job to manage their reactions. But it’s also not your job to dress to give them a cheap thrill, either. Why should you? And there’s still what’s appropriate for you to wear and what isn’t, not when you’re sixteen.”
“So…what?” she asked. “I’m supposed to wait until I’m eighteen to wear anything that doesn’t make me look like I’m ten, or forty? Should I wear a poodle skirt and saddle shoes, maybe?”
“Cheers on your knowledge of mistaken trends in fashion history,” Hemi said. “But it doesn’t change anything.”
“Fine,” she said. “When we meet the guys from school, and they think Mandy brought her littlesisterwith her, I’ll just think, ‘Oh,thankyou, Hemi, for saving me from getting any male attentionever.In mylife.”
Hemi said. “They’re already paying attention, trust me. You’re a very pretty girl, and you don’t have to do anything extra to get them to notice that. And by the way,” he added as if he’d just thought of it, which I knew wasn’t true, because Hemi never ‘just thought of’ anything, “if you want laser surgery so you don’t have to wear glasses, we should arrange that now, before school starts.”
He actually rendered her speechless for a few long seconds, which was quite a feat. “If I say I want that,” she finally answered, “I’m still not going to stop arguing about what I can wear.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Hemi said gravely. “I won’t be expecting it, then.”
“I’m also going to point out that you’re hypocritical,” Karen said. “Both of you. You like Hope to look good whenshegoes out.”
“Your sister always has taste, and class as well,” he said, which was nice of him, but maybe not especially diplomatic.
“And when he tells me that something I’m wearing to work is more suggestive than I realize,” I put in, “I listen, because heisa man, and hedoesknow more about that than I do, or than you do, either. And he’s right that those stockings aren’t OK.” Back to the specific issue under discussion, not the Principle of the Thing, since Karen was capable of arguing any topic well into the ground, until all you wanted to do was throw your hands in the air and put your own battered, beleaguered point of view out of its misery.
“Time for the bottom line,” Hemi said. “We’re done with this discussion. Take off the stockings, and you’re all good and can go see your friend. Or leave them on and stay home. Your choice. And I’ll drop Josh a note about the surgery, so if you want it, he can arrange it.”
“Fine,”she muttered, stalking out of the room. “Welcome to the patriarchy.”
Hemi
“Wow,” Hope said blankly. “Adolescence shows up with a bang. Where did allthatcome from?”
She wasn’t looking too flash this morning. She was fairly white, in fact, and I felt a stab of concern. Had I been too hard on her the night before? “All right, sweetheart?” I asked.
“What? Of course.” She got up and put her own plate and cup into the dishwasher, then grabbed the sponge and began wiping down smoothie-splattered surfaces.
“Why do you do that?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Clean up after Karen. She’s sixteen.”
