Page 102 of Vying Girls
‘Not about Damien,’ she snaps. ‘It’s about your fucking head.’
I frown, sitting down on her bed as she walks around her room, closing the curtains, turning on the lamp. ‘What about my head?’
She tuts. ‘Memory loss. Not good.’
I close my eyes, confusion warring with frustration. This is not at all what I had in mind.
I feel the bed dip as Nic sits beside me. I flinch when her hands come at me, fingertips massaging my scalp. I lean away from her. ‘Um. What are you doing?’
‘Checking.’
‘For…?’
‘A bump. Big fucking crack in your skull. Your brain leaking out.’
‘If you’re going to be pissy, I’ll just go.’
She shakes her head silently, still probing with her fingers.
‘Nic, there’s nothing there. I’ve checked.’
Her eyes are over my shoulder, glazed with concentration. Does she even know how close she’s sitting? Her lips draw my gaze. Thinner than Elly’s or Haz’s, topped with a downy swatch of hair I’ve never been close enough to notice before.
I drag my eyes up when the fingers in my hair stop. Nic’s looking at me, mouth so close to mine I can feel her gentle exhales.
‘Why are you stressing so much about this?’ I ask quietly.
She smiles thinly, untangling her hands from my hair. ‘Got head injury trauma.’
‘You do? From when?’
‘From when I knocked Tommy out cold.’
‘What?I’m assuming this…was not recently.’
She shakes her head, moving a little way from me on the bed. ‘When we were younger. I didn’t mean to. I was high, what else is new? In the garden, tripping balls, spinning around really fast with my arms out. Idiot just ran into me. On the ground the next instant. He was fine, obviously. But he was out for a while, and it was a stressy trip to the hospital.’
‘Poor Tommy.’ I smile, thinking about the next time I see him when I’mdefinitelybringing up that fun tale. ‘You didn’t knock me out though.’
‘Better to be safe than not. Don’t need anything else on my conscience.’
‘Why, what else have you got on your conscience?’
Her eyes dim a little, but she doesn’t look away. ‘A whole lifetime of shit. I’m sure you can relate.’
‘I’m sure you’re making me relate,’ I fire back.
After pouring my heart out to Haz on that creepy, parent-killing road, I’m hyperaware of every time anyone’s ever made me feel unlovable. Apart from Mum, who I’m practically no-contact with at this point, it’s Nic who’s maintaining the narrative.
I sigh, scrubbing my face. ‘You are so confusing.’
‘Why?’
‘Dunno. Hating me. Helping me. Pick a fucking side, Nic. I just can’t do this for the rest of my life.’
‘Then get the fuck out of mine.’
I tilt my head, giving her a look. ‘You and I both know that’s not about to happen.’
