Page 45 of Pieces of Ash
“What’re you up to next weekend?” she asks.
I shrug. “What am Ieverup to?”
“Thought I might come down to see you and Bruno.”
“Really?” I ask, wondering what’s brought on this development. “You’ve only got a few weeks of school left. Don’t you want to make the most of them? You’ll behereall summer.”
“Yeah. I know. I just…”
I lean back against my workbench. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Spill it,tamia.”
Tamiameans “chipmunk” in French, and it’s what our father called her when she was little.
She sighs heavily. “We broke up. Me and Parker.”
Fuck. She really liked that guy.
That said, I feel a small bit of satisfaction because Ididn’t. Parker grew up in a wealthy family from Connecticut, and I sensed he looked down his nose at me and Noelle the couple of times I met him, like maybe we weren’t quite up to par. Now, I couldn’t give two shits if Greenwich-born Parker Post thoughtI was inferior to him, but I fucking hated my gut feeling that he felt he was slumming by dating my sister.
“What happened?”
I can picture my sister shrugging when she says, “Nothing. I mean, he changed while he was studying in Barcelona. He’s all about free love now.”
“Freelove?”
“Commitment free. He doesn’t believe in relationships anymore. Or…for now…I guess.”
“He cheated on you?”
“He didn’t say that.”
“Noelle…”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he cheated on me,” she says, and her voice sounds thinner. I think she’s about to cry, and my heart clenches.
“Fuck.”
“Jules,” she sniffles, her voice a mix of sad and peeved. “Don’t go all ballistic big brother, ex-Secret Service on his ass.” She pauses. “He cares about me and said he still wants to see me. He just wants to see other people too. He feels it’s important for our personal development that we be unencumbered with commitment.”
More like for his personalenjoyment.
“You deserve better,tamia.”
“I know. That’s why I told him to take a hike.”
“Good girl.”
“Yeah, well…” She sighs. “There will be a lot of end-of-year parties next weekend, and I just don’t feel like seeing him…hitting on other girls. Hooking up. You know…”
Her voice is thin again.
“Yeah. Sure. Come home. Definitely. I’ll be here.”
“Cool. I miss my room.”
