Page 1 of Every Inch of You
Chapter One
VIVIAN
It was a Sunday night,and I swear I washappy.
I was at home, drinking a glass of pinot noir, binge-watchingFriendsand singing Nineties girl-angst songs really loud to annoy JustinTimberlake.
Justin Timberlake is mycat.
I was right in the middle ofI’m With Youby Avril Lavigne when my sister FaceTimed me. I considered not answering it, but then she would have just called and texted all night until she got a response from me, so I paused Netflix and Spotify and accepted the videocall.
“Hey! What’sup?!”
She was smiling. A lot. It was weird. “Hey Vivvy. What are youdoing?”
“I’m…watching a documentary and reading the NewYorker.”
“Oh really? Is it a documentary about women who sing to theircats?”
“Oh my God are you spying on me?” Aubrey lived in Seattle, where we grew up, but ever since I’d moved to Portland over two years ago, I often found myself looking over my shoulder because I felt her watching and judging me. I’ve felt that all my life, really. She was only two years older than me, but I have no memory of my sister ever actually being achild.
“Haha! I knewit!”
“You’re awitch.”
“Don’t you care about theneighbors?”
“I only sing out loud when it’s raining really hard, plus Mrs. Friar is hard ofhearing.”
“Don’t you care about yourcat?”
“JT doesn’t care what I do as long as I feed him and clean his litter box. He is the best guy I’ve everknown.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re happy with your guy, you deserveit.”
“I am happy. I’mfine.”
“I know, that’s what Isaid.”
“Yeah but you said it with that condescendingtone.”
“Viv—I wasn’t beingcondescending.”
“You’re constantly condescending. Your face iscondescending.”
“Okay, can we start over? I don’t want to—I called because I have somenews.”
“Oh my God—are theydead?”
“What? No. If our parents were dead I probably would have led with that piece ofinformation.”
“Is itGrandma?”
“No, nobody died. That I know of. Shut up and listen…I’m getting married.” She smiled even bigger and weirder and held her hand up to the camera so I could see the enormous rock on her ring finger. “He proposed thisafternoon.”
“Oh my God. Aubrey!” I held my phone up closer to my face. The ring was beautiful, and Aubrey looked so happy. I was tearing up. I was so happy for her. She had known that she wanted to marry her boyfriend Eric since before their first date, over three yearsago.
“I know.” My sister wasn’t a tearer-upper. But I could tell she was emotional. Whenever she gets really emotional she clears her throat. She cleared her throat twice, and then told me that I would be her maid of honor, and that the wedding would be inJune.
