Page 21 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Do you want me to be here for the meeting?”

Cat looked like she really wanted to ask me but was embarrassed. “It’s just me, Sophie, and Brad. Jake has to work and can’t get coverage, and Alex is on a job. I’m worried that with us two women, and Brad being the kind-hearted gentleman that he is, they’ll walk all over us.”

“Date, time, and place.”

“I’ll text you the details.”

“I’ll speak with Alice.”

I went upstairs to go find Alice’s room, assuming it would be fairly easy to locate, and I wasn’t wrong. I found her on the third floor, her door decorated with a poster of the Andromeda galaxy, glittery cutouts of stars and asteroids, and glow-in-the-dark plastic stars stuck on. Random glitter stickers adorned her name, which was cut out of black glitter paper.

For fuck’s sake. On top of being a brat, she’s also a glitter slut.

She was playing music loudly and didn’t hear me knock. The door wasn’t closed all the way, so I nudged it open and peeked inside.

Alice was sitting at her vanity table, dabbing at her eyes and trying to redo her eye makeup while listening to “Make Me Wanna Die” by The Pretty Reckless, mouthing the words to herself.

I watched as she closed her eyes, another tear escaping her lids. She carefully set her eye pencil down and clutched the edge of the desk, her knuckles turning white with the effort. Her lip quivered. She bit down harder and harder until I saw the smallest trickle of blood run down her chin.

She folded her arms over on her desk and dropped her head into them. Her whole body shook with the effort of keeping in her sobs, and she eventually took a deep breath, wiped her makeup off, and started over.

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. What the hell had I said to make her hurt that badly? Or remind her of her hurt? I was about to open the door all the way and talk to her, but the song switched to “Flawless” by Dorothy, and she raised her head and plastered a smile on her face. After a minute or two, it looked genuine, and she laughed once. She checked her phone, her mouth settling into a smirk, and resumed her makeup, singing along with the song loudly.

Whiplash, I swear. This girl experiences more emotions in fifteen minutes than I do in a week.

I didn’t want to make it worse, so I decided to confront her another time. Backing away from her door and closing it almost all the way like it was before, I turned around to walk back downstairs, but almost tripped when I turned around.

Sophie was standing right behind me, staring at me quietly. She studied me for a moment, then looked down at her hands, and snuck past me and into Alice’s room, letting the door click shut behind her.

From inside, I heard Alice say, “Sophie,oh my GodI have the best ideaever!”

I went downstairs, thinking about what I’d seen, trying to decide what I was going to do. Alice was clearly mentally unstable. Her reaction earlier, as well as her emotional mood swings, had to be a trauma response, or a sign of mental illness. Maybe her bratting wasn’t about her being a bitch; maybe there was more to it.

Still, today wasn’t the day to talk to her about it. I would arrive a few hours early and speak with her personally before the meeting and apologize for upsetting her. Maybe I was triggering her unknowingly, or maybe she saw me as a threat or a challenge. Either way, it was time to have an actual conversation. And unfortunately, I was going to have to be the one to initiate it.

Iarrived three hoursearly to the meeting on Wednesday, expecting to see Alice at the reception desk, but she wasn’t around. Double-checking my phone to make sure I had the right day and time, I looked around and headed for the conference room Cat said we would use. When I entered, I was surprised to see three men and a woman, all dressed in suits, talking quietly and looking through file folders.

Sophie sat awkwardly one seat away from the woman, and I recognized her as her former social worker. Sophie sat up tall in her seat and looked at Charlotte straight on, but I could tell she was uncomfortable.

Alice stood at the end of one table, talking with one of the men. She wore a tightly fitting black pencil skirt, a pair of modest black pumps, and a simple high-collared white blouse edged with lace. Her makeup was conservative, and her hair was pulled up in an elegant French twist. She looked like a completely different person, and smiled and nodded at whatever the man was saying as if she were completely engrossed in the conversation.

When she saw me, her face lit up. “Mister Weston,” she smiled politely. “I’m so glad you were able to come in early. Please, have a seat,” she gestured to the empty seat at the head of the table.

I tried to hide my surprise as best I could, and took my seat as directed. I set my briefcase down and she leaned over beside me, setting a notepad and a pen in front of my spot. As she did, she whispered in my ear quietly. “They arrived three hours early. I know it was on purpose.”

I turned to look at her straight on, putting our faces remarkably close together and getting a closeup look at her eyes. “Really?”

“Yes sir.”

My breath almost caught. Finally, something besides bullshit coming out of your mouth.Hearing her say that was disarming enough that I didn’t immediately answer.

Alice straightened and looked at me with a polite smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye, and I knew she’d thrown me that bone just to get on my nerves. Before I could do anything, she asked, “Would you like a coffee?”

“Black.”

“Just a moment.” She disappeared, gliding out of the room like a swan on a lake, except for her perfect ass that rocked just subtly enough to be distracting. One of the men beside me stared at her, glanced at me, gave a suggestive eyebrow raise, and continued listening to his colleague’s discussion.

Alice returned not a half a minute later with a cup of coffee for me. She set it by my elbow. “Cat is just finishing up and should be in soon. Unfortunately, Brad is in a counseling session off campus, and is unavailable until two o’clock.”

---