“Oh, you bitc- Motherfu- Shitballs!”
Boo chuckles, “Oh relax. It isn’t that bad.”
I scoff, “Yeah, right, you freakin’ harlot.”
Boo laughs. I cringe and whimper, “Oh God. You’re actually enjoying this.”
When she stops, she asks, “Your sister never tried this?”
Fisting the sheets, I reply through gritted teeth, “Oh, she tried. I karate chopped her ass.”
She says, “I don’t get it.” I open my eyes to find her looking down at me, “The whole you don’t have friends thing. You’re pretty cool, Deedee.”
Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I explain, “Well, Dad was always overprotective. Then it got worse. We weren’t allowed to go anywhere without him or Mom. I never really understood it.” Till now, I think.
“I mean, what’s the worst that could happen from me going to a sleepover?” I sigh, “Eventually, the little friends I had stopped asking me to come over and drifted away from me. My sister was always there for me, though. She had this way about her. I guess she still does. She’s always been popular, so no one questioned why she wasn’t coming out to parties and stuff. She’d just pass it off with ‘I’ve got a better offer’ or ‘Nah, it’s not really my thing’. Well, Terah got sick of Dad’s rules and started sneaking out and I- I didn’t. I’d stay at home with my book boyfriends and that was fine by me. Ow! Stop that!”
Plucking another stray hair, she pulls back and says, “Done.”
Standing, I walk over to the mirror and check my newly shaped eyebrows.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
I look back at her through the mirror and state, “So much pain for this? It doesn’t even look like you plucked anything.”
Lying back on the bed, she says, “Oh, it’s noticeable, alright. You’re lucky. You’ve been blessed with a great shape. You should see mine when I don’t pluck.” She lifts her head and looks at my reflection in the mirror. “Scary. I’d have a unibrow in the shape of the McDonald’s m.”
Turning around, I lean back on the dresser and ask, “Why do you even bother? You work with men, and I’m sure they don’t care that you pluck.”
She smiles slyly and bats her lashes, “Oh, but my man would.”
Eeek! Her man! Swoon.
Bouncing over to the bed wearing an annoyingly cheeky smile, I ask in a sing-song voice, “Oh, yeah? Who is he?”
Her answer shocks me so much my mouth gapes. “Rock.”
Leaning forward, I whisper-hiss, “No way!”
Chuckling, she replies, “Way, baby.”
My mouth hangs open and she laughs. I sputter, “B- b- but you guys act like you don’t even like each other.”
Nodding, she smiles sadly, “Technically, we aren’t allowed to see each other. It’s...” She actually lifts her hands and does slow quotation mark actions with her fingers, “…fraternizing. Nox knows, but he said he can’t really do anything about it unless it affects our work, which I would never let happen anyways. And what with Rock and Nox being best friends, I think Nox is actually happy to see that Rock’s got something good in this life.”
Confused by that last statement, I ask quietly, “What do you mean in this life?
Boo searches my face a while. She looks unsure before answering me quietly, “Babe, we don’t exist.”
Confused even more now, my brow furrows as I ask, “Come again?”
She lies back down with her arms resting behind her head. Looking up at the ceiling, she explains, “This thing - what we do - protection and elimination. We don’t work for anyone. We work for ourselves. I guess you could call it a made-up business. We all have titles within our sector, but the sector doesn’t actually exist. We’re all privately employed and we get paid a lot to do what we do. The condition of being employed this way is to be unseen, and our circle to be impenetrable. So everyone you’ve met here, they don’t have any form of real identification. Every document, ID card, and bank account we have is under a false name.” Turning her head to face me, she finishes with, “We don’t exist.”
Holy shit, that’s insane.
Staring right back at her, I surmise, “So everyone I’ve met here is going under a fake name?”
She nods and I ask, “What happened to who you were? You know, who you used to be?”
Smiling a sad smile, she responds quietly, “She died, babe. We all did.”
My heart squeezes as I whisper, “Well, that sucks.”
Boo turns to her side and we look at each other for a moment. We’re having a silent conversation.
My mouth droops and I frown slightly. I’m sorry, boo. That really does suck.
She shrugs slightly and winks. It’s okay. I’m okay with it.
Playing with my fingertips, I blurt out, “Constance? You chose the name Constance?”
She bursts into laughter and I do, too. We laugh together a short while before her face softens and she replies quietly, “It was my mom’s name. My way of never forgetting her. She was a Connie so it never felt right calling myself that. One day, Rock told me I was quiet as a ghost so he nicknamed me Boo, and I’ve been Boo ever since.” Suddenly sobering, she asks, “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Shaking my head, I tell her, “Not unless he’s the fictional kind. It’s just me and my books.”
Her face turns thoughtful, her eyes sad. She murmurs, “Must get lonely.”
Smiling, I say just as quietly, “I could say the same for you.”
She smiles back. “Touché.”
We both lay back down on the bed with a sigh. I guess my life isn’t so bad.
At least I’m not dead.
***
Excusing myself to get something to eat for me and Boo, I run into the kitchen and my sock-covered feet, and slide to a stop only an inch away from Nox.
His blue eyes flash. “Where you goin’ so quick, princess?”
Today is one of the rare days he doesn’t have on a shirt.
My eyes strain as I beg them to remain fixed on his face and not his broad and solid chest, which is deliciously damp with perspiration.
Yum.
“Just getting something to eat.”
Nodding, he says genuinely, “Glad your appetite’s back.”
Nodding in return, I respond sincerely, “Me, too.”
And then nothing.
Awkward silence.
A loooong awkward silence.
Moving around him to the pantry, my brain reminds me that we have something to discuss with him. Just as he moves to leave the huge kitchen, which suddenly feels about as big as a mailbox, I call out, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask if you spoke to Mitch about me talking to my sister.”
Face void of emotion, he leans his hip on the counter. “No. Not yet.” Reaching over the counter, he picks up an apple and plays with it.
I’m a little pissed at this. He said he would try. My face turns to steel. I walk around the kitchen slamming the pantry shut, and open and close the drawers far too quickly, wanting the noise to convey my mood right now.
Nox sees right through me. “Why’re you pissed, now?”
Bombs away!
Losing my patience, I shout, “Know what would make me happy, Nox? Knowing my sister is okay! I like Boo, no, I love Boo, but she isn’t my sister, and you think I don’t know what you’re doing, and that makes you so much more of a dick! Know what would make me better than happy? Actually speaking to her and hearing for myself that she’s alive and well. Not shoving a substitute under my nose.”
A silence passes over both of us. Nox breaks it by crunching into his apple. His detachment breaks my heart.
I whisper hoarsely, “I miss her, okay? She was my only friend and- and I miss her.” I don’t dare look up at him. If I see sympathy in those deep blue eyes of his, I may just attempt to claw them out.
After a moment of getting my shit together, I shake my head to clear it and another approach comes to mind. Walking around the kitchen counter toward him,
I decide to try something drastic. When I’m only a foot away from him, I jump up onto the counter and sigh deeply. Chewing his apple, he turns his bored expression over to me and I say softly, “You could be nicer to me, ya know?”
He shrugs and continues eating.
I want to throw that apple across the room.
No more playing nice. Time to turn on my wily charm. I bat my lashes at him in a most southern darling way and say a hushed, “I could be nicer to you, too.”
Have I mentioned that I’ve never flirted before? Ever?
Nox’s brow furrows and he mutters, “You got somethin’ in your eye or some shit?”
Jumping off the counter to hide my flush, I stomp out of the kitchen and shout, “Ugh!”
And I clomp off to the sound of Nox’s deep, sexy chuckle. Half way up the stairs, I remember something.
Fuck my life!
I forgot the damn food.
***
You know what I love about Boo? I love that she doesn’t take anything to heart. Thinking about my sister got me down. Really down. And I didn’t really want to spend any more time with Boo because I knew my company would be less than stellar.
When she asked me what was wrong, I told her I was tired and might just read a little then go to bed. Without a peep, she hugged me, told me it was good to have me home, and left to do her nightly duties.