Sam picked at her eyelashes in the mirror, pointedly ignoring her. Tabby winced. “Ah…Jennica did give me fifty bucks for a line. That was pretty nice. Although, maybe she just doesn’t know how much drugs cost?”
Nicole scowled at her. “My friends arenice.”
Tabby tilted her head to the side. “So why haven’t you told them you’ve chucked Aaron?”
“Because not the right time! But theydolike me and theyarenice!”
Her sisters were many things, but they weren’t unkind. They didn’t let the awkward silence fester. Instead, Sam plucked the Moët bottle out of Tabby’s hand. “Let’s get this thing open.”
“I wanted to open it!”
Tabby and Sam tussled over the bottle until Tabby succeeded in ripping away from Sam. She sprinted around the room unwrapping the foil, as Sam chased her.
“You’re shaking it up!” Nicole said, trying not to giggle.
Tabby dropped the foil and yanked off the little wire cage. “Who cares! You just escaped the shittiest relationship ever! I should pour it over your head like it’s the Formula One!”
Nicole put her hands on her hair. “Don’t do that.”
“Fine.” Tabby popped the cork into the ceiling and as the wine rose in a glut of foam, she drank straight from the neck.
“To our sister, Nixalopolous!” she shouted, holding it up for Sam. “She’s back and may she always stay back!”
Sam drank, and though she kept smiling, Nicole felt her happiness dim. She was grateful for all her sisters had done for her this week but she didn’t want to ‘stay back.’ She wanted to improve. Now she’d had her week of mourning, it was time to put her nose to the grindstone and make new plans. She wanted her perfect life and she wasn’t going to find it in her childhood bedroom or getting drunk with her sisters.
She touched her watch, thinking about the laser appointment she’d made for next week.
“Nix!” Tabby rushed over holding up the bottle and she tilted her head back obediently but she kept her hand on her watch. For years she’d used her silver Cartier timepiece to cover her tattoo, but if she went through with her appointments, she’d need to cover her bare skin. If Sam and Tabby knew what she was planning, they’d shave her in her sleep.
Sam wiped her mouth with her tattooed forearm. “We need music. Everyone cool with Alison Wonderland?”
“Fuck no, we need my revenge playlist,” Tabby said.
“Revenge playlist?”
Tabby sprinted out of the room, returning with her portable speakers, Rhianna’sNeeded Meblaring. “I found every single song about dumping trash and put it on the Silver Daughters Spotify. The playlist is called ‘Dumping Trash.’ It’s already got fifty-three listens!”
Nicole frowned. “Dumping Trash?”
“Silver Daughters Spotify?” Sam raised a palm to the ceiling. “When the fuck did that happen?”
Tabby ignored both of them as she put the speakers on the dresser and pulled her phone from between her tits. “Right, photo time. Everyone say, ‘Aaron’s a fuckwit and I hope he falls into an abandoned mineshaft and dies.’”
“Tabby!” Nicole protested as her little sister pulled her into her side.
Sam laughed and wrapped her arm around Tabby’s other shoulder. “Aaron’s a fuckwit and I hope he falls into an abandoned mineshaft and dies.”
The camera flashed. The resulting image showed her scowling at the camera, stuck between her two radiant, heavily tattooed sisters. So, just normal life.
There was a loud knock at the door and Tabby let out a scream. “That’ll be Toby and Scott! Hurry up, pound back the bubbles so we don’t have to share.”
“Maybe weshouldshare,” Nicole suggested, but Tabby had already taken a long swallow and handed the bottle to Sam. “Hurry up, Tobes is huge. He could finish this whole thing himself.”
Sam cast her a suspicious look. “You’re not doing him, are you?”
“No! We’re just hanging out. I’m showing him how to walk on the wild side.”
Sam’s face creased with suspicion and Tabby laughed. “Not like that. We’re mates.”