I don’t care about her perfect life, and I’m annoyed with her for thinking I would care about anything she does. I stopped caring about most of the people I knew before my life centered around my little brother’s happiness. Once I graduated high school, they were all forgotten to me.
“I heard that you’re still on stage now, though,” Megan tells me knowingly, unable to keep the smirk off her face.
She knows exactly what she’s doing.
My shoulders tense up, and my whole body aches with the rigid stance I can’t help but take. Somehow, most of the people I knew from school assumed I was a stripper now. Of course, they assume that about me.
None of them are worth the time and effort to change their minds anyway. The fact that they feel strippers are something to be ashamed of proves what kind of people they all are.
“The Scarlet Lounge,” Megan says on the edge of a laugh as if I need a reminder from someone like her that I work where I do. My blood boils in my veins.
“Oh, yeah?” I ask her quickly, flicking my hair back. If she wants blood, I can go for the jugular too. “Did your fiancé tell you that? I think I saw him under someone the other night. Or maybe he was over her that night. It’s hard to remember.”
Megan’s face grows purple-red, and she opens her mouth to say something else.
“Kat!” My little brother’s voice excitedly calls for me down the hallway, his footsteps quick and loud as he runs right toward me where I stand.
“I got you a present, or well, Eddie got it for me to give to you,” he says happily, holding up the purple keychain in his hand with a likeness of Megan’s face on it to show me. I want to groan.
My brother pauses in his tangent, looking up at where Megan stands. “Oh, sorry about that. Hi,” he offers in greeting with a small wave of his hand as he moved to hide behind me partially.
He’s shy sometimes. He doesn’t usually know how to talk to people he doesn’t know.
“Hi there,” Megan says to him with a bright sort of smile that I can see right through. She’s one of those people that just wants others to like her the most.
“Are you Lady Macbeth?” Stevie asks her, looking excited at her costume, elaborate robes, and fabrics that make up the long, thick skirts around her legs.
“Yes, that’s me,” Megan says proudly, giving me a sharp grin as if she’s better than me. “I’ve been Lady Macbeth for a whole year now. It’s so amazing.”
“I used to go to school with Megan,” I go ahead and tell my little brother before he asks anything about her, fighting against the urge to hide Stevie behind my back. Megan’s attention is annoying while she looks at us. I want her to leave us alone.
“Your sister was a good actress back in school,” Megan offers with a shrug, her eyes wandering over to Eddie. She gives me a mean-spirited smile. “Not as good as me, clearly, but we all have our lots in life, right Kathleen? It’s totally okay.”
“My sister is the best at everything ever,” Stevie states proudly, smiling as he reaches out a hand to hold mine. “She’s a really good cook and a good storyteller. She even works at a diner too. She can do anything!”
My heart swells with affection for my little Stevie. I wish I could see myself the way he does right now. If I did, I might feel better about what kind of woman I’ve become this last year.
Megan’s eyes widen some, though I know she’s just playing it up for Stevie. I’m sure she thinks it’s stupid and my life is a mess.
“Wow,” she sarcastically says as she looks from my little brother to where Eddie stands behind him, strong and handsome. I can see her eyes linger on his body. “That’s really something.”
“I haven’t yet introduced myself,” Eddie begins, and he towers over her as he moves forward to offer his hand to Megan. “I’m Eddie. Eddie Snow.”
“Snow? As in Snow Condos and Apartments on Peachtree?” she asks him, wide-eyed. I can tell that she’s impressed and also maybe a little surprised.
“That and more,” Eddie tells her, nodding as he drops her hand.
Megan’s normally pretty features twist into something ugly that looks like jealousy for a moment, and I can’t help the smugness I feel. It makes me feel warm inside. Eddie is a good-looking man, and he’s with me and not with her.
“Right,” Megan echoes as she stares at him with wide eyes.
“And you are?” Eddie asks her in a cool tone of voice, completely calm and at ease around her, something I wonder if he learned while he’d been friends with my father. My dad was always a man to never fold under pressure. Even when he did something, he never relented, which is why he’s probably in jail now.
“Megan,” she softly offers to him, standing up a little bit straighter. “Well, I guess I better be getting back to the stage,” she quickly tells us all, pulling back, so she’s out of our circle completely. It makes me feel giddy and as if I’m finally in control because of Eddie. “Intermission is almost over, and I’ll be missed.”
“Yeah, sure, so nice meeting you,” Eddie says flippantly, sounding as if he doesn’t care. It makes me unreservedly happy to know that this man is so stuck on me that other women barely exist to him beyond me.
Stevie gives a happy little smile to Megan as she leaves, unaware of the tension between us all. “Good luck out there,” he calls after her. “Break a leg or two!”