A Tale of Two Pretties (14 page)

Another loneliness flower bloomed, this one in her heart. Why was everything so hard all of a sudden? Was it payback for leading
such a charmed life? Should she make an appointment with Hermia and figure out some way to pay it back as a form of retribution?
Then
would her life go back to normal?

“Massie?”

She jumped so high she nearly launched Bean into a basket toss. “Kuh-laire?
Ehma
-move! I thought you had left!”

Claire dragged a large box behind her from the hallway. She had dust bunnies in her hair and grime striped across her gray
American Apparel tee. “Not quite yet,” she said, wiping her brow. “Mom and Dad and Todd are out back with the movers right
now. But everything’s ready!”

Massie stared at Bean, pretending to be intensely interested in the design of her Coach doggie collar. She couldn’t let Claire
see the panic that had been painted on her face like the original Picasso her father just sold. She swallowed a few times,
willing her anxiety to disintegrate like a packet of Splenda in iced tea before she glanced back up.

“What happened to your neck?”

“Beckham,” Massie said, covering the scratches MAC failed to conceal.

Claire had a small smile on her lips, but she looked sad, too. “Oh.”

“Everything’s changed so much…” Massie leaked. Her voice trailed off as she looked helplessly around the guesthouse. She shrugged
again, her shoulders spelling out
See what I mean?

“How were your sleepovers?” Claire asked, falling onto the couch and resting her Keds on the coffee table the way she always
did when her mother wasn’t around to scold her.

“Ugh, don’t ask,” Massie said, covering her eyes with her hands and pressing her palms tightly against them. She breathed
in their soapy scent from her Philosophy Amazing Grace hand wash.

“That bad?” Claire asked, shocked.

“Let’s put it this way…” Massie said, inspired by memories of watching DVDs on this couch with Claire so many times. “Dylan’s
house was
The Real World
. Alicia’s estate was
Happy Feet
. And Kristen’s was
While You Were(n’t) Sleeping
meets
Bend It Like Beckham
, and by ‘bend’ I mean ‘claw my
hair out.’ ” She pulled her hands away from her eyes and smiled ruefully at Claire.

“I’m sorry,” Claire sympathized. She brushed away her bangs and raised her eyebrows. “So what now?”

“Now…” Massie smiled hopefully. “Now, can I go with you to your new house?”

Claire hesitated, looking around the empty living room. “It’ll be disorganized for a while. Probably worse than Dylan’s locker.
And you might have to sleep in the new den until all the beds arrive…” Claire continued.

Massie nodded her head. “S’okay.” She didn’t care if she had to sleep in Bean’s bed. She’d take it. It was either that or
a castle across the pond. And she was running out of options.

“New year, new house!” Claire’s father sang as he carried a box into the living room.

Claire sneaked a peek over at Massie, who was helping her unpack a box of her clothes and organize them by color, designer,
and season. When their eyes met they both groan-giggled. Jay Lyons had been shouting that catchphrase all day long to anyone
who was within earshot—the Lyonses, the movers, Massie, the bagel shop staff, the Starbucks baristas. It had started to weave
itself into the fabric of the day like a theme song. And like the newest single from Train, it was inescapable.

When Jay’s voice trailed off, Claire paused her unpacking to take a deep breath and marvel at their new house. Even though
it was messy and disorganized and had hardly any furniture, the place already felt like home; her bedroom was the perfect
extension of GLU headquarters. The sun was angling in through the windows, filling it up with light. The faint scent of fresh
paint still hung in the air. The floors shone. And best of all, Todd hadn’t had a chance to stink up the bathroom yet.

It was heaven.

Downstairs, Judi was directing the movers as they carried
in the few pieces of furniture that the Lyonses had kept in storage while they lived in the Blocks’ guesthouse. Even from
inside her new bedroom, Claire could hear her mother exclaiming that she had forgotten how much she loved, just
loved
, that end table or that chest of drawers and how she couldn’t wait to see them being used again. Then Jay would add his chorus,
Claire would laugh, Todd would get yelled at for breaking something or other, and the whole thing would start all over again.

It was one of the best days of Claire’s life.

Once the clothes were hanging in the closet, alphabetized from American Eagle to Zappos, she and Massie turned their attention
to the furniture.

“To be hawnest, you don’t have a lot to work with when it comes to feng shui–ing your room,” Massie said matter-of-factly.
She strode over to the single window that faced the backyard and pulled up the white blinds. “You won’t get to see the sunrise
or the sunset, which can really upset your inner body clock. And—oh, ew!”

“What?” Claire, alarmed, ran to join her at the window. She peered outside and squinted against the bright winter sun.

“There’s some old man standing in his kitchen in a bathrobe!” Massie pointed. Then she quickly closed the blinds. “You know
what, on second thawt, forget about the view. We’ll get those sheer curtains I saw in Anthropologie and then we’ll just blow
up some photos of the beach in the Hamptons and hang them on the window. Then it’ll feel like summer all year long!”

Claire furrowed her brow, trying to imagine her mother’s reaction if she hung a poster over the entire window.

“Well, we can talk about that later,” Massie said, changing the subject, clearly noticing Claire’s expression. “Let’s figure
out where to put your bed.”

“I was thinking here,” Claire said, stepping back against the wall and marking the space next to her closet doors.

“Perf! Your bed should always face the door,” Massie confirmed, beaming. “That’s what the interior designer who remodeled
my room the fourth and seventh times told me.”

“Great! And what do you think about my desk being right there, below the window?”

Massie nodded slowly, studying the small space. She and Claire sipped the hot white chocolate Massie had just had delivered
for the Lyonses. When Claire pulled the cup away from her mouth, she felt a mustache of white foam covering her lips. Massie
burst out laughing, her guffaw echoing through the empty room and down the hallway.

“What? What is it?” Claire asked, pretending not to notice her face-foam. She mock-patted her face. “Do I have something in
my teeth? Am I out of lip gloss?” She stuck her tongue out at Massie, giggling.

Massie scooped up some of the foam from her own cup and dabbed it onto Claire’s chin. “There, that’s better. Now you look
like just like your new neighbor back there!”

“Gross!” Claire wiped the foam off her face, grinning. She was thrilled to see Massie acting like her old self again. And
if
it took her wiping 2 percent milk on her face now and then, so be it. She was willing to make the sacrifice. Besides, Massie
had once told her that milk cleansers could help clear up the problem spots on her chin.

Just then the chorus from Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” rang out, interrupting their revelry. “Landon!” Massie squealed, lunging
toward her bright pink Rebecca Minkoff tote. She pulled out her iPhone and read the incoming text out loud. “ ‘Wish I was
in Westchester to be with you for the big party tonight. Happy New Year!’ ” She tossed her phone back into her bag and sighed.
“You’re so lucky that Cam doesn’t take the types of vacation that Landon does, Kuh-laire. Being in a relationship with him
makes me really appreciate how Brad and Angie stay together. It’s hard being so international. I wonder if it’s holding me
back.”

Claire nodded like she understood. But the most “international” Claire and Cam had ever come was when they biked to IHOP for
breakfast.

“Yooo-hooo!” Layne’s voice floated up the stairs and into Claire’s room. Claire side-eyed Massie, expecting her to roll her
eyes or suddenly decide she had something more important to do than hang around with Claire. But Massie stayed where she was,
blocking out where the rest of Claire’s furniture should go and taking notes with her new uMove iPhone app.

“Hi, Layne!” Claire couldn’t stop herself from jumping up and down a few times when she saw her other best friend.
How lucky am I?
she wondered, glancing between Layne and
Massie.
One best friend is living with me, and the other lives down the street!

“Happy move-in day! I brought you a welcome basket!” Layne dumped the basket into the center of the floor and plopped down
behind it, pulling out each item one by one. “To begin: a spare key to my house. You can give me yours once you’re settled.”

“Oh,” Massie said, “I’ll need one of those, too.”

Layne jangled the key on its keychain and then tossed it to Claire, who caught it in surprise.

“And of course, some decorations to mark the occasion,” Layne continued, unrolling a roll of purple crepe paper and tossing
it across the room. Within seconds, a banner of purple lined the floor. Then she pulled out a big, sparkly, homemade WELCOME
TO MY STREET! sign and began taping it to the closet doors.

Massie golf-clapped before Layne got to the next item in her basket. “That was toe-dally nice of you to drop by, Layne. Thanks
for coming!” She pushed her toward the door. “We’ll have you by once everything is more organized.”

“But—”

Massie slammed the door behind her.

“I’ll call you later, Layne,” Claire shouted, eager to get back to the decorating.

“What kind of budget are we looking at?” Massie asked.

“Um,” Claire stalled. Somehow, she didn’t think the fifty-dollar Target gift card she’d gotten for Christmas was what Massie
had in mind when it came to decorating
her—their—new room. She was about to mumble something about how much she liked her old stuff and didn’t need anything new
when Todd poked his head inside her door.

“What, Todd?” she huffed. He took that as a sign to come in.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, mock-casually. Claire narrowed her eyes. Her brother was up to something.

He strolled over to Massie. “So I hear you’ll be living with us for a while.”

Massie didn’t look up as she examined the gold-coated nails she’d had manicured for the Marvils’ party. Todd didn’t wait for
an answer before continuing.

“I just wanted to warn you about how things will work around here in our new house, now that you’ll be sharing a bathroom
with me.”

Claire’s heart starting beating in triple time like it did whenever her brother was about to embarrass her. Massie kept her
eyes on her hands.

“The thing is, I’m a man—”

Claire snorted.

“—who likes to take his time in the mornings. The showering, the combing of the hair, the shaving and the aftershave… it all
takes time to look this good.” Todd gestured to his Umbro shorts and Yankees tee. Claire snorted again. She could see the
hint of a smile curl up on Massie’s mouth.

“So if you ever have to really
go
, and I’m in there, just knock on the door, sweetheart,” Todd concluded.

“Get out, Todd!” Claire ushered her brother out of the room and then turned back to Massie, an apology for being related to
him already forming in her throat. But Massie was chuckling softly.

“Kuh-laire, we are going to have some
fun
with him while I’m here,” she said mischievously, her eyes flashing.

Claire grinned, flooded with relief and excitement. She couldn’t believe how well Massie was handling all this—her small bedroom,
her non-gourmet snacks, her annoying brother. Living with Massie was going to be even more fun than living in her guesthouse!

With Massie in such a good mood, Claire decided it was time to mention her Friday night photography class. But “I’m taking
pictures of Cam’s band tomorrow. Wanna come?” came out instead.

“Sure,” Massie said. “Sounds fun.”

Claire felt like she could burst, she was so thrilled with how everything was going. Besides, they’d had enough truth-telling
for one week, more than they’d had all year. It was time to step off the serious pedal and floor the fun.

Massie checked her cell phone. “Where
is
everyone? We only have a few hours to get ready for the party!”

Claire brushed her bangs away from her eyes and shrugged. Boxes and clothes were everywhere. Why did she ever agree to host
the prep-party? She couldn’t even see her floor, let alone her mirror.

“We’re here!” Dylan burped. Todd thrust one of the two
LV suitcases he had wheeled up the steps into the chaos. After he dropped off the other one Dylan smacked a five-dollar bill
in his hand and Alicia reluctantly kissed his cheek.

Kristen came up behind him carrying a stack of garment bags. “Ah-mazing house, Claire! Massie, Old New Isaac just dropped
these off for you downstairs.”

“Sorry we’re late,” Alicia said. She moved out of the way as two movers came in and deposited Claire’s new bed as Massie directed
them. When they left, she flung herself onto it and stretched her arms. “Practice took for-
ev
today.”

Massie snapped her fingers to get everyone’s attention. “Bring the bags and follow me.”

Huh?

The girls did what they were told without question. They had spent years following Massie. And never once had they been disappointed.

“Where are we going?” Alicia whispered.