The Convenience of Lies (9 page)

I am pacing around my house. First I'm in the living room, then I'm in the kitchen, back to the living room, down the hall into my bedroom. My feet can't settle. The day I have been anticipating with excitement and fear is here. Wednesday has finally arrived. Kira's plane got in late last night. I know that international travel is exhausting, so I don't want to call and wake her up as she recovers from jet lag. Not only that, I don't know if Kira wants me to call her at all. I've decided to wait until I hear from her. When she is ready, and if she wants to, then I am sure Kira will call. I'm keeping my cell phone in my pocket to be sure I have it handy and to be sure I hear it if Kira decides to call me on my cell. I don't want to leave the house either in case she calls me on the house line.

I jump about a foot into the air. The house line is ringing. Before I think about it, I'm sprinting over to the phone. We don't have caller ID, so as I arrive to the phone, there's still no way for me to know if it is Kira. Usually we screen our calls by letting them go to the message machine to discover who is calling. I can't wait for this. I instantly grab the phone, “Hello?”

There is a long pause. Then a voice with an accent I can't place starts speaking, “Hello, I am calling from the Red Cross. Is Mackenzie there?” Argh! Ever since I donated blood, the Red Cross seems to be calling me once a week. They're like vampires who want to suck my blood. How many times do I have to ask them to stop calling me? How many times do I have to tell them I will contact them the next time I want to donate my blood?

I can't stand having the Red Cross tying up my phone line when something else that's so important is at stake. So, to get rid of them as fast as possible, I say, “She died in a car accident last week. Bye.” I hang up without waiting for a reply. Maybe now I have warded off those blood-suckers for good.

The second I finish hanging up my house phone, my cell phone starts to ring. I eagerly look at the caller ID, and it's Shane.
Man! When am I going to get the call I really want?
Not wanting to be rude, I answer, “Hi Shane.”

“Mackenzie!” He says as if he hasn't heard my voice for a decade.

“What's up?” I ask, checking the time impatiently.

“Cody and I are going to go watch
28 Days Later
. You want to join?” I can tell from his enthusiasm and confidence that Shane is positive there's no way I'll refuse. I always hang out with them when they ask me to.

“Isn't that the zombie movie you guys have wanted to drag me to?”

“Yeah! You should come see it. It's going to be awesome!” I can hear Shane's typical enthusiasm in his voice.

“Sorry, I can't today,” I say matter-of-factly.

“WHAT?!?! Why not?!?” The boys never listen when I refuse something they want to do, but this time, I'm not going to relent. Fortunately, since they are not here, they won't be able to force me either.

“Kira is coming home today. I need to hang out with her.” I feel like Shane should be able to understand this. I have seen him and Cody multiple times over the past few weeks, and I haven't seen Kira in two months. I'm also happy to have this excuse because I have absolutely no interest in seeing the movie; I've dodged that bullet.

“Has she called you yet?” Shane asks with a calculating voice.

“No, not yet. But she will soon.” I say, trying to sound more confident than I am.

“How do you know you guys are going to hang out if she hasn't called you? Come on, watch the movie with us.” Shane has managed to weed out my biggest uncertainty, not that I'm going to let him know.

“Kira has just gotten back from an international trip. I am sure I will hear from her once she's had a chance to rest. I'm sorry, I can't hang out with you guys today.”

Shane finally realizes I am putting my foot down this time. “Alright… but you're missing out….” We hang up. I am totally fine with missing out on watching
28 Days Later
. Catching up with Kira is much more important. I feel like the boys should be able to understand this.

I pace around the house some more, watching the time. Half an hour crawls by, mocking the confidence I dug up for Shane. Maybe I should have taken him up on the movie after all. The house line rings. More hesitantly this time, I pick up the receiver, my heart pounding. “Hello?” I say tentatively, not sure what to expect.

“Hey, Mackenzie.” My heart leaps at the familiar Russian accent. I can't believe my luck. “It's Kira.”

“Hey Kira, ohmygosh, I'm so excited you're back!” I squeal out, hardly able to contain myself. Whatever fear I have has dissipated. She's called me, and no matter what, that's a good sign.

“Yeah, it's so nice to be back,” Kira tells me. I'm surprised because Kira has talked so much about how she thinks Russia is better than America, and it had been six years since she was last there. So, I figured visiting Russia was like she finally got to go back home. “Do you want to hang out?”

“Yes. YES I do!” My longing desires and my loneliness are finally coming to an end. “When do you want me to pick you up?”

“Now would be fine,” I can hear a smile in her voice.

“I'll be right over.” I congratulate myself on getting dressed and ready for the day before Kira called me because now I will get to see her as soon as possible. As soon as I hang up the phone, I put on my flip flops, grab my purse, and jump in my car. In less than five minutes, I'm at her house. I knock on her door. I'm so giddy, I'm squirming. In no time at all, Kira has opened the door, and we are giving each other a huge hug, the kind that only best friends can share.

“Hi Mackenzie!” Kira says full heartedly. This reunion is better than I could have imagined.

As we get into my car, I ask Kira, “Where do you want to go?” I figure I can let her decide since it's been so long since she was last here.

“Let's go to Verdad High School. We can sit on the benches there and talk.” This sounds exactly like what I was hoping to hear. We are on the same page about needing to catch up.

As we sit down, the first thing Kira asks me is, “Why didn't you join me in Russia? I asked my parents if they ever heard from you, and they said they hadn't.”

“Well… I wasn't sure if you wanted me to join you.” I say this hesitantly. This topic is dangerously close to the fight we had last time we talked.

“I KNEW something was going on. I knew I needed to get home,” Kira says with exasperation ringing in her voice.

Surprised with her response, I say, “I didn't know if you were still mad at me!” I'm getting defensive now, in part because it seems like Kira is scoffing at my concern.

“Why did you think that I was mad at you? I called you and said not to worry about it.” Kira seems genuinely confused.

Doesn't Kira remember everything that happened before she left? “But then you texted me and said that 'nothing I could do could mend your broken heart.' ”

Kira looks at me for a second. She seems like a deer caught in headlights. I can see that she's thinking, trying to figure out what happened. “I sent that text to Brent Andrews!”

“Well, I got it. Didn't you get the text that I sent you asking you if you were still mad at me?”

“No, Brent Andrews sent me that text. How do you know about this?” Kira seems genuinely flabbergasted. I can't believe my ears. It looks like I spent the past couple of months scared that my best friend hated me and didn't go to Russia, all because of a miscommunication.

“It seems like somehow things got messed up, and you thought the text I sent you was from him,” I tell her. “Do you have our names saved in your mom's phone?” Kira's face falls as she realizes what happened.

“No, I don't,” she says quietly. Her face is ashen. It looks like her caller ID was just showing phone numbers rather than our names, and she got the numbers mixed up. I can feel Kira's sorrow in the air. It's as if our hearts are reaching out to each other. She feels remorse that I thought she was mad at me this whole time, and I feel remorse for the same thing. How would this summer have gone differently if it wasn't for those two fatal texts?

Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about it now, except for forgive and forget. So, we start filling each other in on what's been going on the past couple of months. I tell her about all that happened with Ramon, excluding the late night massages. Kira is contemplative, and then she says, “That just doesn't make sense because when someone loves another, there is just nothing that can keep the two apart.” Kira likes to exaggerate sometimes.

After a long pause during which I am waiting to hear if she has any other thoughts on my situation regarding Ramon, Kira tells me a new piece of information, changing the topic sooner than I would like. “A window at Gameland was broken this morning.”

My focus on Ramon shifts instantly. This news has obviously been weighing on Kira's mind this whole time. And I can see why it's fishy. The day Kira gets back from Russia, a window is broken at Gameland. It looks like YMS didn't do it this time, but someone who knows what is going on at Gameland did. Whoever it was probably knew that Kira was coming back. There's only one question left. “Who do you think did it?”

“I don't know. Doesn't the timing seem odd?” Kira responds, reserved, like something's weighing her down.

“Yes, it does,” I confirm. “When are you guys going to fix it?”

“Oh, it's already being fixed. The first thing we did was call in a repair man.”

“That's good at least….” I know that part of the fun vandals get out of causing damage is going back and seeing how long it lasts. This way, they won't be able to revel in their misdeed for too long.

Eventually our conversation shifts to other things. Kira tells me about a boy she met in Russia who she found attractive and about how rude her cousin was to her the whole time she was there. I tell her about my antics with Cody and Shane. It is just like old times. I slowly become aware of a knot that's been inside my chest for the past two months because I feel it finally releasing and being replaced with a sense of peace and calm. I still have my best friend, and it's like no time has passed. We are still two peas in a pod.

“Have you seen any movies this summer?” I ask Kira. A bunch of excellent ones have come out.

“No, I wanted to ask you, have there been any good ones?” I can't believe how much she has missed.

“Yes. We have to see
Pirates of the Caribbean
! I loved it!”

“Is that the one with Orlando Bloom?” Kira seems interested.

“Yes, he's in it. So is Keira Knightly.” Kira nods her head. “You also have to see
Finding Nemo
! That's a really big one that came out this summer. It's so good; everyone loves it.”

“Do you want to go see one?” Kira asks me.

“Now?” I am taken aback. But then I remember, this is how Kira is. She is spontaneous. It's one of the things that draws me to her.

“Yeah, why not? If that's okay.” She has misread my surprise as reluctance. I hurriedly assure Kira that I'm totally down to go see a movie, and we head over to the theatre. It looks like we have excellent timing because
Finding Nemo
is starting in ten minutes.

I'm grinning from ear to ear. I can't wait to see
Finding Nemo
again, and I am excited to get to show it to Kira.
Finding Nemo
has been like a cultural revolution. EVERYBODY has seen it. I want her to be up to date, and I am jumping at the idea that I'm the one who is introducing it to her.

After the movie is over, Kira enthusiastically assures me that she liked it. I look at the kiosks in front of the other theaters as we walk out, and see that
Pirates
is starting soon in a theatre we are passing by. “Oh, it looks like
Pirates of the Caribbean
is coming up in that theatre,” I inform Kira quietly.

She knows exactly what I'm implying and gives me a devious sideways look. “Do you want to watch it?” She asks me, also quietly. I can see her eyes darting around to see if there are any theater employees working nearby. I decide to check to see if the coast is clear also. There's nobody in sight. The theatre is not busy because it's the middle of the day, and everybody is at work.

We both come to the same conclusion at the same time. “Yes, I do want to watch it,” I say, a devious grin spreading across my face. Kira is grinning also. She grabs my arm, and we dart into the theater, giggling. We are both looking around to see if anybody will catch us, and nobody does. We are enthralled by our luck. As we examine the theatre, we can see there's only one other group of three in there. Perfect! We are getting away with this! We choose some seats towards the middle and sit down. This is my first time ever movie hopping, and I can feel my heart pounding with excitement. This is another thing that draws me to Kira; she is willing to be a little mischievous with me every once in a while. I feel like I'm in the clouds. Everything else that has happened doesn't matter. I have my best friend back, and we are enjoying ourselves in style.

After
Pirates
is over, it has gotten rather late. I bid Kira farewell as I drop her off at her house. We are both glowing. This day couldn't have gone better.

As I head home, Cody calls me on my cell, “Shane and I had an awesome time today.” It's like Cody is trying to make me feel guilty about not hanging out with him today. I pretend to miss this pretext.

“That's good. I'm glad you guys enjoyed yourselves,” I say honestly.

“You missed out. We went to Denny's, and Shane pulled a Meg Ryan.” He's referring to the diner scene in
When Harry Met Sally
when Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm. While it does sound amusing, I am resolute in thinking I made the right decision today.

“Cody, this was my first time seeing Kira in two months. She just got back from Russia. I needed to see my best friend today,” I insist. I'm not going to give him the pleasure of knowing that it sounds like I would have had fun with them too. Even so, between the two options, Kira was the better choice.

“So now that Kira is back from Russia, you aren't going to hang out with us anymore?” This seems a bit extreme. It was only ONE DAY, and it was the first chance I had to hang out with Kira in two months. Regardless, I can sense that Cody and Shane are feeling neglected.