Then Came You (10 page)

“Yeah, sure,” I shake her comment away and buckle myself in. “Let’s just go before Remy calls out a search party for us.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Dana lies, chuckling as she drives quickly down the street. “I’m pretty sure she’s got a tracking device on us all somewhere…”

The car drive was casual, with me and Dana making light chit chat as she steered us up Remy’s street. The door of Remy’s house bursts out and our pink haired friends’ runs out of the building like a mad woman, a shit-eating grin one her face.

“Eeeep!”
She shrieks, throwing her arms around us both the moment we step out of the truck, almost suffocating us both. “Hi guys!”

“Ah, huh,” Dana raises an eyebrow at her when she finally breaks away, taking of her shades and hooking them on the top. “So why did you invite us here so early, then?”

Remy shakes her head as she skips into the house, not even bothering to see if we’re following her – which we are, obviously. The inside smells like cake and lemons as usual, the plain and clinical décor a startling and uncomfortable contradiction to Remy. I wonder if she ever feels awkward in her own room; Dana told me her parents were stinking rich and used that as an excuse to be strict and stuffy. Apparently her sister is the same.

We all sit down on the couch as Remy hums and puts on some music. “Well, you know how it’s Joey’s birthday soon, right? So, I was thinking that we throw him a surprise birthday party! What do you guys think?” She tells us excitedly, bouncing up and down as she looks from Dana to me.

“Huh,” Dana says thoughtfully, tapping her chin. Remy rolls her eyes and looks at me.

“What do you think, Darcy?” She asks eagerly, wiggling slightly on her seat. I
looks
at her and chew my lip.

“I think it’s a great idea,” I tell her honestly, grinning broadly. Dana quickly agrees with me, a smile turning up at the corners of her mouth. “But, where will we have it?”

“Um, right here?” Remy shrugs. “I mean, there’s room, and almost everybody knows where I live, so…”

“Everybody?
Who are we going to invite? Because Joey knows
a lot
of people,” Dana says with a grimace. “How the hell are we going to invite them all?”

Remy rolls her eyes and pulls out a laptop from under the couch, waving it at us. “I just happen to know his Facebook password, so I can contact all his friends easily.” She smirks wickedly, before opening it up and turning it on. We all circle around it as she opens up a Facebook tab on her webpage and
begins
clicking on all his friends.

“I’ve changed the password so he won’t know it,” she tells us with a dark chuckle. “And he won’t notice anyways – he’s always on other websites and that phone of his. Now – I think that’s everybody he’s ever talked to…” she says once she’s clicked on his whole friends list to include them in the inbox before typing out a message

Hey guys! This is Remy – Joey’s friend! I’m having a surprise party for him at my house for his birthday in a few weeks – YOU ALL GOTTA BE THERE!!! You can have a plus one :) Let me know if you can’t come; for those of you who don’t know where I live, my address is

Dana looks at me as Remy types out the message and shrugs, smiling slightly. “Joey is going to be so shocked,” she tells me gleefully. I wriggle my eyebrows at her in return.

Remy presses send and squeals, jumping up at down in a crazy happy dance before jumping on the couch to discuss details. We sit for a few hours talking about the party and other gossip before the front door slams open.

I turn around to see a girl a few years older than us – probably in her twenties? She looks immaculate, with coffee coloured hair clipped up in a fancy up do, a pristine white skirt suit and black high heels. Her face is long and sharp, her eyes narrowed on us as she frowns. “Remy, you never said you would be having guests over.”

Remy scowls immediately at the woman. “They’re not
guests,
they’re my friends, Patricia. And anyway, what has that got to do with you? You don’t live here anymore, remember?” It then clicks that this perfect and scary looking must be Remy’s older sister and her worst enemy.
The person who dyed her hair green.

She scoffs at her, “well at least I actually
belonged
here. You know, the rainbow
goth
look was never in; when are you going to start acting your own age?”

Remy huffs, her face going red with anger. “I’d rather at like a kid then be a
bitch.
” She snaps. Dana looks at me awkwardly and I return the look, both of us uncomfortable as Remy and her sister start to argue.

“Self-centred cow.”

“Pathetic baby.”

“Whore.”

Patricia gasps, her eyes going wide. “You take that back you pig!”

Remy snarls – actually
snarls
back at her. “Make me, slut.” And then, her sister screams madly, her face going bright red as she lunges at her sister and they start a cat fight in the middle of the room, me and Dana watching them in shock.

“What should we do?” I ask her in horror as they scream and roll over again. Dana shrugs helplessly, meaning she doesn’t have a clue either. I gulp, stepping forward hesitantly. “Guys, will you get up?” I ask them calmly. They totally ignore me, battling it out on the ground like wild animals without a care in the world.
“GUYS!”
I scream, making them freeze.

Patricia yelps, jumping up like she’s only just realised what she’s done; her hair is a mess and her blazer is hanging off her body. Her heels are broken. She sobs once, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth, before teetering out the room as fast as you can in broken heels and limping up the stairs.

Sitting up, Remy is equally upset, tears rolling down her face; her hair is wilder than usual, her face bright red and scratches covering her cheeks from Patricia’s expensive manicured nails. “Oh, my God,” she whimpers, wiping her eyes again and again to stop her tears. “I hate her so much.”

Dana chews her lip, her eyes downcast as she walks into the kitchen to get her a glass of water. I bend down and help Remy up, sitting her on the sofa and taking her hand as I sit next to her, stroking her crazy hair back from her face. “Do you?” I ask her gently.

She nods, sniffs,
then
shakes her head. “Not really, but sometimes I do; she’s such a bitch to me that I can’t help but hate her sometimes. I hate it when she comes home for visits.”

I nod slowly, “but what about when she’s gone?”

“Well,” she shrugs sadly, looking down at her hands as she plays with her tutu. “I guess I miss her when she’s gone. But that’s stupid, because she hates me anyway. We just can’t be in the same room together anymore.”

Upstairs, I can hear loud banging with the occasional sob. Dana walks in awkwardly and puts a glass of water on the table before sitting on the opposite side of Remy. “You know…” she says slowly, wriggling her eyebrows at her. “You can be quite the badass when you want to be. You’ve got mad fighting skills, Remy.”

Remy snorts, “gee thanks. I never thought I’d end up using them on my sister, though. God, I hate her
so much.
”

Somebody clears their throat behind us. I turn around – her sister is standing in the doorway, her eyes red and puffy, wearing a pair of black slacks and a plain blouse. She looks at Remy and winces. “I didn’t mean to actually hurt you, sis.” she admits sheepishly. “You know, you are such a pain in the ass that I can’t help but snap at you – but I don’t hate you all of the time.”

“Yeah,” Remy sniffs, smiling weakly at her. “Me neither.”

Patricia takes a deep breath before carrying on. “And I know mum and dad give you a hard time – heck, I probably don’t make it any better. But that’s only because I care about you, I guess. I want you to excel in life. I guess pressuring you and bullying you is just my shitty way of showing that I care.”

“Yeah, that is a pretty shitty way,” Rey scoffs. “You know, Max usually hugs me when he visits and lets me invite my friends to his parties; that’s his way of showing he cares.” She says, referring to her brother in college. “Maybe you could hug me too?” She says the last part
hesitantly,
a scared and nervous look on her face as she meets her sisters’ eyes.

Patricia smiles sadly, walking over and wrapping her arms around her. Remy ducks her head in her shoulder and squeezes her tightly. Over them, Dana looks and me and shrugs.
Shall we go?
she
mouths at me. I nod, grinning as the sisters hug each other.

Dramatically, Dana tip toes around them, making me giggle as we walk out into the hallway. She pulls a face as we walk out the door and head to her truck. “Well that was awkward,” she huffs, falling into the driver’s seat.

I shrug back at her, smiling like an idiot. “Maybe, but at least now they can talk and maybe get along.

“Yeah,” she scoffs. “I’m pretty impressed, though. I thought those two would hate each other for the rest of their lives.”

“I don’t know,” I tell her, turning to look out the window as we drive away. “They’re sisters – family. You can’t pick your family, but you can grow to love them. Even if you’re constantly at each other’s throats”

Dana scoffs at that, smirking. “Amen to that.”

Fifteen

Ever since Remy and her sister have started getting along, Remy has been less temperamental lately – more her giddy, usual self. She hasn’t said anything about Patricia, but even Dana agrees that it has to be about that.
And
Joey’s party in three weeks.

Joey had laughed when I’d told him about Remy and her sister that day. I’d hit his arm and scowled, making him shut up immediately and apologize. Since our disagreement in class that day over my walls, we’d become close friends. Sometimes, he’d even tell me who he was texting and what it was about – something Joey hardly ever did since he was one of the most private gossipers ever.

“Oh, my lord,” he snorted, staring at the screen. We were sat in class and he’d been looking at his phone all lesson, smirking to himself.

Curious, I elbowed him gently in the ribs. He jumped, looking up at me sheepishly. “Who are you talking to, then?” I asked him with a wicked grin.

He blushed slightly, rolling his eyes at me. “Just – someone I met online. You won’t know them.” He mumbles, frowning at the screen on his phone as he tapped out a message.

His answer made me suspicious – I mean, he just
blushed,
for god’s sake! “Oh, my God,” I say with a smirk. “You are so totally crushing on this mystery person!” I squeal quietly, but still I manage to get a dirty look from our teacher. Joey blushes like crazy, his face bright red.

“I- I do not! Just forget it, Darcy, okay? I don’t want to talk about it,” he snaps, embarrassed. I gulp, looking down at the table and trying not to let his words hurt me.

“I thought we were friends,” I mutter to myself, frowning.

He sighs, slipping his phone into his pocket. “Darcy, look – I didn’t mean to snap at you. We
are
friends. It’s just,” he groans, wiping a hand down his face in frustration. “I’m struggling with something at the moment and I don’t have a clue what to do.”

“Maybe I could help,” I tell him, smiling weakly.

He shakes his head sadly, his face tired looking. “I don’t know, Darcy; it’s pretty embarrassing and I don’t know how to tell anyone. Aw, shit – I sound like
girl.
”

I giggle, nudging him with my elbow. “Maybe you are a girl,” I tease him.

He face falls slightly, “you mean I’m not manly enough? Jeez,
Darcy,
thanks for the confidence boost.”

“I was just joking,” I sigh, smiling at him.
Man, what is up with him lately?

The past few weeks, Joey has been getting more and more aggravated. He’s snapping randomly, sighing and groaning a lot and then grinning like a fool at his phone screen. He was starting to concern me a lot and it kinda hurt that he wasn’t opening up to me as a friend.

Okay, okay – I know that’s kind of hypocritical. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to help him out.

I frowned at my hands, chewing my lip as I thought this over. A pair of arms wrapped around my waist and the smell of apples and coffee filled my mind. Tyler rested his head on my shoulder and grinned at me.

“Hey, you okay?” He asks me, pressing his lips to my ear and nuzzling my neck. I grin at him.

“I am now,” I sigh, relaxing back against his chest. I let my eyes
drift
 
shut
as he starts to play with my hair. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugs against me. “You left school early – I figured this would be where you’d come.” I look up at him with a smile.

“Gee, you know me so well,” I say sarcastically, my eyes turning back to the lake and watching the water. “
It’s
strange how water is my way of escape – it’s like she’s still here with me.”

He hums against my skin, lifting his head to ask me who I’m talking about before running his lips along the side of my neck. I tense at first, before melting against him. “My mum,” I whisper sadly. “She drowned, so I should be afraid of water. But I’m not,” I admit. “It’s like the ultimate betrayal to her – finding escape watching the thing that killed her. But I can’t help it.”