THE VELVET KILLERS

(7) SOME NEW FRIENDS AND AN UNWANTED REUNION

LEAH

The next morning, everything was blurry.

After leaving The Times office - after finding out my ancient best friend Ingrid was back in London, which was bad I think - I called Jill and Kady to go party, which we did: after many drinks and two minutes of vomiting, I woke up on Jill's couch, while she and Kady were sleeping in her bed, by fear of me throwing up in the middle of the night. But I didn't, and right now, although my head was hurting like Hell, I was feeling better already. 

When Jill enters the room, she bursts into laughter and says:

"Yo, Kady, come and see this: Leah's alive!"

I hear laughter behind her, and when Kady appears, she also laughs, as I crack a smile, relieved that they wouldn't be mad at me for getting too drunk. 

While Kady prepares some breakfast for us, Jill sits down next to me.

Kady brings us fresh bread and butter, as well as some avocado, and suddenly I feel like I'm in Heaven... At least until the dark-haired mentions the touchy subject:

"So, how come we didn't invite the fourth part of our friends group, uh?"

Quite immediately, I start feeling bad again, as I answer in a shameful tone:

"Well, I fucked up... (and, as my friends are staring at me like 'keep on talking bitch', I continue reluctantly:) she was just trying to be nice, but she asked a question about a touchy subject for me, a-a-and I just... I don't know what got into me, I was so mean and she didn't do anything wrong at all..."

"Then maybe you should text her, right?" Jill asks, raising her eyebrows. As I nod slowly, she adds: "I mean, this usually is the easiest way to apologise to someone you care about..."

"... or more than care about, for that matter" Kady adds, as the two friends start laughing.

Rolling my eyes, I decide to ignore their personal attacks.

But when the doorbell rings, and that Kady immediately runs toward the door, I soon understand it is a set up: given the bright smile on Jill's lips, I get that my two friends did the work for me, mostly because they despised conflict, but also because they kind of ship us together - at least that's how people call it, no?

As soon as Lia enters the room, I didn't know if I should hide or just smile like a stupid person: either way, there was no way out this time. Setting my jaw, I stare down at my hands nervously, as she enters the room and remains standing for a while. When Jill sits down next to me, she makes sure to hit me in the arm, which makes me frown.

After a while, I just hear Kady say:

"Alright, you two: enough now! Why don't you just tell us what's on your mind, Leah, so that we don't talk about it again if you don't want to, uh?"

I take a deep breath - think, don't tell them everything, but the lawful version of it... you can do it, this isn't lying, not really: it's for their own protection. And they'll hate you if you tell them the truth either way... for once you've got good friends... I close my eyes for a while, nodding my head, which incites Kady and Lia to sit across from Jill and I.

Opening my eyes again, I just say:

"So, erm... There were three of us, since childhood until high school. One was Norwegian, the other Spanish, and then, there was me. We were inseparable. The Spanish had a sister named Maria, who I had been quite attached for years... a-a-and Maria d-died 'cause she was hit by a car... (my friends gasp, as a tear rolls down my cheeks). Two days ago, the g-guy that did it, some cop that just vanished, was found on the beach - or at least what was left of him. A-and the cops made the connection between him and my friend, so... yeah..."