Evie's Job

83: Evie

Evie was still in the bedroom when Meredith arrived. She heard a knock on the apartment’s front door, and was curious enough to stand still where she was, listening.

She heard Natalie open the door. Natalie said something, but Evie couldn’t hear what. She couldn’t hear very much. Muffled voices, but frustratingly little else. She went and opened the bedroom door slightly, and then she could hear better. There seemed to be a fight happening at the front door. A fight in whispers. Evie heard Natalie say, “Keep your voice down, she’s here,” and, “I don’t give a fuck what you think.”

Evie couldn’t hear everything, and at first she couldn’t hear Meredith at all, not until Meredith came inside. Evie knew when Meredith had because she heard heels on the floor and knew Natalie was still in bare feet, and suddenly Meredith’s voice was clearer.

“Is she living here now?” Meredith said, and Evie just knew Meredith meant her.

“What business is that of yours?” Natalie said sharply.

“I don’t know,” Meredith said. “I wondered, that’s all. She seems to be here a lot.”

“Over the last two days you mean?” Natalie said.

“I suppose so, yes.”

“And if she is?” Natalie said. “What about it?”

“Nothing really,” Meredith said.

“So why ask?” Natalie said, and Meredith didn’t answer.

Natalie was annoyed. Evie could tell from her voice. Natalie had a way of sounding exhausted when she didn’t want to talk about something. She was doing it now, Evie thought. Natalie wanted Meredith to stop asking questions. Evie could tell that from the other end of the apartment, but oddly, Meredith seemed not to have noticed.

Natalie closed the front door, and she and Meredith came down the hallway towards Evie. Their voices got louder for a moment, then quieter again as they walked into the study, the room next to the bedroom.

They went into the study, and suddenly Evie couldn’t hear as well. Not that she really needed to. She’d already heard enough to tell what was happening. Meredith was complaining, and being snide, and Natalie was hoping she would stop. Meredith kept talking. Evie caught something about how embarrassing it all was for Natalie, and something about Natalie’s age, and then Meredith said well you know what these girls are like, and Natalie said no she didn’t actually, what the fuck was Meredith on about. Meredith was quiet for a moment, then said that Evie had been rude on purpose, and Natalie said, “God, Meredith, give it a rest.”

Evie felt pleased. She felt very pleased, and wasn’t sure why. Whether it was because Natalie was standing up for her particularly, or just that Natalie was standing up to Meredith at all. It didn’t especially matter, Evie thought. It was still good thing to hear.

Through the wall, in the office, someone opened the wardrobe. The wardrobe which backed onto the bedroom’s wardrobe, so suddenly Evie could hear clearly again.

“How old is she?” Meredith said.

“Does it matter?” Natalie said, then, “Twenty-one.”

“Oh god,” Meredith said. “Really?”

“Stop it,” Natalie said irritably. “Just stop. Help me look.’

Evie heard file cabinet drawers grate and boxes scrape, and then Natalie said, “Here.” There was a slither and then a thud. Natalie pulling something out the wardrobe and putting it on the desk, Evie thought. Then there was silence, as if both were looking through whatever Natalie had found.

Evie stood where she was, thinking. A part of her had wanted to make trouble, but she hadn’t quite decided if she would until right then. She hadn’t been sure in case she went too far or upset Natalie, but Meredith’s spiteful little comments had decided her.

She ought to do something. She ought to go into the study and do something slightly mean. She wasn’t quite sure what.

She thought about Meredith and how Meredith had noticed what she was wearing the day before. She thought about Meredith saying she was half-naked, when she hadn’t been at all. Part of her wanted to walk into the study naked, just to see what happened, to see how Meredith reacted. Part of her wanted to, but she knew she wasn’t brave enough. Not with Meredith staring and judging and perhaps saying something awful. She needed to do something else.

She thought about Natalie wearing her singlet and why Natalie had. It was a nice idea, she thought, to wear Natalie’s clothes while standing in front of Meredith. It was odd, but it made a kind of sense.

She picked up Natalie’s shirt, the one Natalie had just discarded. It was old and soft and still slightly warm from the brief touch of Natalie’s skin. Evie pressed it to her face, and breathed in, and it smelled faintly of Natalie.

Evie liked Natalie’s smell. That was reason enough to wear it.

Evie pulled the shirt on. She did it all the way up, then changed her mind, because even if she wasn’t going to be brave, she could show off just a little. She undid the top few buttons, which was about as bare as she could bring herself to be.

She pulled on the shorts she’d been wearing the day before, the same shorts that had offended Meredith so much, and then she went to look for Natalie.

She didn’t know exactly what she was going to, but she wanted to do something.