Dear Ex-Girlfriend (Lesbian, Girlxgirl, Gay)

Chapter 36. Resurface

Chapter36. Resurface

The red-orange leaves on the streets scattered when the motorcycle passed. At four-thirty in the morning, Bertha was enticing early risers with butter croissant, displayed neatly on her window rack. I rode on until the telltale signage of the junkshop loomed in the distance. The Harley slowed to a stop. With barely an expression on my face, I got off.

Immediately, as if they'd known what sound I'd be making, the garage door beside the junkshop pulled open. I didn't wonder much about it when the twins came out. Left Bear Creek on a motorcycle. Returned to Bear Creek with one too.

Ester's lips pursed while her arms folded across her chest. She looked more mature now, dark hair billowing down her waist, skin tanned like her brother's.

"You're early," she said.

The leather watch strapped on my wrist glinted as I checked the time. What do you know? I was early. Our call time was five, not that I missed that. It was exactly my intention to come at this time. We had so much to talk about.

Spencer dragged a hand through his hair, his breath fogging as he exhaled. Like his sister, the years spent apart had been kind to him. He looked great. His wavy hair had been trimmed shorter, his shoulders more muscular. And if he was tall when I'd left Bear Creek, he towered over us now. "Why don't we all come inside," he said, dark eyes focused on me.

"Thanks for the invite," I replied.

The familiar scent of old newspapers and musty metal contraptions were comforting when we got in. For a while, as Spencer worked on the door and Ester brought a candle in the middle of three chairs, I felt like myself again; a child, an innocent, a dreamer. The feeling vanished when the candle was opened and I caught a glimpse of myself on an old abandoned mirror. This was me now, not a child. And certainly not innocent.

"Take a seat," Ester said, as if I needed to be told. But I knew it was Spencer she was referring to because he had always been like that- needed to be told. The three of us took our respective places and focused on the candle. Or rather, the two of them focused on me.

"Des." Spencer said everything he'd been thinking of in a mere mention of my name.

I glanced at him, really glanced at him. "We've grown up," I said.

His frown never changed. "Yeah, we did. But. . ." He stared at me from head to foot; to my long hair first, then my blazer. The tight slacks after that, down to the heeled boots. It was considerably hard to drive a motorcycle with stilettos. That one had to go. "What happened to you?" he said.

I tilted my head and shrugged. "Life, Spence. Life happened to me."

"Liar!" Ester's nostrils flared. It was the kind of reaction I anticipated. Missed. She took the candle from the floor and held it between the three of us. "This is our candle," she hissed. "The candle!" Her angry face glowed from the light. "Now tell the truth. What happened to you?"

I waited for her to calm down and take a deep breath. Of course, the calming down would never happen soon, so I had to answer. "Did you miss me?"

"Destiny Jones!"

"Because I missed you." My tone didn't give me away. "But I had to leave. That's that."

Spencer touched Ester's arm and gently coaxed her to lower it. He'd prevented an outburst, but he himself still looked worried as he turned to me again. "We thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry." My gaze fell, then snapped back to him. Tears had pooled on his eyes, on both their eyes. But I remained unflinching. It had taken years for me to be this way. To be the cold, calculating, smooth-faced woman they could never really call their friend. But maybe someday. Not today. "I had ambitions," I said. "That's why I had to leave."