The Truth Untold

47

I gotta hand it to him, Leo doesn't make empty promises. It had cost me a lot of strength to get out of bed and after theoretically having to take a shower for a quarter of an hour, I only managed to wash my hair over the bathtub. For some reason we had completely missed breakfast, so I just toasted something and stormed out of the apartment in my work clothes. I was finally able to persuade Leo to come to me in the evening and start exactly where we left off. He had finally consented and released me. Nevertheless, I was five minutes late for work, which has never happened to me before. The work cost me my last nerves and I was happy when my shift was finally over. With a relieved sigh I opened the apartment door and heard an excited chatter from the kitchen. Was Leo already there?

"Kathiiieee, guess who's here," said Jessie, who came up to me hectically and dragged my name out in a strangely tense and cheerful tone. Her eyes flashed, her mouth was compressed into a thin line and her nostrils trembled.

I was about to start a greeting when another person appeared behind Jessie and her arms were gushing around my neck.

"Ahhh, Kathie. God how I missed you. You look great. How are you," she fluted happily into my ear and I was still standing there completely surprised, while Lydia was still holding me close to her.

"Ah... Wa-What are you doing here?" I asked, attacked and looked at her with big eyes when she finally let go of me.

"What am I doing here? I have written to you that I will visit you," she said completely naturally and looked at me crookedly.

I remembered a message I received from my cousin two weeks ago. Lydia had written me that we hadn't seen each other for so long and that we absolutely had to meet again.

"Well, I thought we'd set a date first," I said and scratched my head.

My cousin and I have been really close over the last few years. She had been there for me the whole time and we had met whenever we could. She had blonde hair just like me and we were very similar, so many outsiders always thought we were siblings. Only our character did not resemble each other at all. I was a quiet person, one who was more reticent in conversations or disputes. Lydia was the complete opposite. She was loud, enterprising and could hardly ever hold back. Under other circumstances I would have been really happy to see her, but I was dead tired and completely exhausted.

"You look really shit, Kathie. Are you still working in that ranch shop," she asked, pulling me into the kitchen with Jessie and completely ignoring my remark.

"That's not a ranch shop, the food is delicious," I defended my job and let myself sink onto a chair with my skull pounding.

"Well, Lydia. What are you doing here", I asked again and looked at her from tired eyes.

"I have a few things to do in New York at the moment and thought, 'Hey, you haven't seen Kathie in a long time. I'll visit her for a few days'", she said with a big smile and sipped on a cup that apparently belonged to her.

It took me a few seconds to process her words, but when they made sense, I looked at her irritated.

"A few days? How long do you want to stay?" I asked and forced a smile on my lips.

"Only until Tuesday. Don't worry, I'll sleep on the couch. I've already sorted it all out with Jessie," she said at a glance to Jessie, who sparkled at me from the work surface.

Jessie didn't like Lydia at all, probably because they were quite similar. Full of energy, dominant and always on attack, never defense.

"Well, yes. But you don't look enthusiastic at all, so ... um ... I can also find a hotel," she said and her voice had become calmer and quieter.