Arcadia's Gift(55)

 
    Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure,   Magic
    
 


 

Chapter 22


“I can’t believe I let Bryan talk me into this,” Aaron muttered as he straightened his tie in front of the mirror in our foyer. He agreed to the tie after fierce negotiations where I ended up agreeing to write his Great Expectations essay. “Who is this chick again?”
“Monica…something. She’s Bryan’s ex-girlfriend,” I replied, fiddling with the strap on my heels.
In the days since “the incident” Mom refused to speak about it to me. When I’d come home from school the following day, she was asleep in her bed. A glance into the bathroom showed it to be perfectly clean. In fact, if it weren’t for the missing mirror, I might have thought I’d imagined the whole thing. I started to smile, thinking my mom had it together enough to clean up after herself, but then I remembered the house keeper had been there that day. I groaned thinking of the horrible mess left for her. I called my dad and asked him to cut a check for the maid for an additional hundred dollars. He had sort of taken over the whole money thing for the household since Mom obviously wasn’t doing it. He agreed to the tip without asking why, a fact for which I was supremely grateful.
Anyway, I hadn’t had time to shop for a Homecoming dress, so that morning, after an hour of debating with myself, I’d raided Lony’s closet. Her bedroom door had been closed since the funeral, entombing her citrusy scent inside. My heart hurt, as if breaking the seal to her room would somehow allow her spirit to leave us forever.
An eerie feeling snaked up my spine as I took in the familiar bedroom. Several clothing items were strewn across her bed and on the floor, reminding me of the three times she had changed before we’d gone out on the night of her accident. I fingered a cotton sweater on her bed, her first choice of outfit that night, and wondered whether things would’ve been different had she decided to wear this instead. We might have gotten out of the house ten minutes earlier, met up with her friends ten minutes earlier, maybe gone on the hike through the woods ten minutes earlier. We could have been a mile away from the tracks by the time that train rolled through.
Lony and I have shared clothes our whole lives, so going into her closet shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did. I used to yell at her for taking my things without asking. Now, I was the one doing it to her.
“Sorry, Lon,” I muttered out loud in case she could hear me on some level.
Lony’s closet had enough clothes in it for five people, and all of it stuffed in haphazardly. I rifled through as best as I could until my fingers latched onto a dress that would work. It was the color of lilac blossoms and the fabric was just as delicate. The hem of the tiered skirt just barely reached the knee and the fitted top highlighted my figure. My sister had only worn it once, and that was to Cane’s cousin’s wedding or something, so I could get away with recycling it for a school event. After a little more digging, I even found a light jacket to pair with it.#p#分页标题#e#
Before leaving her room, I stole another glance around. I suppose at some point, my mother would need to get rid of Lony’s things, although no one mentioned it yet. My eyes moistened at the thought of all traces of my sister being stripped away in favor of some generic looking guest room.
“I don’t know why I even agreed to do this,” Aaron complained for the four millionth time. “I hate dances! And things better not get awkward between you and this Monica girl. If this turns into a pissing contest over Bryan, I’m coming back home.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, assuring my brother as much as myself. “Bryan says everything will be cool. Maybe you’ll even like her.”
Aaron sighed and mumbled, “Like that would do me any good with her living across the country.”
I rolled my eyes. Whine much?
The sound of Bryan’s car pulling into my driveway sent me to the mirror to check my hair one last time. I had curled the whole thing and pinned the sides up so that it cascaded down my back like a waterfall. I even put on make-up for the first time in forever. Although I hated to admit it to myself, part of the reason I wanted to look good was so I could hold my own next to Monica.
Aaron opened the door to let Bryan in. He was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a pale green button down shirt with a silver tie. The leather scent from his long, black jacket added to his normal sandalwood, making my head light and fuzzy. In his hands was a small plastic carton containing a corsage.