Chapter 2: Aiden

 

 

I braced myself as I climbed the stairs, doing my best to put Lucy’s head massage out of my mind. The last thing I needed to be thinking about while I confronted Chelsea about her black bra was the image of Lucy’s.

I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to broach the subject of Chelsea’s suspected infidelity, but it had to be done. Our relationship was becoming hard work, and I wasn’t keen to keep working so hard on something that was a dead end.

When I unlocked the door and pushed it open, Chelsea was scrolling through her iPod next to the speaker on the table.

“Aiden!” she said, picking some upbeat music and walking over to me.

“Hey,” I said, chucking my keys in the bowl. “Am I dreaming or does it smell like pizza in here?”

“You’re not dreaming,” she said, throwing her arms around me and kissing me on the lips. “We’re celebrating!”

“Hence your good mood.”

“I’m celebrating with a salad, of course, but I thought you would be excited to sink your teeth into some deep dish.”

“You know me so well,” I said, thinking I was going to need a drink pronto.

“Can I get you a beer? I picked up those crafty ones you like.”

“Sure, yeah. Thanks.”

“Did you get a haircut?” she asked, running her fingers through my hair.

“I did.”

“It looks fab,” she said.

“Lucy did it,” I said, perhaps because Chelsea’s manic happiness was too much for me.

“Well, she did a great job.”

“I’m glad you approve.”

“And how is she?” she asked, heading towards the fridge.

“Good. Fine. Same old Lucy,” I lied.

Chelsea pulled a beer out of the fridge and looked around the kitchen for the bottle opener.

“So what are we celebrating,” I asked, following her over to the kitchen past the peppy music and the pre-set table.

“I got a job!” she said, lighting up in a way I recognized from the early days of our relationship.

“That’s great, babe.”

“So you know how Bianca and I had that casting this morning?”

“Yeah,” I said, relieved that she had genuinely been with Bianca last night. “I got your note.”

“Well, they gave me the job on the spot!”

I leaned an arm on the counter top. “No kidding? That’s fantastic.”

She reached over the counter and set the beer down in front of me. “Which just proves that I was right.”

“About what?” I asked, taking a sip of the cold beer.

“About me not being too skinny at all. The problem is that I’m too high fashion for those other jobs.”

I pursed my lips, unsure of what to say.

“My look is totally wasted on high street catalogs. I’m runway through and through.”

“I see.”

“So next time I have a meltdown about not getting some crappy billboard, just remind me that I’m better than that, yeah?”

“That I can do.”

“If everything goes well, this could really open a lot of doors for me. Like I’ll never have to beg for another job again.” She opened the fridge and pulled out a Diet Coke. “Cause people will be begging me to work for them.”

“I’m so happy you’re in such a good place,” I said, thinking it would be much easier for me to leave her this way.

“And I have even more good news,” she said, popping the tab on her drink.

I sighed. “I don’t know if I can handle any more.”

She laughed. “I know, right?”

“What is it?”

“Have a seat first, and then I’ll tell you,” she said, gesturing across the room.

I took another glug of my beer and headed over to the table.

She followed with a pizza box in one hand and a take away salad container in the other.

“So?” I asked, lifting the lid on the pizza box. “The suspense is killing me.”

“Well, you know that email your Mom sent today?”

“No, I haven’t seen it yet.”

“No worries. It was basically just to let us know that your sister went ahead and put her registry together.”

I cocked my head at her.

“You know, like when the bride tells people what she wants for her wedding presents.”

“Oh, right.”

“So I jumped right on it and got her the very best thing before anyone else could.”

“You did?”

“Yep.” She glanced at the greasy pizza on my plate before turning her attention back to her salad and opening the lid. “So now it’s one less thing for you to worry about.”

“Dare I ask what the very best thing was?”

“Tiffany’s flatware, of course.”

“Flatware?”

“You know, like, forks and knives and stuff.” She took the sealed packets of dressing off the top of her salad and threw them into the pizza box.

I decided not to mention the irony that Chelsea would buy eating implements of all things for my sister. “And how much did you spend on the forks and knives and stuff?” I asked, taking a bite of my pizza.

“I used the Visa.”

“Right.” Of course you did. “So how much did I spend on forks and knives and stuff?”

She laughed. “You sound like your Dad.”

“And everyone else who likes to know the balance on their credit card.”

She shrugged.

“Well?”

She squinted like she couldn’t quite remember. “Around forty five hundred I think.”

I almost choked on my pizza. “Sorry.” I took a sip of my beer to clear my throat. “I thought you said forty five hundred.”

She looked at me blankly.

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“When have you ever known me to joke about Tiffany’s?”

I clenched my jaw and exhaled through my nose.

“Why are you making that face? I didn’t exceed the limit or anything.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Should I have used a payment plan?”

I put my hands on my head. “You should’ve waited until I got home and then fucking discussed it with me is what you should’ve done.”

“Sorry.” She stabbed some lettuce with her fork. “I thought it would be a nice gift because it would make her think of you every day.”

“What?! She’s my sister! She thinks about me every day anyway!”

Chelsea kept her eyes down on her food.

“You’ve met Claire. Do you really think she would want me to spend that kind of money on her wedding present?”

“I figured that, because she’s your sister, you wouldn’t think the money was important.”

“Well, you thought wrong.”

“It’s not like you can’t return it and get her something cheaper.”

“No shit.”

“Like a gravy boat or some stupid crap she’ll only use once a year.”

I rested my elbows on the table and put my head in my hands.

“I’m sorry, babe. I was only trying to help.”

I sat up and looked at her. “By what? Bankrupting me?”

She rolled her eyes.

“You know what it sounds like to me?” I asked.

She put a bite in her mouth and closed her lips.

“It sounds like you were so excited about getting that job this morning that you wanted to celebrate with a little bit of retail therapy, but you weren’t in the mood to spend your own money so you came up with an excuse to spend mine.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Her face was so sullen it made me sick. How she could even pretend that she was the one that had been wronged in this situation?

“Too bad you spent that money on my sister. I was kind of saving up so I could get you something really expensive for your birthday,” I lied. “But hopefully now you’ll understand when I can’t do something more extravagant than take you to dinner.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “You already got me something.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did. Because the cost of the silverware was so great, they gave me a discount on any piece of jewelry in the store.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing any more than I could move. 

“So I got myself one of those “T” bracelets everyone’s wearing now.”

“You did, huh?”

She nodded. 

“Well, happy birthday, honey.” Consider it a souvenir.