CHAPTER THREE.
Desiree wished she could feel the same contentment that her best friend Lydia found when they went to Greens & Co. Lydia loved everything about the Leederville cafe, but when Desiree looked around, all she saw was outmoded décor, uncomfortable furniture and pretentious people. The walls looked like someone had barfed posters all over them, and the hundreds of paper globes above them were an inferno waiting to happen.
We have got to talk Lydia into changing cafes. This place is a dump.
Even so, Desiree had to admit that Greens had seen its fair share of the life moments of Desiree, Lydia and their other best friend, Penny. From the end of high school to university, from heartbreak to success, boyfriends, girlfriends, (in Desiree’s case anyway; she went through an experimental phase), families, jobs and careers. They had laughed, cried and talked about everything at Greens.
And now, Lydia was telling them about a date she made with a guy she met at a gallery. Lydia was, as always, in two minds whether she should ring the guy back and cancel. And as always, Desiree and Penny were making sure she would go.
“Just go,” Desiree said, impatience creeping into her voice. “It’s only dinner. And he’s taking you to Tres Circe.” The guy must really be trying to impress, taking her to one of Perth’s top restaurants.
“Never heard of it,” said Lydia dismissively.
“Seriously?” Penny said, her eyes widening in disbelief. “Then you’ll have an even better time.”
“Why?”
Penny started to answer, but Desiree tapped her on the arm before she could say anything. Penny swung around to face Desiree, her expression questioning, but Desiree spoke to Lydia. “We might just let you find that out for yourself.”
“You know I don’t do surprises. You know I have everything nice and neat and comfortable.”
“Well, luvvie,” said Desiree, swinging an arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze. “It’s time for you to get down and dirty and totally uncomfortable.”
Lydia threw her a dirty look and Desiree beamed into her face. Pulling herself out from under Desiree’s arm, Lydia said, “Fine. I’ll go. But if it’s a disaster, I’m blaming you guys.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Desiree tried to sit back against the low couch, to no avail. That was another problem with Greens. The couches gave no back support at all, unless you slouched so your backside was very nearly at the edge of the seat. For someone tall like Desiree, relaxing on the couches here simply wasn’t even an option. She wriggled, casting a glare at Lydia and Penny.
“How was your day, Pen?” Lydia turned her back on Desiree.
“We got this massive shipment of active wear and it is amazing,” Penny said, her eyes shining. She was the pin up girl for active wear, but thankfully, Penny was actually into exercise. She wasn’t one of those people who wore yoga pants to try to pretend they were into fitness, but who you usually caught scoffing donuts or drinking milkshakes. Penny was the real deal, with a science degree and a bad habit of telling everyone the bad stuff that was in their food. However, even Penny had a weakness. She loved cake, and Desiree delighted in teasing her about over and over again.
As the other two droned on about sports gear, one of the most boring subjects in the world, Desiree toyed with her charm bracelet and thought about how lucky she was for the friends she had. They had been her cheerleaders when her parents were too busy to notice, her support when her parents were fighting over yet another one of her dad’s affairs and her sounding board when she needed to talk things through. She loved them every bit as much, if not more, than her real sister. Smiling she looked down to find the charms she had bought to represent each of them - theater masks for Penny, and a stiletto for Lydia.
“Rehearsals tonight for the new show,” Penny groaned, as if it was a total chore for her go there. It wasn’t. Penny loved community theater.
“Is Marc going to be involved this time around?” Lydia asked.
“Yeah, he’s going to assist me again. Thank god. He’s worth his weight in gold backstage.” Penny smiled at Lydia, and Desiree wondered if Penny realised how much of a crush Marc had on her. She was pretty clueless when it came to guys. But you would think sneaking around backstage in the dark, Marc would have ample opportunity to pull Penny aside into a corner and whisper sweet nothings. Ah well, if he didn’t take the chances that came his way, more fool him.
Desiree’s mind wandered again, thinking about each of them, and how their love lives were shaping up. There was Penny with her guy right in front of her that she couldn’t see; then there was Lydia with her date that she wasn’t sure she wanted to go on; then there was Desiree.
Who had been thinking far too much about the gorgeous father of one of her students. And knowing there was no future there. But thinking about him anyway.
She sighed loudly. The other two looked at her inquisitively. She said “All our love lives are really fucked up.”
“Why?” Lydia said. “What’s wrong with yours?”
Shit. I should probably have kept that little insight to myself.
“What’s right with it?” she said, and Lydia nodded sympathetically. Penny wasn’t so easily put off.
“Come on Desiree, out with it. You don’t make a comment like that without there being a reason behind it.”
At Desiree’s hesitation, Lydia joined in. “Yeah, Des. You don’t get to tease us about our guy problems without us being allowed to tease you about yours.”
“Fine.” Desiree weighed up what she wanted to tell her friends about Jack. She picked up her cup and took a sip, but all it did was delay the inevitable. Her two friends watched her expectantly, and she resigned herself to having to confess.
“There’s this guy I met.”
“Yay,” Penny said, clapping her hands and bouncing on the couch.
“And he is hot. No, I don’t mean just hot. I mean fucking-volcano-hot.”
“Okay.” Lydia was giving her the get-on-with-it gesture, rolling her hands over each other.
“Only he’s the father of one of my students. I met him the other day at parent teacher night.”
Lydia frowned. “Is he single?”
“Of course.” Desiree threw her a dark look. “Jesus, Lydia, I know I’m a bit out there, but I don’t go around stealing other people’s husbands.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Bad question.” She furrowed her brows. “So what’s the problem?”
She threw her hands open. “He’s the father of one of my students.”
“I say go for it,” Penny struck in.
“It is awkward though,” Lydia replied, turning to Penny. “How is she supposed to objectively judge the schoolwork of the student if she’s sleeping with their dad?”
“Whoa, hang on a second,” Desiree said, laughing and putting her hands up. “It’s a pretty big jump from connection to sleeping with.”
“Not for you,” Lydia said.
And it was true, reflected Desiree. She did tend to jump into bed with her various potentials pretty quickly. Desiree didn’t really do relationships. She was more of a love-em-and-leave-em kind of gal. A product of her parent’s fucked up marriage.
“Well, I think it’s gorgeous and romantic,” Penny said, and Desiree smiled at her fondly. Penny was a sucker for a good love story. “What about if you ask your student?”
Desiree snorted with laughter. “Oh yeah, how good would that look? ‘Kid, I’d like to bone your Daddy. Are you gonna be okay with that?’”
“Hmmm,” Lydia said. “You’re right you know.”
“About what?”
“All of our love lives being really fucked up.”
“Well,” Penny said cheerily, “at least we have each other, right?”
Desiree agreed halfheartedly. She did love her friends to bits, but they were hardly a good replacement for a man.
“Maybe I should screw his brains out, and then it will all be over and done with and we can all go back to normal.”
“That’s a great idea,” Penny said far too enthusiastically. “And if you don’t hit it off, no one ever needs to be the wiser.”
“Yeah, but what if they do hit it off?” Lydia asked.
“Then you deal with that when it comes up.”
“Well, that’s a bit short-sighted. You need to have a contingency.”
When Desiree realised they were serious, she cut in. “Jesus, guys. I was only joking. It’s a shit idea. And I won’t be doing it.”
“So what are you going to do then?” Penny and Lydia looked at her, the question bright in their eyes.
“Seriously?” Desiree sighed. “I have no idea.”