A Pretty Pill (18 page)

“
Then he pushed off of me and went to walk away.  But I grabbed his arm and told him I was in love with him and that if he walked away, I would too!  For good!” she pauses. “He stopped, he was breathing hard, and he had his back to me.  I dropped his arm and I thought for sure he was going to keep going, but he didn’t; he just stood there!  So I walked around him and looked at him.  He looked like he was in so much pain, so I touched his face, and he grabbed me into his arms and held me there; he told me I was a fool, that I broke his heart, that he’d never been honest to any woman since me, because I had his heart and he couldn’t give it to anyone else, because I ran off with it!” she sighs, she looks down at her hands... at her wedding and engagement rings.

“What happened?” I ask breathlessly.

“He took me home.” She says, turning and indicating the house with her hand.  “This used to be his parents’ house, he took me here, and he told his parents who I was, and they pulled me in to their home with open arms.  He went away for an hour and came back with a large suitcase of clothes and a torn shirt.” She explains.

“He broke it off with his fiancé!” I guess.

“Yes!” she nods.  “And he moved into the downstairs room with me and we got married the following month.” She explains.

I’m smiling now, but she isn’t
, she’s so sad!

“Sabrina?” I ask.

“He died 8 years later in a construction site accident.  I only had 8 years with him... it could’ve been 18!” she explains, tears running down her face.

“Oh
, Sabrina!” I soothe, but I find tears are falling from my eyes too.

We spend a short time consoling each other before we hear the car pull up.  I’m on instant alert.

Sabrina is too, “What’s he doing home so early? He said he was going over to Maitland to look at a bike he has his eye on.” She explains.

I find my eyebrows have risen on their own with that little tidbit of information
, he was buying a bike?

We hear the voices.

“Your Mum has a visitor!”  A woman’s voice says.

I hear a grumbled reply, but it’s hard to make out what it says.

Sabrina is in a panic...

“Sabrina, calm down!  It’s okay
.” I tell her.

“What’s he doing with Georgina?” she asks.

That has my back up, Georgina? Another woman, and Sabrina is nervous about it.  Is this an ex, or a woman he’s spent time with before?  Is he moving on with her?

The two of them round the top of the stairs, walking through the internal stairs that enter behind us.

One look at Ben’s face and I can tell he’s pissed!  Even more so now that he can see that his mum’s been crying.

Ben.

What the fuck is she doing here? 
This is who my Mum was making plans with yesterday?  Of course it is!  I’m fucking so stupid that I couldn’t see it yesterday, but like with everything else to do with Jade, I am stupid!

Bloody Georgina is all over me, and it makes me feel a little sick, especially now that Jade will
see her and think I’ve got something going on with her.

Preschool teacher?  She works in bloody child care!  Her car’s broken down and they’ve towed it from her work, and because she has to get back to work, she phoned me
while I was on my way to Maitland; to go and get her to come home and get her mother’s car.  So here I am meant to be dropping her off, but instead I’m walking in to see why Jade’s bike is at the top of the drive.

I have no idea why Georgina is following me
, she’s supposed to be grabbing her car and returning to work.

I walk in to the kitchen dining area and I can see Mum, seated at the breakfast bar with Jade, and she’s been crying!

“What the hell is going on?  Mum, why are you crying?” I ask gruffly.

Georgina rushes forward.

“Sabrina?  Are you okay?” she fusses.

“Yes, yes!  I’m okay!” Mum answers, trying to prevent Georgina’s advance without success.

I’m watching Jade’s reaction to Georgina’s fussing, and I realise it’s the same as mine.  She’s looking at the woman crowding my Mum and displaying a distasteful look, one that shows her displeasure with the woman.  Georgina’s in her space now too, so she hops off her stool and walks around the other side of the bench to place extra space between them.

“Really Georgina,” Mum says from underneath Georgina’s arms
, “I’m fine!  Let me introduce you to my very good friend Jade.” She says.

Georgina stands and looks over to Jade and cocks her head.

“I don’t remember ever seeing you here before.” She says.  She’s not warm, but she’s not being rude either.

“I met Sabrina at the hospital... I’m a nurse!” Jade explains, giving a smile that I can tell is a fake one
. She’s given me plenty of fake smiles over the months, and until you see one of her real ones, you wouldn’t know.

“Oh, how nice!  Is she okay?” Georgina asks
, ignoring the fact that my Mum just said she was.

Jade obviously thinks this too, because she baulks back a little.

“She just said she is... so, I assume that she is.” she replies.

“Oh
, it’s just sometimes she says something but you know, she’s just trying to make everyone else feel better.” She explains over the top of my Mum.

Oh my fucking God!
  My Mum is right there... right in front of her!  Who does she think she is?  I go to say something, but my Mum grabs my arm and in doing so, drags my attention down to her.  She gives me the slightest shake of her head.  And I continue to watch the train wreck that is Georgina; the albeit unintentional, dumb bitch!

“Well, in medicine and health matters, the patient is the only one that can tell you the truth
, so if she says she’s alright, she’s alright!  If she’s telling you that she’s feeling ten out of ten in pain... more pain than childbirth, and yet she looks like she’s got a mild headache; then she’s experiencing ten out of ten pain!  The worst she’s ever felt!  It’s not for us to say, it’s totally subjective and for her to say!” Jade reasons a little gruffly.

“Oh really?  But what if you end up giving out too much medication?” she asks.

I can’t help it, I groan!

My groan hasn’t escaped Jade’s notice, and she cocks her head to the side and gives me a look that says...
‘and this is who you chose over me?’

I’m thinking
‘no’
and willing her to understand, but she’s not looking at me anymore.

“We titrate dangerous medications according to age and weight
till we get the right dose.” She says.

“So really you still choose whether they’re right or wrong?” Georgina says enthusiastically, like she’s won the argument.

“No!” Jade snaps, “it means we believe what the patient says and cautiously proceed to give them relief in measures that won’t be too much for them!” she growls, “The patient is the only one who can feel what they’re feeling, and until we have a device that can measure feelings and pain, which I’m guessing isn’t on the cards in the near future, since we don’t live in a sci-fi movie, then we take what they say as factual!” she explains impolitely.

Georgina is standing there like a stunned mullet.  I’m looking at my mother trying to hide her smirk.
  I’m kind of delighted at the smack down; I’ve missed Jade’s sharp tongue!

“You’re really rude!” Georgina hisses.  Okay, now the claws are out!

“You know what?  I am really rude, at least I admit it!  You need to admit and accept that you’re really dumb!” Jade replies, walking around the bench and Georgina to Mum.

In order to lean in to Mum, she’s forced to brush up against me.  So she does, leaning in to give my Mum a kiss on the cheek and tell her they’ll catch up another day.

The shock of electricity between us is instantaneous, and I notice that she jolts as she’s leaning forward to Mum, when her arm touches mine.

I’m covered in gooseflesh and my breathing has become shallow.

She steps back and turns to gather her backpack and helmet.  Georgina still hasn’t moved, except to watch her with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Jade quickly quashes it though, by returning it with a totally treacherous stare.  Georgina wouldn’t last three seconds in a round with Jade.  Jade is slimmer and she looks fragile in her
current outfit, but she’s all muscle and she’d positively snap Georgina in half!

Georgina obviously can instinctually feel this, because she’s totally backed down.

Jade doesn’t give me another look; she practically stumbles down the internal stairs in her desperation to leave my presence.

I follow her down, but by the time I’m near enough to her, she’s got her helmet on and quickly swinging her leg over her bike.
  She has her back to me, but I can tell by her haste that she knows I’m standing there.

She turns the key and the bike roars to life
, and then she’s gone!

Ben.

Well, Georgina’s moved on, my mother laughed so damned hard when I asked her what happened, that I thought she’d cough all that cancer right out of her body!

I haven’t seen Jade for the last week and a half though, despite the fact that she’s apparently returned to the gym in the mornings... well, some mornings!

I’ve bought that bike, partly because after I sent a MMS picture to Silas of it and the price the owner was willing to go down to, he told me if I didn’t he’d shove a star picket through my skull; but also because I really liked it.  I haven’t ridden a bike since I was home, but eight months really isn’t that long.

So today, Silas and I are going for a ride to Mount Sugarloaf to run my 2009 Yamaha YZK-R1 through its paces.

It’s a really nice Sunday; there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and despite the crisp early morning winter weather, it is beginning to warm up quite nicely as I pull in to their drive.

As I go to the door, I can hear some sort of argument coming from inside
, but I knock anyway, figuring that Silas would expect me to.

Silas reefs the door open just as he shouts over his shoulder, “Well you should come anyway!”

“Who should come?” I ask, placing my head on the chopping block, and awaiting my executioner for being dumb enough to weigh in on the argument.

“Jade... she’s being difficult.  Last night Shae said she’d like to come along for the ride
, so I volunteered Jade to double her, and she caved and said she would; now Shae doesn’t want to go, because she wants to study; her exams are pretty important this year, and she’s worried that because she didn’t study yesterday, she shouldn’t waste today as well.” He explains, waving me in through the door.

I take a chance
; I mean, we haven’t talked to each other properly since... well, since before the kiss!

“Come on Jade, you pussy!” I shout out.

Silas grins so damned huge; he just about splits his face in two.  He goes over to his pretty little girlfriend who is seated at the table, with piles of books around her.

She’s tiny... blond
hair, blue eyes, pale skin... sweet looking!  I wonder how strong willed she is to be with Silas... the way he talks about her, she has him wrapped around her little finger!

He bends down and kisses her on the top of her head.

And then Jade erupts from her bedroom, eyes blazing.

“Fuck you Reynolds
, just because you don’t get any pussy; doesn’t mean you get to call it!” she seethes.

“Holy shit Jade!  What the fuck’s wrong with you?” Silas asks incredulously
, looking at Jade like she’s an alien invader, and not his sister.

“I call bullshit!  I’m going alright, just so I can see him eat my God damn dust!” she shouts and goes back to her room.

Wow, a little more heated than expected, but a result nonetheless!

“Motherfucking arse!” Silas mutters as he stomps to Jade’s door, and proceeds to bang on it
. “Jade!” he shouts, “You can’t talk to Ben like that!  You don’t even know him!” he shouts.

“I’ll fucking talk to him however I fucking well want to!” the muffled but audible sound comes back through the door.

“Jade!” Silas screams.

“Silas!” I snap
, in order to cut him off.

He looks at me with a wild look, and I jerk my head as an indication he needs to walk away from her door.

“She’s never like this to my friends, I’m sorry!” he says sheepishly, yet with a tremendous amount of hidden anger.

Shae just looks on like she’s on valium and nothing is quite getting through to her... however, I note
that she’s got a death grip on that pencil of hers.

“Silas
, I need to tell you something.” I begin; I hope he doesn’t get pissy.

“What?” he asks.

“I may have lied to you about your sister.” I begin; he looks at me with calculating eyes before I get to continue, so I clear my throat and explain.  “Your Jade is my Jade!”