Authors: Emily O'Beirne
“Nah, it was a game,” Pete says. “Well, we were inventing it as we went along.”
“Yeah, it was like hide-and-seek, but if you won a round, you got tequila.” Robbie grins as he scrapes dip onto a hunk of bread.
Nina giggles. “Hide-and-seek for grownups.”
“And if you lost, you had to save yourself by running around the house before someone caught you.”
“Like, out the back door, around the house, and in the front door,” Nina adds.
Claire nods. That explains all the thunderous footsteps.
“And if you got caught, you got a bucket of water thrown at you.”
And that explains all the splashing.
“And if you got around the house before someone caught you?” Mia asks.
“You got tequila.” Robbie laughs. “Of course.”
“Right.” Claire pulls a face. “Sounds like the world’s most exhausting drinking game.”
“Something like that,” Eli agrees.
“What the hell happened to you guys, anyway?” Pete asks.
“They were too busy having deep and meaningful girl talk all night,” Nina mutters. She picks up a strawberry and munches on it, frowning.
“No, we were hiding from you crazy people.” Claire sneaks another look at Nina. She does seem a little bit hurt, as though she feels left out of whatever she thinks was happening in the sleeping porch. At the same time, she also can’t believe Nina is accusing her, Claire, of girl talk. But she’ll go with it for the sake of avoiding any actual disclosure.
She’s about to explain away their all-night disappearance and tell them that Mia crashed with her because they thought Robbie’s friends would need the bunks. But as she looks around, she realises no one knows about them or cares. Well, Robbie knows, but he’s not saying a word. He’s too busy stuffing his face with food. And he’s the only person who the possibility of Claire and Mia seems to have occurred to.
“Anyway.” Nina inspects her bruise again. “It was kind of brutal, but it was fun.” She winces and then sits up and claps her hands. “Let’s do presents!”
“Yes, presents!” Robbie brushes crumbs off his hands and reaches for his bag.
Claire stares at them. “Presents?”
“Yes, you know that common custom where people celebrate one another’s birth by giving each other stuff?” Robbie winks at her.
She pokes him in the shin with her toe. “Shut up.”
He ignores her. “Hey, Mia, did you remember ours?”
She slowly sits up and stretches her arms above her head. “I did.”
Eli picks up a large Tupperware container that has sat unopened among all the picnic food and brings it over to Claire. “I don’t exactly have a present for you, as such, but I made you this.” He squats down next to her and peels off the lid. “Ta-da!”
Claire peers into the container and laughs. It’s a birthday cake. But it’s completely covered in neon-purple icing and a great big C made from M&Ms.
“Something told me you don’t do fluffy-pink icing and flowers,” Eli says.
“No.” Claire reaches in, swipes off a bit of the icing and tastes it. “Can you tell my mother that?” She smiles at him and turns to behold it once again. “That is an amazing cake. Thanks, Eli.”
He squeezes her arm. “Happy birthday.”
Pete steps onto the rock, peers into the container and shakes his head. “Wow, what is it with all the baking talent in this group?”
“Yeah, we do seem to like channelling our inner old ladies around here.” Eli laughs.
“I think your creation was a little more spectacular than my drunken effort,” Mia tells him.
“Yeah, and no old lady is going to ice a cake like that.” Nina comes over to Claire and puts a small package in her lap. “Happy birthday, my evil friend.” She crouches down and clutches her arm, waiting for her to open it.
“Thanks, Neen.” Claire picks up the present and feels the hard square object inside. “How did you even get this here?” she asks, remembering the debacle that was getting Nina out of the house the morning they left. “I packed for you, remember?”
“Smuggled it in Eli’s bag. Thanks, Eli.” She blows him a kiss.
“No problem, sweetie.”
Claire unwraps the package. It is a book—a travel guide on how to get around Europe on the cheap.
“You said you were saving to go away. I thought maybe some inspiration?”
“And it’s kind of perfect after our conversation yesterday, too,” Pete adds.
Claire nods and flicks through the glossy colour photos of all those exotic destinations inside the middle pages. “Thank you, Neen.”
“You like it?”
Claire smiles at her. “I love it, stupid.”
“Hey, Mia, where’s ours?” Robbie asks.
“One sec.” Mia reaches into a pocket of her bag and pulls out a small package. She passes it to Robbie.
He turns to Claire. “This is from both of us.”
“We actually saw it ages ago.” Mia jumps lightly from her rock to theirs and sits down beside Robbie. “Before we even knew when your birthday was.”
“And we thought it was so you,” he adds.
“So we went back to see if it was still there last week.” Mia gives her a shy smile as Robbie passes it to Claire.
Incredibly curious, Claire turns over the tiny package in her hand, wondering what might be considered “so her.” She peels away the thin crepe paper and reveals a tiny card box. She flips open the lid. Nestled inside on a piece of fabric is a ring. The wide band is made from silver, and a delicate engraved pattern encircles each edge of the ring. It’s tarnished already, as though it’s old.
“It’s vintage,” Robbie tells her.
She pulls it out, slips it on her index finger, and holds it up. It’s perfect. She loves it. It looks like something she’s been wearing forever.
Nina leans over her shoulder. “That’s hot. I’m jealous.”
“Do you like it?” Mia asks.
Claire nods. “I do. It’s awesome.” She smiles at them, feeling suddenly shy. “Thank you so much.”
Mia smiles back.
“Good. Neither of us could really afford it, so we decided to split it,” Robbie says as he pulls a large envelope out of his bag. “One more thing from me.”
“More?” Claire’s eyes widen as she turns the ring on her finger. She’s already feeling spoiled.
He passes the envelope to her. “A little bonus.”
She opens it and pulls out a piece of folded plain white card. She unfolds it and inside is an unframed photograph,
her
photograph, a smaller copy of the portrait from his exhibition. She stares at it, refamiliarising herself with this version of Claire.
He kisses her on the cheek. “You’re going to need this. So when you are old and wrinkly, you can show your grandchildren what a hottie you were.”
“Thank you.” She smiles at him and then stares at it a while longer, feeling slightly unnerved by the uncanny sensation wrought by this familiar yet strange image. This mousey-haired Claire of a couple of months ago already seems like a different person. She wonders what she was thinking in that moment as she stared out into the bar at the very moment the photo was shot. She can’t remember much about that night at all, except that she talked to Robbie properly for the first time. It was, in so many ways, so long ago.
“Is it the photo from the exhibition?” Nina asks. “That was so beautiful. Can I see?”
Claire nods but then stares at it for a fraction longer before she hands it over to Nina.
Pete sighs. “I feel bad, Claire. I don’t have anything. I didn’t even know it was your birthday until this morning.”
“It’s totally fine, Pete,” she assures him.
“Nah.” He shakes his head. “Before we leave here, you’ll get your birthday present. I’ll think of something.”
“Thanks, everyone,” she says shyly. “Except Pete, of course,” she adds, and gives him a dirty look.
CHAPTER 52
They stay out by the lake all day and graze over the food they brought. They drink champagne to toast Claire’s birthday and luxuriate in the last day of their little holiday. Faced with the prospect of their departure tomorrow, they stubbornly remain until the sun drops behind the trees, until the shadows fall across the water, and the chill begins to set in, making the most of the time they have left. Finally, when it’s too cold, they wearily carry everything up the track.
“Let’s watch a film,” Robbie suggests as they pile into the house. Since their arrival, he has been working his way through the old DVDs, mostly Cam’s, a motley collection of action and blockbusters. Robbie loves them. For someone who is so artsy, he has an incredible tolerance for crappy films.
The collective mood is tired and mellow, so they all agree to a movie. They put away their stuff, change out of swimming clothes, and slowly return to the living room. Claire grabs a blanket from the shelf and settles on one end of the big couch, relishing the comparative warmth of the house. As she pulls the blanket over her, Nina plonks down next to her, grabs half of it, and drags it over her lap. Claire fights disappointment. She’d hoped Mia would sit next to her.
Without discussing it, they’ve kept a physical distance from each other today and not put this thing between them on show for the others. Claire knows she’s definitely not ready to have her feelings out there for everyone to see. It’s too new and too half formed. She doesn’t know what it is for Mia, but there seems to be some unspoken consensus that this is how it should be. But now, she can’t help admitting to herself, she craves Mia’s nearness again.
Instead, it’s Nina huddled up next to her, hogging the blanket. Mia’s sprawled across some large cushions on the floor with Blue stretched beside her. Instead of watching the opening scenes of the film, Claire watches Mia as she lies on her side, her hand tucked between her head and the cushion, her knees curled up to her chest. She stares at the tanned sweep of Mia’s back and wishes she could run her fingers along that smooth, lightly freckled stretch between her narrow shoulder blades. She feels an urgent desire to lie down with her, to shape herself around the arc of Mia’s back, and to wrap an arm around her waist as Mia did to her this morning as they fell back into sleep. Instead Claire lets out a small sigh and returns her gaze to the screen. She has absolutely no idea how she has become so suddenly, incredibly smitten.
She tries to focus on the film, but like all action films it has the opposite effect it should on Claire. The relentless speed and sound and danger lulls her somehow, making her want to drift off. So she stares at the screen and lets her mind go elsewhere. It’s been such a great day. The best birthday she can remember. Everything from waking to now has been perfect, perfect in ways that not so long ago Claire would never have described as perfect.
And never before has Claire felt as though her birthday truly was the start of a new phase of life, a new age—even though that’s what they’re supposed to be. Most years, Claire hasn’t given her birthday much thought. Or when she has, she’s simply felt the inexorable sameness of her life, no matter what new age she becomes. Thirteen felt no different from twelve although people made such a big deal out of it. Sixteen felt like fifteen, and eighteen felt uncannily like seventeen, despite the parties.
But being with these people and waking up this morning to the newness that is her and Mia, it all feels so changed and, in so many ways, so good. Everything that has happened these last few months makes it feel as if something may have palpably shifted in her life—that twenty might somehow be distinctively different from nineteen.
A tiny snore erupts from Nina, yanking Claire from her thoughts. Both of them jump.
“Oh.” Nina gasps as she sits up rapidly and rubs her face. “I think I fell asleep.”
“You did,” Claire whispers, not wanting to disrupt everyone’s seeming infatuation with this stupid film. She smirks. “You snored.”
“Did I?” Nina reaches up into a long stretch, her skinny little arms arching back behind her. “I think I’m going to go to bed. It’s probably only, like, nine o’clock, but I’m so tired. Happy birthday, babe.” She squeezes Claire’s arm and climbs off the sofa. “Good night.”
“Night.” Claire watches Nina tiptoe carefully out of the room as if she thinks her bare feet padding along the polished wooden floors could do anything to detract from the racket of the high-speed chase that roars from the TV screen.
Just when Claire, sick of the film, is considering the thought of going to her room, Mia sits up and stretches.
“Bathroom,” she mumbles wearily.
Robbie drags his eyes from the film for a second. “You want me to pause it?”
Mia shakes her head and slowly clambers to her feet. She turns and gives Claire a sleepy smile as she passes her.
While Mia is gone, Pete appears from somewhere. Yawning, he flops down in Mia’s spot on the floor. Claire smiles.
Thank you, Pete
. Without even realising it, he’s delivered on that birthday present he promised.
And when she finally returns, Mia sees Pete in her spot and sits down on the sofa next to Claire. She drapes half the blanket over her, pulls her knees up to her chest, and sits back against the couch. She turns her head toward Claire slightly. “I hate this movie,” she whispers into the air between them.
Claire nods. She slowly, timidly reaches out under the blanket and wraps a surreptitious hand around Mia’s narrow ankle. And it is mere seconds before Mia’s hand joins hers. Her fingers slide over Claire’s hand and then her arm, where her fingers stroke the skin of her inner wrist.
Claire bites down on her lip, trying to contain her pleasure at how just that small touch creates a rush of feelings. She squeezes Mia’s ankle and refocuses on the film, not wanting to draw any attention to them. But now the night feels complete.
* * *
Claire wonders where the hell Mia is.
She gave up before the end of the movie and, feigning tiredness, she took herself to bed, hoping Mia would know to follow soon after. She hasn’t yet.
She rests her head against the pillow and tries to take in the way things have abruptly shifted today. This thing with Mia, she knows, isn’t fleeting or small or in the slightest bit insignificant. Not for her, anyway. But it’s also new and tender and half formed. And maybe that’s partly why she doesn’t want the others to know. Because they will make jokes and tease and do the very thing Claire would do if she were witness to a new and highly unexpected pairing. And Claire doesn’t want to spoil it with any of that. Let it be precious for a minute. She hopes Mia feels the same.