My Best Friend's Girlfriend.

The days passed much slower now that Nathan wasn’t around so much. Cali watched reruns of old American comedies, and found herself actually studying some of the time.

It was a novelty, and one which she found was not as distasteful as she had always presumed. Nathan still tended to come to hers for at least two hours straight after college, and then he would take his bike over to Rhea’s where he would spend the rest of his evening. Cali could tell it made him uncomfortable, splitting his time between them, and he sometimes tried to coerce her to go out as a group. She rarely did so; only when she felt she would die of boredom if she stayed home and even then found herself sullen and unwilling to interact.

“I feel like a third wheel!” Cali whinged to Nathan every time he asked, and she could tell that he understood because he rarely pushed it, instead promising to try harder to spend quality time with her. Today, a Wednesday, however, Nathan was seeing his mum who came to take him out for dinner once a month. She lived in Bristol, three hours away, but at least occasionally made the effort. The meal often resulted in her sobbing on his shoulder that she didn’t want to leave Nathan with his violent, cruel father, it was, apparently, just the way things had to be. In other words, she did not want the hassle of having to find space for a seventeen year old boy. Secretly, despite how sorry Cali felt for Nathan living with his father, she was pleased that he wasn’t going to go and live in Bristol. But that was selfish, and something she would never admit out loud.

So she was lying on her bed, reading over her English notes on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, deliberating on whether she could ever be so in love that she would take her own life without question. She hoped so. Her room was simple, the way she liked it. Coffee coloured walls, brown and cream furniture, and a thick cream carpet. Everything was kept in draws or cupboards so it looked as though she hardly owned anything. Even her television was in a cabinet, out of the way until she needed it. There were two photo’s on the wall; one of her, Georgie and their parents, smiling cheerily at the camera in that oh-so-fake way. It made her feel slightly sick to look at her family lying that way, but her mother had insisted they have a different picture of the family in every room of the house – not the bathroom, though, thank God. The other picture was of Nathan and her, grinning like idiots at a carnival about a year ago. Cali’s mum had taken them for her birthday, and taken about a hundred photographs, but this was the only one that she had liked, so her mum had blown it up and put it above Cali’s bed.

She heard the door bell resound through the house from downstairs, and vaguely considered ignoring it. But it could be Nathan, perhaps upset after meeting his mum, so she slid of her chocolate coloured bed and ran downstairs in tracksuit bottoms and an over-sized shirt. She quickly took a look through the peep-hole and to her shock, saw it was Rhea. Fuck, that girl just wouldn’t go away. Cali wondered if she had time to run back upstairs and change into something marginally less slob-like, but Rhea was already looking around anxiously as though she was about to leave.

Damn.

“Hey, Rhea.” Cali said as she opened the door. She arched an eyebrow in question, trying to ignore her fast beating heart.

“Cali! I don’t suppose Nathan’s here?” What, you guys can’t be apart for more than a few hours??

“No.” Cali went to close the door in her face, but then felt kind of bad, and turned back. “Why?”

“I lost my fucking mobile, thought he might have it.”

“He’s with his mum – he didn’t tell you?” Cali felt a stinging pride rise up in her, making her feel like she was a bad, bad person. She backed up so Rhea could come inside since it was bitterly cold outside.

“No.” Rhea looked unconcerned. “I don’t have to know where he is all the time, you know.”

“Right. ‘Course.” Rhea shrugged off her heavy vanilla coat, and hung it up, revealing a clingy black top, red skirt, and deliberately ripped tights. Oh. Dear.God She had never looked better. Cali allowed herself to imagine pushing her up against the wall right now, and kissing her until their lips were numb – and perhaps doing other things too – and then tugged herself back to reality.

“Drink?” Rhea nodded, following Cali into the large, lemon yellow kitchen.

“Homely.”

“You bet. We’re all about the home here.” Rhea giggled, and it occurred to Cali that it was the first time she had made her laugh. It was an awesome sound, genuine, and beautiful. She made a mental note to try and do it more. She got out a bottle of Diet Coke, and was about to pour it into two tumblers when a hand stopped her.

“You got anything stronger?” They grinned at one another, and proceeded to raid the booze cupboard above the fridge.

“Jack Daniels, Vodka, Bacardi, white wine, Gin...” Cali read off the labels.

“Woah, your parents alkies?” Rhea said it brazenly, as though it would have been the most natural thing in the world if they were.

“No... We just get company a lot. Which is why it’s so easy to steal whatever I want. I used to water it down, but ironically that makes them more likely to notice...”

“I can go down to the shop if you want – I brought my ID.” She beamed proudly, another mannerism that Cali fully intended to see more of. It was easy to see why Nathan was so happy to be with her.

“Why bother?” Cali replied, plucking the bottle of Bacardi from the cupboard, and pouring it into both glasses, and then adding coke. “Sorry it’s not three shots, but I have no intention of getting drunk at six o’clock in the evening...”

“Sorry about that – everyone seemed so nervous, I was just trying to chill us all out.”

“Well you did a good job of that – Lily couldn’t even sit up by the time I left.”

“Bless her; she threw up about seven times back at my place. I haven’t seen her since.” Cali laughed in surprise, and led them both into the living room. They sat down and started to watch television, although there was nothing of substance on, and she found it was remarkably easy to talk to Rhea, this girl who she had judged from the start. “I get why Nathan loves it ‘round here so much, it’s so relaxing. I don’t want to go home!”

Then don’t! Cali all but screamed. Rhea pulled her feet up underneath her so that their knee’s were touching, and they were suddenly still at the contact, as though they were playing the statue game, used to entertain children. It wa not much, and Cali was wearing thick tracksuit bottoms so it wasn’t even skin-to-skin. But it was enough for her breath to catch, staring silently at the T.V screen where adverts were dancing in front of her. Bright colours that hardly made sense to her. People that had no idea who she was, how she was feeling. And then Rhea shifted to the very end of the sofa, far away. Too far. There was no contact now, none at all and it left Cali feeling lost and cold.

“So, you happy with Nathan?” It was so inappropriate that Cali felt like trying to claw the words back into her mouth, as though she could. It was said now, and she struggled to look up at Rhea, in case she got slapped. But Rhea evidently had a lot more control over herself than Cali did, because her face was totally emotionless.

“Of course I am.” She whispered. And that was the end of that.