Lies and Forgiveness

“It makes you look huge.” Theo said calmly, barely glancing up from the book she was reading as she sat cross legged on the floor of the dressing room. “I know you like the color, but you look like a whale, Chloe.”

Chloe studied herself in the mirror. “It fits weird.”

“Take it off.” Theo insisted. “I’m serious, you look like the gum chewing chick in Willy Wonka.”

“Do you have to be so negative?” Chloe asked her, glaring at her best friend through the mirror. “I have to find a dress for this party.”

“Well, that one isn’t it.” Theo assured her. “You look like-”

“Okay, I get it!” Chloe sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you going to look for something to wear?”

Theo looked up from her book and looked at her best friend as though she had gone completely insane. “I am not going.” she said flatly. “There is no way in hell you can get me to go.”

“What?” Chloe spun around to actually face Theo, looking upset and surprised. “You have to go!”

“No, I don’t think I do. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I have to stay home. I’m almost positive of this.” she made a show of thinking about it, looking off into space and tapping her bottom lip with her finger. “Yes, I’m sure I have to stay home.”

“But Theo!” Chloe came over and crouched beside her. “You can’t really expect me to go by myself.”

“Why not? You always forget I’m there anyway.” Theo told her.

“Ouch.” Chloe whispered, and pressed her hand to her breastbone. “Really, Theo.”

“Please.” Theo stood up. “Besides, you want me to go so I can drive you home when you’re drunk. I’m not up for that. I don’t even know what day it is.”

“Next Saturday.” Chloe said promptly.

“See? I couldn’t go even if I wanted to.” Theo told her. “Next Saturday is my due date.”

“You’re always ahead anyway.” Chloe pointed out.

“So? It’ll be a busy, tiring day, and I won’t be up for drunken bullshit after it.”

Chloe sighed dramatically. “Spencer bailed out on me too.” she said, and Theo raised an eyebrow, although she knew Spencer‘s plans already. “He said he had already made plans to drive out and see his mother for the weekend. He’s leaving that Thursday, and he won’t be home until Monday.”

“Shame.” Theo said. “Mickey’s gone all that week, too.”

“We should do something fun. Like we used to.” Chloe suggested.

Theo’s stomach flipped. Chloe’s ‘something fun’ usually involved a lot of drinking and some stupid stunt that landed Theo in trouble. “We’ll see.” Theo said. “Like I told you, my due date is Saturday.”

Chloe sighed. “We don’t see each other enough anymore.” she complained. She turned her back on Theo so that she could unzip the back of the dress. “You’re always busy.”

“I have a lot going on lately.” Theo told her. “Things will calm down in the spring at work, and hopefully I’ll have worked out my problems at home. We’ll have more time for each other, I promise.”

“You have time for Spencer.” Chloe sniffed, and Theo couldn’t think of anything to say. “You two spend a lot of time together nowadays.” she turned and studied Theo’s face. “Should I be worried?”

Theo shook her head. “That had better have been a joke.” she said. “Honestly, Chloe, do you really think I’d fuck your boyfriend, my boyfriend’s best friend, behind your back like that? Why would you even think something like that?”

Chloe sighed and pulled the dress up over her head. “He’s different lately.” she said. “I can barely even talk to him anymore.”

“He’s having a hard time.” Theo said, and Chloe looked at her, confused. “Things are bad at the shop, and the stuff with his dad…”

“What stuff with this dad?” Chloe asked quickly.

Theo looked surprised. “His dad’s sick again. He didn’t tell you?”

Chloe looked pissed. “No, he did not fucking tell me.” she snapped. “Why would he tell you and not me?”

“Maybe he did, and you just weren’t paying attention.” Theo suggested.

“I always pay attention!” Chloe insisted, stomping her foot. Her cell phone chose that moment to chirp to life, and she answered it with a snotty, “What?” Theo watched her as she listened. Her face went from annoyed to triumphant in a split second. “No, Daddy, I didn’t get any mail yesterday, why?” Chloe caught Theo’s eye and tipped her a wink, and Theo offered a tiny smile. “Oh, did you?” she asked into the phone. “Yes, I talked to Mom earlier in the week. She said-” she stopped, suddenly looking worried. “No, no, of course I wouldn’t. I always spend it with you, remember?” she practically cooed this, and Theo had to look away.

It always grossed her out a little, the way Chloe still managed to play her father for gifts. She did it to both parents, rubbing one’s nose in what the other had most recently provided, just to see who could top who. While Chloe chatted, Theo wandered out of the dressing room and through the racks of dresses. She stopped from time to time to look, but nothing really caught her eye.

Her phone chirped, and she pulled it out to read a text message.

FROM: Spencer
The red one on your left would look nice on you.

She looked up, confused, and saw Spencer grinning at her from a few aisles over. Then she looked down at the dress. It was knee length and strapless, bright red with a swirl of black sequin up one side of the skirt. It was nice, but she would never wear it; too much skin up top showing. She gave him the middle finger and he laughed at her as he came over.

“She rope you into coming and watching her model?” Spencer asked her, and she nodded. “Me too. Made me promise I’d meet her here after my shift. How long has she been at it?”

“Two hours.” Spencer winced. “Tell me about it. But she’s taking a break. Trying to weasel something new and shiny out of Daddy.”

Spencer sighed and polished his glasses carefully with the edge of his shirt. He studied Theo for a moment. “You look pale.” he said, and she looked at him like he was stupid. “Fine, paler.” he clarified. “Have you eaten today?”

She thought about this for a moment. “I don’t remember.” she said finally.

“When was the last time you slept?” he asked, and she shrugged. “Theo…”

“I know, I know.” she waved her hand at him. “Relax. I’ll stop and get something on the way home.”

“If you pass out again-”

“I’m not going to pass out.” she snapped at him. “And that wasn’t from lack of sleep, or lack of eating for that matter. It was from those goddamned pain pills they put me on when I had my surgery. Just lay off.”

Spencer didn’t say anything, but he watched her for a while. She seemed jumpy, but lethargic. He was worried. Finally, it got to be too much. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her.

She glared at him. “Look, I don’t need you babying me. I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.”

“Theo, I know you have a blood sugar problem. If you haven’t eaten today-”

“For fuck’s sake!” she threw her hands in the air. “Fine.” she stomped over to the dressing room. “Hey Chloe!”

“What?” Chloe’s head appeared around the corner of the door.

“I’m going to run over to that little coffee shop and grab something to eat, okay? I’ll meet you at the shoe store.”

“Okay. Did Spencer show up?”

“Not yet.” Theo replied, and had no idea why she was lying.

Chloe sighed. “Probably forgot.” she muttered, and disappeared.

Theo went back to where Spencer was standing. “Come on.” she snapped at him, and lead him out of the store and down the street. He followed without asking anything, and watched her order a cranberry muffin and a cup of coffee, which she kept black. They found a table near the back, and Spencer watched Theo eat listlessly for a while. When she was halfway done with the muffin, she looked up at him. “Are you happy now?”

“For now.” he said. “When you get home you should get some sleep.”

“Next thing I know, you’ll be insisting on following me home just to make sure.”

“I might.” he told her, and she smirked. “What, you think I won’t?”

“I think if you tried to force me into bed I’d kick your ass.”

“Little girl, if I wanted you in bed, that’s where you’d be, whether you wanted to be there or not.” he told her, and was both surprised and slightly amused to see her blush at the unintentional innuendo. She was usually rather crass about that sort of thing.

She recovered quickly. “I’ll keep that in mind, although I’m pretty sure I’d still kick your ass.”

“I’d love to see that. You’re like half my size.”

“Am not. You have exactly one foot and one and a half inches on me. Plus, you’re a twig and I’m fat, so-”

“Goddamnit, Theo!”

She winced. “Sorry.” she muttered, and glared down at her muffin. “I forgot that pisses you off.”

“You’re damn right it does.” he watched her push the rest of her muffin away and sighed. “I’m sorry I yelled.” he said, and she shrugged. He tried to think of something to say, because she’d made him feel guilty. “So next week I’m going to my mom’s remember?” she nodded and didn’t look at him. “Would you want to tag along? She says she misses you.”

“Your mother has met me twice.” Theo reminded him. “That first Christmas and then on your birthday last year.”

“And she loves you.” Spencer reminded her. “Besides, Mickey’s gone all week, right? And I hate making that drive on my own.” he could tell she was thinking about it, so he tried to sweeten the pot. “I’ll take you to that mummy exhibit they’ve got up there. My treat, and we can stay as long as you want.”

Theo finally looked up at him. “Did you ask Chloe?”

He snorted. “She hates my mother’s house. Her cooking, the cheapness of it.”

“Your mother’s house is not cheap.”

“To her it is. And besides, she’s got that party. I also happen to know that her brother is popping in unannounced for her birthday.”

“My due date is Saturday.” Theo told him.

“You’re already finished.” he told her, and she smiled. “Besides, you can take that call at my mother’s. You did on my birthday.”

“Chloe wants to hang out while our boyfriends are gone.” she said.

Spencer gave her a skeptical look, as though daring her to claim she was excited about that.

“I’ll think about it.” she said. “I’ll let you know.” she glanced at her watch. “We should meet up with Chloe.” she said, and drained the rest of her coffee as she stood. “And I need a cigarette.”

They walked down the street slowly towards the shoe store so that Theo could smoke most of her cigarette. Spencer walked with his hands in his pockets and his head down. They didn’t say anything. Once inside, they found Chloe trying on a pair of spike heeled pumps.

“There’s my wayward boyfriend.” she said, and stood up to kiss him. “You’re late.”

“Work.” he said without thinking about it, and Theo looked away from him. “I like those.”

Chloe smiled at him and then studied her feet. “What do you think, Theo?”

“Sure.” Theo said with a shrug. “Whatever.”

Chloe shot her a glare and then turned back to Spencer. “Daddy wants to take me out on Thursday, so I won’t be there to see you off.”

“That’s a shame.” Spencer said. “It’s fine. You have fun with your father.”

She beamed and then turned her attention to Theo. “That means I won’t have time to do something, though. He said he has the whole weekend planned out for me.”

Theo nodded, but said nothing. She and Spencer sat through another full hour of shoe shopping with Chloe. When she had finally found the right shoes, she gave them each a kiss on the cheek, announced she was late for dinner with a friend, and was gone. Spencer glared after her for a moment, then turned and offered Theo a smile.

“Speaking of dinner.” he said, and offered his arm to her.

She smirked and pushed him away. “I’ll eat, but we’re not walking arm in arm, that’s weird.” they headed out of the store towards Spencer’s car. “That muffin made me really hungry.”

“What are you in the mood for?” he asked her as they got in his car.

“Cajun.” she said promptly, and he rolled his eyes.

“You can’t get good Cajun food around here.” he said. “How about sushi?”

She shook her head. “I had sushi last weekend.” she told him. “What about that steak house over by Chloe’s?”

“I hate that place.” he said. “They have the worst wine selection.”

She scowled. “Then what?”

They ended up getting Chinese and taking it back to her house. Mickey was working a double, so the house was empty. They sat at the kitchen table, and Spencer attempted again to get her to come to his mother’s. As they were cleaning up, she finally agreed.

Spencer left shortly after that, telling her that he would pick her up Thursday at nine in the morning. She scowled at him for such an early time but nodded. As she watched his car back out of the driveway, it occurred to her that lately, things seemed to be lining up in certain ways to put her and Spencer together alone.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
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