Original Work: You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home, Chapter 9, Part 1

thefinalgirl (62)in #story • 8 years ago

Chapter 9, Part 1

I put a great deal of focus and energy into getting ready that evening, though with my new, much shorter, haircut, showering and styling by hair took a lot less time than I was used to. Not that there was much to do with the short, stick-straight style and as I blow-dried my hair, staring in the mirror, I silently cursed my sister with every word that I knew (and some I thought should be profanity) for her decision to get the red highlights. I mean red? Really? I hoped she was happy, but she didn’t have to go out in public with it.

When I put on the pink gingham dress and studied myself in the full-length mirror, I was at least satisfied with what I saw there. Schapelle had been right, the dress was perfect; it fell just at my knees, and the top showed just the right amount of cleavage, in my opinion. My dad might disagree, but that was dads for you. Thankfully, I had the perfect pair of strappy sandals in my closet and, looking at my reflection, I figured I was as ready as I’d ever be to go out. With Joshua Beckett. On a date. Would I ever really be ready for that? At least I was dressed like I knew what I was doing. I was eternally grateful to Clare.

When I came downstairs, I could hear an almost normal chatter, the type of conversation and tone that you would expect to hear in any kitchen across America. Emilia was sitting at the kitchen table, her back toward me, a bowl of cereal in front of her, talking to Garth in a normal, non-confrontational tone about a movie that she wanted to see. Linda was talking on the phone, trying to finalize a takeout order. Garth was nodding at Emilia and when his eyes fell on me he let out a low whistle. “Looking good Scout.” He smiled.

Emilia turned around in her seat and immediately scowled. It was good to know that the hostile attitude was only reserved for me. “Where are you going?” She questioned and I could hear, under the biting tone, a genuine interest and maybe a little jealousy. Obviously she was beginning to accept the terms of her house arrest.

Linda finished her phone call and gave me her full attention. “Clare was right, that dress just look phenomenal on you.” She said approvingly.

Before I could thank her for her compliment (though I did doubt Clare’s actual word choice), Emilia was questioning, “Hello? Where are you going?” Her tone suggested that she was speaking to someone she believed to be a little slow at processing the human location.

“I have a date tonight.” I replied and wondered if I was being a little presumptuous. Was it a date or a business meeting? The flowers seemed to argue for the former. “I’m going to dinner.” At least that wasn’t debatable.

Emilia scowled, though she looked slightly surprised by my words. “With who?” She looked back at Linda and continued to glower. “Why does she get to leave?”

Linda rolled her eyes. “She’s still perfecting your image.”

“With Joshua Beckett.” I replied simultaneously, so our two answers over-lapped.

Now Emilia smirked. “So you’re not going on a date, it’s all business.” I was about to mention the flowers but she continued, “And let me guess, Joshua just wants to talk about the CD and maybe touring together, right?” Well, Joshua did mention recording a track on their upcoming CD… “Whew, you had me worried there, Scout, but I guess I don’t need to give you The Talk for a business meeting.” She laughed at what I assumed was her own cleverness.

I simmered with the need to fire back at Emilia but drew in a deep breath and decided against it. Maybe it was just a business meeting, but it was more than she’d ever managed to get out of Joshua Beckett and at least I was getting to spend the evening in his company and not stuck with Emilia. And at least I would have some stories to bring back home. So instead I just decided to ignore her and could immediately feel my muscles beginning to relax and a relatively genuine smile return to my face.

Emilia frowned when she realized that I hadn’t been baited and it looked like she was finding something else to toss my way but Linda was all ready switching subjects. “Well, the driver will be here in ten to take you to the restaurant.” She was saying. “And he can wait as long as you need him to or you can just call him when you’re ready to leave, I wrote down his number for you.” She handed me a neon Post-It.

“So the driver knows where I’m going, but I don’t?” I questioned. “That seems a little unfair, don’t you think?”

Linda smiled. “It’s this place called Antonio’s and-”

Emilia interjected, “How ‘come Joshua Beckett and Fake Emilia can get a reservation at Antonio’s but the Real Life Emilia is put on the waiting list?” She looked at Garth as though expecting an answer but he only shrugged, palms up.

“Perhaps if you were more polite to your servers, it would be easier for you to get reservations.” Linda replied evenly, without even looking at Emilia. “And anyway,” her words were for me again, “as Emilia pointed out, it’s very exclusive, it caters to more well-known clientele, so you and Joshua wouldn’t be bothered by over-eager fans.” She gave me a slight wink. What did she think we were going to do? Make-out behind the menus? Great, now I had a whole new mental movie to contend with. “It’s quite the place for a…‘business meeting.’” Clearly, Linda was humoring Emilia’s choice of words.

“Well…good to know.” I remarked, holding tightly onto my purse. There was no way I was going to be able to pull this off, I had no idea how to act in a place like this or how to act with someone like Joshua Beckett. Would he expect the Emilia he knew from news stories or would he know that something wasn’t right if I followed Schapelle’s advice and acted more like myself? I guess it was too late to back out now.

Emilia obviously noticed my lack of response and the strangulation I was currently performing on my purse. “Little nervous?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t blame you, it is a lot of pressure. I mean, you’re just this small town girl and he’s Joshua Beckett, he’s probably used to girls who are more-”

“Enough Emilia.” Garth chided and Emilia glared at him. “Can’t you just leave well enough alone? Let Scout enjoy herself.”

“Why should she get to enjoy herself when I’m stuck here?” Emilia questioned, scowling both at him and her mother. “I should be the one going out to tonight, having a good time, hanging out with my friends. Instead all I have to look forward to is Thai takeout and canasta.” She threw up her hands in defeat.

Garth seemed to take her comment in stride. “I’ll have you know I’m quite the canasta player.” He remarked. “It might not be such a boring evening after all.” She narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t say anything and Garth shrugged. “You brought this on yourself.”

Linda nodded. “That’s right, if you had been nicer, maybe Joshua would be wanting to have dinner with you instead of Scout.” That made me feel a little better, thinking that Joshua actually wanted to take me to dinner instead of my sister.

“He is taking me out.” And there came Emilia to wreck it all again. “You don’t honestly think that if he didn’t think she was me he’d actually be interested?” She rolled her eyes. “Please.”

“Well he never asked before, did he?” I questioned tartly, deciding that if I never heard another comment come out of Emilia’s mouth I would be perfectly happy. “And he had ample opportunity.”

Emilia didn’t fire off a quick comeback, though it was clear that she was trying to come up with one, though I decided I didn’t want to wait around to see what she would come up with. I bid the three of them goodbye and decided that it would be better to wait for the driver outside and reduce the chances of Emilia and I deciding to throttle each other. As I left I heard Emilia start up a whining protest and Linda mutter, “It’s all a learning experience,” though I wasn’t sure Emilia was learning whatever lesson her mother was trying to teach.