“It’s certainly got nothing on your attempt to become the world’s greatest living cunt,” I say, rinsing my hands. “Anyhoo, can you please, like, leave me alone?”
“Not yet,” Jenny says sweetly. “I don’t think you’ll be able to live in Cece’s bar anymore. I heard there are mice.”
“Building a nest in your head?” I flick the water from my fingers. “Yeah, I heard that too.”
I place my palms in the little dryer tunnel. As the whooshing starts, Jenny leans so close I can smell perfume and Urban Decay setting spray.
“Jake’s never going to love you,” she whispers.
I laugh as I pull my hands from the dryer. A real laugh. “Do me afavour and Google the word ‘projection’ sometime. And stop wearing so much Flowerbomb. It’s a heavy scent. You’re gonna kill people.”
Jenny’s face twists, her beauty curdling like a wicked queen’s. This isn’t going the way she wanted, and I almost feel sorry for her. A week ago, maybe even a day ago, I’d have given her everything I had. But tonight, I don’t have anything.
I head for the door, and she grabs my wrist. “You’re such a?—”
“Selfish, lazy, ugly, talentless, alcoholic, weirdo bitch,” I recite, shaking her off. “Only I’m not.”
Jenny bares her teeth, and their bleached perfection sends me back to the day I made her cry. Tore her down in front of her friends on my first day at Pukekohe High because she made fun of me and Rhys. Then I think of Colin’s letter, and the impossible falls out of my mouth.
“Sorry,” I tell her. “About being a dick about your teeth. That was mean.”
She stares at me, looking as stunned as I felt when I realised I didn’t want to fight her.
“Fuck off, Ada,” she hisses.
“Fair,” I say, reaching for the door. “But you’re not getting a scene out of me, Jenny. Not tonight. Not ever. Bye.”
There’s a hard prod on my shoulder, and my hand stalls on the handle. I turn to see Jenny’s eyes blazing. I think of Michael Corleone, drawing his fingers into his chest. ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.’
I don’t have to wait long for the sword to fall.
“Do you still love milkshakes, Ada?” Jenny says, her voice shaking with rage. “Do you drink themall the time?”
I wait for the anger to come. To send me surging at her, but still… nothing. I look at her, really look at her, and I finally see it.
“You hate yourself for doing that to me.” My voice is gentle, the kind you use with a crying child. “Don’t you?”
She looks away. “I don’t fucking care?—”
“You do,” I whisper. “You made me eat shit once, but you’vebeen eating it every day since, huh?”
Her mouth opens, closes. Opens. Closes. A certainty comes over me. I could tear her apart right now. Say any of the insults I’ve been sharpening since the day I first laid eyes on Jenny Wallis. Slice her open like a butchered pig. But I don’t want to. Instead, I feel the way I do when I give coins to drugged-out panhandlers. Depressed and inadequate. Hoping they somehow find a way out of the hell they’re trapped in.
“Jenny, I feel legitimately,genuinely, sorry for you.”
Her face falls, and I turn away, finally opening the door. The sounds of the reunion surge over me, and I step into the ballroom without looking back.
“Ada!” Cece clutches my arm, as I make my way through the crowd. “Jake’s about to go on. Where have you been?”
“Vaping,” I say honestly enough as she drags me toward Davis. “How are you?”
“Great,” she says, beaming from ear-to-ear.
I try my best to memorise the look on her face, the glorious illumination. I have a feeling I’ll be describing it in a maid of honour speech one day.
“Shit wine?” Davis says, handing me a fake champagne.
“Cheers.” I watch Jake climb the stairs to the podium, my heart surging into my mouth.
