Mae groans theatrically and takes me by the wrist. “Please, make me jealous!”
“I don’t think that would be—” I stop as I see someone walking toward us. It’s a blond girl with familiar features and green eyes. Lia.
She stops directly in front of us. Her eyes dart briefly to Mae and me before coming to rest on her brother.
“Can we talk?”
I hold my breath involuntarily, and I can see Jase tense. For a moment, I’m sure he’s going to send her away, just like he did with his mom. But he gives me a brief look with an unspoken question. I nod almost imperceptibly. He won’t admit it, and maybe he doesn’t even know it, but I think he needs his sister. Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself of that because I find it so sad that the two of them are such strangers to each other. We’ve talked about his parents in the last few weeks, and about Sam, but never about Lia.
There’s something going on between them that I don’t understand, but I don’t want to push Jase to talk about it. I only want him to do it if and when he’s ready.
As he turns to face Lia, his face goes blank. “Okay. Let’s go outside.”
Lia’s eyes widen in surprise, like she didn’t expect Jase to comply so quickly. But she regains her composure quickly, her face just as expressionless as his. It’s crazy how alike they are. They’re mirrors for each other, and sometimes I wonder if that’s why it’s so difficult for them to deal with each other.
Jase said he finds it hard to look in the mirror because he always sees Sam. Maybe Lia has the same problem.
I stroke the back of Jase’s hand as he walks past me. He swallows, then follows his sister. I watch them go with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Don’t worry, Zoe,” Mae says. “Whatever it is they have to talk about, they’re not going to rip each other’s heads off.”
“I know.”
But I’m still worried, because I’m not totally sure she’s right.
Chapter 47
Jase
I see Lia every day, and she hasn’t asked me even once where I lived over the summer. Okay, we don’t really talk to each other, and it’s not like I want to. But I wish that she’d at least ask.
—Jase
I follow Lia silently. She doesn’t just leave the auditorium but leads me out of the building entirely. It’s cold outside, but the sun is shining, and Lia’s hair glows golden as the light falls on it. I watch as she pulls her coat tighter around her body. My jacket is still in the auditorium, but I’m not cold. My heart is beating much too fast for that. Adrenaline flows through my veins.
Lia is in a different group for the production, which means she came today just to talk to me. We haven’t said a word to each other since Mom’s party.
“What do you want?” I ask as the silence between us becomes uncomfortable.
“This thing between you and Zoe is pretty serious, isn’t it?”
“You want to talk to me about Zoe?” I stop short. She can forgetit. She hasn’t shown any interest in me in years; she doesn’t need to start now.
She shrugs. “You’re a good match.”
“How exactly would you know that? You don’t know me at all.”
“Of course I know you.”
“Bullshit,” I growl. I hear a rushing sound in my ears. “If you knew me, you would have stopped Mom from having her fucking party on the anniversary of Sam’s death. If you knew me, you would have let me know that you were going out to eat on her birthday, or whatever it was you were doing without me.”
She flinches like I slapped her, but I’m not done yet.
“You’d have to talk to me to know me, Ophelia. But you don’t talk to me. You’re like Mom and Dad. You only come to me when you want something. I mean, you only offered me money so I’d behave for Mom and Dad. You don’t know me, and I don’t think you really want to. So what the hell do you want now?”
“I paid your tuition fees!” she shouts at me. Angry red splotches appear on her neck. She’s losing control. Who knows when the last time was that this happened. Or if it ever has.
“So? Do you want an award?”
