Baba nodded aggressively, “Yes, I love my sister, Nairie.”
“Okay?”
“But she has no business in sharing the details of her sordid life,” Mom said with disdain.
“I don’t know, seems kind of awesome to me.”
Baba huffed. “No, it’s not awesome. She’s all alone and might not be the best influence for you right now.”
I looked between them and felt confused, but Mom changed the subject quickly. “You’re moving back in this weekend, right?”
I hesitated and fiddled with the hem of my shirt. “Well, Elspeth isn’t doing so great.”
A white lie wouldn’t hurt.
Baba furrowed his eyebrows. “Isn’t her brother here now?”
“Yes, but he’s leaving soon, and Elspeth isn’t eating or talking as much anymore.”
“She’s not eating?” Mom’s voice raised an octave.
Not being able to consume food was the biggest travesty in our culture and a red flag I knew my parents wouldn’t take lightly.
“Yeah, I even made YaYa’s rice and kebab, but nothing.”
“No!” they both said in shock.
“Yeah, it’s really bad.”
“I’ll cook her up some more things, and you can bring it to her. She’s skin and bones as it is,” Mom said.
I feigned a solemn nod. “I know.”
Baba squeezed my shoulder. “Poor thing. She seemed okay at the funeral.”
“That’s Elspeth. Always pretending to be strong.”
I tried to ignore the image of Elspeth singing “Dancing Queen” at the top of her lungs just the other day.
“Such a depressed little thing,” I added for extra measure.
. . .
At the end of the day, I headed to art class. I’d agreed to go out on another date with Luke tonight and wore a cute but casual summer dress so we could leave right after class. It was only a means to the Scottish distraction constantly on my mind. I had another dream about William in my drunken stupor. I’d often dreamed of him over the years, but this one felt so real. I was embarrassed when I woke up wet and needy. It was the perfect time forLuke and I to have sex. I was so horny that maybe I could ignore his cringe-worthy performance.
We’d stop by Elspeth’s pub first so I could get tipsy before Luke took me to a promotional event for a brand he was working with—a “natural” steroid supplement company.
The shabby bungalow where my art classes took place had creaky wooden chairs and scuffed maroon vinyl flooring. My classmates were the most random people: an empty nester who needed to fill her time, a frat guy who wanted a more well-rounded Tinder bio, and a Russian immigrant who barely spoke a word of English.
Luke entered the room, dick out like there was no tomorrow. He leaned against the doorframe until the rest of the class was ready for him. I buried my face deeper in my sketch pad until my nose nearly touched the paper.
The teacher, Gary, was a slight man with large glasses and skinny jeans. A hipster in his mid-forties.
Gary scooted his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Alright, guys, I hope you’re putting in more work on the weekends and not just here.”
I started outlining Luke’s form, but my pencil slowly drifted from the task at hand to illustrations of William.
He’d always encouraged me to push past my boundaries when we were kids. They were always safe risks, of course, like basic self-defense moves in case the kids at school got too aggressive or going on midnight hikes even though I was deathly afraid of the dark.
