“We’re running just a little bit behind, honey,” Matilda continues. “We really need you in your dress.”
I say nothing.
“Piper?”
Nothing.
More whispering outside.
“Piper, love.” It’s Mom. “Are you alright in there?”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“You need to come out now. It’s time.”
I look at my reflection.
The woman in the mirror looks back at me.
“No,” I say.
There’s a very long silence outside the door.
Then, a great deal of very loud whispering. I catch fragments. “What do you mean?”and “She’ll come out”and “Give her a second.”
I look around the bathroom.
It’s a very nice bathroom. The tile is marble. There’s a little dish of wrapped mints on the counter. It smells like eucalyptus.
I could live here.
I genuinely think I could live here.
“She said no,” Rowan’s voice comes through the door.
“She can’t say no,” says another unidentified voice.
“She literally just did,” says Rowan. She sounds like she’s enjoying this.
I drop my face into my hands because I don’t know whether to laugh or continue spiraling.
Probably both.
I’m staying in the bathroom.
That’s decided.
I live here now. I’m going to request that someone bring me a sandwich. I wonder if room service will deliver to a locked bathroom.
From the other side of the door, in the gentlest possible voice, Mom says, “Piper, love, come out of the bathroom.”
“In a minute,” I lie.
Outside, the whispering continues.
Inside, the woman in the mirror waits to see what I’ll do next.
I’m not sure I know either.
