Driftwood: Tales

They Only Come when it Rains

Talia Abernathy used to eat lunch with Artemis Pickett, and so it was a tradition between them since kindergarten to sit over bagged lunches, bartering for favored lunchtime foods, or drinks.

They would talk about anything and everything, and boys, and the future.

That's what they used to do. Then one day, Talia discovered she made a terrible mistake. She dared Artemis to go and flirt with the team captain of the Driftwood Wolves, Rick Swanson. It was only a week later she learned why everyone called him 'Rick "The Dick" Swanson'.

It probably should not have bothered her so much. She and Artemis were both adults, at least technically as far as the law was concerned, and it was not Artemis who chose to walk away from the friendship. Talia never knew what she never knew of herself; she never knew she could be so petty; she never knew she could be jealous; she never knew she could ever be mean to her lifelong friend.

The jealousy was primarily that Artemis was prettier than she, and that she actually punched her V-Card first.

V-Card.

Her Virginity.

It was not actually that big a deal to Talia, and in retrospect, Talia did not need her thick stupid glasses to see that Artemis did not change.

She was still Artemis.

It was she that changed, and for the worse.

She felt inadequate, and ugly, and for the first time in their lives as friends, she felt they were on uneven ground.

...and then fast forward to now.

Now, Talia ate her lunches alone.

Now, Artemis felt betrayed, and because she felt betrayed, she was going to be mean.

Talia did not know how to fight with Artemis, and feared if she said anything at all it would be the wrong thing, and whatever wrong thing it was, would be wrong enough to sever her ties to Artemis forever.

She watched Artemis from across the campus, sitting on Rick's knee, drinking from juice box. It was grape juice. Talia gritted her teeth.

Artemis hated grape juice.

Talia tried to pretend she wasn't staring, and tried to ignore when Artemis smirked at her, but she could not.

She slammed her hands down on the table, her hand hit the edge of her apple juice box, and the juice sprayed her in the face through the straw.

She heard Rick burst into laughter from across the quad, and she heard Artemis chide him for it ("Stop it, Rick.").

Artemis decided she would walk away from this one, and keep what was left of her dignity in tact before she starting crying like an overemotional toddler in need of a nap. Artemis stood with quiet, regal poise, and sidled out of her lone place at the lunch table. She did not see the stretching length of chewing gum stuck to her backside, lingering from the seat at the lunch table, and when she stepped on a napkin covered in catsup, she made it her point not to make a scene trying to get it off her foot, even as each step left a greasy red stained splotch on the concrete as she slowly made her way to the girl's restroom where she could have a good cry in private, without them witnessing her.

♚ ♚ ♚

Behind her stall in the girl's bathroom, Talia was a silent crier, not the bawling in her hands, mascara running down her cheeks, sobbing woe-is-me type.

For one thing, she did not wear mascara.

For another, she did not like.to draw attention to herself; primarily she was not the type classmates sought to console, but also she was not the type to seek consolation. That people said the sort of things they said to her without impunity, which was fine. It hurt, of course, but sticks and stones.