How To Lose Weight And Survive The Apocalypse

Chapter 7

The sky made the transition from dark to dawn about the same time I transitioned from drunk to hungover. Groaning and in desperate need of fresh air, I padded silently out of the house and down to the beach.

Given that it was spring and school holidays, the beach should have been packed. Instead, it arced away from me in an empty crescent of sand.

Not entirely empty. Bailey's slender figure stood on the rocks to my left. They leaned artfully, sculpted cheekbones catching the early light as they stared out to sea.

I approached cautiously, and Bailey tuned and smiled knowingly. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh." I lowered myself carefully to the nearest rock. "Exceedingly ugh."

"Not surprising." Bailey perched next to me and we sat in silence, watching the sun rise.

"I heard you talking to Rueben last night," I said, needing to know the full extent of the damage before I could deal with it. "What did you tell him about me?"

"Nothing. He was pretty upset because of Mischa and what you said about kids getting people killed, so I just let him know that's not who you are and that what you said came from trauma."

Internally I flinched at the memory of my callous words. "I was only trying to be funny, have a few drinks. How come when I let go of the reins for even a second, it always ends up causing me hell?"

Bailey said, "Because when you let go, you don't just drop the reins, you light them on fire."

The air began to warm around us, the light creeping higher in the sky.

"Karla, I think... I think you're not going to want to hear this."

"Hear what?"

Bailey turned their intelligent grey eyes on me. "I think you need to tell your mum and your brother about Dean when we get to Tassie."

A shockwave of white-hot tingles pulsed through me like an internal tsunami. "Tell them what?" I said, keeping my voice even. "There's nothing to tell."

"You know that's not true."

"I know you and I see that situation differently-"

"I see what happened, and I see you in total denial."

"-But even if there was anything to tell, all of that was years ago."

"And you haven't dealt with any of it," said Bailey, pushing off the rock and running a hand over their hair in frustration. "What did you tell me when all that garbage with my family went down?"

I stayed silent, unwilling to give them more to win this argument with.

"You told me that I couldn't deal with all of this alone. You were the one who said I should talk it through with a therapist, find people who understood me to process the drama with. And I did. It sucked, and I did it anyway, because I knew you were right. Why can't you take that advice for yourself?"

"Bailey, what you went through was horrendous. My situation with Dean was nothing like that."

"No, you're right. Because the shit with my family was completely expected. What Dean did was a betrayal out of the blue."

"Enough!" The sun was too bright, my head pulsed too painfully and this conversation was too close to the open nerves around my heart. I stood. "Bailey, you know I love you, and I'm grateful you were there for me, and I will apologise to Rueben, but the situation with Dean has changed, okay?"

"Changed how?"

"We spoke on the phone yesterday. He said he was wrong."

"About what?"