The Suburbs

six

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

[André Gide]

• • •

Kody's favourite part of their new home was his bedroom. It was right at the top of the tall townhouse, with old wooden rafters and a big gothic window overlooking the whole street. The day after they moved in, his parents helped him paint the walls a shade of olive green, and since then, he had plastered all four walls with posters and photographs. His messy double bed was draped in navy sheets with a tall black headboard which he had tangled multicoloured fairy lights around. His friends were sitting in a circle on the big grey rug, laughing and chatting amongst themselves as the light drained from the sky.

"Who's this?" Isabel asked, fingertips caressing the edges of a creased photograph that was blue-tacked to his full length mirror. "She's pretty." She commented, studying the picture carefully, leaning into Christopher's side so he could see it too. In it, Kody was grinning at the camera, his arm around a girl with thick black hair and dark skin.

"That's Acadia. She's a friend from London."

"Aw." Rhea shuffled over to examine it herself, "Do you miss her?"

"Yeah." Kody smiled, "We were really close."

"I bet you were." Christopher teased, shooting him a wink as he tightened his grip around his girlfriend's shoulders.

"It wasn't like that." Kody debated. "Well...maybe it was, once."

"Yeah?" Rhea laughed.

"We were fifteen, drunk, inexperienced and confused." He admitted. "We never had sex again after that night." He chuckled at the fondness of the memory. Acadia used to make him laugh every day, even when all he wanted to do was crawl away into a dark hole he had dug in his mind. They talked on the phone most days, but it wasn't enough. He missed her.

"Tell us more...please?" Isabel pleaded. "We don't know anything about your dating history." She moaned.

"There's not much to tell you." He said honestly. "I've never really been in a relationship." He lied; he'd dated a boy named Charlie for a couple of months when he was sixteen, but he couldn't tell them about him. "I just...uh, you know...I'm a casual guy." He shrugged. Now, that, wasn't a lie. He'd done some shameful things in the past and he hadn't always treated people right, but recently he'd been trying to change.

"You're a casual guy?" Rhea asked skeptically, "You mean you like to sleep around?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He confessed. He couldn't do that here. Not only was the town too small to allow for his private affairs to remain private, but he had his preferences. Though he was bisexual and could happily sleep with any gender, he tended to lean towards boys. Sadly, he was on a strict no boys rule for the foreseeable future.

"I hear that you and Megan had fun on Friday." Christopher hinted suggestively.

"How do you even know that?"

"Mate, our school has like ten people in it." He massively exaggerated. "So? What happened?"

Kody didn't answer, but rather, uncrossed his legs and stood up. He was never one to reveal his sexual history, out of respect for both the other person and his own privacy. "I'm gonna get us some drinks and snacks from downstairs." He announced.

"I'll help." Isabel hopped up, and the pair left the room together to descend the steep wooden staircase that Kody was still getting used to. It was the first time in seventeen years that he had lived somewhere with stairs so the prospect of climbing them every time he went to his bedroom was still strange to him.

Kody suddenly halted in the doorway to the kitchen. Sophia was there with a girl he vaguely recognised from the school hallways, but who's face he was struggling to attach a name to. She was pale, with cropped blond hair, bright green eyes, and wearing a knee length dress with sunflowers on it, accompanied by a cotton cardigan and a pair of tights. He was about to introduce himself, but Isabel, who he had almost forgotten was stood behind him, spoke first; "Darya?"

Darya. Kody wanted to kick himself for not being able to place those eyes.

"Oh, hi, Isabel." Darya's voice was soft and airy, similar to the dreamy tone in which her brother, Arlo, spoke in.

"You guys know each other?" Sophia questioned, glancing between the pair of girls.

Isabel shrugged, "Yeah, sort of."

Kody wanted to pry a little further and discover what the nature of their bond was exactly, but he realised that he hadn't even introduced himself yet. "Hi, I'm Kody."

"Darya." She countered. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." He said falsely. "So, uh, what are you guys up to?" If it had just been Sophia there, he wouldn't have bothered asking. He would have grabbed some snacks for his friends and left, but their parents had always taught them the importance of manners and being good hosts, so he tried to be polite.

"We're just finishing up some homework." Sophia told him, gesturing to the open books that were scattered across the table, though they were stood in the kitchen, clearly too far away from their work to actually be studying. "We're gonna go to the cinema afterwards." She explained as Kody grabbed a few things from the cupboards and loaded them into Isabel's arms.

"Uh-huh. Cool. Sounds good." He feigned interest, pouring out some drinks.

"What time are your friends leaving?" Sophia inquired, sounding slightly impatient as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know." He avoided the question. "It's Saturday and Mum and Dad are spending the night in London; they can stay for as long as they want."

"Well, can you keep the noise down?"

"No, you guys are leaving soon anyway."

She rolled her eyes, "C'mon, Darya, change of plans, we're leaving now." And just like that, they grabbed their jackets and bags, and exited the kitchen, the front door falling shut moments later.

Kody turned to Isabel, "So, are you friends with Darya?" He asked, confused.

Isabel was avoiding eye contact. Whatever happened between them, she clearly didn't want to talk about it. "We used to be."

"What happened?"

"Arlo tried to kill himself." She whispered, looking up through glassy blue eyes. "Darya changed after that. Can you blame her?" The information she was giving away was scarce and vague and difficult to understand. Kody knew that there was far more to the story than she wished to share, but he let it go, at least for now.

"I'm sorry." Was all he knew how to say.

"Let's go back up." She forced a smile.