Perfect (Book Three)

Twenty-Six: Spencer Gets In Hot Literally And Figuratively.

Friday evening, Spencer was soaking in the family hot tub. It was one of her favorite things to do, especially at night, when all of the stars glittered in the dark sky. Tonight the only sounds around her were the burbling of the hot tub's jets and slobbery crunching sounds of Beatrice, one of the family's labradoodles, chewing on a rawhide bone.

Then suddenly, she heard a twig snap. Then another. Then...someone breathing. Spencer turned as her sister, clad in a Nova-check plaid Burberry bikini, climbed down the stairs and settled into the tub, too.

For a while, neither of them said anything. Spencer hid under a beard of bubbles, and Melissa was looking at the umbrella table next to the pool. Suddenly, Melissa inspected her sister. "So I'm a little annoyed at Dr. Evans."

"Why?"

Melissa swished her hands around the water. "Sometimes she says all this stuff about me like she's known me for years. Does she do that to you?"

Spencer shrugged. Hadn't Melissa warned her Dr. Evans would do that?

Melissa pressed the flat of her hand against her forehead. "She told me that I choose untrustworthy men to date. That I actually go after guys I know will never commit or turn into anything long-term because I'm afraid of getting close to anyone."

Melissa reached over and drank from her big bottle of Evian, which was sitting next to the tub. Above her head, Spencer saw the silhouette of a large bird—or perhaps a bat—flap past the moon. "I was angry about it at first, but now...I don't know." Melissa sighed. "Maybe she's right. I've started to think about all my relationships. Some o the guys I've gone out with have seemed really untrustworthy, right from the start."

Her eyes needled into Spencer, and Spencer blushed.

"Wren's an obvious one," Melissa went on, as if reading Spencer's thoughts. Spencer looked away, staring at the waterfall installation that was on the other side of the pool. "She's got me wondering about Ian, too. I think he was cheating on me when we were in high school."

Spencer tensed. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." Melissa inspected her perfectly manicured pale peach nails. Her eyes were dark. "I'm almost certain. And I think I know who it was."

Spencer bit a hangnail on her thumb. What if Melissa overheard Spencer and Ian in the yard earlier? Ian had alluded to their kiss. Or, worse: what if Ali had told Melissa what Spencer had done, years ago?

Not long before Ali vanished, Spencer's dad had taken the five of them to play paintball. Melissa had come along, too. "I'm going to tell Melissa what you did," Ali singsonged to Spencer as they put on their jumpsuits in the changing room.

"You wouldn't," Spencer hissed back.

"Oh no?" Ali teased. "Watch me."

Spencer had followed Ali and the others to the field. They all crouched behind a large bale of hay, waiting for the game to start. Then Ali leaned over and tapped Melissa on the shoulder. "Hey, Melissa. I have something to tell you."

Spencer nudged her. "Stop it."

The whistle blew. Everyone shot forward and started pelting the other team. Everyone, that was, except for Ali and Spencer. Spencer took Ali's arm and dragged her behind a nearby hay bale. She was so angry her muscles were quivering.

"Why are you doing this?" Spencer demanded.

Ali snickered, leaning against the hay. "Why are you doing this?" she imitated in a high falsetto. "Because it's wrong. Melissa deserves to know."

Anger gathered in Spencer's body like clouds before a huge thunderstorm. Didn't friends keep each other's secrets? They'd kept the Jenna secret for Ali, after all—Ali was the one who'd lit that firework, Ali was the one who had blinded Jenna—and they'd all vowed not to tell. Didn't Ali remember that?

Spencer didn't mean to pull the trigger of the paintball gun...it just happened. Blue paint splattered all over Ali's jumpsuit, and Ali let out a startled cry. Then she glared at Spencer and stormed away. What if she'd gone and told Melissa then, and Melissa had been waiting all this time for the right moment to drop it on Spencer? Maybe this was it.

"Any guesses who it was?" Melissa goaded, breaking Spencer out of the memory.

Spencer sank down farther into the hot tub's bubbles, her eyes stinging the chlorine. A kiss hardly qualified as cheating, and it had been so long ago. "Nope. No clue."

Melissa sighed. "Maybe Dr. Evans is full of it. What does she know, really?"

Spencer studied her sister carefully. She thought about what Dr. Evans had said about Melissa—that her sister needed validation. That she was jealous of Spencer. It was such a weird possibility to consider. And could Melissa's issues have something to do with the time they'd been mugged, Spencer had gotten sick, and Melissa had had to go to her Bee with Yolanda? How many other things had her sister missed out on that summer because her parents were too busy hovering over Spencer? How many times had she been shoved to the side?

I liked when we were friends, said a voice inside Spencer's head. I liked quizzing you with your spelling words. I hate the way things are now. I've hated it for a long time.

"Does it really matter if Ian cheated on you in high school?" Spencer said quietly. "I mean, it was so long ago."

Melissa stared at the dark, clear sky. All the stars had come out. "Of course it matters. It was wrong. And if I ever find out it's true, Ian is going to regret it for the rest of his life."

Spencer flinched. She'd never heard Melissa sound so vengeful. "And what will you do to the girl?"

Melissa turned very slowly and gave Spencer a poisonous smile. At that very moment, the backyard's timed lights snapped on. Melissa's eyes glowed. "Who says I haven't done something to her already?"