Chapter 15

For a horrible moment, Darcy had no idea where she was. Waking up in a strange bed--unfamiliar floral sheets that didn't have the lily blossom scent of her mother's fabric conditioner--she frowned and rubbed her eyes. An array of plushes watched her, their beady eyes unblinking as she sat up and examined Chester. 

With his eyes closed, snuggled into his toys, he looked so much younger than his years. He had to be her age--around eighteen--but it was an accepted fact that girls matured faster than their male peers. That, or this was an excuse used by older guys to prey on younger, 'more mature,' females. 

'Should I wake him?' she wondered. It was Saturday, so there was no desperate need to get ready for college. Maybe it was more polite to let him rest.

Shifting her weight, Darcy rolled over and picked up her phone. She desperately needed to contact Ted, though the thought of being in a room with him filled her with dread. She hadn't seen him since their breakup, and she still felt bad about how they had left things. 

When a message appeared in her inbox, she assumed it was him, but closer inspection revealed it was her dad trying to contact her.

"Are you still coming over for my birthday?" the text read.

"Oh, crap," Darcy muttered. She'd forgotten all about her dad's birthday celebration and hadn't even bought a card, let alone a present. 

"What's up?" Chester asked in a husky voice. He rolled over and propped his head up on his hand.

"I forgot my dad's birthday is today." She sighed. "I'm so self-involved."

"You've got a lot on your plate." Chester smiled and patted her gently on the head. It was a little patronising, but she was grateful for the reassuring sentiment.

The bed bounced as he sprang up, jumping over her and stumbling over to the door. "I just need to pee and we'll go shopping for a gift, okay?"

Darcy nodded. "Right."

She hadn't brought a change of clothes with her, and as she gathered up her used shirt and sniffed the fabric around the arms, she realised she was going to have to wash them or borrow something.

When Chester returned they agreed it was easier to lend her something since his family didn't own a dryer. 

"We make do with the washing line and radiators." Chester shrugged. "I'm embarrassed to say I buy girls skinny jeans so they will probably for you better than they do me."

"Don't be embarrassed," Darcy said. In the past, she had teased and shamed guys for wearing girls clothing, but that was the old Darcy. That part of her was dead and buried, never to return. She didn't want to be the kind of person who left others feeling bad anymore. What was the point? Calling other people losers didn't make her any less of a fool, did it?

As he searched through his ample wardrobe, picking out ensembles, she decided to text Ted, asking to meet him on Sunday. Her battery was running low and she only just managed to click send before it conked out.

"Do you have a Samsung charger?" she asked.

"Sorry, I've only got one charger and it's for the iPhone." Chester winced, making a face that said, 'I'm sorry but what can I do?'

"It doesn't matter, I can charge it at my dad's house."

She couldn't help but smile as she searched through his clothing. It wasn't her style--not her old style at least--but she loved the idea of dressing in black ripped jeans. Zara would often wear them with fishnets underneath, and they looked so cool.

'What would Josh think of me wearing this?' she wondered. 

He played some music over Spotify as they got dressed. 

"You're wearing an Ice Nine Kills shirt so I figured you should at least listen to a few of their songs, right?" 

"Oh, this is the band you played in college to piss off those religious nuts, isn't it?"

Chester nodded and began to sing along, acting out the song in dramatic fashion. Suddenly Darcy found herself wishing she'd hung out with the alternative kids in school instead of the popular crowd. Their clothes and music were so much cooler than the mainstream crap she'd been clinging to like a liferaft all these years.

As she got dressed and looked at her reflection, she realised something was missing. Looking about the room, her eyes landed on a pile of make-up on the dresser.

"You want me to do your makeup?" he asked, following her gaze.

"I..." Darcy felt her lips stretch into a nervous smile. She felt like a fake. A fraud dressing up as a goth girl to get the attention of a boy. 

'That's what clothes and makeup are for,' her mind argued, though deep down she knew she was only half right. Her image was as much to reflect the person she was inside as it was to assist her in finding a mate.

'But if I want a guy like Josh, I need to start dressing like this,' she thought. It would certainly make her meeting with Ted interesting. 'He'll hate this.'

Chester approached her, a black eyeliner in his hand and a maniacal grin on his face. "Are you sure you trust me?"

Darcy raised her hands in self-defence and shrieked, feigning horror. While she was nervous about her new look, she trusted Chester not to make her look like an idiot.

"I'm putting myself in your capable hands."

This made Chester laugh--an evil-sounding chortle that worried her slightly. 

"Please don't make me look stupid," she whined.

The look of avid concentration in his eyes as he worked on her face told her she was worrying for nothing. He seemed to enjoy himself, and took great care, dabbing away at her cheeks with a little folded pad when he made a mistake.

'Why are you being so kind to me?' she wondered, watching his tongue poke out of his lips just slightly. It seemed strange that someone would want to be her friend despite having nothing to gain from it. He was actually losing popularity and other friends in order to spend time with her. 

'But why? I'm so... horrible.'

For someone with a massively inflated ego, Darcy could be incredibly down on herself. She'd placed all of her self worth in looks and status that no longer mattered. What was she without her 'queen bitch' persona? Was she somebody worth being friends with?

When Chester lifted the handheld mirror to show her, Darcy's mouth hung open in shock. She wasn't herself, but she was beautiful in a haunting and mysterious way. It was like looking at someone else, and for the first time, Darcy truly believed that she could become someone else. Someone better. 

"Thank you," she said.

"It's no big thing." Chester frowned as he placed the mirror down. "Just a little makeup."

"No... thank you for being my friend. For telling me about Josh's revenge plot. Just... thank you."

The gratitude caused her eyes to well up. "I want you to know how grateful I am."

"Okay, okay, just don't cry and smear your eyeliner," he teased with a chuckle.

Darcy gently dabbed at the corner of her eye as she chuckled with him. 

"So what does your dad like?" he asked as they made their way downstairs. His family distracted him briefly with questions, leaving Darcy to look at the budgie--Derek. She made kissy noises and gently touched the cage to entice him over but he didn't want to know.

'What does my dad like?' she wondered. She usually went shopping with her mother, and together they chose something boring and practical like socks or slippers. The more she thought about it, the more perplexed she became. 'I don't know my dad at all.'

He was a man she was meant to spend every other weekend with, though in reality, it was more like one weekend a month these days. In her childhood years, custody had sparked so many arguments her parents had involved the courts briefly. Darcy was glad those days were in the distant past--barely ever mentioned.

'I wonder what my real dad is like,' she thought. She rarely thought about her biological parents, had never tried to contact them and wasn't even sure if they were still alive.

"What kind of movies does he like? Or books?" Chester asked once his parents had done quizzing him over her presence. They seemed both shocked and excited that he had a 'female visitor,' as they put it. 

"Oh, he reads those Angel and Demon books." Darcy closed her eyes and clicked her fingers, trying to think of the author.

"Dan Brown?" Chester asked.

"Yes!" she smiled.

"Where did I put my wallet?" Chester made a face and patted down the pockets of his trousers and jacket. "Can you run up to my room and check the dresser? I'll check the kitchen."

Darcy nodded and smiled at his parents as she ran past and up the creaky staircase. She saw the wallet sitting by the makeup as soon as she entered the room, but something else caught her eye, causing her to pause.

A familiar-looking wire poked from the little box below the bed. As she pulled out the box, she found it was full to the brim with phone chargers of every description. There was at least three that would work with her phone.

'So... why did he lie?' she wondered. 

$ Chapter