I tried to make conversation. “So Ashley, do you have a boyfriend or fiance?” and her face flushed. “No, nothing like that.”
I persisted. “I find that hard to believe. I hope you won’t think this is weird, but I think you’re a beautiful girl, you should be fighting them off…”
The expression on her face was unreadable, but her voice was steady. “I said no. There’s no-one around here for me. Just let it drop, Nicky!”
I thought that was a most peculiar statement for such a hot girl, and looked curiously at her. “What’s the problem, Ashley, I’m just trying to understand why a girl who looks like you should feel so unwanted!”
She came and sat on the chair opposite me. “OK, you want to know why, I’ll tell you why. This is a wealthy neighborhood, do we look rich? This house is the wrong side of the tracks, I’m from the wrong side of the tracks, and as far as the neighbors are concerned, we’re one step away from trailer-trash. My daddy was ill for a very long time, and all our money went for his treatment until we had none left, and then everything else went, until this was all that was left and this is how we have to live. We used to be part of this neighborhood, until we lost everything, now we’re nobody, just a fucking embarrassment, disturbing their perfect, Martha Stewart, white picket-fence lives, so they don’t see us, they just wish we’d go away. When I went to my junior Prom, Mom bought me a dress from a thrift shop, took it in, sewed sequins and changed the hem, added pieces on, made it look really nice, but one of the other girls recognized it as a dress she’d given to Thrift, she told everyone, and they all laughed at me, everyone laughed at me, even the chaperones. They called me Rag-Doll, Dumpster-Diver, Raggedy-Ann, they hurt me, and they laughed at me; for years I had no friends in High School, no-one wanted to be seen with Rag-Doll, even now the only friends I have are the other outcasts and losers. You may have been born here, but you’re not from here, and you don’t understand what this is about, that anyone can do what they like to me, so no, Nicky, there’s no-one in this fucking town for me, OK, did you get that, can I go now?”
She was furious, and I mentally kicked myself for making her tell me about something that obviously hurt her deeply. She stood up and stalked out of the room and into her bedroom, the door slamming behind her.
“You had no way of knowing, Nicky.” said Mom behind me, and I spun round to see her looking sad. “When she was little, she had everything, and she saw it all go, and she couldn’t understand why no more vacations, no more Birthday and Christmas parties, no more sleep-over’s, no more pool parties at her friends’ houses. After her father got sick, his business failed, and our savings, insurance, everything, ran out, and I had to go back to work just so we could eat; Ashley knows I’m the only mother in the neighborhood who actually needs to work, and all I could find is a part-time job, so we live the best way we can. This house never used to be like this, but with no money to keep it up, well…
When you used to be somebody, it’s a real shock to find out what the bottom of the tree really looks like, and it’s been hard on her. Her High School days should have been the best time of her life, instead it was a nightmare for her, and it’s my fault. I just wanted her to have just one nice thing, some nice memories after her father got so sick, but it all went so wrong, and you just got the edge of it; I’m sorry, Nicky.”
I felt like shit. All I wanted to do was compliment my frankly gorgeous sister, and instead I’d raked up a past she was desperately trying to forget.
Mom came closer, kissed me gently on the cheek. “I think you need to eat something before you fall over, so go and get Ashley, she’ll be OK in a minute, and let’s go find someplace good for dinner!”
I smiled and went to Ashley’s door, knocked gently. “Ashley, it’s me, Nicky. If I ask you nicely, will you have dinner with me, please?”
I heard some faint noises from inside and then her door opened, her eyes reddened where she’d obviously been crying. I wanted to say something first, though.
“Ashley, I’m sorry for pushing like that, I had no business prying, or upsetting you. I’m sorry, please forgive me, I won’t do that again. Please have dinner with me, let me apologize for upsetting you.”
She smiled back at me. “Nicky, I’m sorry, you didn’t know, how could you? I would love to have dinner with you, you smooth-talking Englishman you! Where are you taking me?”
I smiled. “It’s your choice, anyplace you like, sky’s the limit, besides, it’s not like I actually know any good places here!”
“Italian?”
“Italian!” I agreed, and so we rejoined Mom, Ashley with her arm through mine.
“Mom, we’re going to DaVinci’s, Nicky wants to eat Italian, and it’s been too long since I had Osso Buco Milanese, so let’s go!”
Mom drove across town, and I was pleased to note the car seemed to be humming like a top. We went into what looked like a very popular Trattoria, were seated and placed our orders, and drank soda’s while we waited for our meal. Mom excused herself, and Ashley and I were talking when she paled. “Oh no,” she breathed, “Monica Delucci, of all the people to walk in, it had to be her!” I asked her why, and Ashley told me she was the one who nicknamed her ‘Rag-Doll’.
“Quick, Nicky, pretend you’re my boyfriend, please, just do it now!” I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, but she squirmed around and kissed me on the lips, her hands on either side of my face.
“Well looky here, Raggedy-Ann got herself a boyfriend!” said the blowsy looking, piggy-eyed chubby girl approaching our table with a malicious grin pasted on her doughy face.
I decided that now was the time to be Uber-English, and in my best phony Hugh Grant accent said to Ashley “Who is this… person, Darling Girl, and why is she dressed so badly, surely mirrors are available absolutely everywhere is she doing it for a dare?”
Monica flushed, while the people at the adjacent table grinned broadly.
She tried gamely to recover; “So who’s the Englishman then, Raggedy-Ann?”, and I decided to go for the throat.
“Really, Ashley, Darling, I thought you had better taste in friends. How very boorish, to interrupt us at dinner like this! Whoever you are, young woman… if indeed, you are a woman… please go away, you’re disturbing me; after all, I don’t turn off the Red Light when you’re working!” The people at the next table burst out laughing, and the blowsy girl flushed, going scarlet when I spoke in a piercing aside to Ashley “and such dreadfully bad taste in clothes, really, doesn’t she know people can see her, is she colour-blind…?”
Monica waddled off, half the people in the restaurant grinning broadly at her, and Ashley spun in her seat and hugged me. “Oh God, Nicky, that was so cool, thank you for squashing that bitch, she’s had it coming for years!” Before I knew it, she’d kissed me again, only this time she slid her tongue between my lips and against mine, holding the back of my head, kissing me just slightly longer than would be proper for a sisterly kiss, and as for the tongue thing…
She broke and stared at me as I stared at her, then she slowly smiled and licked her lips, and hugged me again. “I think I’m going to like having my big brother around!” she whispered in my ear, before lightly licking my earlobe and giving me a minxy grin.
Just then Mom turned up, and seated herself. “You both look extremely pleased with yourselves, did something happen? Come on, what have I missed?”
Ashley’s eyes danced with glee. “That fat bitch Monica Delucci tried to put me down and Nicky squashed her; he went all English on her, and shut down her fat face properly, the whole place was laughing at her!”
Mom grinned at me and took my hand. “Thank you Nicky, I knew you’d be good for Ashley!”
I smiled at Ashley. “Nobody puts my kid sister down, not while I’m around!”
Just then dinner arrived, and we set to. I hadn’t realised just how ravenous I was until that slab of lasagne was slid in front of me, and it tasted divine. Even with all his money, my father had seldom splashed out on treats like this, so I had only ever eaten the sad and dejected lasagne they served in the school cafeterias; now, to eat the real thing, it was just amazing, the different tastes and textures like nothing I had ever eaten before.
Ashley smiled at me. “That good, huh?” as I forked it into my mouth, chasing the last of the sauce with a piece of cornbread, convinced I’d died and gone to heaven.
Mom leaned back, her Spaghetti Carbonara just a distant memory. “Thank you, Nicky; I can’t remember the last time we ate out, this is a meal we’ll remember for a long time.”
I cocked an eye at her. “Mom, if I can get a job, I’ll take you to dinner at least once a week, that’s a promise!”
She smiled. “Ooh, I might just hold you to that, Nicky! I could get used to this!”
We sat and chatted some more, and then Mom pushed her chair away. “Well, kids, we have to call it a night, I have work in the morning, so why don’t we head home and get some rest? You’ve had a long day, Nicky; you look about done-in.”
The waiter brought our bill, and I settled up, and we headed back home, Ashley electing to ride in the back with me, her hand in mine and her head resting against my shoulder, snuggled up against me.
When we got home, Mom showed me to my room, sparsely furnished with a box spring and frame bed and a small closet, which was fine because all I owned in the world was in my holdall, so I had no pressing need for closet space. I kissed Mom good night, and she went of to her room. I was just putting my things away when I heard my door opening, and there stood Ashley, wearing a long T-shirt and baggy pyjama bottoms.