Chapter 4 Caffeine and Plans

ERINA -

"What. A. Cunt!" Anne, Erina's best friend, said with so much disdain that it nearly dripped in the air. "Want me to sugar their rides? A little in the gas tank is all that it takes. They'd never even know it was us."

She paused to sip from her hot cocoa she'd purchased instead of the regular black coffee she normally ordered. Then continued on after barely swallowing to say, "And what the fuck is up with Richard? They have to have something on him! I just can't see him turning on you like that." She shook her head, her chestnut eyes growing big. "He loves you, Erry." Hearing her friend's nickname warmed her, even if the words she said hurt.

"You didn't see his face, Anne." She wrapped her fingers tighter around her own Starbucks cup, seeking more warmth. "It's easy for anyone to take what I said, for exactly what it sounded like. A money-grubbing user."

She looked out the window of her mother's office. The sun was about midway up the sky, and the bright rays were warming the room.

Anne and her had plans to go for their morning run, but instead they spent all night drinking, while twisting terrible tales for the future lives of Richard and Giselle Hilligan.

After the bathroom event, Erina slinked out of the restaurant and called Anne. She needed to get away from those people and spend time with a human who actually cared about her.

That human was Anne. Her sailor-mouthed best friend, who would kick anyone's ass if it meant protecting someone she cared about, and who always found a way to bring light and laughter to the darkest of situations.

At some point last night, they'd both decided that Erina would be moving out of her father's house and into Anne's until she found a place of her own.

She'd only been there out of some weird sense of loyalty to her dad, but after last night, she couldn't bear to see him again. If she were honest with herself, she didn't want to see how disgusted he was with her. He obviously believed Regina's lies about her.

"No. The last thing I want is for someone to see you and it getting back to Richard. It would only fuel whatever negative thoughts he has for me right now." She set her cup down and met Anne's stare. "No." She said again. "I just want to get my stuff and get the hell out of that house."

"Well!" Anne said with more spunk than Erina could believe she had, after last night's drinking fest. "I got you, girl! They're supposed to be gone all weekend, right?"

"Yeah." She muttered and looked back down at her Caramel Machiatto. "Richard and I had planned a Charter on his parents' private yacht." The sour taste of betrayal traveled up her throat to coat her tongue as she spoke. "It was ready for a cruise through Puget Sound. It had a sunset tour planned around the San Juan Islands, and they were gonna light off fireworks."

"No way! I knew you two had planned something big, but a yacht!? How would it be?" Anne said dreamily.

Only Erina knew exactly how it would be. She'd done it once before, when her mother and father were celebrating their anniversary. Just like Anne's expression suggested, it would have been dreamy.

She could picture it, even now. She and Richard snuggled up against the railing and soaking up the knowledge that they were going to be wed within the year. His arms, wrapped around her for the whole world to see, and her step-mother grinding her teeth as she watched.

A frown pulled her lips down, and a deep sigh came from out of nowhere.

"Hey! Hey! None of that now! What is it Mr. Friztler always said?" Mr. Friztler was their final Art teacher in high school. "Hindsight is great for drawing shadows, but it blocks the view when you need to add lighting since you can only erase so much."

Erina drug her hand down her face before throwing her hand up. "What's that supposed to mean, Anne? We're not drawing cityscapes right now."

"Look." She said as she set her hot cocoa on the table and gave Erina the most serious face she'd ever seen. "All I'm saying is... You can't change the bullshit that happened last night, and I know you. You're gonna stew over what you think you've lost, and it's gonna eat away at any momentum you get. Look back at the fuckery if you have to, but learn from it and move on. Don't let Richard and your terrible sister stop you from kicking that step-hoe's ass." She finished her tirade with a giant grin that could do nothing but make Erina laugh.

"I don't want to kick Regina's ass." She paused with a blank expression as she rethought her comment. "Okay. Maybe I do, but that's not the point. I can't help it! I thought what I had with Richard was real and would last forever. Now I'm not even sure if I didn't just make it all up."

She'd not told Anne about all the crazy things she saw last night. The last thing she wanted right now was her best friend sending her off to be committed.

"What if they decide to visit the Sahara on their Honeymoon and Giselle is kidnapped by raiders and Richard has to spend all of his money to get her back?" Anne said, obviously picking up their game from last night.

"They'd have to want her first." The comment slipped out of Erina's mouth before she realized that she'd said it out loud, and it had Anne cackling into snorts.

"I'm just saying, all she has to do is open her mouth and they'd see what hell they've just brought upon themselves. Not that she isn't pretty." She pulled her quickly cooling coffee up to her lips, but before she took a sip, she muttered, "Everyone knows how pretty she is."

"Ghastly! Is that a compliment I hear?"

"No." She responded immediately. "All I'm saying is, if they honeymooned in some faraway country and she got lost while they visited some creepy castle and wound up falling into a forgotten pit, I wouldn't be altogether upset knowing that they had to spend the rest of their trip fishing her out."

They took turns once more, coming up with the craziest stories as they packed up her mother's office. Much like her rooms at the house, she was going to take everything that she loved with her.

That included the door-sized mirror that was currently hanging on the wall of the office.

"Ya know," Anne said as they carried the ridiculously heavy mirror to her van. "Since they're out this weekend, let's have a girls' night at your mom's cabin. I'll call up the girls and we'll all get shitfaced, do manicures and bullshit face masks and let the rest of the world just fall away."

Erina thought about it for all of two seconds before she said, "I think that would be perfect."