Blindingly Obvious

Kayla’s day began with a flurry of text messages to her friends.

“Everyone’s wondering where I went last night,” she reported with a mischievous giggle from her side of the bed, tapping away on her phone’s keyboard at a stenographic pace while I tried desperately to eke out another five minutes of sleep. She sent a text and the pace of reedy-toned message alerts accelerated. She giggled to herself, sent another, and a flurry of alerts caused her to laugh again. “They’re so fucking pissed you didn’t tell anyone you stayed over.”

I couldn’t have cared less and rolled away from her to demonstrate that fact, pulling the covers over my head. Kayla tapped out a long message and sent it. Her phone blew up with dozens upon dozens of replies.

“Um ... they’re on their way over.”

Thirty seconds later, the slider door rattled as several hands banged on it at once. Kayla was already out of bed, hiking up her panties and donning her shirt. She descended the stairs to let them in, and the room instantly filled with rapid fire chatter.

“No way! No fucking way!”

“Holy shit, Kiki, are you serious?”

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”

“When?”

“Early this morning.”

“What was it like?”

“Spill it, bitch. Tell us everything.”

“Did it hurt?”

“No. It was amazing.”

“Wait, is he still here? Where is he?”

“Up there.”

The room grew perfectly quiet for a long beat.

“Is he still sleeping?” someone whispered.

“Not anymore,” I said groggily.

After taking a few moments to stretch and scratch and wipe the gunk from my eyes, I pulled on my jeans and climbed down from the loft, only to collapse immediately onto the sectional. The four girls huddled together near the coffee table, watching me.

“What time is it?” I asked.

Ashley checked her phone. “Ten thirtyish,” she said, then answered the next question on my mind. “Dad already left.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and could have fallen asleep again in an instant. “You’ve got a car, right?” I asked her.

“Yeah ... why?

“I was hoping you could drive me to my house. I really need to change out of these clothes.”

“I guess,” she said.

“What’s wrong with your car?” asked Courtney.

I opened my eyes and swiveled them her way. “It’s gone. Erin stole it. Why do you think I’m still here?”

“What?” Ashley gasped.

I sat up and yawned like a cat. “She called someone from the dealership yesterday to come take it. So now I have to go over there to get it back.”

“Over where? Dad’s work?”

“Yup.”

“Why the hell would she take your car, dude?” asked Courtney.

Because she’s a psycho bitch. “The hell I know. Why does she do anything she does?”

But I knew why she’d done it. To trap me there at the house. The same reason she’d blocked in Brittney’s car. The same reason she’d stolen my keys to begin with. The same reason she threatened to call Aaron, the horse-cocked good ‘ol boy. To control me and force me to do her bidding.

Ashley stared at me, floored by my allegation. She seemed unwilling to believe it. “How do you know it was her?” she asked.

“Because, I fucking know. Look, it doesn’t matter. I’ve got a spare key at my house, so if you can just take me there, I can grab it and then we can go to the dealership and I can get my car back.” Then I remembered that my house keys were on the same ring as my car key. I’d have to find a way to break in. Great.

“I can take you,” volunteered Brittney, but I gave her a dour look.

“No you can’t,” I said. “Erin blocked your car in the driveway.”

“What the fuck, dude!” Courtney said, raising her voice. “What the hell’s wrong with your mom, Ash?”

Ashley shook her head. “I don’t know. Are you sure?” she asked me, and I shot her a look that said I was.

“Go look for yourself, if you don’t believe me.”

Ashley turned her head to the slider, then started moving toward it.

“Ash, wait,” Courtney said, calling after her, but Ashley ignored her and left the pool house.

“Let her go,” I said. “She needs to see for herself.”

While Ashley busied herself learning what a sociopath her mother was, I packed up my stuff and finished getting dressed. The other three watched as I bounced around the room, but no one seemed to be in a talking mood. When I had everything packed and ready to go, I slumped onto the sofa to stare at my phone.

“Are you coming back?” Brittney asked, and I answered without lifting my eyes from the screen.

“I don’t know. Maybe. We’ll see.”

“But you promised.”

I looked at her. “I said maybe.” I tried to cover the irritation I felt, but I did a piss poor job of it. Brittney averted her eyes and rubbed her arm. I returned to my phone.

“Heads up!”

I looked up in time to see Ashley toss something at me, and I flinched when a black and silver object hit me square in the chest and fell into my lap with a jingle. I looked down to see my keys.

“No one’s blocking Brittney in, and your car’s right were you left it on the side of the house. Your keys were sitting on the hood.” I picked up the keys and held them in front of my face, disbelieving. “Did you even look before you accused my mom of stealing your car?” Ashley snapped.

I hadn’t. Erin must have unblocked Brittney’s car and had my Range Rover returned earlier that morning. Then I looked closer at the keys dangling from my finger and noticed they were dusted in golden pollen. My scalp prickled with realization.

She fucking lied to me.

My keys had been out there the entire time, sitting on the hood of my SUV. I could have left whenever I wanted. I looked at Ashley, chagrined. She stood with her arms crossed and a disappointed expression on her narrow face.

“Ashley, I...”

I had nothing to say for myself. I’d been bamboozled by Erin. She wasn’t some crazy psycho bitch, running around like Glenn Close blocking in cars and stealing SUVs. No, she was ten times worse. A master manipulator who knew exactly what to say to bend me to her will without even lifting a finger.

Ashley scoffed and addressed her friends. “You know what? Let’s all grab brunch down at Lucky Lucy’s and celebrate with Kay. Just the four of us.” She glared at me from the corner of her eye. “I’m not sure I want to be here right now.”

Four faces turned to look at me. Courtney shook her head and Brittney stared blankly, still smarting from my brusque dismissal. Even Kayla could muster little more than a pitying shrug as she shouldered her bag. I wanted to say something, to explain what Erin had done, but I couldn’t tell them, so I remained silent and slowly deflated instead. Ashley exhaled a disgusted grunt and motioned for them all to leave. One by one, they filed out and disappeared into the yard.

I sat alone for a while, staring at my keys. How could I have been so thoroughly taken in by Erin’s scheming? What else had she lied to me about? Was Clay as overprotective and jealous as she’d made him out to be? Would he even care if he found out I’d been balling his wife? Their relationship, if not open, was at least as flexible as a Romanian gymnast. She’d been with plenty of other men before. Dozens, if her stories were to be believed, all of which I certainly questioned now.