Chapter 11: And now for something completely unexpected...

I headed home around six. After some thought, I decided to whip up dinner, just in case. The apartment underwent a bit of cleaning as well, which didn't take long, what with the sheer abundance of furniture (a couch, dining table, bed, dresser, and sundry small items) at my place. The salad was chilling in the fridge and the chicken was in the oven when the phone rang.

"Hello."

"Hi, Jordan. How have you been?" A voice I hadn't heard in over a year came out of the receiver.

"Hi, Lissie. It's been a while."

Background time. I met Callista during the New York trip to visit a college friend. She was a friend of Olivia's who agreed to keep an eye on me--literally--during my visit to the Big Apple. After convincing myself that I wasn't imagining the person following me around, I decoyed her into a direct confrontation. She fessed up, and we've been friends ever since. Oh, and she was thirteen at the time, which would make her... fifteen?

"How's your work going? Still playing around with bacteria and spinach?"

"Guilty as charged. And you? You're applying to college in the fall, right?"

"I'm EDing Harvard, mostly because my mom's a Radcliffe girl. She threw a fit when I didn't go to Sacred Heart for prep school, and I think she'll have a stroke if I bailed on Harvard too."

"Are you still CompSci?"

"No, that's why I agreed to Harvard. If I really wanted good computer theory, I'd have fought for Stanford or MIT."

"Not Cal Tech?"

"They're more applied, and I don't really need that." Quick pause. "I decided on art history."

"Where did that come from... oh. Full masquerade form?"

"You know the drill for us trust fund kids."

"Whaddya mean us, paleface?"

"Okay, I'm sorry for insinuating that you're a poor little rich boy." At my amused grunt, she continued. "Um, speaking of apologies... I spoke with Nicki yesterday."

Silence.

"Jordan?"

"How is Annika?"

"Very well, actually. She was offered an associate editorship on U.S. News, working out of DC."

"She must be happy with that, being so close to home," I said tonelessly.

"She asked about you." I didn't respond, so she continued. "She couldn't bring herself to call or write, because she thought you hated her."

"Why should I hate her? Just because she snuck around with Olivia behind my back, and didn't have the guts to tell me that she was breaking up with me because she wanted to jump my ex-girlfriend's bones? After all, Olivia was the one I told to take a long walk off a short pier." I had more to say, but I had to catch my breath. A muffled sob from the receiver and the faintly echoing tone of Callista's voice finally clued me in. "You have this on speakerphone, don't you." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"Annika's there, isn't she?"

She stayed silent.

"Hello, Anya. Congratulations on your new job. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have something on the stove. Lissie, a pleasure as always." I hung up gently.

Maddie called ten minutes later.

"Mind if we cancel tonight?"

"Kinda thought you would. I'm just starting to make dinner. Will you two eventually make it over here?"

"No; we had more to talk about that we actually thought. I'll call you tomorrow."

"'Night."

I put the candlesticks, tablecloth, and sterling back in the cupboard, and ate dinner in the bedroom. The other two leftover portions were wrapped up carefully and placed in the fridge. After channel-surfing for an hour or two, I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and went to bed.