Chapter 4 No.4

Heather's POV:

I had been expecting a refined, nose-stuck-up-in-the-air Eudora when she came through the escalator, but I was swept off my feet by the excited greeting I got from her.

She ran to me with arms wide open and squealed and twirled me around. It was almost too much to handle.

Another thing that came as another blow was how even more beautiful she'd become. The last time I saw her, she was still trying to figure out what she'd do with her face, her hair was all over the place, and her dress sense was chaotic. Even then, she could easily be picked over me as the better-looking one.

Now that her skin shone like porcelain, her makeup immaculate, her dress regal, with expensive jewelry and accessories and not a strand of her hair out of place, I felt like an ugly duckling in the company of a swan.

I tried to curb it, but I couldn't help my envy.

When people began to recognize her and gather, I hastily led us to my car and drove out of the parking lot.

"How's it been, Heather?" she asked as we began to pull out of the parking lot.

I sighed before responding, "What can I say?" She looked on expectantly, waiting for me to continue. "Let's just hope it gets better from here, Eudy," I added with a watery smile.

"You don't look so good, Heather, what's wrong?"

Tense silence passed in the car while I pretended to weave through traffic. I didn't know if I could trust her with all that had gone down in my life last week. I also couldn't trust myself to speak just yet without breaking down into more tears.

"You know what?" I asked brightly, an apparent attempt at moving out of the spotlight. "I'm bringing you to my favorite restaurant to celebrate the homecoming of my very popular cousin. Who's excited?!"

It worked perfectly.

"Ooh, where?" Eudora jumped excitedly in her seat.

"You'll find out when we get there," I replied with a mischievous smile.

"No!" She exclaimed. "You know how much I hate suspense."

"Oh," I chuckled lightly, "that hasn't changed about you. Doesn't mean I'll reveal my secret; just wait and see."

"I actually want to send this address to a friend," she whined.

"What friend is that? You just made it back here, and you already have friends?" I look at her in suspicion. "Are you lying to me, Eudora?"

"I'm serious, Heather. He already knows I will be here, and he flew in days ago to prepare the way..." The way her excitement doubled and blush crept up her cheeks made me suspect her more.

"So this man, he's your boyfriend, yeah?"

"No," Eudora said quickly, and her cheeks got pinker. It immediately confirmed my thoughts.

My twenty-one-year-old cousin had found love.

I blurted out the address of the restaurant with happiness.

Even though my love life and entire life was a mess, at least my twenty-one-year-old cousin had life going well for her.

"I'm happy for you, Eudy." I smiled at her and focused on the road.

"I'm happy too, Heather," she beamed in reply. "I am."

The car was filled with another bout of silence. I reminisced on how much time I wasted pining after Asher and hoping we could be something more and hated myself for it.

"How's your boyfriend, though?" Eudora piped up suddenly as we stopped at a red light.

"Huh?" What was she on about?

"Your boyfriend," she repeated. "It's been a while since you spoke about him. I hope y'all are good."

I was about to ask her to clarify what she was talking about before I realized that I'd lied to her a few times over the phone that I had a boyfriend.

It wasn't an intentional lie. There were times when Eudora and I would be on the phone for long, and Asher would get impatient and try to seduce me into hanging up on her. His petty tricks worked almost every time.

I had to explain to my cousin that the reason why I'd go from articulate to raspy over the phone was because my handsome boyfriend had a healthy sex drive. It'd been easier and more dignifying to tell her that instead of the truth.

Now, my lie had come back to haunt me.

"Uh," I began and drove forward at the indication of the green traffic light. "He's fine," I blurted.

"Invite him over for this. Let me finally meet your man!" Her excitement, as well as her words, made me panic.

"He's out of town for today, Eudy. Something about a contract..." I trailed off and increased the intensity of my stare on the road.

My heart was pounding erratically.

"Well, that's a shame." I could hear the pout in her voice. "I've heard so much about him that I want to meet him immediately."

It now dawned on me that it was a stupid decision to tell my cousin so much about my contractual lover and lie that we were dating.

What had I been thinking? How would I keep this lie going now that Asher and I had broken up our 'charade'?

It was with these thoughts that I pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and led Eudora into the beautiful place. She kept droning on about things I didn't care enough to want to know about, and I kept humming in response while brainstorming how to get out of the mess I'd found myself in.

Just as I was about to speak up to Eudora in confession of the truth-at least the half of it that I could afford to tell-somebody came in, and because my back was to the door, Eudora saw the new occupant and waved him over with a girlish look on her face.

I decided to tell her when we were alone and then braced myself to meet the boyfriend of my perfect sister.

"I'm sorry I'm late, ladies," a strikingly familiar voice spoke from behind me, and I lifted my face in shock, praying to all that was powerful that it should only be in my imagination.

The figure that moved over to kiss my cousin on her forehead made my heart stop beating for a full second.