“Once or twice? If you’re gonna live in California this summer I want to see you guys all the time. This is crazy. I can’t believe you two are doing this. I mean, it makes sense that Garret would. He’s totally in love with you. But I can’t believe you’d agree to live with him. You always act like you’re afraid to get serious with him.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. So where in California?”
“Garret thinks we should go somewhere north of LA. He’s going to ask his dad’s real estate agent to help us find a place.”
She picks up her phone and starts tapping on the screen. “Tell him not to. I know people who could get you a better place and a better deal, not that Garret cares about the price.”
“We need a good deal because I’m paying for half the rent. I need to find a job out there. I was thinking of waitressing.”
She puts her phone down and looks at me funny. “Waitressing won’t get you enough money to afford a place on the beach. Not even enough to pay for half of the rent.”
“How much are these places?”
“Depends on where you go and how big of a place you want. Like a one or two bedroom beachfront condo could be anywhere from $2000-$6000 a week. More if it’s new or really nice. I’d plan for around $4000.”
“A week? So $16,000 a month?”
“Yeah. That’s about average.”
“I didn’t know they cost that much! That’s completely insane. Who has that kind of money?”
“Most people just rent them out for a week, not the whole summer. But you could probably get the price down since you’re staying for the summer.”
Suddenly all my excitement about the summer is gone. I knew a place on the beach would be expensive but notthatmuch. Why didn’t Garret tell me this? Because he knew I wouldn’t go. That’s why.
“Are places that much on the East Coast, too?” I ask her.
“Some are more than that. Garret would know. He said his family rented a house on Martha’s Vineyard last summer. Ask him how much that cost. I’m sure it was a fortune. What do you care? His family is loaded. A few thousand dollars a week is nothing to them.”
“I don’t want Garret paying for everything. I wanted to at least pay for half of the rent. But there’s no way I can afford that.”
“Jade, just let him pay for it. You guys are gonna have so much fun. I should try to talk Sean into living in California this summer. He keeps telling me he wants to learn to surf.”
Harper spends the next hour telling me everything she did over break. Then she tells me what’s new with her family. Her dad’s a Hollywood director and just started work on a comic book superhero movie. Her sister, Kylie, is an actress and Harper’s mom is now managing Kylie’s acting career. Kylie got a side role in a teen vampire movie which is supposed to be huge. According to Harper, Kylie has been hanging out with the lead actress in the film and now has paparazzi following her around everywhere. Harper’s other sister is a model and travels all the time for photo shoots, but she was home over the holiday.
“Jade, here.” Harper tosses me a small wrapped box she took out of her suitcase, which is still unpacked and sitting on the floor.
“What’s this?”
“A Christmas gift. I saw it and thought it would be so cute on you.”
“Harper, we said we weren’t exchanging gifts. I didn’t get you anything.”
“Just open it.” She stands there waiting for me.
I unwrap the box to find a denim mini skirt. I usually don’t wear skirts. In fact I don’t even own one. But if I were to buy a skirt, this is the one I’d buy. The denim has that worn look and the back pockets are frayed a little. I recognize the designer label. A pair of jeans from that designer is easily $300, so I know the skirt cost a lot.
“Thanks, Harper. This is exactly my style.”
“It’s from the spring collection.” Harper’s totally into fashion. Whenever she talks about clothes or shoes her eyes light up and she gets this eager tone to her voice. “I’ve never seen you wear a skirt, but when I saw this I thought it would be perfect for you.”
I hold it up. At least it’s not too short. Harper tends to wear really short skirts.
“I got you some other stuff, too.” She starts pulling more clothes from her suitcase. “And don’t say I spent too much because I didn’t buy any of this. It was all sent to my sister by companies that want her to wear it. It’s like free advertising. If the paparazzi get photos of her, these designers want her wearing their clothes. Anyway, this stuff was too big on her and too small for me. But I think it might fit you.”
She hands me a slightly longer, fuller skirt made from a thin, almost sheer fabric. “How small is your sister?” I ask, holding it up.
