“Hey, hey, hey.” DeeDee’s face softens, and she leans forward to grab my hand just as Ingrid grips the back of my bar stool.
I take a deep breath and just let myself feel something I’ve avoided for so long: support.
“You’ve got this,” Ingrid says, “and we’ve got you.”
“And tequila,” DeeDee adds.
We all laugh, and the mood shifts a little. A Flume song I love comes on the speakers, and DeeDee starts swaying as she reaches for the bottle again, shouting down Ingrid’s protests as she makes us all do another shot.
“Okay, okay, I have an idea for step two,” Ingrid announces once the alcohol has burnt its way down my throat. “DeeDee, do you have the day off tomorrow?”
“Uhhhhh, sure!”
We all laugh again.
“Okay, well I know Paige and I are free. I also know I have a shit tonne of Air Miles racked up from travelling with the band so much, and I’ve been saving them for something like this.”
I freeze. “You want to fly...to LA?Tomorrow?”
She shakes her head. “Not LA. I vote we take a trip to Toronto. You need to talk to your mom.”
* * *
“I can’t believeI’m doing this.” I stare at the little car on the Uber app that’s getting closer and closer tour location. “I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m not doing this. I’m cancelling the ride.”
“No!” DeeDee snatches my phone out of my hands and holds it above her head. “You are doing it!”
We’re at the train station closest to my parent’s house in Brampton. Ingrid got us last minute tickets for an ungodly early flight, and we got into Toronto just after ten. The plan is for the two of them to hang around Brampton while I do whatever the hell it is I’m doing, and then we’ll take the train back into Toronto and possibly get a hotel.
It’s all happened so fast I’m still processing the fact that I’m here. We got drunk enough at Taverne Toulouse that I hazily agreed to the plan. I woke up at six with a headache and Ingrid pounding on my apartment door. She was not taking no for an answer, and after DeeDee stumbled out of Zach’s room and revived herself with coffee, the two of them full-on frog-marched me out of the building.
“You guys really didn’t have to come,” I say for probably the millionth time.
“Yes, we did,” Ingrid answers. “You think you would be here if we didn’t?”
I absolutely would not be here, and that seems pretty ideal at the moment.
“Look, I know friendship is kind of a new concept for you, but this is what friends do,” Ingrid continues, stepping in front of me so I’m forced to stop pacing the station. “It’s gonna be fine, Paige. You need this, and when it’s done, we’ll come get you, because that’s also what friends do.”
The world steadies itself just a little as I stand there staring at her.
“Right. Yeah.” I swallow. “Thanks.”
She gives me her signature half-smile. “Of course, you...um...I forget how to say ‘bitch’ in Vietnamese.”
I grin. “I’ll give you another lesson sometime soon. You need to catch me up on my Dutch profanities too.”
“MonsieurUber is here!” DeeDee calls out loud enough to turn a few heads.
Between Ingrid in all her sexy rock star glory, DeeDee with her Technicolor hair and is-she-on-speed-or-not exuberance, and me having a minor emotional crisis, we’re giving the train station its fair share of morning entertainment.
I close my eyes and take a breath. “Here we go.”
The ride to my house takes about fifteen minutes, and I fidget the whole way there. I get out of the passenger side after we pull up in front of the red brick bungalow. I left the backpack I brought with Ingrid and DeeDee, so it’s just me and my hoodie standing here in the driveway as the Uber pulls away.
My mom’s black Jetta is in the driveway, and my heart jumps into my throat when I realize who the new teal Mitsubishi next to it must belong to. My sister’s favourite colour is teal.
As if this encounter couldn’t get any more awkward. I had to show up at the same time Isabella is visiting. From the rare times I talk with my parents, I gather she’s here a lot, going over managerial stuff with my mom.
