Flat-Out Love

“I bet it’s easy for you,” Celeste said, as she examined her fingers and toes.

“What? Flirting?”

“Yes.”

“Depends. There’s flirting,” Julie said, jokingly pushing her chest out, “and then there’s flirting.” She tapped the side of her temple. “It’s the second one that’s hard because you’re putting more of yourself out there.”

Celeste moved to stand next to Julie and looked at herself in the mirror. She turned sideways and then forward again, holding her fingers splayed in front of her so she wouldn’t smudge her polish.

“Here. Try this on.” Julie handed her a sheer lip gloss.

Celeste took the gloss and examined it as if it were a specimen from the moon. “I really do not think that this is necessary. I do not think that Flat Fi

“It’s not necessary. But it’s what thirteen-year-old girls do. You’ve never worn makeup?”

Celeste shook her head emphatically. “I ca

By the time Julie had turned thirteen, she’d already experimented with numerous disastrous shades of shadow, framed her eyes with crooked streaks of black liner, and infuriated her mother with her embarrassingly large collection of lipstick.

“Here, I’ll do it for you.” Julie got up and put one hand under Celeste’s chin, steadying her face as she dabbed some sheen onto her lips. “A little lip-gloss on you won’t kill Fi

Celeste’s already pale skin became nearly translucent and her eyes glistened. Julie pulled back. “What’s wrong? What did I do?” Great. First Erin and now Celeste. Either this family was insane, or Julie was causing some sort of panic reaction in everyone she came in contact with.

Celeste clamped her hand onto Julie’s arm and looked at her. She turned to face the mirror and rubbed her lips together. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she continued to clutch Julie’s arm.

Julie, with the lip-gloss wand still held in front of her, felt her hand tremble slightly. Something was happening to Celeste, something she didn’t understand. Julie closed her eyes for a moment. “See what Flat Fi

Celeste cautiously moved to stand by Flat Fi

**********

Julie drove home from the campus party, parked in the driveway, and did her best to shut the car door quietly. She was home later than she’d expected, and, although Erin had been quite clear about giving Julie the freedom to come and go as she pleased, it was still hard not to feel some obligation to come home before dawn. She started fiddling with the tricky old lock on the front door, but in the dark, it was tough. The party had been fun, just not fun enough to be worth spending the night on the Watkins’ front porch.

She’d met at least thirty other Whitney students. Although she’d been a bit hesitant about walking into a party alone, it had been a good crowd, and she’d had fun. Even with the beer flowing freely, there was a different feel from high school parties. Yes, there’d been the drunk boys and crying girls she’d predicted, and surprisingly more than enough sober(ish), non-hysterical people. She’d even been hit on a few times, which, while amusing and a little flattering, hadn’t led to anything more than the mention of meeting up for coffee between classes. But she was tired, and so had ducked out around twelve-thirty after Jamie and Dana’s public groping session had taken a breather, and she’d been able to say good-bye to them.

Julie shut her eyes and focused on the key in the lock, listening for sounds that she was doing something right. After figuring out a combination of rotating the handle just a smidge while wriggling the key as it turned, she made it inside. The house was dark, and Julie tiptoed up the stairs to the second floor. In the quiet, she noticed that the fifth step from the bottom creaked loudly, the sound echoing up the stairwell. She’d have to remember that.

Matthew’s door was ajar, and his light on. Julie tapped lightly on the door, causing it to swing open. “Matt?”

“Hey, Julie.” Matt was crouched over his computer, obviously wide awake.

She walked in and sat down on the bed.  “What are you doing?”

“Working myself into a frenzy over an online debate about people who go around breaking into computer systems and claim their only reason for doing so is to expose security weaknesses.”

“Oh. You didn’t go out tonight?”

“Nope.” He was still looking at the screen.  “My father had a work party, so my parents were out until about an hour ago. Someone had to stay with Celeste.”

Most thirteen-year-olds would have pitched a fit at having their brother stay home with them. For reasons Julie didn’t understand yet, Celeste needed someone around all the time.

Julie leaned back on her hands and crossed her legs, bouncing one leg up and down. “Flat Fi

“His general incompetence reaches monumental and dangerous proportions,” he said absently. “Totally untrustworthy.”

“I feel bad that I had the car. You mom didn’t mention they were going out when she said I should take it tonight.”

“They prefer to walk.”

Julie looked around. His bedroom looked more like an office than a college student’s room. The only thing on the wall was a poster with a freaky glowing nebula thing and an incomprehensible equation. “What is that?” she asked.

“The poster? It’s the dynamics of electromagnetic radiation shown through Maxwell equations.”

“It’s extremely decorative. Gives the room a warm touch.”

Matt tapped the keyboard.

“I went to a party at school tonight. It was all right. Nothing thrilling.”

She wondered again if she’d had some social obligation to invite him. They were living in the same house after all. She could have just introduced him as the son of the family she was staying with so that she wouldn’t have scared off any potential dates.  But maybe she wasn’t that good a person. Plus, there was something about his tone tonight that was rather pissy and cold. He looked sort of pathetic here, slumped in his swivel chair, his evening’s social activities confined to communicating with other loner boys. Not most people’s idea of a raging Saturday night.

Matt was frowning at one of the forum messages. “Idiots. How anyone can justify hacking into the Chicago transit system? Yeah, sure we all think that guy was trying to prevent someone else from using access for malicious intent!” He turned back to Julie. “Sorry. What?”

“I said that the party was all right. I’m glad I went.”

“Good.”

“Listen, Matt,” she started. Great. He was already back on his stupid forum. Maybe he didn’t feel like talking, but something was bothering her. Especially with the way he could barely look at her. “Matt? Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t mean to, but I kind of heard you and your mom the other day. It sounded like a bit of an argument. I can’t help wondering if it was about me staying here.” Julie fidgeted with her watchstrap. “Are you not OK with it? I mean, I would understand. Really. This strange girl moves into your house with no notice, takes over your brother’s room, makes you eat metaphoric manicotti. I get it. Probably not what every boy dreams about.”

Matt smirked as he typed. “I never said you were strange.”

“That was an expression.” Julie waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. She stood up and walked to the door. “Well, I’m sorry.”