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Flat Fi
Enough said on that matter. For real.
What are you wearing? J
-Fi
Fi
Thank you. I know this wasn’t easy to tell me, and it means a lot that you did. And it explains things a bit. I never would have guessed your mom has had such a difficult time. She seems so totally together. I’m sorry to hear about this, though. It must have been really hard on all of you.
Your mom forgot about a meeting at Celeste’s school today, so Matt and I went in her place. The school is worried about Celeste, so I’m hoping to… Well, I don’t know what I’m hoping to do. Get Celeste into the real world? I’ll let you know how it goes. Maybe you could send her something for Christmas, especially if you’re not going to make it home? Something more portable than Flat Fi
I’m wearing six turtlenecks, sweatpants over jeans, three pairs of tube socks, and a golf hat.
-Julie
Julie-
When Mom is on her medications, you can’t tell. And she works very hard to hide her depression from everyone.
I’ll get something to Celeste. Promise. I’ll be in Tahiti in a few days, and I’ll find a good gift there.
God, I wish I could see you in that outfit. It sounds so sexy.
Gotta run. Might be around tonight to chat later if I can get online. Eleven your time?
-Fi
Fi
Thought you were going to South America after the Cook Islands? I can’t keep up with you!
I’ll be around tonight.
-Julie
She was going out for a late di
**********
The roads were clear enough that Julie felt fine driving to the hardware store on her own. Even though she generally loathed navigating snow and ice, she certainly wasn’t about to ask Matt to drive her after he’d unleashed his obnoxious attitude all over the place. Granted, he was probably upset about Celeste, but it didn’t mean that he had to be such a pill. He couldn’t even have a conversation about his sister without getting all weird; either he was rude or mean, or else he deflected all over the place until she just gave up asking.
Julie headed for the stairs. “I’m going to the hardware store. Back in a bit,” she called in the direction of Matt’s room. “Not that you care,” she added under her breath.
She got to the front door before she heard Matt’s footsteps clamoring out of his room and down to the first floor. “Wait! Julie, you’re going now? I didn’t know you were doing this… this thing today.”
“Stop spazzing,” she said calmly. “I’m just buying supplies. Nobody else is doing anything, so I’m going to.”
“That’s not fair. We’re trying.”
“No, you’re all stagnant. And where the hell was your mother today, huh? This was a big deal.”
“I know.”
“How could she have forgotten?”
Matt stood silently for a moment. “I don’t think she forgot,” he said slowly. “She probably didn’t want to go.”
“Oh, well that’s a good excuse!”
“I’m not saying it is. It’s just the way things are.”
“Another great excuse!”
“Julie?” Matt caught the door as she swung it open.
She whipped around. “What? What is it, Matt?” she snapped. “If you have something to say, then say it. If you want to help, help. If not, stay out of it.”
“I just wanted to say thank you,” he said softly.
“Oh.” He wasn’t being horrible right now. “Don’t thank me yet.”
“Thank you for trying.”
Julie looked up at him. “Sure thing.”
“Do you want me to drive? The roads aren’t great,” he offered.
“Are you going to behave yourself, or are you going to pitch a fit every time I put something in the shopping cart.”
Matt smirked. “I will make a concerted effort to behave. Will that do?”
“No grumbling, no frowning, no disapproving gestures or words of any kind. In fact, no talking at all.”
“Do you know how many times you’ve told me to stop talking today?”
“Do you know how many more times I could have told you that?”
“Do you want me to drive or not?”
“I do. I’m a big wimp. You be in charge of driving, and I’ll be in charge of shopping.”
“Blech. What stereotyped gender roles we’ve fallen into,” Matt said, feigning horror. “The man drives, and the woman—”
“Have you already forgotten the no-talking rule?” Julie marched down the steps. “Let’s go, smartass.”
Matt bowed formally and waved her through the door. She could tell it was killing him, but he kept his mouth shut the entire ride. He didn’t cringe once while she shopped, and he even bagged the items at the self-checkout.
It had started to snow a bit by the time they left, and Julie shivered as she waited for Matt to unlock the door. It took a few tries to start the car, and then they sat for a few minutes, waiting for the heat system to kick in.
Julie took a deep breath. “Why didn’t you tell me about Erin?”
Matt fumbled with the radio. “Tell you what?”
“About her depression. Fi
Matt winced. “Look, I don’t want to do this now.” He turned the dial quickly, filling the car with static noise and commercial clips.
“Matt.”
“Julie, not now.”
“OK.” She leaned back into the headrest and pulled her coat in tightly around her body. “Maybe sometime?”
“You can’t let anything go, can you?”
“Come on! It’d be great.” She slapped his arm lightly. “We could sit around and have a long, drawn-out conversation about your mother and the impact her depression had on the dynamics of the family. Then you can pour your heart out about your angst-ridden childhood, and we’d analyze every minute nuance of your personality.”
At least he was smiling now. “That sounds like torture.”
“Really? You don’t want to bare your soul to me? Cry a little? Catharsis at its finest?”
“Intro to Psych has gotten out of hand, I see.”
“I need to practice. You don’t want me to fail my class, do you?”
“If it means avoiding that nauseating conversation, then, yes. I’ll tolerate your failing a class.”
Julie slapped his arm again. “Jerk.”
Chapter 18
Matthew Watkins is brought to you today by the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the letter Qua.
Fi
Julie Seagle Why is luge a sport? You dress up like a giant sperm and go sledding really fast. That’s hardly athletic. Phallic and sexy, yes. But hardly athletic.