The Other Half of Me by Katherine Slee

Author:Katherine Slee [Slee, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2022-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

18.

Nine years ago . . .

‘I do wish you’d stop going through my stuff,’ Lucy said, leaning against my bedroom doorframe, arms folded and giving off a notable air of superiority.

She was wearing a peacock-blue satin dressing gown over shorts and a t-shirt, no doubt having spent her day lounging on the patio, drinking herbal tea and reading Virginia Woolf. The whole summer had been like a bad impersonation of Brideshead Revisited, and for the first time I wasn’t sad that she was packing up her things, ready to return for another illustrious year at Oxford.

‘I do wish you’d remember to knock before entering,’ I said in deliberately plummy vowels, plaiting my hair and shoving the mini-skirt I’d taken from her room into my bag.

‘Where are you going?’ she asked, eyes narrowed as she peered a little closer at my face.

‘Isaac’s,’ I replied, grabbing a notepad and pushing past her, heading for the stairs. ‘We’re helping one another study.’

‘Bollocks.’ Lucy laughed as she followed me down and into the kitchen, watching as I took a muffin from the tin. ‘You’re wearing far too much mascara for a study session. Unless’ – she licked the side of her lips and raised one eyebrow – ‘unless you and Isaac are finally shagging?’

‘As if,’ I said, slipping out the back door and through the garage to fetch my bike.

‘Have you really never . . . ?’ She left the question open and I chose not to finish it, because everyone always assumed there was more going on between Isaac and me than just friendship. It would seem that once you reached a certain age, it was deemed impossible to be friends with someone of the opposite sex without wanting to rip their clothes off.

‘Tell Mum I might end up staying over,’ I said as I wheeled my bike on to the drive then kicked off and down the hill.

‘Whatever,’ I heard Lucy say as she went back inside. No doubt she wouldn’t bother to pass on the message. She was too preoccupied with spending her last precious moments with Damian to worry about her little sister.

‘Hurry up!’ Isaac waved his arm at me, standing on the platform with one foot inside the train as the guard blew his whistle.

‘Thanks,’ I said as I jumped on board and the doors slid closed behind us. ‘Lucy was asking too many questions.’

‘Do you think she’d snitch?’

‘Possibly,’ I said, shrugging off my cardigan and unplaiting my hair. ‘She’s all pious and self-righteous at the moment. Pissed off about having to leave her summer lover.’

‘Damian seems to think he’s going up to visit her before Christmas.’ Isaac took a hip flask from his jacket and unscrewed the lid before taking a sip.

‘Damian’s delusional,’ I replied, holding out my hand for the flask. ‘There’s no way Lucy will want him mixing with all the other guys she’s sleeping with.’

‘So, her and Damian,’ he said, passing me the flask. ‘Not serious?’

I took a long sip, flinching as the neat vodka hit the back of my throat, then handed it back.

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