You Can't Stay Here Forever by Katherine Lin

Author:Katherine Lin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning when we met Fauna and Robbie at the front of the hotel, he had already pulled their car around. Mable was wearing a short, dark green romper, and I had chosen a knee-length, oatmeal-colored linen dress, thinking that it was an outfit a local might wear. But seeing Fauna, who was wearing a white dress with a high slit on one side, making her legs look even longer, I felt prudish. Mable and I crawled into the back of their rental, a two-seater, exotic car that I’d never once seen in America. While Robbie drove, Fauna picked the music, playing various early ’00s hits from her phone through the car’s speakers.

We all sang along, and because I was seated right behind Fauna, I could see her face in the side mirror. Sometimes, during a certain lyric, she would close her eyes and smile to herself about something. It felt like I was watching something very intimate, even though she was in the car with all of us. Last night before bed, I’d started to wonder if I’d judged Fauna too harshly. Watching her sing now made me think I might have. When a certain pop hit came on, I saw her look over at Robbie, who was concentrating on the road, and her face was soft and tender. It made me question whether I’d misjudged her affection for him, too.

At a stoplight, Fauna turned down the music for a moment and said, “I feel like I’m in my twenties again.”

“And how is that a bad thing?” asked Mable.

“I’m thirty-one,” said Robbie.

“So the wound’s still fresh,” said Mable.

“Mable.” I laughed. “We’re both turning thirty in December.”

Robbie said, “I remember thinking that thirty meant something big. It felt so far from twenty-eight and twenty-nine somehow. The great barrier of your thirties.”

“Speak for yourself, Ellie. I’m never getting old,” said Mable. “I’m going to be young forever.” She reached into the front of the car and turned the volume back up.

We parked by the ocean, where rows of boats and yachts were docked. Fauna and Robbie, who had been to Antibes many times, led us into town, where a large, crowded farmer’s market was going on. It was very loud, and soon Robbie and Mable split off together to try out different jams, while I joined Fauna at a table of colorful soaps. She held a series of them up to her nose and then to mine, murmuring whether or not she liked each one. We moved to a table piled with produce, where she picked up a bunch of green onions and inhaled their scent. Without asking permission, she split off a piece of one and took a bite, then held it up to me, gesturing for me to try it, too.

“I’m not sure we’re supposed to,” I said, though the woman selling the produce wasn’t paying attention to us.

“No one’s going to care.” She put it up to my face again. I knew that I had come off as very uptight yesterday.

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