Love, Lex (7 page)

Taddy hung her freckled face between the bars. “Today takes
the craptastic cake of all craperrific cakes. It’s right up there with the day
I found out my Dad wasn’t really my birth father.”

Speechless, I nodded, trying to swallow the lump in my
throat. I remembered back to the summer Taddy’s life had turned to rodent dung.
We were like thirteen.

If anyone had thought the Easton’s were unfit parents, they
should’ve met the Brillford’s.

Holy Hannah, her folks were horrific.

Take Cruella de Ville, slap Taddy’s cheekbones on her face,
and deck the diva in a St. John knit suit, and tah-dah you’d have—Countess
Irma, formerly known as
Mother.

That was of course until Taddy’s emancipation. Now we hadn’t
a clue as to what the Brillford’s were up to. All I knew was they’d given Taddy
a settlement for her college tuition and told her they never wanted to talk to
her again. Can you believe it?

Taddy flipped her long red hair to one side. “Dare I say,
this incident is right up there with the time we went to…juvie.” Quickly
Taddy’s green eyes locked with mine.

We winced in unison knowing better than to speak the J-word
in front of present company.

“Don’t say that.” Sitting up, Vive finally spoke.

Earlier, Vive had almost lost her mind when Judge Calabrese
had read over our juvie records. His computer had dug up the Connecticut murder
of Sanderloo. He’d let us know we’d be tried this time in an adult court.

Distraught wasn’t the right word for Vive’s emotions today.
Outraged, yes that’s it. If it wasn’t for us being handcuffed, Vive probably
would’ve gotten up in Judge Calabrese’s face and struck him with his own gavel.
I’m serious! Especially while the judge blabbered on and on about what bad
teenagers we were. Oh and get this, Judge Calabrese had the kahunas to say he
was Birdie Easton’s biggest fan. Can you believe him?

With all of this in mind, being locked up had brought back
painful memories. Ones we’d all worked hard to forget. 

“Well, it’s the truth, Vive. Today is karma from our past,
coming back to bite us in the ass.” Taddy licked her thumb. The ink from when
they’d fingerprinted us earlier was impossible to get off.

“It sure is. I wonder if and when our bad luck will ever
stop,” I grumbled.

Here’s a side note, not to be said out loud in front of the
girls. Blake and I should’ve never gone along with Taddy’s suggestion to bury
Sanderloo’s body behind the school. If we’d come clean initially when it had
happened, I bet our karma would be free and clear by now. Not stuck in this
raining-poop-all-over-us-storm that we’re in right now.

“Shut up, Lex. I’m talking to Taddy. I don’t wanna hear your
bubbly voice for as long as we’re in here.”

“Calm down, Vive,” Taddy shushed.

“Once our bail posts, we’re outta here.” Vive got to her
feet and pointed at me. “Call Eddie again and have his lawyer pay your bail.
Use your father’s money to put you up at The Plaza Hotel.”

Whoa!
“Why? You said—”

“I’ve been thinking. I don’t want you staying at my place.
Mr. Shapiro suggested Taddy and I put distance between
us
and
you
.
That’s what I’m gonna do, girlie.”

Boy, this accident made her supportive attitude change. One
second she was all, “move in with me, park Vamp on Fifth Avenue, Hedda can’t
wait to see you.” Then the next minute I get a hotel suggestion. What the heck
made her flake?

“Viveca Farnworth!” Grabbing on to her narrow shoulders,
Taddy bossed, “Simmer down.”

Chewing my tongue, I couldn’t argue. Vive was off her
rocker, as she should be. This was entirely my fault.

She’d been pretty calm till the arraignment. Ah-ha! That was
when her attitude started. I had to know so I asked, “Vive, what did Dick say
earlier when he pulled you aside?”

“Nothing. We just went over the fees with my father.”

“Vive. What did he say?” Taddy cracked her knuckles.  

“Oh alright, if this goes to trail, Mr. Shapiro suggested
that I ask you to take separate counsel from me and Taddy.” 

“I didn’t do anything wrong. All I did was set the dress and
a few photos on fire in the tub. I watched it burn out.”

“Lex, your fire
ignited
Birdie’s oxygen facial tanks
and sent her west of Broadway,” Vive snarled, bouncing her hand on her hip.
“Then you hauled your entire closet in my Bentley to come live with us. Let’s
not forget we are all booked tonight to leave the fucking country on Euro
Airways. Think how this looks.”

“Farnworth, stop it. No one died. Only Birdie’s unit was
destroyed. And she’s going to be fine. We can’t misconstrue this or the
prosecutors will eat us alive.” Lowering her voice, Taddy turned her attention
back to me, and said, “Stick to the story we came up with.”

The
story
was simple, denial.

Honestly, as mentioned earlier, I was the world’s worst
liar. Some girls could lie through their teeth about anything and everything I
wasn’t one of them. I had to though, if not for me, for my friends. So I agreed
to go along with whatever was needed to keep everyone out of trouble.

“What-the-flip-ever.” Vive stomped her foot as if getting a
second wind to argue. “Birdie screwed Kelle. This is her mess. Not ours.”

“True. The only person at fault is Birdie. Not you or me.
And I hope you’re not implying this is all on Lex because it ain’t. Not
exactly, Vive this could’ve happened to us too. How many times have you burned
your clothing in the tub?”

“Don’t be a twat. I’ve never lit anything other than
candle.” 

Around and around, Taddy paced in a circle fast enough to
resemble an orange sherbet flurry.

We’d officially gone stir crazy.

Staring at these prison uniforms gave me a headache. The
room shrunk another few inches. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” I gave them
each a pleading look. Already I had apologized about two hundred times. So make
it two hundred and one.

“One good thing did come out of today, that’s for sure.”
Taddy smirked.

“Huh? What the fudge are you talkin’ about?”

“Kelle Sterling Dolley got himself arrested too.”

Hearing Kelle’s demise for the second time sounded better
than the first. Unable to control myself, I smiled as rightfully so.
Hello
,
he banged Mom.

Kelle wasn’t in the penthouse during the explosion. No
siree. Apparently he’d taken off in his Ferrari shortly after we’d left. High
and wasted, he got pulled over for DUI on Perry Street. Now he was in jail
somewhere around here, probably sitting next to Vive’s driver. That was the
tidbit of slammer gossip we’d overheard while in booking.

“That’s
not
funny Taddy.” Vive bit her fingernail. 

“Vive, please stop worrying. Once Daddy gets here he’ll talk
to Birdie and fix everything.” That was the biggest crock of monkey dung to
come out of my mouth. But my family needed to take care of this, not the
Farnworth’s.

“Uh-huh.” Vive’s right eyebrow jerked up, perhaps suspicious
of Dad stepping in to help.

Over the years, he’d been MIA off and on, for as long as the
girls had known him. Daddy wasn’t a bad father. He just wasn’t around. Like
ever.

“He’ll be here tomorrow, Vive. You’ll see.”

“Isn’t that what you said about our graduation?” Vive
sneered.

Along with Taddy’s parents, Daddy didn’t make it to my
graduation back in June.

Don’t wanna talk about it.

“Hey, at least Birdie attended.” Taddy defended.

“And sober!” I added.

The only peace of mind was Birdie hadn’t drank a drop our
entire graduation week. She’d treated Vive, Taddy, Blake, and I to a nice
dinner and had given us each gifts. The girls and I received Cartier jewelry.
Blake had gotten a Rolex.

An evening with sober Birdie was worth more than any baubles
her money and fame could afford. I’d called her
Mom
out in public the
entire week and not once did she snap at me.

She’d shared her enthusiasm with a
Manhattanite Times
reporter and said, “I’m proud and honored to call Alexandra Easton my daughter.
Today’s Avon Porter graduation is a hallmark of her youth. Her father and I are
excited to see where her journey takes us all.”

Pretty nice, huh? Her publicist may have written it on her
behalf but I didn’t care. I’d taken her words to heart. Mom had never bragged
about me before to anyone. It risked taking the spotlight off her, but for
whatever reason, that day she did.

My eyes stung just thinking about it. Maybe that’s why I
wanted to go on to college so badly. Four years of studying for a degree I’d
probably never use was worth Mom’s compliments, at least to me.

“And where’s Eddie now?” Vive asked.

“Tokyo. His Asia manager said he got the news, cancelled his
shows for the week and immediately boarded a flight coming back to JFK.”

“I’ll believe Eddie when I see him.” Vive’s bloodshot blue
eyes narrowed and she muttered uneasily, “Looks as though you’ll be spending
the night at Riker’s.”

In horror, Taddy gasped. “No, Lex won’t. She’s leaving with
us. And Vive if Dick doesn’t spring her bail, I’ll forever hate you.”

“Me?” Vive slouched back down on the bench. Crossing her
skinny legs she asked, “Why?”

Taddy’s lips thinned with irritation. “Ohhh…I don’t know.
Perhaps it’s because you’re being a frickin’ hypocrite.”

“No, I’m not.” Vive turned away from us and faced the wall.

“We spent six months in juvie cause you killed your
boyfriend—”

“Don’t you
dare
throw that in my face!” Vive shouted
over her shoulder. “Sanderloo was gay bashing Blake to the point of
unconsciousness. I didn’t see you two stepping in to fend him off.”

With a pang, I fired back, “That’s not fair.” I had tried to
help. Or at least I thought I did at the time. One thing was for certain, I’d
near peed myself when the fight started. Not because I was shocked. No.
Sanderloo was a major a-hole and had always stirred up fights, but because I
was terrified for Blake.  Sanderloo must’ve been on steroids. His type of rage
toward another human being wasn’t natural. 

“If I hadn’t stepped in, Blake would’ve died.” Vive turned
back around to face us and fingered a clump of mascara from her eyes.

“We know, Vive.” Taddy’s voice went up an octave.

“Christ. It was an accident.” The color drained from Vive’s
face. 

That’s what we’d always called it—the accident.

“I still get the chills thinking about that night in the
woods.” I thought back to how our nightmare had started.

Sanderloo had accused Blake of coming on to him for sex,
which wasn’t true, btw. He’d started beating on Blake. He wouldn’t let up.
After a blow to the face, Blake had fallen. Ignoring Vive’s screams, Sanderloo
had started kicking Blake as if he were a soccer ball. Vive had tried to get in
between them but Sanderloo pushed her off.

Hoping he’d stop, Vive had grabbed a shovel and struck
Sanderloo on the head. Oh, he’d quit alright. The boy had died instantly. At
the time, Vive was five months pregnant with Sanderloo’s baby. We were like
sixteen.

“Every nuance about Sanderloo’s death is fresh in my mind.”
Blinking off a tear, Taddy shut her eyes tight.

We couldn’t put his murder past us. It had bonded all of us
together forever.

“Ya know it’s like last year, when we’d watched on the news
as the airplane flew into the World Trade Center, or like today seeing Birdie
soar off the balcony. One can’t forget things like this.” I hoped my words
brought Vive some comfort.

I don’t think we ever learned how to help Vive cope after
the accident. Looking back on that time in our lives I realize now we’d been
thrown into the crime with her.

“Usually I try to only think good thoughts. Not bad.” Taddy
said. “Don’t you have any nice things you think about from when you were
little?”

That was a tough one. “Hmmm, guess not. Ask me how many
butterscotch spots the calico cat who’d kept me company during my childhood had
and I couldn’t tell ya.”

“
Sweetie
was your kitty’s name. And she had one dab
on her belly and one on each of her front paws. Or were they on her hind legs?”
Taddy smiled at me. We’d known one another since we were babies. We were born
only a few months apart.

“Why can’t my memory hold on to the
good
moments more
vividly than the bad ones?” I asked.

“Because in our life, we’ve had few if any happy times to
keep with us,” Vive muttered.

The irony of it all felt maddening. Here we were the most
photographed teenagers on the east coast, had more money than we knew what to
do with, attended all the right schools, and we were…miserable.

“Let’s make turning eighteen special.” Taddy glared at me
suddenly, probably realizing we were not going to Paris. “Sorry…”

“Killing Sanderloo was an accident that’ll haunt all of us
for the rest of our lives. I loved him. I loved my baby. And there isn’t a
minute that goes by that I don’t think about them both. That’s why I can’t do
another trial. Don’t you two get it? I’ll go out of my mind.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Taddy said.

“One day I hope we can forgive ourselves over the accident
but right now, even to breathe, I just need to forget for a while. Please help
me forget,” Vive said in a shake voice.

“And what happened today wasn’t intentional either.” Taddy
went over to Vive and massaged her back. “That’s why you’re going to post bail
for Lex. We’re in this together. Dick and your father must help Lex too.”

“I already told you, I can’t be locked up again.” Tormented
by her emotions, her shoulders caved inward and Vive wept.

“If we stick together, we won’t be put away, not again.”
Taddy kissed the top of Vive’s hand then held her. “Our new life back in this
city won’t be like before. We’re all almost on our own.”