The Lifeguard Hates You (Completed)

August Chapter 3

This was starting to get out of hand.

Rory's house was crazy. Like the longer we stayed there the more we realized that she was HELLA rich. And we had only been there twenty-four hours.

Last night she had taken us down to the movie theater she had in the basement. And when I say movie theater, I mean it was the same set up except slightly smaller. She said that her parents often had viewing parties, they were famous for them on the street. That was because her father would get movies in advance, something to do with the wardrobe, which was how we got to watch our movie last night. One that wasn't slated to come out until later this month.

When Shawn asked what it was her dad did, she just said he was in fashion and left it at that.

That lead to them asking: "Well if your dad is in fashion what does your mom do?"

And that got them a: "She's a lawyer."

Now wasn't that the roles reversed? And as a woman I was all for the flip in gender norms there but I wanted more specific answers. The problem was, Rory wouldn't give them to me.

The following morning, we had breakfast in the Solarium which was more of a greenhouse with all the trees, and flowers, and actual live birds flitting from the branches above us. There was so much green you could barely see the sun.

It was exactly like Rory said it would be. Even though she had managed to describe something so very enchantingly beautiful as something drab and ordinary.

Breakfast was served to us, by actual servants, which I still couldn't get over. And when we were done she announced that we were going shopping.

All of us.

Much to the chagrin of the boys.

In fact, Jay seemed to be in one hell of a bad mood, even for Jay. But Rory had ignored him, which was completely unlike her.

In fact, she hadn't been acting like herself since she had gotten here. She was quiet, demure even. She held herself differently, like she had hanger caught in her shirt. She even looked different, more polished.

All of these changers were small, of course, but to me they seemed like mountains.

But all of that disappeared when she asked if we would want to take our car shopping, which was Jay's car, or if we wanted to take one of theirs.

Rory doesn't drive so we all asked what that meant.

Turned out McJames' had a chauffer. Like a person whose literal job was to drive them around places! Seriously how had Rory not mentioned this before? We were all flabbergasted.

Eventually we agreed to take Jay's car, even though taking one of the McJames cars meant that one of the boys, if not both, would have to stay behind. But they needed outfits too, for one party was a costume, the other was a semi-formal.

We all voted for the semi-formal cause none of us wanted to go to a costume party in August.

Rory took us downtown to Nordstrom where four personal shoppers were waiting for us. She told them what sort of party we were going to and then we were all taken away to find clothes that would suit us and the party.

And the price alone was making me gag.

I kept asking for the clearance rack, but my personal shopper simply said: "Don't worry it's all taken care of."

I didn't know that that meant, when I finally picked a dress, a , and got to meet up with the boys again I found out that they heard the exact same thing. And they had no idea what that meant either.

You know what it meant? It meant that Rory had a black card and she was covering the cost.

The three of us were stuttering messes throwing questions at her as she signed off of the purchase. How long had she had a black card? Where the hell was that when we were paying for things up in Muskoka? For godsake we could have redone our cabin a million times over, or bought a sea-doo or a even a boat, if I knew she had that baby.

But she had shrugged, said it was her fathers, who had authorized a purchase on that card in her name today, and she left it at that.

But that was not all.

When we were done in the store, Rory said it was time to split up. We had a spa day, hair, nails, make up, the works set up for us today, and the boys could either head back to her house or stay and wait for us.

I still can't believe she called that massive mansion a house. A house! Jesus.

I thought, with us getting our hair and our nails done beside each other I'd be able to ask her questions, but she had a found a way out of this. She's getting her hair done as I'm getting my nails done, and vice versa, but when it comes to make up we're in the same room.

And that is where I make my move.

I have an esthetician working on me. Instructing me to close my eyes and look up so that they can do my eyeshadow to match my dress.

"Why didn't you tell me about all this" I ask her, closing my eyes as I'm told.

Rory sighs, this heavy, weary sigh and is silent a moment before saying: "I don't know, I just don't talk about it."

"But why! Do you have any idea the vacations we could have had? Or the things we could have bought... if you ask me, you've been selfish."

It's mean of me to say, and I know it but I also can't help it. It's not that I actual care about that stuff, it's more that Rory has this whole other life and instead of telling me, her best friend, about it, she kept it secret. I just don't know why she didn't tell me. Me, the understanding one.

The irony is not lost on me.

"And that is why, because, just like everyone else, you'd only like me for what I had and what I could give you, and not me. But who am I kidding? None of you have ever liked me. You only put up with me because I take all the shifts you don't want."

Now that's not true. Maybe for Jay and Shawn, yeah, but not me.

"I'm sorry," Rory says, and it takes me a while to realize that she's talking to the esthetician helping her and not to me. "I'd like to move rooms. Can we do that?"

"Yes, of course Miss. McJames."

And then without another word Rory has left me there. And let me tell you, I've never felt so crumby before in my life.