Second Lanark

Commitment Issues - Part 13

I frowned. "What?" I had been starting to feel better, but now I wasn't so sure.

"The other night when we all went out. Lark made out with some random guy on the dance floor. Like, hardcore, groping, disgusting, making out. At one point, I thought she might go home with him."

"Lark? As in the Lark who just sprinted to the phone to talk to her long distance boyfriend? As in the Lark who's soooo in love? As in the Lark whose boyfriend is coming here for a week before Christmas to look around?" I asked.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd take it well," Tricia said.

I had rolled my eyes at Lark's long distance relationship more than once in the last few weeks. For a girl who claimed she was so in love with her boyfriend, Cal, she spent a lot of time ogling and talking about other guys on campus. Like, a lot of time. A weird amount of time. At first, Tricia had said that Lark was probably just horny because she wasn't getting it regularly anymore, but then we'd started to wonder.

"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked.

"I think the shit might hit the fan later. Jill mentioned that she didn't think Lark should be dating Cal if she was just going to cheat on him anyway. I think she meant it to sound like helpful advice, but you can imagine the way Lark took it."

Not well. Lark would not have taken that well. I had also come to realize that no matter what I thought about Lark's relationship with Cal, it was the one subject that could not be broached with Lark without incurring some sort of wrath. She either lashed out or she shut down. I'd learned it wasn't worth saying a word about him one way or the other. That's nice, Lark had become my go-to phrase about anything to do with Cal.

"Was Jill drunk? Why would she say that?" I asked.

"Well, it annoys you and kinda annoys me and we aren't in the room when she's talking to him most of the time. It must be a little frustrating to hear her saying one thing to him and acting completely differently here," Tricia said.

A little frustrating? I probably would have blown my top by now. I can see how Jill might have felt the need to say something.

"Maybe it'll blow over?" I suggested.

"Maybe," Tricia agreed, but we both knew that Lark was like a dog with a bone when something was bothering her.

By silent agreement, we started doing some work in our room. Tricia opened the pass through so we'd hear when Jill came back from Tom's. We could hear the murmur of Lark on the phone with Cal. Her tone of voice with him always made me want to puke. 

They'd been dating for five years and he'd been her first everything, according to Lark. She claimed he'd also be her last everything, but already that wasn't true. I sort of wondered what she was like around him in person. What mask did she wear around him? I had a hard time believing that he saw her the way that we did.

"Do you think part of the problem is that she's an only child?" I asked Tricia, keeping my voice down.

"Yes," Tricia said, without looking up from highlighting her book. "Of course. She admits she never had to share anything with anyone ever. Sometimes I think she just likes having a boyfriend to fall back on. He's her British Columbia safety net if this adventure in Ottawa doesn't work out."

I hadn't thought about that, but it made sense. 

We heard the external door open and close to their room and we both held our breath. We could hear the handset from the phone clattering back into the cradle. That was loud. That wasn't good.

Tricia motioned to the bathroom door and I moved over to unlatch it quietly. It was bad to listen in to their conversation, but it made it a little easier later to pick a side if we knew what had been said. Or at least that's how I justified it as I opened the door enough for their voices to drift in. Lark hadn't closed their bathroom door tightly.