Lies and Confessions

4.

April 7, 2012.

“Oh my God! Sophia! You’re here!” Geneva squeals. She runs up to me and gives me a long hug. As I hug her back, I tried my best to keep my eyes on the floor, or anywhere else, just not at Miles. Geneva lets go of me and holds my hands. “It’s been such a long time!” She says. “Let’s sit down!” She looks at me and then to Miles.

Geneva sits beside her mother, and Miles had no other choice but to sit beside me. I moved a bit further from him and tried to look casual. The butler comes with drinks on a silver tray. Geneva thanks him and I did too.

From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Miles look at me for a second. When I turned to him a bit, he was looking down to his fingers on his lap.

“So, are you coming to the wedding?” Geneva asks cheerfully.

I nodded. “I’m most likely to come.”

“That’s so great!” She squeals again.

Back when we were in grade three until we both lost contact with each other, she’d never been the loud and fun type. She’s been always the shy one, the type that you’d try to bring to a party and when she does comes, she’d just sit on one place, try to stay away from conversations as much as possible and wait until it’s time to go home.

I guess people do change.

“So, Ms. Callum here told me you met before?” Mrs. Harnet asks, suspicion in her voice.

“Yeah.” Miles answers casually.

“In high school?” Mrs. Harnet’s eyebrows rose.

Miles nodded.

“And I heard you invited her too to the wedding.”

He nods again.

 “Well, you must know each other well, am I right?”

He hesitates at first but then he replies. “Yeah.”

“Perfect.” Mrs. Harnet smiles and turns to Geneva. “Can I see what you bought, darling?”

Geneva was looking at me—no, glaring at me when Mrs. Harnet spoke. She was worried and giving me an indirect signal that I shouldn’t speak of the past. Mrs. Harnet repeated the question for the third time and that caught her attention. She nods. Mrs. Harnet stands up and goes to the second floor. Geneva looks at me again, softening her gaze. “I’ll be upstairs in a while.” She tries to smile, but it didn’t exactly come out as a friendly one.

She stands up and gives Miles a kiss on the cheek. “Wait for me alright?” She cups Miles’s cheek and then turns to me. She left me one of those unfriendly smiles again and leaves.

There was a momentarily silence that roamed around the room before Miles cleared his throat and turned to me.

“How are you?” His voice was soft and low—the kind that would make your whole body shiver and warm in an instant.

“Doing well.” I said, rather too quickly.

“Oh,” he mutters. “That’s nice.”

He scoots a little bit closer to me, making the couch bounce slightly. I looked away; to the staircase, to the kitchen floor, to the flowers, even to the duck figurines—just not at him. I gulped nervously, my breath heavy. The least thing I want him to do right now is to start a conversation with him.

“So you’re an event organizer?”

I nodded. “Part-time photographer.”

“Oh cool, you’ve always wanted to be one.” His voice enlightens, and when he realized what he just said, he looked down awkwardly and clears his throat. I looked at him. He hasn’t changed much. His hair is a bit longer than the last time I saw him but other than that, he hasn’t changed a bit. It’s only been two years—no, wait, it’s been two years, and now that I’m with him, I miss him even more.