That Was Then

25-Then

On the last day of fourth grade Tia picked us up in her shiny new convertible: pearly white with buttery soft red leather interior. Just months into fourth grade we gave up even pretending that we might spend any Friday nights at their house. There were no more cancelled plans or excuses, we just went to my house every Friday night after school. But Tia had promised us an entire weekend girls' trip and until she actually pulled up I wasn't convinced it would really happen. Mama must have felt the same way because she told me to call her if we ended up needing a ride. Just in case. But Tia wasn't even late. She pulled up with the top down and music blaring, Kya was embarrassed, I was amused. Tia got out of the car and came around like a doting mother to wrap Kya in a hug. I was surprised, this wasn't the same woman I'd had dinner with on Kya's birthday. Tia was thin, almost too thin but her boobs were bigger. Even something about her face looked different but I couldn't figure out what it was exactly.

"Blakely!" She embraced me after Kya failed to return her hug. She smushed my face with her big hard boobs. I awkwardly patted her back. "Are you girls ready for a fun weekend?" We definitely were.

After three hours in the car with the wind whipping us in the face we arrived at a fancy hotel and spa. Mama packed my bag for me, she knew where we were going but Tia wanted it to be a surprise to us. We dressed up for a nice dinner and I couldn't help but be reminded of of the last meal I shared with Tia. She asked the hostess who sat us at our table for a bottle of something before we'd even pulled out our chairs.

"Ummm sure, I'll let your server know." The hostess smiled politely.

"Mommm," Kya chided through clenched teeth. "You promised!"

"Oh Kya," Tia rolled her eyes, "a glass of wine with dinner hardly counts." I pretended to be really interested in my menu. "You know dear," Tia placed a hand over my menu, lowering it to the table, "maybe you should try a salad. Or the salmon with veggies," she pointed to an item on the menu. "Salmon is great for weight... management!" I stared at the spot she pointed to on the menu but I couldn't see anything but a blur because hot tears welled up in my eyes. My cheeks grew hot.

"Tia!" Kya screeched. She often called her parents by their first names.

"I'm just trying to help!"

"How. Is. That. Helpful?!" Kya seethed.

"You girls are getting to that age where you're going to start being interested in boys." Kya had been boy crazy since second grade whereas they hadn't really made my radar yet. "Boys don't like... well they like petite girls. And let me tell you, once you're my age it gets so much harder to lose weight! Where is my wine?!" I blinked at the menu until the tears went away and ordered a salad like Tia suggested. She ordered one too and hardly picked at it as she worked her way through the entire bottle of wine. Kya ordered a steak with French fries and ate every bite. Then she ordered dessert.

I was quiet after dinner and Kya did her best to draw me out of my bad mood. "Don't listen to her, she's a paranoid drunk!" The way Kya said it I knew those were her dad's words, not hers. I don't think either one of us even knew what paranoid meant.

The next morning Tia stayed in bed with a bad headache so Kya and I were on our own. We ordered room service and went down to the pool. When Tia finally dragged herself out of bed we got manicures and pedicures. Kya talked Tia into letting us go to dinner by ourselves. She was not hard to convince. After a fun dinner where I did not eat a salad we went back up to the room where Tia was asleep cradling an empty glass of wine. One empty bottle perched on the nightstand and another almost full one sat on the floor next to the bed.

"Should we?!" Kya asked, holding up the bottle. "It's still cold!"

"No! We'll get in trouble!"

Kya rolled her eyes. "For what? She won't know. She'll just think she drank it all." I tried to talk Kya out of it but once she had her mind set on something, she was hard to dissuade.

"It's not totally gross."

"My belly feels warm"

"It's starting to taste better."

"My cheeks feel hot."

"Is this what drunk feels like?"

All three of us had headaches in the morning. We drove home in silence with the top up on the convertible. Tia went back to rehab later that summer.