Birds of Paradise

December 20th, 2013

Birds of Paradise

December 20th, 2013

Marilyn was pregnant. The very thought sickened Elea. Of course, she realized that since they were married, obviously they were having intercourses, but seeing it, having it plastered in her face so clearly was enough to have her almost pull at her hair.

            She was visiting her family for Christmas, and that had meant coming home for a long period of time and unluckily, she hadn’t managed to get out of going to dinner at the couple’s house. Usually she was always able to see them with a group of people, or separately. This time, it was going to be hard, she knew it.

            When she parked in their driveway, she all but puked on the asphalt.

            Their house was perfect. Of course it was. Liam would have given her everything she wanted. He loved Marilyn.

            Liam loved Marilyn. And soon, they would have a baby.

            The brunette pulled at the hem of her dress, collected herself and walked all the way to their door, her high heels lightly clicking on the ground.

            She wore dresses now, and nice shoes. She had realized that she actually liked high heels. And she took the time to arrange her hair. While her hair had been a cover before, now she proudly presented herself—her straight back and impeccable allure was a new cover. She had gotten over her fear of contact lenses too.

            It was safe to say that Elea was a new woman—or maybe not a new woman, maybe now she actually was a woman.

            Breathing in, she knocked on their door.

            The couple, holding each other by the waist opened it almost immediately. Liam smiled at her as he greeted her. But it wasn’t the same old lazy smile she had gotten so used to. It was a different one. It didn’t light his face the way it used to.

            Marilyn had drastically changed since the last time she had seen her—well they both had. Marilyn could explain her weight gain because of the pregnancy, but Liam couldn’t. He wasn’t fat, per se, he just didn’t have the perfect figure he used to.

            Pleasantries were exchanged. Elea complimented their home. Marilyn acted as if they lived a humble abode while there was a chandelier in their hall big enough to kill them all if it fell.

            They talked about their life. Marilyn mentioned how Liam had been losing building contracts but gaining more after—things always worked themselves out she explained.

            Elea talked about all the places she had visited over the years.

            “Have you ever been in an all included?” Liam asked.

            The brunette shook her head. “No.”

            “Aw, then you’ve never really travelled; now that’s called real travelling.” Liam grinned.

            No, she thought, no it’s not at all. That’s called being lazy.

            She wanted to tell him that real travelling was something else entirely, travelling meant getting lost and being actually worried for a second, travelling meant taking the TGV with your friends and having one of them pull the emergency button because you had forgotten your luggage at the decks. It was not knowing where you would sleep that night and ending up in the most random places. It was eating weird food and actually enjoying it. Real travelling was unexpected and never planned. Real travelling was like living. You had to move.

            But she didn’t say a word because in thinking those things she realized how utterly different they all were now. They were there, sitting, waiting to be served, to have their lives given to them on a silver platter because everything always worked out in the end while she worked for it, she fought for it.

            And there was no pride in having everything given out to you, she realized.