Fly Away Girl

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Emmy

***

"Thanks for the ride," I say to Phoenix.

"No problem." I watch as him as he heads into the backyard.

I want to thank him for driving all the way to my house and back on a Saturday morning, but he's gone before I get the chance. I find Fawn up in her room. In the center of her room is a mannequin, and all around it are layers and layers of diverse fabrics. There's silk, lace, chiffon, linen, and even leather.

"Hey!" Fawn says from behind her mannequin.

"Hi...what's all this?"

"My homecoming dress," she says, as if it should be obvious. "I'm making it myself."

"Have you ever made anything before?"

"Of course! I make, like, eighty five percent of my wardrobe!"

"Wow," I say, impressed.

"So talk to me," she says.

"I told my mom something I shouldn't have told her," I confess.

"Like you secretly bought a plane or like you're keeping a wounded squirrel in your closet."

"What?"

"Think of it as a scale."

"Oh. Then the plane thing, I guess.

Fawn cringes. "That big, huh? What is it?"

"I can't really say," I tell her with a wince.

"Just pretend it never happened."

"What?"

Fawn turns her back to me and tacks a piece of lace onto the mannequin with a pin. "Ignore it. If you act like you never told her, she'll act like she never heard it."

I shrug. "Okay."

I watch her work for a while.

"Do you want some lunch?" Fawn asks me.

"Sure."

"I'm going to order some Chinese. Hold on, we have a ton of takeout menus in the kitchen drawer."

"Just order me whatever you get!" I call after her.

I plop down on her bed and stare at nothing for a few minutes before movement catches my eye and I see Phoenix walking past Fawn's room and into his.

I don't even realized that I've said his name aloud until he appears once again in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

I swallow. "Uh...could I see your room?"

"Sure," he says slowly. "Should I be scared?"

Of course.

"Of course not!"

He chuckles. "Alright. Come on."

He leads me down the hall and into his massive bedroom.

Phoenix is an artist. I don't know how or why I didn't notice before.

Soft music is coming from a speaker on Phoenix's desk. I recognize the song: Baby Love by Diana Ross and the Supremes. Daddy loved that kind of music. To my right, there's a wall completely covered in painting canvas'. All of them have his initials in the corner, and on each of them is a different landscape. To my left is a wall covered in Polaroid photos. After taking a closer look, I discover that they too are all nature pictures. In once corner sits a few clay sculptures, and on the wall behind them is a cork board with a few black and white sketches tacked up on it.