10 Things I hate About Her (10 Things #1)

21. 10 Things I Hate About Val Walsh

Naomi and Claire took their seats in the back of the music hall. Cedar wood panels wrapped around the circumference of the room, built for acoustics more than the eye's pleasure. The raked seating framed a raised stage. Musicians waited behind a glass door on the left. The audience was restless, twitching infinitely. Naomi saw Val's parents in the front row.

Her chest tightened.

She wondered why she tortured herself like this, while knowing that Val had asked her to wait and wouldn't face her till everything was settled.

She glanced at the grand piano, standing unaccompanied on the stage in all its glory. Lights shined brightly above it, but the rest of the room petered out into obscurity, especially around the far edges were Naomi and Claire watched. The bulbs above their heads failed to illuminate the staircase in any grave detail.

Claire crossed one leg over the other and said, "Still nothing from Val?"

Naomi nodded.

Claire sighed. "Honestly, watching the two of you is exasperating. I didn't take Val to be a coward. I don't know why you put up with her."

"You talk like you aren't her friend," Naomi said dryly.

A quartet of cellos began to set up the stage for their performance. When they were ready, they embarked on a sad journey through song that made Naomi think of Val's kiss, and the emptiness of Val's departure. Many weeks earlier, they had talked for hours after escaping to the porch's roof. They had talked till the sun set and Naomi had cancelled accompanying Claire to the party. Before she had left, Val had asked Naomi to wait for her a hundred times over. And Naomi felt that Val was sincere.

Claire said, "It's because I'm her friend that I can say this. When has she ever talked to us about any of her relationships? What if she isn't mature enough to handle one? How can she abandon you like that? I know she was afraid of how people would react once they found that she was- you know, but you're in the same spot as her. You haven't run."

Naomi said, "It's not entirely the same. I mean, she has her family to think about. Back in Iran, that kind of thing doesn't fly."

Claire replied, "But her mother is Canadian; her mom's values are different. She told me that her mom was fine, they just had to work on Mr. Walsh." Claire stared at the back of the dad's head as if trying to pierce it by mental force alone. "I don't get guys like him. Who are you to say what is and isn't human nature?"

"Some people think they have authority to say that. Some people claim that God doesn't want his people to entertain such vile thoughts. Personally, I think it's fear. Fear of thinking that another man might look at you the same way you look at your wife. But why do you feel fear? Why is it okay for a man to look at a woman that way, but not for a man to look at a man that way?"

Claire said, "As a straight person, I honestly don't mind if a girl finds me attractive, I'd be flattered actually."

"But that's you, and girls tend to be less aggressive."

Claire arched an eyebrow, doubt twisted her lips."What about Delilah?"

"Val could take her in a fight. Besides, Delilah was one person. From my experience, there are girls that whisper nasty things, or glare, or ask the teacher to assign me to a different change room, but they don't hurt me physically. Men tend to be more physically aggressive and more cut-throat about this sort of thing." Naomi thought of how long Val had gone without talking to her. Time dragged on, and their relationship had come to a stand-still. There were no letters, no audio messages, no texts, no secret messages in a foreign language. The two girls existed independently of each other. Naomi felt naked as if Val had covered her in some way she hadn't noticed till Val's exit.