And Your Girl Can Sing

Chapter 79: Friend or Foe?

The clang of my coffee cup rang out against the saucer as I replaced the ceramic cup.

"Oh, I forgot to ask ye all on Friday! Was it a good night?" George asked into the silence. Paul sniggered and then turned it into a cough, hiding his rosy cheeks behind his napkin.

I didn't look at John. "Had some Chinese, it was nice. John hasn't had it in a while; said it was exactly what he needed."

"Was the dessert nice as well?" Pete slid in.

"Best, ask me once more about the dessert and I'll beat yer arse," John said in a single breath as he raised his coffee cup to his lips.

The bell tinkled in the little coffee shop and a petite figure walked in. She slid into Paul's lap and he wrapped his arms round her waist and kissed her cheek. "Dorothy Rhone."

"Hi love," she breathed as she kissed him in return. I noticed Pete's glance (he was gagging behind them) and I gave him a half knowing look and half well-you-shagged-three-girls-in-the-past-week look. To my right, Dot gave me a grin. "Hey, Cora. How has it been?"

"All right," I told her. "The band's the same; everything's pretty much the same."

"The same..." she said, sighing. "Must be nice."

"Sometimes you want something out of the ordinary to happen, though," I thought aloud, thinking of the other night.

She gave me a look, her eyes darkening and I thought I saw the corner of her mouth twitch before the look passed. "Yes." Paul's hand around hers tightened under the table and I looked away, feeling the need to change the subject. 

The group broke up soon after that, going home in each of our separate ways. John offered to walk home with me, but I wanted to go home with George, whom I hadn't seen in a while. A scowl appeared on John's lips, but after a few minutes he relented and George and I went to catch the bus home. The second we got on the bus, huge drops of rain started from the sky.

"That'll fit Dot's mood all right," George commented.

"She looked a little upset today."

"Eh. And you too, now that I think about it." George looked at me closer, squinting at me like I was a science experiment and I giggled. "Stop it, George." There was a silence, punctuated by the mumbling and shuffling of fellow passengers and the drops of rain in the sky.

"Oh look, it's cleared up," George said, looking out of the window in surprise. The sun that came out was an orange, strange for an afternoon, more suited for a morning dawn or an evening dusk. "That was fast."

"Here it comes, George." I said softly. "Here comes the sun. It'll all be all right in the end."

***

I ran the bath in the little washroom upstairs, turning on the golden light by the tub and making sure my towel and outfit were sitting by the tub. Standing in front of the tiny mirror with floral trim over the sink, I started to undo my ponytail and then squinted at myself in the reflection looking back at me, tentatively reaching out and tracing the outline of my face in the mirror.

"So different," I whispered, taking my finger away and gently running it through my hair, completely undoing the ponytail. "Cora, how you've changed." The expression of the girl in the mirror changed to a slightly worried glance, and I consoled myself. "You've done a good job letting yourself let go a little." I stared for a while longer, keeping perfectly still as if the girl opposite me would come alive but I heard a splash behind me and yelped, going to turn off the water.