Read Online As Close as Sisters by Colleen Faulkner - Free Book Online

inside.
    I patted her hand. “Lilly. It’s okay.”
    “It’s not okay.”
    I opened my eyes to see Lilly heaving herself up out of the chair. “Put it out, Aurora,” she told her, pointing her finger.
    Aurora drew the cigarette, held between her fore and middle fingers, to her lips and inhaled dramatically.
    Lilly reached out and plucked the cigarette from Aurora’s mouth.
    Janine had gone from crying to laughing. No one messed with Aurora. No one but Lilly.
    “I see a Tiger Mom in the making,” Janine declared.
    Lilly ground the cigarette out on the top of the empty Coke can Aurora used for an ashtray. “No more smoking in front of McKenzie. I mean it. You go out on the back deck if you want to do that.” She pointed in the direction of the back of the house. The funny thing was, Lilly used to smoke.
    I waited for Aurora to argue . . . or at least say something. Do something. I wondered if she’d light up again. Maybe blow smoke rings into Lilly’s face. But she didn’t. She just raised her glass to her lips and artfully deflected the attention. “Dating anyone, Janine?”
    Lilly retreated to her chair. I was relieved to have been saved from any further discussion of me possibly taking a yak trip across Siberia to meet a medicine man.
    “Actually, I am.” She was drunk enough to talk to us about her love life. She gave us a half smile. She had this way of turning her lip up on one side. Kind of like an Elvis smirk.
    I like her hair the way she’s wearing it. Longer. It was less . . . severe. It was a pretty brown. Chestnutty. No gray. She’d worn it short since she cut it herself that summer. This was the longest I’ve seen it in all these years. I wanted to tell her how much I liked it but hadn’t. If I did, I was afraid she might take the scissors to it again.
    “Do tell,” Lilly said.
    Janine sipped her Jack. “Nah . . . I don’t want to. Not yet. I don’t want to jinx it.”
    Lilly’s eyes widened. “Does that mean it’s serious? After Betsy, you thought you’d never love anyone again. Janine, this is so exciting!”
    “Always someone else out there to love.” Aurora prodded Janine with her bare foot. “Right?”
    Janine just kept smirking.
    “Is she hot?” Aurora asked.
    “Pretty hot,” Janine agreed.
    Lilly rolled her eyes and heaved herself out of her chair. “I’ve got to pee. Again. Don’t say a word until I get back.” She held up her finger.
    All three of us held up our fingers at once, imitating her. And we all four burst into laughter.

6
    Lilly

    I looked at her, lying on the bed in a small circle of light cast from the bedside lamp. I just wanted to cry. She looked so pale. So skinny. She’d always been curvy with nice breasts. The turban covering her head looked so . . . not McKenzie. All that beautiful red hair, gone. Eyelashes. Eyebrows. Gone.
    I wondered if that meant all of her hair fell out . . . everywhere. Pubic hair, too? I didn’t know why I cared, but I thought how weird that would be. It was such a part of our femininity, wasn’t it?
    McKenzie saw me in the doorway, in my pink nightgown, and smiled. “Hey,” she said, closing her laptop. She sounded sleepy.
    “Hey. I just came down to check on you before I went to bed.” I couldn’t stay up like I used to. I needed so much more sleep than I did pre-blimp. Janine and Aurora were still out on the front porch. Aurora was probably sneaking a joint, since I’d gone to bed. Which meant Janine was threatening to arrest her.
    I hung on the doorknob, hesitant. Did McKenzie want me to come in? Was she too tired and just wanted to be left alone? I hated feeling this way, as if I didn’t know her anymore. As if I didn’t know what she wanted or needed.
    “Journal?” I asked. It sounded lame. Like I was the new girl in the cafeteria or something and didn’t know what to say. I’d felt this way my whole life. As if I never quite fit in. Even here, where I fit in best. I was so ordinary compared to McKenzie