Page 80 of She Used to Be Nice
Avery shrugged. This was so unimportant. Didn’t Morgan care that one of her best friends was hurting? “I don’t have hiking boots.”
“You should’ve gotten a pair. They have cheap ones.” Morgan tilted her ankle to show off her brown boots tied up with red laces. “I got these online at a discount sporting goods store.”
“Well, I’m not gonna spend money on something I won’t need,” Avery said. “I’ll probably never hike again after this weekend.” She watched Blair continue pressing her lips to her finger, wondered if she needed a bandage.
“Oh, I know,” Morgan snapped. “You’ve made your hatred of the outdoorscrystalclear.”
Avery darted her eyes back to Morgan. “What? No, I didn’t mean like—”
“Morgan Feeley, party of seven?” the receptionist called out.
Morgan bolted up from the couch. The rest of the group followed as the receptionist led everyone down a dark hallway lit by twinkling candles. Soft instrumental music played from speakers mounted on the ceiling, and eucalyptus oil misted into the air from diffusers perched on ledges outside each massage room. Avery swallowed, torn between being an attentive maid of honor and getting to the bottom of what was happening with Blair and Noah. She spent the whole hour in her massage room jittery and tense, trying and failing to summon the eucalyptus’s calming powers.
When she finished, early because she cut the session short when the masseuse touched her back, she sat in the foyer and waited for the rest of the bridesmaids. One by one, they trickled out with relaxed, sleepy smiles on their faces. Blair came out last. Her right sleeve was scrunched up, revealing a ring of green and yellow bruises around her wrist.
23
AVERY’S NERVOUS SYSTEM JOLTEDinto high-alert. She remembered wearing a sweatshirt to cover her own bruises for weeks after that night senior year, even on days that were unseasonably warm that fall.
Could this mean what she thought it meant?
The thought plagued her the whole walk to the psychic center, where the bridesmaids were greeted by a kind Black receptionist. The woman was stunning, with smooth, glowing skin and dark brown hair wrapped in a gold turban, but Avery could barely spend a second admiring her before the dizzying image of Blair’s bruises flashed inside her mind again. Perhaps this was why Avery was so curious about what was going on between Noah and Blair: because subconsciously she wondered if Noah had taken advantage of someone else. Injuries shaped like that, like long narrow lesions curling around bone, could only be explained by someone’s meaty fingers wrapped tightly around your wrists, holding you down against your will. Just like Noah had done to Avery.
Avery’s heart hammered in her chest as she massaged her wrists and scrutinized Blair, who seemed unaware that Avery had noticed anything.
Finally, Blair caught Avery’s eye. “What’s your problem?” Blair barked after everyone sunk into a chair in the waiting room.A mushroom-shaped table lamp glowed burnt-orange in the corner. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Yeah, you’re being weird,” Morgan added. “You were quiet on the walk over here, too.”
Blood rushed in Avery’s ears. “No. Sorry. I was just taking in the surroundings. Aspen is very pretty.”
“Sonowyou appreciate nature,” Morgan muttered to herself, so softly that Avery would’ve missed it if her senses weren’t so heightened.
Avery slid her eyes from Morgan to Blair, trying to relay a telepathic message:Is it true, Blair? Did he do this to you, too? You can tell me. We used to be best friends.
The tarot card reader finally arrived in a royal blue caftan and layers of brown beaded necklaces that rattled like maracas when she moved. She introduced herself as Katanjai, their “spiritual guide” for the day. Avery heard Blair’s phone buzz in her pocket, and Blair scanned the screen before shoving it back into her bag.
Avery once again tried to communicate telepathically.Was that him?But Blair didn’t look at her.
Katanjai led the group to a room in the back of the center, waving around a hand adorned with turquoise rings on each finger. Blair shuffled behind and sat down in the last empty vinyl chair set up in front of a large circular table. Avery alternated between staring out the window flanked by bamboo curtains behind Katanjai and staring at Blair’s wrists, wondering if she should say something or mind her business. Avery never would have talked to anyone if they’d mentioned her wrists senior year. She would have lied and kept her pain inside, just like she’d done over the last year.
But it wasn’t too late for Blair. It didn’t have to be.
Maybe, if Avery couldn’t save herself, she could save Blair.
“Shall we do the bride first?” Katanjai asked.
Morgan gave an enthusiastic nod. Katanjai took out a deck of tarot cards and shuffled them around with a series of elaborate hand movements. Blair tugged her sleeves over her wrists, gripped them with her hands. Avery couldn’t stop staring.
Katanjai made ahmmmsound, steepling her fingers together and studying the card she’d flipped over for Morgan. “This is a great card. You’re destined for eternal love and prosperity.”
“Really?” Morgan asked hopefully.
Katanjai nodded. “Your life with your new husband will be long, filled with happiness and money.”
Blair went from tugging at her sleeves to gazing at the crystal ball in the corner of the room. Avery wondered what she was thinking, what she wanted to know. That everything would be okay? That she’d be doomed to suffer forever from what Noah did to her?
“Can I go next?” Blair asked.
