Chapter 66: LATE PERIOD
KEISHA’S POV
By the time I got back inside, the breakfast table had cleared.
Nadia was already heading upstairs and I followed and we went back to her room where she pulled her wardrobe open and started going through it with a furrow of her brow.
That only meant one thing. She was going somewhere.
I sat on the edge of her bed. "Where are you going?"
"Lisa’s birthday." She said as she pulled out a dress and held it against herself. "She asked me to help with the decorations weeks ago. I forgot about it completely until she sent a message this morning." She looked at the dress. "Too much?"
"For decorating?" I raised a brow. "Yes."
She put it back. "Come with me."
"I want a quiet day." I flopped back on the bed.
"You’ve been having quiet days." She said. "Come. It’ll be good for you. Lisa always has good food and you can just sit in the corner and exist if you want, nobody will bother you."
"I’m fine here." I whined.
She looked at me over her shoulder. "You’ve been fine here for a while and you still look like something is sitting on you. Riven just left, you look like shit, my dad looks like shit, even Dane looks like shit. You all need a fucking break." She turned back to the wardrobe. "Lisa has a dog. You like dogs."
"I’m not coming because of a dog." I frowned at her.
"What if it’s a really good dog?" She asked.
"Nadia. What do you think I’m going to say?"
She sighed and pulled something else out and held it up. I nodded and she put it on before she sat at her mirror and started on her hair.
We talked about Lisa for a while. She and Nadia had been friends since childhood, she was getting married in the spring, the birthday party was really a pre-wedding celebration disguised as a birthday party because Lisa’s family was traditional about the order of things.
"Will there be people there I don’t know?" I asked.
"Loads." Nadia said. "But they’re nice people. Pack families mostly. Some from the east side you probably haven’t met yet." She caught my eye in the mirror. "It would actually be good for you to meet more people. You’ve been here months and you know me and Becca and Evelyn and Dane and my dad and—" She paused. "That’s quite a small circle."
"I have Sera at work." I smiled.
"You have Sera at work. Work?" She repeated. "Keisha."
"I like small circles." I shrugged.
"Small circles are fine until something happens and you need people." She said as she turned to look at me directly. "You went through something awful with Orin and the only person you really talked to about it was me. You’ve had Riven showing up all week making things complicated, and the only person you talked to about it was me." She paused. "I love being your person. But you should have more than one person."
I looked at her.
She wasn’t wrong.
"Maybe." I said.
"Come today." She said. "You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to. Just be somewhere that isn’t this mansion or your office or your house."
"Your dad’s making me stay in his mansion." I said. "That’s not my fault."
"You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes.
I did know what she meant.
"I’ll think about it." I said.
She turned back to the mirror looking like she would take that as a partial victory. She was quiet for a moment, doing something with the back of her hair, and then she made a sound.
"Oh for—" She winced. "Brilliant timing."
"What?" I asked, sitting up immediately.
"My period." She said flatly. "Always when I have somewhere to be." She went to her drawer and started looking through it. "The cramps are already starting and I have to spend four hours helping hang decorations." She found what she needed and turned around. "You’re lucky yours came last week. I always get it worse when it comes late."
My hands went still in my lap.
"Mm." I said.
"Mine is here so yours should be coming soon if it hasn’t already." She looked at me. "Have you seen it yet? You used to always be a day or two behind me."
"Yes." I forced the words out even though it tasted bitter.
There was absolutely no need for her to know that I had not in fact seen my period.
She looked at me for a second with something in her face. "You sure?"
"Why would I not be sure about my own period, Nadia." I asked, keeping my voice steady.
She held up her hands. "I’m just asking." She turned back to the mirror. "Because you went a bit—" She made a vague face gesture. "When I mentioned it."
"I’m fine." I assured her. "Let’s talk about something else."
She let it go.
We talked about other things. The birthday party, what Lisa’s fiancé was like, whether Nadia should bring a gift or money and if a gift what kind. I gave opinions and she argued with most of them which was normal.
She asked if she should bring something from Becca’s kitchen and I said that was always a good idea. She went downstairs to ask and came back up with a small wrapped package and a small smile on her face.
"You really won’t come?" She asked one more time when she stood at the door.
"Really." I said.
She looked at me. "Eat something while I’m gone." She said. "Proper food, not just tea."
"I will." I nodded.
"And call me if anything happens." She said.
"Nothing is going to happen." I laughed.
"Keisha." She raised a brow. "I’m being serious."
"I’ll call you." I said.
She kissed my cheek and left. I heard her footsteps go down the stairs and the front door open and close and then the mansion went quiet around me.
I sat on the edge of the bed for a long moment.
Nadia’s period had come.
Mine hadn’t.
I did the calculation in my head that I had been refusing to do for two weeks. Counted backwards, counted forwards, counted again differently and arrived at the same answer every time.
Late.
Not a day. Not even a week late.
Properly, undeniably late.
And I had just looked my best friend in the face and lied about it without blinking.
I stood up, went to the window and looked out at the quiet morning grounds for a while.
Once more, I thought about the kit at the bottom of a toilet.
I needed to see the pack doctor.
Today.
