Masks (Kissing Fish)

“You know, I like the Staff Club as much as the next person,” Faye said grumpily, eyeing a puddle and then hitching up her skirt before taking a flying leap that almost, but not quite, cleared the water, “but only Sarah would think of holding a reunion booze-and-schmooze there. I mean, surely she could have found a venue in Notts rather than on campus?” She stopped to wipe a few drops of water off her tights and to survey the damage to her three-inch stilettos. “Do you think they’re ruined?” she asked, sticking out a foot for inspection.

“Darling, you’ve had the same pair for three years,” I said, rolling my eyes as I looked down at her shoe. “Somehow it seems to me that you’re unlikely to go buy a new pair just because the colour might have bled.”

“I like these,” she protested. “They’re comfortable. Also I hate shopping. And these go with everything.”

“Water-damage and all,” I teased.

“Water-damage and all,” she agreed, cheerfully traipsing onwards past the library. Oh, the ugliness of Hallward.

“As far as Sarah goes…” I shrugged and twitched my pashmina further up my shoulders. Oh, Sarah. One of the remnants from uni days that I really wished had gone away a long time ago. “It gives her an opportunity to do what they did in, I don’t know, the Regency. She gets to invite the privileged few, also known as her favourites or those people with enough money for a second home and box seats at the opera, to dinner in the restaurant, and then the rest of us, whom she can’t quite bring herself to get rid of, can come along for the party. You’re supposed to feel honoured you got an invite at all, while also acknowledging that you’re not important enough to get an invite to dinner.”

Faye let out a mock gasp of horror. “Are you telling me we’ve been snubbed by Sarah? The shock of it all! The horror!” She rolled her eyes and said more seriously, “As if we haven’t been snubbed by Sarah in all the years we’ve known her. Quite frankly, I could have done with being completely ignored by the woman. The party will be bad enough. I think I would have jumped off Trent Bridge if I’d had to sit through dinner. She probably made a speech. I get enough of the bitch’s evil face when she’s at the house on the occasion she and Alex are in one of their on-again phases. I don’t need to see her pseudo-polite face.”

I laughed. “Stop being so dramatic. You didn’t have to come.”

“You say that, but we both know it’s not true.”

“Neither Alex nor Nate are coming,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but both of them have legitimate excuses. Nate’s, you know, dying of man flu. And Alex is busy, again, with evening meetings.”

“Which does beg the question of why we’re going when neither of us likes her,” I grumbled, thinking longingly of an evening in on the couch with Netflix.

“You’re going because you’re too nice to say no, and because she’s Alex’s girlfriend—sometimes—you’re determined to try to like her despite fucking years of her being evil to you in return. But what would my excuse for not coming have been? ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Sarah darling, but I just really, really hate you, you fucking bitch cow, go burn in hell’?” She scowled.

I snorted. Faye’s dislike of Sarah was well known and well broadcast. “Bet she’d love that.”

Faye rolled her eyes a second time and struck out along the path again, almost tripping up the steps as she said, “Yeah, I don’t think so. But oh, it would have felt so good to say…”

A raindrop struck my nose and I glanced skyward, where grey clouds had been looming all day. Although it had poured earlier in the afternoon it had been clear for the last two hours. Now, however, the clouds threatened rain any moment, and my dress was not about to stand up to getting rained on.

“Hmm,” I said, cutting into Faye’s muttering. “I don’t know about you, but I’d kind of like to be inside before the heavens break open. So if you’re done bad-mouthing Sarah…”

“Never,” she said cheerfully, “but for you, I’ll pause for a few hours.” She looked down at the mask dangling from her hand and lifted it to her face, carefully tying the ribbons behind her head. “How do I look?” she asked, posing in front of the Staff Club windows.

“Like a sexy kitten,” I said as I tied on my own mask. Really, where did Sarah come up with these ideas? What was the point of a reunion party if you couldn’t tell who people were because they were masked? I could only assume Sarah’s dinner party had donned their masks after eating, since otherwise the dinner conversation must have been supremely awkward. Although, given that this was Sarah, she had probably been bitten by an evil imp and insisted they all dine incognito, and then basked in the discomfort of her guests.

“Excellent,” Faye said cheerfully. “Maybe I’ll get myself a sexy tom.”

“Good luck with that,” I said. “With half their face hidden, you’ll have to judge on personality alone. And god knows that finding a man with an attractive personality is like trying to fish a raindrop out of a pool of water…”

She sighed. “A girl can hope.”

The nearest entrance to the Staff Club, facing Hallward Library, was open. Light spilled out from the windows. The lounge area was already full; the restaurant had obviously already been closed, but a buffet had been set up in case anyone had an attack of the nibbles. There were flashes of light at the edge of my vision, alerting newcomers to the present of a disco masquerading in the deli area.

A tall, slim figure with blonde hair swept up in a French twist, wearing an intricate red and black lace mask that matched her dress (of course), appeared almost as soon as we came through the door, her arms flung wide. “Darlings!” she exclaimed, enfolding me in a bony hug. I hated hugging Sarah. Not because I hated Sarah, which was why Faye hated hugging her. No, I hated hugging Sarah because there was so little of her that it always felt like hugging a twig. Or one of those stick insects. She was so damn insubstantial.

“Hello, Sarah,” I said as she kissed me on both cheeks. Continental pretensions, check. Any bets on how long it would take her to graduate to three kisses?

“Sarah,” Faye said, her mouth stretched into some semblance of a smile as Sarah clasped her in an embrace and repeated the kisses.

“Faye, of course,” Sarah said, with that knowing little smile Faye despised so much. “Your smile is unmistakeable.”

Given that Faye’s smile currently resembled a grimace, that was hardly a compliment. From the strained expression on what little of Faye’s face I could see, I suspected she was contemplating knocking Sarah’s delicate little mask off her face and possibly breaking her nose in the process. That would have been entertaining, but alas, Faye had had too much practice at controlling herself around unpleasant people. Pity. The result might have been a change for the better; Sarah’s most recent nose job wasn’t an improvement over the previous model. She would have done better to stick with the nose she’d had when we were in grad school.

“Everything looks great, Sarah,” I said quickly, looking around at the decorations.

“Well, thank you so much, Emily,” she said, turning to me with a delighted smile. “It’s not so very much, of course, but you know I do try!”

I managed to keep the smile on my face. Try, my arse. Sarah was worthless at organising things. We’d learned that the hard way a few years earlier when Alex’s birthday happened to fall in one of their on-again phases and she’d had the idea of throwing an elaborate party for Alex’s birthday. She had been supposed to take care of the details and had promised that everything was coming along perfectly, but almost everything had fallen through and in the end we’d all just gone out to the pub. Good night, but not exactly what we’d had in mind when Sarah had proposed a spectacular night out!

“I am so glad you could make it, darlings,” Sarah was saying as I dragged my attention back to her face. “It just wouldn’t be the same without you!” Her pretty little mouth twisted into a pout as she added, “I was so disappointed to hear Nate wouldn’t be coming. Come down ill, has he?”

“Ugh,” I said, making a face. “He’s got flu. He’s been sick all week, which has been god-awful to live with. You know men—they get a little sick and whinge like they’re bloody well dying.”

“Oh, the poor thing,” Sarah said sympathetically.

“I think he’s on the mend now, thank god,” I said. “He gets so damn cranky when he’s ill!”

“Ick,” Sarah said, although she’d been nodding understandingly. “The poor dear thing. Well, we’ll miss him tonight, of course!” She glanced behind us and then said, very casually, “But where’s Alex? I thought he was coming?”

I exchanged glances with Faye. Neither of us could ever keep up with Alex and Sarah’s relationship. It was too damn complicated. I had a feeling that at the moment they were off rather than on, which made me wonder if a) Alex had arranged for that business meeting tonight to avoid Sarah and b) Sarah was supposed to know where Alex was if he hadn’t told her himself. Probably. She knew everything else about him, after all.

“He’s in Notts tonight,” I said after a moment’s consideration. “He had a meeting rescheduled at the last minute.”

“I’d have thought he’d have told you,” Faye said, casing the crowd for, I assumed, men with attractive personalities.

Sarah pouted. “He didn’t say a word! Are you certain?”

“Uh…well, yeah,” I said. “I had a text from him this afternoon to that effect. But I haven’t actually seen him in, like, a week. We’ve all been stupidly busy. Faye?”

“What?” Faye started and dragged her attention away from a tall, broad-shouldered man across the room. “Oh. I’ve hardly seen him all week. I think I saw him briefly on Sunday, but like Fish said, we’ve all been stupidly busy the last couple weeks and I don’t think he’s been in the house much. Always buys loo roll, though, thank god.”

I laughed. “Mark of a good housemate! Nate never remembers unless I prod him about it.”

“Why are we talking about loo roll?” Sarah demanded.

“Sorry,” Faye said dismissively. “I forgot we were talking about you.”

“So Alex definitely won’t be here?” Sarah asked anxiously.

“Nope,” I said. “Not unless he’s got a body double at his meeting.”

Sarah gave me a funny look and chewed briefly on her lower lip. “Dammit.” She sighed. “We’re in the off stage of our relationship again,” she said in a confiding tone of voice. Yeah. Surprise, surprise.

“We’re aware,” Faye said dryly, startling me. I’d guessed, but I hadn’t known, not for sure. But then, Faye lived with the man. Presumably she clocked the on and off periods based on when Alex was moody and when Sarah actually spent time at the house. “Trust me,” she continued, “We know more about your and Alex’s relationship than we’d ever care to know. Get him drunk and he spills his guts.” A malicious grin hovered briefly at the corners of her mouth and then vanished. “Believe me.”

“Oh.” Sarah looked disconcerted for a moment and then said, “Well, it’s just that I was hoping he might be here so we might be able to get back on, if you see what I mean.”

“You poor thing,” Faye said solicitously. “How remarkably rude of whomever Alex is meeting to ruin your plans.” She patted Sarah’s hand and I hid a smile as she added, “They should have realised instinctively, of course that he had a very important party to go to. Drunken memories to relive.”

“Faye,” I said warningly, as Sarah’s expression grew stonier.

Faye rolled her eyes and let her eyes wander for a moment before returning her attention to the man across the room.

“Faye,” I said again, quietly.

“Hmm?”

I tapped my left ring-finger. “Ring.”

“Drat.” She considered for a moment, and then said hopefully, “Maybe he’d be up for a torrid one-night stand? He does have a nice bum…”

I choked back a laugh, half prompted by the ridiculousness of Faye’s comment and half prompted by the expression on Sarah’s face.

The door opened behind us, letting in a draft of cool air and the smell of wet pavement, and the unpleasant expression on Sarah’s face immediately vanished as she switched into hostess mode. “It’s a free bar,” she told us, beaming, “so please help yourself, and if you want to dance, just follow the music! Just do try to stay off the tables,” she said with a titter, and then brushed past us with a “Good evening!” as she captured the newcomers in a hug.

“‘Just do try to stay off the tables’,” Faye mimicked under her breath. “God, I always forget how much I dislike that woman.”

“I think the feeling’s mutual,” I said, watching as Sarah tilted her head and laughed. “You have to admit, though, she’s got the social mask down pat.”

“I never could work out what Alex saw in her,” Faye said. “I mean, Christ, I see Sarah practically as much as he does and the cow drives me up a wall.”

“Chemistry is a funny thing,” I replied.

“What chemistry?” Faye demanded. “They don’t have any. They’re just a…I don’t know, a pretty matched blond couple with pretty blue eyes and pretty smiles.”

“Wow,” I said. “Alex would be hurt at your assessment of him as such a shallow creature.”

“Oh, you know what I mean.”

I shrugged. “Anyway, they must have some chemistry.” I watched Sarah for a moment and then added, “They’ve been together for almost six years now, and seeing as neither of them is exactly floating in money I think you’d be hard-pressed to say either of them are sticking with the other in the hopes of marrying rich…”

“They’ve only been together six years if you count the ‘off’ parts of their relationship as well,” Faye objected. “And there’s been a hell of a lot of the last six years that’ve been ‘off’.”

“Meh,” I said. “I want booze.”

Faye twirled her hand and pointed with a flourish. “To the bar!” She offered me her arm with a grand gesture. “My lady?”

Laughing, I slipped my arm through hers and allowed her to escort me through to the bar, which was full of masked individuals who were clearly already well on their way to drunk. Dinner had obviously come with plenty of drink.

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