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Lydia had never really given much thought to how she might die. Death was inevitable, a condition of life in the natural order of things. It was almost poetic in the sense that all living things shared the same outcome.
She hoped it wouldn’t happen soon, maybe in fifty or even sixty years, sure. By that point, she might even welcome it, depending on whether she inherited more than just her great fashion sense from her grandmother. At least her grandfather had stayed with her until the very end.
Even now, she yearned for a love like theirs. When she had been much younger, she’d even wished for it on the stars every night. Unfortunately, she’d had to give up on that idea when she realised the companion she desired was not the same as the one she could have.
Pragmatic as ever, Lydia then set her sights on what she could have. Come hell or high water, she would become an actress. And a damned good one if she had anything to say about it.
Unlike some of the other students, including their very keen student council president, she was uninterested in college. Her sights were fixed on Hollywood. As with most things, Lydia already had a plan. Straight after graduation, she, along with Floyd, and Arthur were going to get an apartment in central Los Angeles. They would audition for everything and anything, living on their combined savings. The three of them could easily scrimp by until their big breaks. Which would happen, she knew that with absolute certainty.
What Lydia had never expected to happen, and had been wholly unprepared for, was Cynthia Zdunowski.
Of course, she’d known of the smaller girl for quite some time. Any self-respecting thespian knew that their most annoying foe did not wear a letterman jacket, instead they wore leather. Learning to avoid that ridiculous car and those tacky jackets became second nature, which of course extended to their tagalong. Before Lydia had gotten to know Cynthia, she honestly felt sorry for her. Once she got to know Cynthia and realised precisely how irritating the girl was, Lydia just felt vexed.
Uncouth, uncultured, ill mannered, and impossible to ignore. She’d made a mockery of the noble profession that was the theatre and then, to top it all off, Cynthia had stolen her role.
So much audacity stuffed into such a short frame.
At first, Lydia looked for every opportunity to goad the other girl. Unaware, or perhaps more truthfully, ignoring the way her heart raced every time those blue eyes fell upon her. Then, when Cynthia had all but begged for her help, it had felt so satisfying. Never one to turn down an opportunity to kiss a girl without getting into trouble for it, Lydia was all too happy to volunteer.
The moment her lips touched Cynthia’s, however, her carefully constructed house of cards clattered to the ground.
Oh.
Oh.
This was why she couldn’t stop thinking about Cynthia. This was why her heart raced whenever she caught sight of that awful pink jacket. Of all the stupid things that Lydia could have done, she’d gone and developed a crush on the most frustrating person in the world. Then, because she was incapable of leaving a scab alone to heal, she’d offered to help her ‘practice’. It wasn’t even like they steadily descended into making out. Almost within minutes of arriving at Cynthia’s apartment, those piercing blue eyes had pinned Lydia down. Not long after, so had her lips.
Who could even judge her for falling for a short, feisty butch? Lord knows she had a type.
Despite their admittedly rocky start, for the last few weeks, and in particular since the carnival. Touch wood, but everything had been going really well. Lydia knew she fell hard and fast. It was why she had been so affected by everything that had happened over the summer. With that heartbreak serving as the inspiration for her most emotional scenes ever since.
It was also the reason her heart ached whenever she caught sight of Cynthia in the hallways or found her leaning against Lydia’s locker, waiting for her. Lydia physically could not stop thinking about the other girl and it was driving her insane.
Suddenly, Cynthia featured in her plans for the future and god, it was just way too soon for that. Lydia wasn’t above using the L word, but the thought terrified her. She’d nearly admitted it when Cynthia had first asked her out on a date, and probably would have if Cynthia hadn’t literally fallen out of the closet.
A tiny but incessantly logical part of herself was concerned that Cynthia might run off again. If she’d done so after their first genuine kiss, what was to stop her from getting similarly overwhelmed if Lydia told her she loved her? Lost in her internal musing, Lydia was unaware of the rather familiar black car that was now idling alongside her, as she walked towards the shops.
So, whilst Lydia had never really considered how she might die. Her entire life did flash before her eyes when something grabbed her off the street and pulled her into a waiting car.
“-hey, what the fuck?! Get off-“ A hand came down to cover her mouth and Lydia almost bit down hard just before she registered how soft it was. Despite being inside the T birds’ car, it surprised her that there wasn’t a distinct smell of grease. Lydia was very confused and, on instinct, looked around for Cynthia in the car, even though she knew the smaller girl was working in her dad's garage today.
Instead, Lydia found herself sandwiched between the car door and Olivia Valdovinos. “We just wanna talk.”
Nancy, who was apparently behind the wheel of the car, glanced at Lydia through the rear-view mirror. “Yeah, we got a few questions for you. Once you answer them, you might be free to go…”
“We can’t just keep her indefinitely…” Hazel peeked from over Olivia’s shoulder. Lydia’s glare must have been fairly effective as Hazel slid back into her seat and away from view.
Lydia tore the hand away from her mouth, scowling furiously, “what the fuck is this?”
Jane, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around to face her. “Like Liv said, we just want to talk to you.”
Lydia scoffed, “and you needed to kidnap me to do that, because…?”
Jane laughed in response, “we’re not kidnapping you.” She paused. “Are we?”
“Not really a kid, is she?” Nancy kept her eyes on the road, seemingly very fixated on driving. Wait…
“Just put it in second. No, put your hand on the, yeah, that’s it.”
Lydia watched horrified as Olivia talked Nancy through how to drive a car. Whilst she was already driving the fucking car.
“Are you kidding me?” Lydia hissed, hands scrabbling automatically at the door handle. “You pulled me into a, a death trap on wheels.” She gestured towards Nancy. “She can’t even drive!”
“Uh, I can totally drive. I just haven’t learned how to yet. There’s a difference.”
“You’ll get hurt if you open the door at this speed.”
Lydia sighed, knowing that Hazel was correct but also not having the mental capacity or desire to deal with a car full of pink ladies. Lydia had been, to this point, pretty successful in avoiding any interactions with them. Yes, there had been an awkward conversation with Olivia a week ago, and a few raised eyebrows from Nancy in between. But she’d mostly kept away from Cynthia’s gaggle of gang members. All for naught, apparently.
“I might take my chances with the road. Hey-“ Lydia noticed her wrists were now bound with a silk scarf. Great. Releasing a deep and exhausted groan, Lydia asked, “so where are you taking me?”
Olivia opened her mouth to respond before closing it, glancing toward the two girls in the front.
Lydia quirked her eyebrow at the girl next to her. Had they really pulled her into the car with no actual plan? “…are we just going to spend the day driving around in this godforsaken car? I have better things to do, even if none of you apparently do. Plus,” she glanced out of the window, no harm in seeing whether this worked. Hopefully, they weren’t as familiar with Cynthia’s schedule as she was. “Cynthia is waiting for me.”
“I know for a fact that she’s with her dad today, so nice try.” Fuck. Trust Jane to have memorised all of their comings and goings.
Growing increasingly frustrated with each passing second, Lydia tried another tactic. “I was on my way to the store to get milk, and my parents are waiting for me.”
“Your parents go out of town every second weekend.” Lydia turned to glare at Olivia, who looked slightly bashful. How the hell did she know that…?
Lydia paused, glancing at each of the pink ladies, who all wore similarly nervous looks. Trying extremely hard not to lose her shit, she spoke through gritted teeth, “…have you all been following me…?”
“Uh no. Why would we do that…?” Lydia noticed Jane stuff something that looked suspiciously like binoculars into the glove compartment.
“Okay.” Lydia took a deep breath. “Whatever weird nonsense you’re up to, I’m not interested. If you let me go now, I might not even tell Cynthia about the whole keeping me hostage thing.”
“Eh,” Nancy mimed an incorrect buzzer, which was exceptionally annoying. “Nice try. You’ll tell her anyway, so before then, you can at least provide us with some answers.”
Teetering over the edge of both her sanity and her capacity for dealing with annoying situations, Lydia tried very hard to centre herself. As she closed her eyes and released a deep sigh, the internal Lydia fell screaming over the cliff face as she heard Nancy say, “you’re being real loud for a hostage.”
“Nancy, she’s not a hostage.” Lydia glared at the back of Nancy’s head, ignoring Hazel.
Right, that was it. She had had enough of this lunacy. Two could play at being really fucking annoying, and Lydia had an idea in mind of what she might do. It would provide good practice for her, at least. Still glaring at Nancy, Lydia hissed, “I can be even louder.”
Nancy guffawed, almost mocking Lydia as she responded, “sure you can.”
Lydia cleared her throat, a smirk creeping across her face before she burst into song. “WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ-“
Nancy almost veered off the road, causing the rest of the girls to shriek as she pulled the car back into the lane. The car behind honked loudly as it passed them. Lydia paid it no attention, continuing to belt out, “-WE HEAR HE IS A WHIZ OF A WIZ, IF EVER A WIZ THERE WAS-“
A hand attempted to cover her mouth, and she bit their palm, resulting in a surprised shriek from Olivia.
“-IF EVER, OH EVER A WIZ THERE WAS-“
“Oh my god, please shut her up.”
“I just tried, but she bit me.”
Jane spun in her seat, gasping, “you bit her?!”
“-THE WIZARD OF OZ IS ONE BECAUSE, BECAUSE, BECAUSE, BECAUSE, BECAUSE, BECAUSSEEEE, BECAUSE OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS HE DOES-“
“OKAY, we get it. You’re very talented and loud. Please stop singing.” Jane pointed towards something in the distance. “Nancy, take the next left. We can go to the beach.”
Only a little smugly, Lydia sighed once again. “Great, I just love walking in heels on the sand.”
“Oh, and I just love getting rabies.”
Lydia sniffed, lifting her chin derisively as she responded, “I’ve had my shots. Next time, don’t silence me.”
“You were screeching in my ear and Nancy almost crashed the car.” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Lydia.
“Okay, you two,” Jane gestured between Olivia and Lydia, who were still glaring at one another. “Cool it.” She spoke directly to Olivia, eyes almost pleading. “Liv, don’t forget that Lydia is very dear to one of our closest friends, okay? It might be best if you didn’t get into a fight with her.”
Ready for another snappy retort from the better Valdovinos, Lydia watched as the malice almost seemed to dissipate from Olivia. A small smile crept across Olivia’s face as she rolled her eyes, seemingly at herself “…okay, sorry…”
Huh. That was interesting.
The car rolled to a stop and Lydia squinted out into the packed shores of the beach, nose crinkling in distaste at the sight of so many people milling about.
Her door opened, and Lydia remained stubbornly in place. “I’m not getting out of the car.”
Nancy scoffed, “I thought you didn’t want to,“ she cleared her throat and delivered the next line in an awful mimicry of Lydia’s own voice. “Spend the day in that godawful car.”
“I don’t sound like that.”
“I don’t sound like that.”
“Nancy.” Hazel chided, before turning to face Lydia. “Can you please come out of the car? I promise this won’t take long.”
Damn it. Hazel was just so nice. Being mean to her was just like kicking a puppy. “Fine…” She lifted her hands, “but can you at least untie me first? It’s chafing me.”
Jane peeked from over Hazel’s shoulder in surprise. Eyes wide as she looked between Lydia’s bound hands and the unusually bare neck of Olivia Valdovinos.
“What?” Olivia shrugged. “I said I used to be a girl scout.”
“Come out of the car and we’ll untie you.”
Unable to help rolling her eyes at the absolute nonsense she was having to deal with today, Lydia sighed as she followed Nancy’s request. “Fine, I’m out, now you can, hey-“
Nancy and Olivia took an arm each and pulled her towards an uphill climb onto the cliff that overlooked the beach. “Are you planning to push me off?”
“No. Too many witnesses.” Nancy shrugged, “perhaps if we’d come at night, or rolled you up in carpet first.”
Lydia blinked. She had to respect the dedication to a plan, even if it involved implicit threats to her life.
As they continued to walk, Lydia struggled to find her footing in the sand and her mood quickly deteriorated. This was just fantastic. She couldn’t want to burn to a crisp in the heat, dressed all in black, hands tied together and mere feet away from a twenty-foot drop. This was exactly how she wanted to spend her day. And yes, that was definitely sarcasm.
Eventually, they came to a stop underneath a large tree a few metres away from the cliff face. They pulled Lydia to the ground as the two girls sat cross-legged across from her. Hazel and Jane soon joined them. All four pink ladies sat across from Lydia in some kind of fucked up interview panel.
“So,” Nancy was kicking them off, apparently. “What are your intentions with Cynthia?”
What? “What?”
“Don’t play dumb.” Jane was pulling a strange face that she must have thought was threatening. It just made her look a bit constipated, honestly. “I am from New York. Don’t test me.”
“Okay, maybe scale back on the threats for now.”
Jane waved Olivia’s comment away. “We just want to know if your intentions are pure.”
Nancy snorted, cackling as she responded, “obviously not, they clearly want to bone.”
Lydia felt the flush creeping across her face and neck just as surely as she felt the bile riding in her throat. Oh god, the worst thing was that now she couldn’t stop thinking about what Nancy had insinuated. Not like it didn’t feature in some…many of her most secretive daydreams, but still.
“Okay, not the right choice of words.” Thankfully Olivia cut in whilst Lydia was still attempting to conjure up words. “It’s just that Cynthia is really important to us, and we want to know more about you.”
Lydia scowled. “You already know far too much about me. If you want to know more, I’d suggest you pick up the yearbook. Better yet, go watch a play or hell, I don’t know,” she tapped the side of her head. “Why don’t you ask Cynthia? She’s your friend.”
“Maybe we want you to be our friend, too.” It sounded as though it had physically pained Nancy to say that statement, which prompted Lydia to scoff.
“What is this…opposite day? Nancy, I know you tolerate me and only because Cynthia likes me.”
“Aha,” Olivia leaned in closer, “so you admit Cynthia likes you.”
“I mean…yeah, she told you that at the sleepover, right?” What on earth was happening? The pink ladies were acting almost…deranged? Lydia squinted up at the sky, almost expecting to see alien ships floating about like in 'The War of the Worlds'. It would make a lot more sense if nothing else.
“Do you see yourself marrying Cynthia?”
Lydia stared at Jane, fully deadpan in her response. “Oh yeah. Maybe in five years’ time.” Laying on the sarcasm thick, she gestured towards the beach. “I’ll ask her dad for permission, and we’ll go get married, right over there by the sea. You’re all welcome at the public ceremony, by the way. I’ll be expecting origami doves for the party favours.”
“Hey, she just meant like, long-term plans.” Olivia seemed to be comforting Jane, with one of her hands splayed against the other girl’s upper back.
Rolling her eyes, Lydia sighed. She had kind of guessed that Jane just didn’t have another way of framing long-term commitment and probably could have been nicer about her response. Still, it hurt thinking about what she, and by extension they, could never experience.
Not anytime soon, anyway.
“Well, yeah. Of course.” Lydia exhaled. “After graduation, I’ll go to Hollywood, and I’ve been thinking about what that means for us. I’m not just planning to stick around Rydell forever.”
Nancy squinted at her, arms crossed over her chest as she asked, “does Cynthia know?”
“…does she know that you’ve kidnapped me?”
Hazel cut in, “not kidnapped, just so we’re clear.” She adjusted her glasses, almost toying with the frame reflexively. “I think what Nancy means is does Cynthia know you’re planning to leave?”
Crossing her bound arms over her chest, Lydia couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “She knows I want to be an actress. Not really hard to put two and two together.”
“Maybe not for most people.”
Damn. Hazel was right. She’d kind of assumed that Cynthia knew they might have to part at some point, but Lydia had never actually made that clear. Unwilling to clue any of the girls across from her into her current internal dilemma, Lydia just hummed. “I’m bored with this now.” Lydia leaned back into the tree she had had been resting against and closed her eyes. “I don’t want to answer any more questions.”
“Well, if you don’t we’ll,” Jane paused, presumably looking around for something threatening. “We’ll bury you in the sand.”
“No, you won’t.”
“...no, we won’t.” Jane sighed.
“You’re being a terrible bad cop.” Olivia just sounded frustrated by the whole thing now, presumably it wasn’t going as she expected.
“Oh yeah, you should be the bad cop instead.”
“No Jane, we played rock, paper, scissor for it and you and Hazel got bad cop, remember?”
“I don’t like the police.”
Lydia snorted, unable to hold it in, following Hazel’s comment. That explained the weirdness. They were doing some awful amateur performance of ‘good cop, bad cop’. No wonder Hazel sounded so uncomfortable. Lydia didn’t like the police and she could certainly see why Hazel wouldn’t either.
The girls paid her no mind, continuing to bicker amongst themselves.
“Neither do I, wait why are we being cops in the first place? They’re tools of the government who exist only to maintain structural inequalities.”
“It was your idea in the first place, Nancy! I wanted to be FBI agents.” Lydia opened her eyes to glare at Jane, which was deserved, considering how stupid her comment was.
“Oh, like that’s any better? They’re just cops who are also narcs, no thank you.” Nancy leaned over to flick Jane in the forehead, successfully dodging the retaliatory swipe.
“All cops are narcs!” Olivia held up both of her hands to break up the two girls fighting either side of her. “That’s kind of the whole point.”
She turned to face Lydia, who quirked an eyebrow in response. “Don’t mind me. I’m just enjoying the ambiance. By all means, please continue arguing.”
“Listen, you don’t have to do anything. But Cynthia cares about you, and she also cares about us. Trust me, you want us to like you, especially if you’re in this for the long term.” Olivia shrugged, rustling the pink jacket she wore. “We’re a kind of package deal. You get one pink lady-“
“-you get all of them.” Jane cut in, resting her arm on Olivia’s shoulder and in return receiving a wide smile from the girl in question.
Damn. Much as she hated to admit it, Olivia had a point. Cynthia loved each of the buffoons sat in front of her. It was almost farcical that this was Lydia’s life. Getting a shovel talk from an assorted group of weirdos who loved Cynthia just as much as she did.
“...fine.” She eventually sighed, holding up a hand quickly to pre-emptively interrupt Nancy. “But, considering you’re so focused on the truth, I get to give you all one home truth and then I’ll answer one question from each of you.”
“Five answers, then it’s a deal.” Nancy extended her hand for a shake before realising both hands were still bound. “I don’t value the opinions of actors, so do your worst.”
“Two, and you have to untie me. Take it or leave it.”
“Deal.” Nancy gripped both of Lydia’s hands in her own and, a bit too forcefully in Lydia’s opinion, shook them.
“I don’t want to be insulted.”
“It’s for the greater good, Jane.” Olivia leaned forward, almost encroaching on Lydia’s personal space. “Go on, give me your best shot.”
Never one to back down from a challenge, Lydia did precisely that. “You centre yourself around men. Richie. Gil. I won’t go into the teacher because that wasn’t your fault, but still. One day you’ll unpack why that is and potentially realise some things about yourself.”
“Jesus Christ.” Jane whispered, and soon Lydia rounded on her.
“The whole Buddy and Richie thing was beneath you. You're a focused overachiever who's only interested in academic success. But, two of the most mediocre men in Rydell, if not the world, are what cause you to lose focus? Disappointing.”
Lydia turned towards Hazel, who appeared to be braced for her comment. “You’re extremely talented and a lovely person. I wish you’d have more confidence in yourself, especially on stage.”
“Aww, thank you.”
Jane sputtered, “why does she get a nice one?”
Nancy laughed, clapping her hands together. “Oh, I can’t wait for mine. I’m sure it will be soooo inventive.”
Saving the best for last, Lydia looked Nancy up and down, and went for the gut punch. “Eh.”
“…what do you mean, eh?”
Lydia shrugged. “Just…eh.”
Releasing a shocked gasp, Nancy raised her hand to point a finger directly at Lydia’s face. “You can’t just ‘eh’ me. What’s the truth? I demand answers.”
“I held up my end of the bargain. Now untie me.” Olivia reached forward to unfurl her scarf, eyebrows furrowed as she met Lydia’s gaze.
“…what did you mean by that?” Olivia murmured softly. Obviously hoping the other pink ladies would not hear her query. Fortunately, Nancy’s loud and whiny identity crisis was keeping them otherwise occupied.
Lydia took pity on Olivia. She suspected that they might have more in common than perhaps the rest of the pink ladies. Even if it was just a hunch. “I just meant that, I…did something similar, when I was younger. I tried so hard to convince other people I was…normal, but I never could convince myself.” She paused, lowering her voice further to a whisper, “it was easier once I realised I didn’t like boys. Like at all. But some people do like both boys and girls. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”
Olivia froze, her eyes wide as a small smile crept across her face. She finished loosening the knot and replaced the neckerchief with a flourish.
“Okay.” Olivia clapped her hands to get the attention of the other pink ladies. “Let’s try this again. So…Lydia, what would you say is your favourite thing about Cynthia?”
“Definitely not her friends.” Olivia flicked Lydia on the cheek in response. “Ow. I like that she’s unapologetically herself.”
A chorus of coos from the other pink ladies drowned out Nancy's response of "that's boring". Lydia could feel the heat prickling her face. She willed it to go away.
Hazel nodded, before asking a very hesitant, “...just like?”
Oh no. Again, Lydia could feel the flush returning full force. The sheer warmth of it crept across her face and within seconds, she knew her neck would match the rosy tint on her cheeks. She knew damn well that what she felt for Cynthia went beyond ‘like’. Despite how hard she tried to tamper her feelings, it was impossible to contain. Almost as futile as attempting to stem the tide. Nearly as pointless as trying to escape this godforsaken conversation. Oh, how she hated talking about her feelings.
A shocked gasp brought Lydia back to herself and she immediately flinched back after finding Jane hovering almost on top of her. “More than like??”
“She’s got a real severe case of the lovebug.” Nancy was up on her knees as well, almost pressing against Jane. “It’s grodorable.”
“Do any of you understand the concept of personal space?” Lydia moved slightly to the left, giving herself precious centimetres. “And what does that even mean? Are you just making up words?”
“It means both gross and adorable. Cynthia deserves to be loved, so I'm happy for her, but it's gross that it's you.”
“Remind me, is your boyfriend the one who’s named after a vegetable?”
“Meow,” Olivia pushed Nancy out of the way, further blocking Lydia’s view of anything that wasn’t the four pink ladies. Guess she would not enjoy any personal space or even personal thoughts and feelings today. “Is it love?”
Lydia groaned, dragging her hands across her face. “I’m not answering that.”
“You have to. You made a deal.” Nancy sounded so smug, and Lydia absolutely hated it.
“Whatever. As long as you don’t start up that bad cop spiel again…” Lydia crossed her arms over her chest as she stared out at the sea. Ignoring the fact that she knew she looked, and sounded, petulant. “This isn’t how I wanted to say this for the first time, but yes, I love her.” Lydia turned her ire towards Nancy, eyes narrowed into fierce slits. “I will make your every waking second a nightmare if you tell her before I do.”
“Why?” asked Hazel. Sweet lovely Hazel who wasn’t sitting in Lydia’s lap and who asked nice normal questions.
“Because I want to tell her myself, in a much better way. Like, on a moonlight picnic, gazing up at the stars. Or one day…if I could find one, I’d take her to a,” Lydia trailed off, glancing at the girls in front of her before deciding to continue. “Bar, for people like...us.”
Akin to an interested dog, Olivia perked up. Lydia could almost see her ears prick up. “Those exist...?”
“That’s so romantic.” Jane sighed, placing the back of her hand against her forehead like the protagonist of some awful dime novel.
“You’re such a sap that it’s actually making me sick.”
Hazel rolled her eyes at Nancy. “No, I mean, why do you think you love Cynthia?”
Lydia laughed. “What do you mean, why? She’s just, so…Cynthia. She’s funny and kind, even if she hides it sometimes.” Lost in her daydreams, Lydia knew she sounded wistful and could not stop herself. “She’s so handsome, and her eyes are just,” Lydia sighed. “honestly, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her.”
A chorus of awwws followed her statement and Lydia coughed, attempting to recover at least some credibility. “Even though she is the most frustrating person that I’ve ever met.”
“Oh, I bet you find her frustrating.”
Jane actually pushed Nancy over this time, ignoring the complaint of “ew, sand just went in my mouth...” to ask, “when did you fall for Cynthia?”
Huh. That was a pretty good question. When did she fall for Cynthia? Casting her mind back to the first time her heart raced in the other girl’s proximity, she answered honestly, “when we first met.”
“Please, I can’t deal with this,” Nancy groaned as Olivia pressed her further into the ground. Almost swooning, as she laid across Nancy’s back, using her as a makeshift pillow of sorts.
“That’s actually the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. You really love her...” sighed Jane.
If Olivia moved any closer to Lydia, her head would actually rest in her lap. “You said she wasn’t steady ground…do you still think that?”
Ouch. Lydia didn’t realise that Cynthia had shared that detail with her friends.
“Ah-ah, you’ve had all your questions.” Olivia actually pouted at the comment and Lydia smirked, unduly pleased that she wouldn’t have to answer that question.
“I haven’t asked you anything. So, do you still think Cynthia isn’t steady ground?”
“Oh, but you did. I started counting when we made the deal.”
Nancy froze, and her jaw dropped. Lydia couldn’t even enjoy the look on her face before Nancy made that irritating buzzer sound again. “Eh, nice try. We shook on three answers. A lot of the ones you’re thinking of are void. I kept track.” Nancy gestured towards the floor, where she’d been tallying each of their respective answers into the ground with a stick.
Muttering a few swears in her mind, Lydia scrumptiously swept away her own record of questions, which she’d been keeping with a small pile of rocks.
Smug in self-imposed victory, Nancy repeated her question. “Do you still think Cynthia isn’t steady ground?”
The four pink ladies across from, or sitting atop Lydia, paused, waiting to see what response she would give. Clearly, this was a make-or-break question. Very similar to how Lydia felt when she first uttered the original statement. At that point, Lydia had all but given up on Cynthia, although it pained her immensely. Everything with the play, and the dance, and just pretending nothing had happened between the two of them…it had hurt.
It still hurt.
Lydia sighed, half-heartedly shrugging as she responded, “no, not really.”
Nancy hummed, “…doesn’t sound like a no.”
“That’s not a question,” snapped Lydia. This was all too raw, and god, why had she even opened up in the first place? She didn’t need to be here, baring her soul to people she didn’t even know, let alone like. “I’ve had enough of this. You can go tell Cynthia whatever you want, but I’m out.”
“Wait,” Jane grasped on to Lydia’s arm, those large doe-like eyes wide as she implored Lydia to stay. “Please sit back down. I promise we aren’t trying to catch you out, or do anything that would affect your relationship. We just want to know more about you, and well…” Jane shrugged. “Cynthia’s not…great, with her emotions. We just want to make sure she’s going to be okay.”
Damn, no wonder she’d fell into the world’s most boring love triangle. Jane was very charming.
At war with two distinct parts of herself, Lydia tried to reconcile her emotions. One side of her wanted nothing more than to wrestle away from the admittedly firm grip and never look back. But the far more logical side knew that action would do nothing to help her burgeoning relationship with Cynthia. Olivia had been right earlier. They were indeed a package deal.
Exhaling deeply, Lydia threw herself back on to the ground and leaned back against the tree. Eyes flinty as she finally answered. “I don’t know whether Cynthia is steady ground. Since the carnival, she’s been nothing but sweet and attentive, but before that she…ran off, and I’m,” Lydia sighed. “I’m worried that if…when…I tell her how I feel, she might run away again, like she did before…”
Lydia felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and was surprised to see that Olivia had moved to sit next to her. “Yeah, I told her off for that, but you know she was really panicked, right?”
“And I wasn’t?” It was only when a choked sob followed Lydia’s statement that she became aware she had started to cry. Immediately Jane pressed into her other side, arms wrapped around her shoulders, head resting against her own.
“It’s okay. We care about Cynthia, but we also care about you. Not just because you’re important to her, but because you also deserve happiness, and if it’s with Cynthia, then even better. She can be a bit of an idiot sometimes, but she’s our idiot. You can always talk to us.”
“Yeah, it’s not like you can just complain about your relationship to everyone in school, like some people do.”
“I resent that!” echoed the other three pink ladies in surround sound.
Nancy cackled as Olivia, Jane, and Hazel began throwing clumps of grass at her.
Rolling her eyes at their antics, Lydia sniffed as she composed herself. There was just something so…open, and honest about the pink ladies. Maybe Nancy had laced their jackets with something? Like a disarming hallucinogen. She definitely wouldn’t put it past her.
“…thanks.”
“No problem,” answered Hazel swiftly, placing her hand on Lydia’s knee and squeezing gently.
“We’re amazing, duh. Keep up.” Nancy raised a rather large and worryingly sharp stick towards Lydia. What had she even used to sharpen it? Did she just carry around weapons? “Unless you hurt Cynthia, then we won’t be. Capice?”
“Well, I’m not planning on it. She’s great,” a mischievous thought came into Lydia’s head suddenly and she had to tamper down the smirk that was threatening to creep across her face. “Oh, and she’s such a great kisser.”
“No, ew. Stop.” Nancy pleaded, relinquishing her miniature spear to cover her ears.
“Oh no, she’s really talented. That thing she does with her tongue? Wow.”
Olivia looked almost green, grimacing as she begged, “oh god please, Cynthia’s like my sister.”
Smirk affixed in place, Lydia hummed, “and how could I forget how attractive it is when she picks me up and just…presses me against the wall?”
It was extremely gratifying to embarrass the pink ladies this time around, especially when they’d spent the afternoon doing the same to her. Because of her in-depth explanation of their close friends’ romantic encounters, Jane was quickly turning green. Hazel looked similarly uncomfortable, and Lydia revelled in her minor victory.
“And when we’re in my room and she-“
“NO”, Olivia had launched over to cover Lydia’s mouth with her hand. “I don’t even care if you bite me again, please, do not finish that sentence.” After a few seconds, she lifted it away, eyes narrowed as she glared at Lydia, whispering harshly, “I will push you over the edge if you do that again.”
“So,” Hazel had composed herself and she looked almost...nervous? Fingers twitching across the frames of her glasses. “Do you think you’ll tell Cynthia how you feel on your second date?”
“I mean.” Lydia bit her lip contemplatively. That was indeed an excellent question. Was it too soon? Should she go for it, anyway? Be a bit more like Cynthia? “I’d like to…”
“Well,” Jane knocked into Lydia with her shoulder, a wide smile on her face. “Considering we also have a vested interest in Cyn’s happiness, maybe we could work together to plan something.”
“I mean…you threatened to bury me in the sand earlier, so it’s the least you could do.”
“Details,” Nancy waved the comment away. “We aren’t threatening you now. Best not to dwell in the past.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Jane trailed off, glancing at the other pink ladies before continuing. “Cynthia’s crazy about you.”
Olivia sighed, “the girls’ a goner for you.”
“She has the dopiest look on her face whenever she’s even thinking about you.” Hazel laughed, “I don’t even want to know what she looks like whenever you two kiss.”
Nancy was nodding frantically. “It’s gross. I can tell you that for free.” She groaned, “eurgh and the way she talks about you? It’s actually sickeningly sweet.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Lydia immediately snapped. Though after a few seconds of pondering, she couldn’t help asking, “…does she really?”
Jane sighed, extending her arm around Lydia’s shoulder as she answered, “mm-hmm, she really does.”
“I don’t see what’s so special about you.” Lydia turned to glare at Nancy, who continued unabashedly. “Just as long as you keep making her happy, we won’t have any issues.”
“Great. So, when we have our first argument, you guys are going to what, break into my house and beat me up?”
“No,” Olivia held her hand over Nancy’s mouth, inhibiting what was sure to be a sharp retort. “We’d just speak to you after school, depending on who’s at fault and knowing Cynthia, there’s a good chance she said something stupid and started it.”
“Okay, so,” Jane clapped her hands together. “Back to the matter at hand.”
“Threatening me?”
“No. The date, we need to plan your second date!”
Lydia rolled her eyes. The level of enthusiasm was way too high, but alas, she seemed to be stuck with it. For now, at least. “Fine.”
“What about here?” asked Hazel, gesturing to the slightly more hidden cove on their right.
Quickly, Lydia rejected it. “Cynthia hates seagulls.”
Olivia nodded her head, “that she does…ooh, what about the mall?”
Lydia turned to her, incredulous at the suggestion. “…the busiest, preppiest place on earth? So, what, we can go shopping? Grab a bite at the world’s worst food court?”
“Geez, okay, not that one…” Jane tapped her finger against her lips, clearly deep in thought. “What about the roller rink?”
“I can’t skate.”
“Fine.” Nancy sighed. “How about shooting cans?”
Nope, definitely not. “I don’t like guns, also I can’t shoot.”
“Eurgh,” Nancy threw herself to the ground, laying horizontally as she groaned, “what can you do?”
Before Lydia could snap at her, Nancy jumped upright. Eyes wide and a smirk across her face. She honestly looked demented, which was a bit concerning. “What about Frosty’s?”
Fully convinced that Nancy had lost whatever remained of her scant sanity, Lydia just gawked at her. “What about it? It’s like the busiest place ever. Literally everyone from our school goes there.”
“Yeah, well,” Nancy smirked. “What if I could convince my parents to have a night off? Then you two could have the whole place to yourselves.”
Lydia scoffed. “Oh yeah, like you’d do that for me.”
“I’d do anything for Cynthia.” The quick reply landed amongst Lydia’s ribs, almost forceful with the sheer honesty behind it. They really did care for Cynthia and, well, Lydia was just as invested in her happiness as her best friends appeared to be. It was a sobering thought after all the shenanigans of the day.
Desperate not to get her hopes up for something which might not yet come to pass, she tried to play it off. “Well, if you get them to clear out for the evening, we can start planning, but it seems impractical to do that until we get an idea of when.”
“Yeah, we’ll wait to see how Nancy gets on.” Jane glanced over at the rest of the pink ladies. “Do you mind giving us a few minutes?”
The other girls complied, walking back down to the beach, talking animatedly amongst themselves. This was odd. Lydia had expected a shake down from Nancy, and probably Olivia, but definitely not Jane. Curious, she turned her gaze towards their student council president, who was staring out at the sea.
The two sat in silence for a few moments until Jane spoke. “You know, I’d never really considered that Cynthia could have her heart broken. Ever since I’ve known her, she’s been so uninterested in love or relationships that I never had to worry.” She paused, adjusting her arms to rest atop both of her knees, almost hugging herself. “Liv? Sure, she’s had her heart broken several times. Like you said, the men in her life have a habit of letting her down. Nancy? I’m more concerned for Potato honestly. If he ever broke her heart, we wouldn’t hear about it. He’d just go missing.”
Lydia laughed, “yeah. I could see that.”
Jane grinned, continuing to murmur as her eyes remained fixed on the beach. “Hazel? Sure, I think it’s inevitable, as she has to decide whether to stay with Wally or try with Buddy. It’s going to hurt her, whatever choice she makes.”
“What is it about Buddy that has you all in such a chokehold?” Lydia shook her head, endlessly confused about what effect he could have on women, to end up in two love triangles, and with perfectly nice, normal girls as well. Thank god she was a lesbian.
Jane knocked into her shoulder with her own. “He’s a nice guy, and that’s rare. Unfortunately.” Jane hummed thoughtfully, finally turning to face Lydia. “Which brings us to here. Obviously, you care for Cynthia, and she feels the same.” Her eyes narrowed. “So now you have the potential to break Cynthia’s heart, and that concerns me. Because honestly,” Jane sighed, “I don’t think she would ever recover if you did.”
“I’m not going to-“
“-you can’t promise that.” Jane held up her hand, clearly imploring Lydia to let her finish. “Look at Richie, I never could have expected they would send him to military school, and neither could he.” She frowned, and the despondent look on her face almost made Lydia want to comfort her. Almost. “What I’m trying to say is that you can’t plan for everything. But what you can do is promise me that you won’t actively make Cynthia’s life harder. That you won’t be cruel or harm her, and if you ever do, need to leave. You’ll let Cynthia know before it happens…”
Averting her gaze to the side, Lydia pondered what Jane had said. If anyone else had inferred or even suggested that Lydia could be capable of doing any of those things to Cynthia, she’d have socked them right in the face. But she knew Jane wasn’t being malicious and, in fact, her concerns came from an actual place of love. Lydia knew Cynthia was a softie and understood why her friends worried about her, because they knew nothing about Lydia. It probably didn’t help that she purposefully made it her business to be a closed book.
Making a snap decision, which was very unlike her and was probably a result of the emotional fatigue she’d experienced today, Lydia nodded. “…I promise.”
Jane beamed at her. She had just untangled her arms from around her knees when Lydia spoke up once again. “I know Hazel likes to watch the stars, but so do I.” Exhaling shakily, Lydia continued to open up. “Floyd and Arthur are my only real friends, and because my parents are never home, I spend a lot of time by myself. I can be…snarky, and I’m terrified by how much I feel for Cynthia…”
Lydia kept her gaze focused on the ground. Unwilling to see how Jane might react to what she’d just said. Pink crept into her vision as Jane scooted closer to sit next to her.
“I’ve only recently been honest that I’m Puerto Rican. Before that, we just pretended to be Italian. I also never expected becoming the leader of a girl gang, but here we are.” Lydia could hear the smile in Jane’s voice as she continued. “Before everything with Buddy, my only friend was Ms McGee.”
Lydia snorted, unable to help herself, and Jane batted at her shoulder. “It’s true, we used to spend lunch together in the teachers’ lounge.”
“You’re such a square.” To her own absolute surprise, Lydia was actually enjoying herself. It felt nice to joke around with another girl, or at least one that wasn’t trying to make out with her all the time. Not that Lydia minded, of course. Still, Jane was pretty decent, all things considered. “…I’m glad that Cynthia has you as a friend.”
Jane hummed. “I’m glad she has you as a girlfriend.”
“Me too.” Glancing towards the beach, Lydia could see three figures that must have been the other pink ladies. From this vantage point, it looked as though Olivia was burying Nancy in the sand, whilst Hazel was sunbathing.
Jane clapped her hands together as she stood up. “I don’t know about you, but I could really use a root beer. You’re more than welcome to come grab one with me…if you want to?” She extended her hand towards Lydia, a small smile on her face. “Though I’d understand if you wanted to get away. It’s been a lot today.”
As Lydia reached out to grasp Jane’s hand and found herself pulled upwards, she thought this was probably the easiest decision she’d made all day. “I’d love to.”
As the two of them walked away from the tree, a sudden thought came into Lydia’s head. “Wait,” Jane paused, glancing confusedly over as Lydia stalked back, searching the ground for something. Finally, she saw the sharpened stick that Nancy had been threatening her with earlier.
“…if you try to stab me, I’ll have you know I did taekwondo.”
“Don’t worry,” Lydia crouched down low, using the stick to carve something into the tree.
“Oh, thank god. I only went to one session at the mall.”
Lydia pulled back to admire her handiwork. The enormous grin on her face brightened when she heard the surprised gasp of Jane, who had wandered back to see what she was up to.
“You are so sweet,” she cooed, and Lydia pushed her away when she tried to go for the hug.
“I’m all hugged out. But thanks.”
Apparently what she’d said was quite funny as Jane laughed, “you have way more in common with Nancy than you’d think. Come on, lover girl, let’s go save Nancy from the tide.”
“Eurgh, do we have to?” Lydia followed her anyway, after pausing for a few seconds to commit to memory the scrawled L+C that she’d carved into the base of the tree. A public testament to her love for Cynthia and gosh if that wasn’t terrifying. As Lydia began trudging through the sand once again, she thought that maybe, just maybe, she had a pretty good plan for where to go on their third date.