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The sun was doing its best, but the streets of Brunswick were chilly. Frost glittered on the nature strips, and steam curled in thick clouds from Kate and Rapunzel’s coffee mugs.
“Thanks for coming early,” Rapunzel said. “I can’t be alone when Dede gets here. I will lose my shit. I’ll just fucking die.”
Kate put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Rapunzel shook beneath her flannel. She gave her a squeeze, trying to push the anxiety out. “It’s fine. Dede and her dad are coming at nine, yeah?”
“I think so.” Rapunzel checked her phone, something she’d been doing every ten seconds since Kate arrived. “Yeah, nine. Nine-ish. Thanks for coming over so fast.”
“Anytime. You know, it’s probably better that Dede is coming early. This way you can get seeing her again over and done with.”
Rapunzel shuddered.
“And you can meet her dad,” Kate continued, determined to find a silver lining. “That’s a nice bonding thing to do.”
“True.” Rapunzel smiled, the expression changing her face from morose to its usual mischievous. “You know Casey’s been stalking Dede on Insta. She says her dad’s hot.”
“Sure.” Kate would believe that when she saw it. Casey had once had a crush on Criss Angel.
“Don’t worry. I told her she’s not allowed to hit on him. You’ve got an embargo on being the daddy fucker of the group.”
Kate folded her arms over her boobs. “Thanks.”
Rapunzel cackled, sounding like herself for the first time all morning. “Speaking of daddy fuckers, how is Old Man Henderson?”
Kate had a flash of Ty sitting at the dining table, asking why she didn’t want to get married, refusing to entertain the idea of moving to Paris. “He’s good.”
“So he’s cooked, huh? What’s up? What’s wrong?”
Kate stared into her coffee. Rapunzel was so irreverent, so larger than life, Kate sometimes forgot she was an emotional bloodhound.
“He’s good,” she said, but she could hear herself trying too hard.
“Don’t give me that. Is he butthurt about being ancient again?”
Kate smiled, though it hurt a little. “No more than usual. Also, could you be a less mean about my boyfriend’s insecurities?”
Rapunzel flipped a dismissive hand. She and Ty had a strange, laddish rivalry, honed over the nine months Rapunzel had been her roommate. Ty and Rapunzel were forever glancing at each other out of the corners of their eyes to see who was drinking their beer the fastest.
“Is he freaking out about turning fifty?” Rapunzel asked.
“I think so. Whenever I mention having a party, he changes the subject. And he’s going to the gym every day and eating turkey and steamed kale for lunch.”
“Gross.” Rapunzel pulled a joint from her dressing gown pocket and placed it between her lips. “Then again, if I was turning fifty...” She gave a theatrical shudder.
“Ty looks incredible! He’s the best-looking man on earth!”
“Yeah, but fifty’s fifty.” Rapunzel lit up. “And you’re his girlfriend and you look twenty. And before you jump up my ass about how the age gap doesn’t matter—it matters when you’re the old one, trying not to look like the Indiana Jones Nazis that opened the Ark of the Covenant.”
Kate shoved her shoulder again. “Don’t be horrible. You’re only thirty-seven!”
“Yeah, and I hate it. I want to be twenty-six. Again. Forever.”
Kate said nothing. She didn’t want Ty or Rapunzel to feel bad about their age, but trying to reassure them had never helped. If anything, it made things worse.
They sat in silence, Rapunzel puffing on her joint like it was giving her life. “Christ, these nerves. Talk to me.”
“About what?”
“Anything else going on with you and Ty?”
Kate stared at her friend. Rapunzel stared back, her pale blue eyes unblinking.
“How do you—”
“Because I know you and I know how you be. Tell me.”
“I don’t know what to say without rambling. Ty and I are happy, but we’re at a bit of an impasse, you know?”
“No.” Rapunzel took a pointed sip of coffee. “That being said, I have been single for the better part of a decade. Explain it to me, then.”
“Explain what?”
“The things you don’t want to say, even if they’re just feelings or vague ideas or whatever.”
Kate’s heart gave a great throb and for a second, she thought she might cry. Until that moment she hadn’t realised how much she wanted to talk about it. She nudged her friend’s shoulder with her own. “When did you get so smart?”
“Girl Guides. Go on.”
Kate stared up at the sky. Despite the cold, it was clear as ice, a bright blistering blue. It would be a blazing afternoon. She’d have to have another shower before she and Ty left for the Engineering Excellence Awards
“Mac.” Rapunzel’s hand closed around her upper arm. “Talk or I give you whatever the PC term for a Chinese burn is.”
Kate laughed and the knot in her chest loosened. “It’s marriage. Marriage and Paris.”
“What do you mean?”
Kate told Rapunzel about Ty wanting to get engaged and her own floating discontent. How she couldn’t get excited about anything happening in her life. How she kept fantasising about living in Paris, wearing red lipstick, walking a designer dog, becoming a fashionable sophisticate or something else novel and new. Rapunzel listened without interrupting, breaking eye contact only to sip coffee or light a cigarette.
“I get it,” she said when Kate was done. “You’re twitchy and you want a change.”
“I’m not sure—”
“You do.” Rapunzel ground a Marlboro into her Cinderella ashtray. “You’ve been twitchy for ages, making plans and bailing on them.”
“Like what?!”
Kate couldn’t remember flaking out on plans; in fact, she prided herself on always showing up for things. Why else was she in Brunswick on a Saturday morning?
Rapunzel rolled her eyes. “Like saying we should go to Mardi Gras, then wanting to see Vegas for Tam’s thirtieth, then talking about getting your skydiving licence or tutoring geography or becoming an adult ballerina—”
“Those aren’t plans, they’re just...ideas.”
“Whacky-asfuck ideas.”
“I could take adult ballet!”
“No, you fucking well won’t.” Rapunzel’s expression grew serious. “I knew something like this was coming ever since you said you might be too busy for derby next season.”
“That’s because of Maria!”
Kate and the coach of the Barbie Trolls had a complicated relationship. They’d bonded when Kate first joined the team, but as she got to know Rapunzel, she realised her and Maria’s friendship was possessive, bordering on toxic. When their low-key arguments about spending time together had turned nasty, Kate told her former mentor to back off. Maria agreed, but it was never the same. Now they only saw each other at games, but Maria’s smiles had gotten increasingly brittle, her irritation palpable.
“Bullshit,” Rapunzel said. “You can handle Maria being a sad bitch. You’re just over derby.”
“I’m not!”
“It’s not an accusation! It happens. Just because you have fun doing something, doesn’t mean you’re gonna enjoy it forever. The Beatles broke up.”
“I thought that was Yoko.”
Rapunzel snorted. “Everyone who listens to the ‘You’re Wrong About’ podcast knows that’s not true. Look, here are the facts.” She spread her tattooed fingers wide. “You’re a late bloomer. You hit puberty when you hooked up with Henderson. Now it’s been five years, you know how to function in the adult world, and you feel ready for the big leagues; moving out of home and away from mummy and daddy.”
Kate’s raised her coffee to her lips and found her mug empty. She feigned taking a sip anyway. “The mummy and daddy in this scenario are...?”
Rapunzel stared at her, unsmiling.
“You’re not my mother,” Kate said, feeling slightly sick. “Ty’s not my dad!”
A raised brow.
“You’re not! And he’s not!”
“Not in an incest way, but we do protect you.”
Kate stared at her hands. “I know. And maybe you’re right, maybe I’m older and this is a weird second puberty thing, but I am happy. I don’t want to leave you or Casey or Tam or Melbourne.”
Or Ty. Never, ever Ty.
“Hey, I promise I’m not trying to be a dick.” Rapunzel’s arm snaked out and pulled her close. “I love you, Macca.”
“I love you too,” Kate said, feeling stupidly close to tears. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“But you might have to, right? For Paris?”
Kate thought about Paris. She’d live in a new city, learn a new language, encounter change on every side of her life. It would be a chance at reinvention—no, revolution—and it was terrifying, but there was no denying it made her pulse skip. She felt herself smile as her insides contracted with excitement so sharp it was almost painful. Then she looked at Rapunzel’s sad smile and her body slackened. “What does it mean that I can’t just be happy with what I have?”
Rapunzel laughed. “That you want an adventure.”
“But why can’t my adventure be getting a promotion at work or tap dancing or...or marrying Ty?”
Rapunzel pulled her close and kissed her on the top of her head. “Because you don’t choose what makes you feel alive. Otherwise we’d all pick the normal stuff and save ourselves the heartache.”
Rapunzel’s voice reverberated like a plucked guitar string, making Kate shiver. She felt like she was being split—not cut wide but peeled, eased out of a skin she no longer needed. She wanted to ask Rapunzel for more advice, to keep going until her feelings were able to be clearly worded and easily understood, but Rapunzel had jumped to her feet. “Sweet fucking Jesus, that’s her.”
Kate followed her gaze. A battered blue van was pulling into the driveway. Relief and disappointment mingled in her as she stood up beside her friend. She didn’t know when she’d next have the courage to bring this up, or how she could translate any of what Rapunzel had told her to Ty.
So what? You’re not here for you, you’re here for Rapunzel.
Kate wrapped an arm around her friend’s waist, which rose almost to her shoulder. “Hey, whatever happens. I’m here with you, okay?”
Rapunzel smiled. “Cheers, girl. Do I look okay?”
“You look perfect. Wait...”
“What? What is it?!”
Kate wiped a coffee smudge from the corner of her mouth. “There. Now you’re great.”
“Straight person great or lesbian great?”
“I...don’t really understand the question, but you have a septum piercing and an Alison Bechdel tattoo, and you’re wearing Doc Martens and flannel, so I don’t think you’re going to be perceived as anything but a lesbian.”
“Excellent. Solid. Fantastic.”
Rapunzel pulled her shoulders back as the van drew to a halt in the driveway. Something about it was weirdly familiar. Kate squinted at the passenger seat, trying to see Rapunzel’s crush, but the windshield was filthy. All she could make out was a pink-haired woman next to a dark-haired man. Presumably Dede and her dad. The van parked, and the doors slid back simultaneously, as though father and daughter were cops in an action movie.
The pink-haired woman waved. “Hi guys!”
“Oh God,” Rapunzel moaned. “I think I’m gonna chuck.”
Kate was going to comfort her—or turn and get a bucket—when she locked eyes with the dark-haired man, the driver. He was supposed to be a stranger, but like his van, he wasn’t a stranger.
She knew who he was.
Kate’s body exploded with nerves, tingling and fighting like crabs in a cage. She was dumbstruck, incapable of making a sound, but she must have, because Rapunzel turned to her. “What’s wrong, Mac?”
Kate didn’t have time to explain. The dark-haired dad was approaching, hand raised and ready for a good old-fashioned handshake. “Good morning, girls! Lovely to meet you.”
Mr. Peterson’s voice was as familiar to Kate’s ears as her mothers. She heard herself laugh, a high, crazy laugh.
“Mac,” Rapunzel hissed. “What the fuck?”
Kate couldn’t have said it better herself. She was falling backward into starry nothingness. She was an idiot. A fool. It was the same van. The same navy colour, same licence plate. WAR8G4. ‘War, what is it good for?’ This was Rape on Wheels, the battered van named by the kids Mr. Peterson had driven to school. Not her, obviously. If teen Kate had her way, it would have been called Heaven on Two Axels. But this was that van. And he was Mr. Peterson. Which meant the pink-haired girl, his daughter, was—
“Dad! You don’t have to get out, you can just stay in the van!”
Deidre. Kate’s high school nemesis sounded nothing like her bratty teenage self; her tone was light and tinged with nerves as she jogged to her dad’s side.
“Sorry about the fuss,” Deidre said to Rapunzel. “Thanks for waiting outside for us.”
Rapunzel said something, but Kate didn’t hear it. Mr. Peterson had lowered his shaking hand. He was as movie-star handsome as he’d been when she was a teenager. Tanned skin, tousled surfer hair, and white, white teeth. Then he looked at her again, looked away and did a double take. “Katie? Is that you?”
“Hi,” she squeaked. “How are you?”
“Good!” He stepped closer, and she saw there had been changes. His chestnut hair was streaked with silver. His cheeks sagged slightly, and his forehead had expanded. But he was still tall, still muscular, still gorgeous. Mr. Peterson stared back at her, and Kate wondered if he was cataloguing her differences, her longer hair, her threaded brows, her general adultness...
“Dad?” Deidre said. “What’s going on?”
Safe in the knowledge her former bully didn’t recognise her, Kate checked Deidre out too. She’d changed, but not much. The pink hair softened her feline bone structure, and her dark blue eyes had lost the mean squint that had once turned Kate’s knees to jelly. But she was still unmistakably the girl who’d made her life hell. And she was here, in Rapunzel’s driveway.
Dede, Kate thought. And Rapunzel said her dad was driving her up from the coast in his van. I’m so stupid. Why didn’t I realise? Check her out on Instagram like Casey?
Mr. Peterson’s face cracked into a familiar, if more lined, smile. “It’s great to see you, Katie. How the hell are you?”
“Good!” she repeated, feeling like a broken record. Above her an Indian Myna bird squawked happily. Stupid, lucky pest bird...
“Mac?” Rapunzel’s mouth was a thin white line. “How do you know Dede’s dad?”
Kate flinched. She couldn’t say. Her panic point was already too high; she was already doing too much. So instead of being honest or running away screaming, she clasped her hands in front of her, flashing her best friend a big dopey smile. “Mr. Peterson used to drive my school bus.”
“What?” The question came from Deidre, not Rapunzel.
Kate turned and beamed at her. “Yeah, it’s me. Kate McGrath. From Colac Secondary.”
Deidre dropped her phone on the concrete. For a second it lay there, then she dove, swearing, to retrieve it. Mr. Peterson stooped to help her and cracked his head on the front of the van. Rapunzel punched Kate in the arm, something Kate was sure she hadn’t intended to do but hurt nevertheless.
“What the hell’s happening?” Rapunzel hissed.
“I’ll tell you later.” Kate moved toward Mr. Peterson, who was hunched over, his hand pressed to his newly bashed forehead “Are you okay? Do you want me to get you an ice pack?”
“Nah, it’ll be right.” Mr. Peterson beamed up at her, his hand shielding his face like the Phantom’s mask. “Do you live here? Are you going to be Dede’s housemate?”
Kate was saved from having to answer ‘no, and I’d rather eat lice’ by Deidre’s frustrated moan.
She held up her phone. “The screen’s blank. I think it’s broken.”
Rapunzel bounded to her side like a butler on crack. “What should we do? Can we try and fix it? Should we put it in a bag of rice? No that’s for dropping it in the toilet. I can call someone? My cousin works in IT, she might know what to do.”
Deidre blinked at her. “Um, it’s okay. Thanks.”
“Sure.” Rapunzel stared at her, eyes burning like car tyres. “Anything you want.”
Kate gritted her teeth. Oh man, I thought I was bad at flirting.
Rapunzel must have sensed she was making somewhat of a dick of herself because she turned to Mr. Peterson. “How was the drive?”
“Not bad at all,” he said with the small-town easiness that made him the most popular dad at Kate’s school. “I’m Kane, by the way. Nice to meet you...?”
“Lindsay.”
Kate’s jaw unhinged. Rapunzel never introduced herself as anything other than Rapunzel. Most people were under the impression that was her actual name. Forget bizarre, this morning was getting flat-out insane.
Rapunzel and Mr. Peterson shook hands, then he flashed his daughter a sympathetic smile. “How’s your phone? Back on?”
Deidre shook her head, mashing buttons. Her pink hair was hanging in front of her face, hiding her from view. Was she embarrassed? Annoyed? Mad at Rapunzel’s overly intense vibe?
Rapunzel. A chill went down Kate’s spine. God, what if she and Dede became a couple? Her best friend and her high school bully...it was like something out of a nightmare. Or a really bad porno.
“Dede and Katie went to school together,” Mr. Peterson was saying. “I used to drive them l before they put in a proper bus system. Didn’t I, Katie?”
Kate nodded, wishing she’d slept in, gone to the gym, done anything but come here. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Deidre scratch her nose, still staring determinedly at her busted phone.
“That’s nuts.” Rapunzel stared avidly at Deidre’s pink head. “I can’t believe you went to school with my best mate. It’s such small world.”
“It is,” Mr. Peterson agreed.
“Yeah, it’s just not always a nice one, is it, Deidre?”
Deidre jolted like she’d just received eight thousand volts. “What?”
“You know what,” Kate said, as though someone was moving her mouth for her. “You made my life miserable.”
She was surprised at how cleanly her anger it was coming out. She didn’t go to her ten-year reunion to avoid Deidre, but here she was, snapping at her right in front of Rapunzel and her own dad as though she’d been waiting to do it.
“What?” Rapunzel sputtered. “Mac, what’s going on?”
Kate didn’t reply. She was remembering things she hadn’t thought about in years. How Deidre pushed her over during the long-distance marathon and told everyone she was mentally handicapped. How she always put things on chairs, so Kate got stains on her ass—usually tomato sauce so it looked like she’d bled through her dress. She glared at Deidre, but she had buried her face in her phone again, avoiding her gaze. How many times had Kate tried that trick? Hiding to try and avoid Deidre’s notice? And how many times had Deidre let her get away with that?
Never.
Kate took a step toward her. “Hey, you can at least look at me when I’m talking to you.”
Her old nemesis glanced up. “What do you want to say?”
“That you were awful to me. For no reason, you were so mean.”
Deidre rocked from her heels to her toes and back again, seemingly lost for words.
“Dede?” Rapunzel sounded horrified. “Is that...is Mac right?”
There was a beat, and Kate was sure Deidre was going to do what she always did when someone called her on her shitty behaviour. She’d toss her hair and say, ‘it’s just a joke, God, get over it.’ But then Deidre’s lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I really am. I know I was an asshole.”
It was Kate’s turn to feel floored. She didn’t know what she was expecting—a slap, maybe—but not an apology. “You were an asshole.”
Deidre nodded. “I was dealing with...” She gestured to her t-shirt, which showed a cartoon astronaut planting a rainbow flag on the moon. “It’s not an excuse, though. I was a dick. I’m sorry.”
Kate looked into Deidre’s navy eyes, and the hardness in her chest softened like toffee in a hot pan. “Thanks for saying that.”
“I should have said it ages ago. I wanted to, but it’s hard to know how to act. Or if you even wanted to hear from me. And like I said, I had a lot of stuff happening.” She pointed to her t-shirt again.
“I get it,” Kate said and meant it. It wasn’t easy to be an ADHD weirdo in a backwater beachside town. It couldn’t have been easier to be queer. “We’re older now. Let’s just get over it. Start fresh.”
“I’d like that.” Deidre extended a hand tipped with glittery nails. “I’m Dede.”
Kate shook her hand. “I’m Kate.”
They smiled at each other for a moment, then Kate turned to Rapunzel. “Sorry for bringing up school stuff, I didn’t expect this to happen.”
“All good,” said Mr. Peterson, who was staring up at the sky. Rapunzel didn’t say anything. She was staring at her new housemate.
“Are you okay?” Deride asked, tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ear.
“How? How does anyone bully Mac? She’s the pink salt of people. She’s good in everything!”
Deidre flinched. “I...I was pretty young and immature and weird about being gay.”
“We all were. What the fuck possessed you to go after Kate?”
Kate’s heart gave a weird tug. On one hand, having Rapunzel dig at her old enemy was something of a dream come true. On the other hand, there was chemistry between Deidre and her best friend. She wasn’t sure what to hope for. She appreciated Deidre’s apology, but she wasn’t sure that put her on Team Raidre. She wasn’t sure of anything at all. She desperately wanted to go somewhere and unpack this, give herself a chance to process what had happened.
Mr. Peterson cleared his throat. “I feel like taking a walk. Kate, did you want to come with me to get some coffees?”
“God, yes,” Kate blurted. It was only once she and her former hot dad crush were walking up Hope Street she realised her current situation was dicier than the one she’d left.
