Chapter 2

GAINESVILLE.  Jessica Merrick sat on the couch, editing her photos. She had just gotten back from her Mecca.

Disney World.

After classes had ended for the semester, she and some classmates took the short road trip there. It was her second time at Disney since starting school.

Her parents had come up, prior to that, for the Australian summer holiday, and they had all gone together, along with her uncle Jesse who claimed via FaceTime that he had been with them the whole time.

"Not while you were in the toilets, of course!"

Jessica liked Jesse, which was nice, because she was named after him. He died when he was her age. A bad case of the flu.

Now Jesse split his time between Melbourne and Florida. He hadn’t gone on this last holiday to Disney. He said he didn't want to intrude on Jessica and her friends.

She insisted it would be okay but actually wasn't sure.

Maybe her friends would have been creeped out by an invisible guy following them around. Then again, who knew what invisible friends they already had with them. Maybe there were crowds of ghosts following them everywhere.

When they went on the Haunted Mansion ride, Jessica thought about how it would be cool if, when your Omnimover went past the mirror with the hitchhiking ghosts, you saw the real ghosts that were following you. 

Jessica figured they'd probably offer that someday. Just give it time.

The impossible kept becoming reality.

She finished editing and started uploading to Flickr.  She closed her eyes, feeling a bit sleepy. Her legs twitched as she drifted into a dream. Then she heard keys jingling, and the door opened.

She was tempted to fake sleep, because she wasn’t in the mood for her roommate. She was never in the mood for her roommate. Although they used to be friends.

Jessica had met Taylor Jenson in the recreation room of their resident towers. She had comforted Taylor who had been crying because of a fight with her roommate. Taylor had been grateful and enchanted by Jessica’s accent. She was very amused when Jessica said she liked her accent too. "What accent?"

"Your American accent."

Taylor had looked bewildered. She had never known there was a such thing as an American accent. 

Everyone else had the accents. That was the American way. A bit ethnocentric.

Still. Taylor loved Americans. How could she not? They brought the world Disney World. And…. Coke!  Jessica loved Coke. Some friends promised her a road trip later in the summer to Atlanta, the home of The World of Coca-Cola.

***

Taylor and Jessica first met back in October. Towards the end of the first semester, Taylor had suggested they move into an off-campus apartment together. She knew that Jessica wasn't too fond of her roommates either. 

Jessica had hesitated at first. She didn't have a lot of money to put into it. Most of her savings had gone into paying for tuition. Her part-time job at the campus frozen yogurt store gave her only enough for occasional treats (like the holiday to Disney).

Taylor told Jessica that her dad had offered to pay for her to have a flat big enough for her and a roommate. How could Jessica say no to that?

Well, she had actually wanted to say no. It felt weird taking so much.

But then Taylor kept insisting. So, Jessica finally said yes, but she had insisted on paying a portion of the rent.

At first, everything was great. She enjoyed being with Taylor. At least a few times a week, they'd neglect their studies and binge-watch their favorite TV shows instead.

They were both fans of American Horror Story.  And Jessica had introduced Taylor to some Aussie shows. They both bonded over their mutual love of Offspring. They cried together when Patrick died. They also downloaded  Some Girls, a TV show, on the BBC, that starred Taylor's English brother-in-law.

Jessica couldn’t help but be thrilled that she was rooming with the relative of a celebrity. She tried not to brag about it too much (and usually failed).

They almost always pigged out during their shows. They'd eat huge bags of homemade trail mix or make giant sundaes.

Then Taylor started dieting. She hadn't been overweight or anything. She had been fine. But she had gotten the idea she needed to be smaller.

Now she was very small.

Jessica looked at Taylor's stick legs as she walked through the door. Taylor never wore her long skirts anymore, probably because then she couldn’t show off her skinniness.

"Hi!" Jessica said, trying to be friendly. She wished she could like Taylor like she used to. She hated that things were different between them now. Strained.

She missed the times they watched TV together. But Taylor wouldn’t do that anymore. Sitting on a couch and watching TV was apparently beneath her, because it took away from valuable exercise time. 

And it wasn’t fun eating a giant sundae while your roommate ate four grapes.

Taylor returned Jessica's greeting. She stood there awkwardly for a moment; then went into her bedroom.

Jessica heard her pacing, which she did almost constantly. Taylor never sat down unless absolutely necessary. Jesse had glanced in on her once and reported back to Jessica that Taylor did her studying while pacing. She couldn’t even sit down for that.

Sometimes the pacing would stop, and Jessica would hear another noise. The springs of the scale. Taylor weighed herself several times a day.

 ***

Later that day, Jessica laughed as he attempted to sing a Cold Chisel song.  After he finished, he said,"Your parents miss you." 

"I miss them too”.

But it was too expensive for her to fly back and forth. She was staying here for the summer semester. They decided if she wanted to go to school in Florida, they'd have to forgo visits for the most part. They had gone over the budget and determined it was feasible for her parents to do one visit during her four years, and she'd do one back to Australia.

Since they just visited, she would probably not return to Australia until her third year. Plane ticket prices were astronomical. It made much more sense to talk via the internet.

"Hi Taylor!" Jesse called out.

"Hi!" Taylor said back to him.

Jessica hadn’t seen her come into the den. She gave Taylor a little wave.

Taylor gave a forced smile in return.

Jessica hated her fake smile.

"Oh good!" Jesse said as Taylor opened the refrigerator. "You're finally going to eat!"

Taylor giggled. "I eat!"  

She did eat...to some degree. She wasn’t completely starving herself. Jessica was thankful for that.

Jesse sang again. Jessica watched him while she also sort of watched Taylor. 

Taylor took out a bag of iceberg lettuce. She got a plate; then she took out her beloved food scale. She measured out a small bit of lettuce. After that, with the salad plate on the scale, she added a few drops of salad dressing.

"You need some protein!" Jesse called out from the computer screen.

Taylor didn’t say anything, but her cheeks turned red. She looked annoyed. However, then she opened the refrigerator and took out some fat free mozzarella cheese. She added a small pinch to her salad. 

Maybe she listened to Jesse?

Taylor got a diet soda. Then she returned to her room. Jesse and Jessica were both at a loss for words. 

"She's walking while eating," he broke the silence. "She can't even sit down to eat.

"Are you spying on her again?"

"No. I can hear her from here. Can't you?"

 She could. Yes.

"I think one day she's going to figure out a way to walk while sleeping,” Jesse said.

 Jessica agreed with him.

 *** 

The next day, after work, Jessica took a walk. Just a casual leisurely one. Enjoying the weather. She didn’t even wear her runners. 

She thought about a confusing customer she had served at the yogurt shop.

Then she heard her FaceTime notification.

She assumed it was Jesse again and wondered if it was weird that she spent so much time talking to her uncle. He was her age. Sort of. If he hadn't died, he'd be forty-five now.

They'd probably have little to do with each other. But now they were the same age, and they were  online mates.This time it wasn’t Jesse on FaceTime. It was her friend Anna from New York.

"G'day, Jessica!" Anna said.

"Hi!" Jessica tried not to cringe at Anna's attempt at the Aussie accent.

"How's Florida?"

"Great. How's New York?"

"Wonderful. When are you going to come visit us?"

When would Anna understand that she didn’t have the money to go flying around the States?  She wished she did!

"Soon, I hope." She felt bad for being fake.

"You're definitely coming to the wedding. Right?"

When was that again? And no, she was not going. Unless Anna and Eugene wanted to pay for her plane ticket. She decided to make a joke of it. "If I die, I can get to NYC for free." If she said that to her mum, she'd get quite the scolding. But Anna laughed…loudly.

Jessica and her parents had met Anna and Eugene when they came to Melbourne for a work-related holiday. Eugene had been writing a travel article about Australia. At the time, Jessica liked them. She still liked them, actually. They were good people. It was just that Anna was a bit full on at times, and because of that, Jessica was sometimes not in the mood for her.

"Anything else going on?" Anna asked.

"Not really. Just taking a walk." Then she asked about Anna's life, knowing the answer would keep the two of them busy for quite a while. 

Anna was a talker.

Anna told Jessica about an incompetent worker at her temp company. She talked about a rude client who bordered on sexual harassment. "Several of my workers have complained."

She then told Jessica about her recent fight with Eugene. They seemed to have lots of those. It was strange to imagine because in Melbourne, they got along so well with each other. 

Anna talked about the wedding—the flowers, the music, her dress, her shoes, the cake. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Jessica was very relieved when Anna apologized and said she needed to do some laundry.

Thank goodness for dirty clothes.

Continue to Chapter Three

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