The Big Fish by Madison Henley (the first e reader txt) 📗

Georgia had made tea. She set down two mugs on the coffee table, sliding one towards Meredith. Meredith sipped hers carefully, swallowing the milky chai quickly before answering.

“Talk about what?”

“The sex.”

“Oh come on, professor…please. This is already awkward.”

“How do you think I feel, Meredith? My favorite student is best friends with my…”

“Lover?”

“Sure…titles.”

 “So I’m your favorite student?”

“Do not flatter yourself. It was either you or Sadie.”

“She writes in iambic pentameters and end rhyme!”

“Not everyone is as talented with words as you are Meredith.”

Meredith smiled, giving the living room a once over.

“No. We don’t talk about it. I mean, not that much.”

“God, what did she say?”

Georgia pinched the bridge of her nose, grimacing.

“It’s nothing I’ve never heard before. Keliah’s descriptive though, so I have these vivid pictures in my head that I’m pretty sure is what’s causing the night terrors.”

 Georgia opened her eyes to see Meredith smiling and grinned.

 “It’s fine, Professor. Really”

“Oh, speaking of. I think because I am dating Keliah, you shouldn’t have to call me Professor.”

 “So what do I call you, Georgia?”

“Yes.”

“Georgia.”

Meredith repeated, testing it out on her lips.

“I feel like we just reached a milestone in our friendship.”

Meredith gave Georgia a broad smile while Georgia just scoffed at her.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Meredith sat in the black chair with wheels in Georgia’s office, dragging her boots back and forth against the hardwood floor anxiously waiting for her to speak.

“It’s good, it’s good. But why did you use cerulean?”

“To describe her eyes.”

Georgia chortled, placing Meredith’s poem down on her desk and raising her glasses to her head.

“Obviously. I’m asking why did you say the color. I want a picture. Everyone knows what blue eyed people look like. I want to know what her eyes look like. What do you see when you look at her, not the color.”

Georgia gave Meredith her poem back and turned her chair facing her, crossing her legs. Meredith pulled a pen from her shirt pocket and crossed out the word and began writing.

 “Got any other poems for me?”

“No, just this one right now.”

“Your writing is improving, especially after giving you those books. You always write about her. How she is, what she feels. My next assignment for you is to get vulnerable. Write a poem about how Meredith feels.”

Meredith ticked her tongue while grinning.

 “That’s an invasion of privacy.”

“Oh shut up.  Your next poem better make me cry.”

Meredith grabbed her messenger bag and slid it on her shoulder while standing up.

“There’s still time to drop your class.”

“And there’s always someone else to have tea with.”

***

Keliah was taking a CrossFit class because she was too busy doubling up on her classes with Georgia her freshman year, that she forgot to take some GE courses. She didn’t mind; it would help get her in shape for preseason workouts, but she hated how sweaty she got so early in the morning. Luckily it was her only class on Tuesdays so she came home to shower afterwards. She found Gabrielle sitting in the apartment lobby waiting for someone to let her through.

“As I live and breathe. Gabrielle Bright, folks.”

Gabrielle stood up and took her hands out of her sweatshirt pockets. She sported a Meredith bun, with joggers that were wrinkled and an oversized hoodie. Her eyes looked smoked, as if she didn’t wash the mascara off from the day before. In other words, she looked like she had just gotten off a flight from Hell.

“Hey,”

She breathed. Her voice was like her vocal chords traveled through sandpaper. Her eyes were alert but had a darkish hue to them. She looked like she was on the verge of crying.

“No crutches, I see.”

“It was just a bruise.”

“Glad to hear.”

“Can I come inside?”

“Sure.”

They took the elevator up to the third floor, riding in silence. When they got out, Keliah fiddled with her keys before turning the lock and stepping in. Gabrielle immediately was hit with both smells of her best friends; Keliah’s cinnamon mint spray and Meredith’s natural scent of fresh linen. Her heart fluttered as she gazed around, thinking of what could’ve been if she had just taken the scholarship Berkeley offered instead of being selfish. How she could have been spending her weekends in hotels with her girlfriend, preparing for games together, cheering her on from the sidelines during the fitness test and making tea for her 8AMs when she had spent the night before studying. She felt so much had changed, they had practically grown apart.

“What’s with the outfit?”

Keliah rested against the kitchen counter, avoiding all furniture.

“I’m in this gym class so I can get ripped. They say intense activity and lots of stretching can increase your height by at least an inch.”

“Look out, Keliah Nelson at 5’6.”

Gabrielle’s lips spread while she peaked at the halfway closed door that was Meredith’s room.

“Why are you here?”

“I got back a couple of days ago. I got trashed on New Year’s and wrote a lot of shit down that didn’t make sense. Did Meredith tell you why she came back?”

“She was celebrating her Dad’s birthday. She didn’t come back for you.”

“Yeah but—I’m coming back for her. At least I wanted to. And then that bitch had to waltz in