Page 150 of Isolation

I never confronted her about Milo. She doesn’t know that I saw them having sex.

Something bad must have happened between them for her to make such a quick exit.

What am I missing here?

“Did something happen between Milo and you?” I ask quietly, not completely sure if I want to hear the answer.

“No!” Raven says curtly.

Typical.

If she is avoiding the topic, it means something did happen between them.

I don’t know why that makes me happy and I don’t care to know. As far as I am concerned, I have buried any feelings I have ever had for her six feet under.

But as herfriendI am worried.

“Rave, think about it for a second. Paris will still be there. Why not leave after the semester is over?”

“I have already thought about it and I have made my decision.”

“When?”

“Last night.”

Now I am genuinely concerned. “You made this decision last night and you are putting this plan into actionto-night. You never think this emotionally. What is going on with you?”

Raven looks down with a wretched look on her face.My new found emotional “freedom” is immediately disturbed.

I have locked away that insufferable love for her in a coffin and buried it deep inside. I vowed to never open that coffin again. Yet, I am not strong enough to watch her look this miserable.

So, I say the only thing that I know she wants to hear right now. “Rave, you don’t have to talk about anything that you don’t want to.”

“Thank you,” she whispers back.

“So, what’s the game plan?” I can at least make sure that she is safe.

“I bought my ticket using Mom’s credit card. I’ll text her on the way to the airport that I am coming to Paris.”

“She doesn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t want her texting Milo. But it’s okay. I have a key to her apartment.”

Theressa might be a negligent narcissist, but she is not cruel. She loves her daughter in her own way.

Raven will have a place to stay, money, and everything else she needs. The only thing that Theressa cannot commit to her daughter is attention or time. Raven will be taken care of in every other way.

“Okay…” I say slowly. “That’s fine. And then what?”

“In a month I’ll start my internship at Paris School of Fashion. I’m going to room with a couple of the other girls from the program. They are also from out of the country so the school paired us in case we wanted to lodge together. I don’t want to live with Mom. This made the most sense.”

“I know you talked about doing a remote internship, but I didn’t know it was so set in stone,”I state.

“I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure that I wanted to do the remote internship.”

I frown. “But don’t you have to meet with your counselor to discuss your application to FIT? Shouldn’t you at least do that before you leave?”

Raven visibly tenses.