Dirty Rush (30 page)

Leyla 2:21PM
Whasssssssssup???!!!

T
he Children's Hospital Benefit meeting never happened because Colette's mom's Pomeranian was hit by a car, and she had to rush home to be with her for moral support. Colette clearly didn't trust the rest of us that much, because she didn't want the meeting to happen without her. Finals, however, did happen. Honestly, they weren't half as bad as I thought they'd be. Turns out high school is ten times harder than college.

I coasted through my exams, said my goodbyes to Jack (we had sex and he lent me one of his sweatshirts to wear home, which was super cute), bid the BZ girls farewell (probably the most hugging I've ever done in a twenty-minute period), and then hopped in the car with Jonah and headed home to McLean.

The summer before college, I was so excited to get out of there, but I distinctly remember thinking how nice it would be to come back home for winter break and see all my old friends. Now that it was here, I couldn't imagine having ever felt that way. I got a few texts from some kids I went to high school with, and I pretended to be excited to see them and catch up, but the truth was that I didn't really have the desire to do any such thing. Without me realizing it, my life had evolved into something else and being home felt like a step in the wrong direction. I missed school, I missed Jack, and I missed the BZ girls.

I spent the week before Christmas hanging out with Jonah, eating all the amazing food my parents cooked for us, and catching up on all the
Real Housewives
episodes I'd missed when I was at school.

Kelly got home on Christmas Eve.

“Hey, Kel,” I said as she walked into the kitchen, where I was perched at the counter eating half a grapefruit and a yogurt. Being at home really was all about when and what I was eating.

Kelly looked strangely glowy and fresh, considering she'd just gotten off of a long flight from Zambia. That was the thing about my sister; she always looked amazing. Though she was less tan than I expected her to be.

“Hey, babe. How are you?” Kelly said as she dropped her bags by the door and came in for a huge hug.
Odd, Kelly isn't much of a hugger.

“Fine. Bored. The past week in this house has been riveting,” I whispered just as our dad walked in behind Kelly through the door from the garage.

“Two
out of three in the same house. Not too bad. Not too bad at all,” he said as he roughly hugged us, giving us each a kiss on the top of our heads.

“Dad, we did this whole bit at the airport. Enough,” Kelly protested while inside of our family group hug.
Ah, there's the Kel I know and love.

“So rude of Jessica not to be here for my triumphant return.”

“Right?” I added.

“Well, do me a favor,” my dad interjected, “don't mention it around your mother. She's upset enough about Jess not being here. The last thing she needs is to feel like you guys are too.”

“Well, Dad, I am upset about it,” Kelly said. “And who does this Matt character think he is anyway, asking Jess to marry him without getting my permission? It's rude. It's just not proper.” Kelly flung the refrigerator door open, “Jesus. Is there any coconut water in this godforsaken home?”

“Well, Matthew did ask me, and I'm pretty sure that's the standard custom, so . . .” my dad added. “I'm going upstairs to finish my episode of
Game of Thrones
.”

“You watch that crap, Dad?” I asked.

“Yeah. So?”

“It's like dragons and midgets and stuff,” said Kelly, still looking through the contents of our parents' fully stocked fridge.

“Yeah?”

“That's all I'm saying.”

“Okay . . .”

“Bye, Dad.”

My dad disappeared up the stairs.

“You can't choose
your family, but you can choose not to be around them,” Kelly said with a smile. “Wanna help me unpack?”

I just smiled back. I didn't exactly feel like helping anyone do anything at that moment, but I knew that Kelly really meant she wanted to hang out. I wanted to hang out with her too. We'd emailed and Skyped a handful of times while she was away, but obviously I'd been busy at school and she had her own responsibilities with the internship, so we hadn't properly caught up. Not to mention that she'd been seven thousand miles away with limited Internet access. For the first time maybe ever, we had a lot to talk about. So up to her room with all of her shit we went.

“OH MY GOD, I'm so fucking happy to be home right now,” Kelly said, flopping face-first onto her bed.

“I'm over it already, but I guess if I'd been in Africa for the past six months I'd feel differently.” I laid down next to her.

“Yeah. I don't know.”

“Kel, I'm really proud of you for doing the internship. I wasn't sure how you'd handle living in a developing nation, honestly. But you totally did and I think it's amazing.”

“It wasn't that big a deal. It went really fast.”

“Yes, it is a big deal. You helped people who don't have as much as we do. You made modern medicine readily available to them. Are you kidding me?”

“Um, okay. Enough about my boring life. Tell me what's been going on with you. Can you please tell me, in detail, how my hippie, women's lib, completely anti-Greek sister ended up rushing Beta Zeta?”

“Jack.”

“What? Who?”

“In a word: Jack. That's kind
of how I ended up meeting the girls and rushing.”

“Swanson?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God. I'm jealous.”

“Ew!”

“So . . . how did that pan out?”

“I mean, it's been almost three months and we're still together. I think he likes me.”

“Duh,” she said, “I can see it. He's fucking hot and always seemed like a really nice guy.”

“So, you have no horrible dirt on him that I need to know immediately?”

“I got nothing,” Kelly admitted.

“Good! I mean it's not like I thought you would, but I'm still relieved to hear that my instincts were right.”

“So, what? You thought that you had to join a sorority to get him to like you?”

“Not at all. I fell for Jack, but I also fell for the girls in the chapter. I'm making a lot of good friends.”

I continued to walk Kelly through all the steps that led to me loving the girls and ultimately pledging. Telling her my story was kind of amazing—partly because the fall semester had been such a whirlwind that it was fun for me to talk it through and process it all. But also because it was probably the first conversation that I'd ever had with Kelly where I felt like we were speaking the same language.

“So,
you just pretty much skipped rush altogether? Jesus, they dirty rushed the shit out of you,” Kelly said, pushing a stack of T-shirts into a drawer. “That's fucking insane. The chapter could get so much heat from the Panhel for pulling that shit.”

“Well, they drove a hard bargain, and when they came to my rescue me after I fell at that first Omega Sig party . . . it really made a big difference.”

“But still, I told Colette that there was no way in Hades you were even a pursuable option when you got accepted last year. I'm surprised they even approached you at all.”

“Well, I was at a frat party looking pretty cute.”

“Because of Jack.”

“True.”

“I'm just still in shock. Was Colette there when you were approached?”

“Meg was the first one to come up to me. She's an acquired taste but I've learned to love her.”

“Okay . . . When I was away I didn't really think about it too much. But now that I'm sitting here with you, I kind of get it and it kind of freaks me out.”

“We shall steadfastly love each other.”

“Wowwww. You're really buying into the sisterly love over there.”

I laughed at myself. “Hey, I'm still the same Taylor who thinks the whole thing is pretty silly, but now I'm just more willing to try things I'd never done before.”

“So being in a sorority has made you less judgmental, how is that possible?”

“I always assumed that you and Jess and all of your cute little
friends in cute little dresses just joined a house to meet guys, get drunk, and have fun. But the friendships I've made, the work the chapter does with the children's hospital, the bonds people have with each other, and the loyalty is really fucking cool. I mean, do you honestly think you would've gotten on a plane the day after graduation to go help people in Africa if you'd never been a BZ?”

“You're right. I one-hundred-percent would not have.”

“Yes. I am right. It's a good organization.”

“Well, damn,” she said, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. “I guess it's nice to hear you say that about Beta Zeta. Fucking insane that it's coming out of your mouth, but still. I'm gonna lay down for a few minutes . . . slash twenty-four hours.”

“Okay, do it. Love you. Get some rest,” I said and got up from her bed.

“Hey, Tay,” Kelly stopped me before shutting her bedroom door behind me, “I know you're fucking in it right now. And the girls have brought you in under their wing, but just be careful.”

“Oh . . . kay.”

“I'm just saying that sometimes the excitement of the whole Greek world can be intoxicating. Not everyone in that house has the house's best interests in mind. It's like with anything else, girls will do whatever it takes to get to the top and stay there. I just don't want you to lose your good judgment of people. You were always really good at trusting your instincts.”

“So what are you saying?”

“Just don't forget who you were before you pledged. That's it. Really.”

“I won't. I promise.”

Kelly raised her eyebrows.

“I
fucking promise you that I won't let those bitches change me, okay?”

“ 'Kay, see you in a bit.”

“Sleep well, Kelly.”

I shut her door and went into my room, which, by comparison to Kelly's, was still pristine and untouched. My mom and dad have a tendency to turn their kids' bedrooms into home gyms and offices. Jessica's room had become my mom's office/beading/jewelry/crafts room when I was in high school and Kelly's, from the looks of it, was more fitness center than bedroom. When your bedroom has an elliptical, weights, and a bunch of yoga mats rolled up in a corner, your childhood is officially over.

I passed out for a little while until I was called down to dinner. Kelly, who I guess was getting special treatment from my parents, given her recent “exhausting travel,” slept through dinner. My mom's Thai lettuce wraps were just as good as I'd remembered. I may have eaten nine of them.

I
woke up the morning of Christmas day to an adorable text from Jack. He'd been really good about keeping in touch while we were apart.

Jack 9:32AM
Good morning. Hope you're enjoying fam time. Mine seems to have gotten more insane which I thought was impossible. Missing you, babe xoxo

Taylor 9:45AM
Hiya:) miss you too. Have a great day today, let's chat later. Gonna go help my mom with xmas festivities etc xoxo

Pepped up by our little text exchange, I showered and threw on some shorts and Jack's sweatshirt before coming downstairs.
The next few hours were spent sitting by the tree, opening presents (I got an iPad and a gift card to Sephora), making dinner and watching
Love Actually
for the four thousandth time. By late afternoon we'd moved into the dining room to set the table.

“So, have you gone overboard with the jazziness level of this spectacular table setting because you're bored and suffering from empty nest syndrome?” I asked my mother as we brought trivets and napkins into the dining room. I must've struck a nerve because she didn't look amused. “Or is it supposed to make Kelly feel special upon her return to the ‘real world,' as you and Dad like to call anywhere but Africa?”

“Oh, Taylor, please. I'm so sick of you thinking of me as a racist. I referred to home as the ‘real world' once. This is her real world, that . . . where Kelly was . . . that was just very different. That's all I was saying.”

“Fine.”

“Am I wrong?”

“No, you're not.”

Neither of us realized that Kelly was standing in the doorway at the other end of the long, wallpapered room.

“Don't give Mom shit for trying to make me happy, Taylor,” Kelly said.

“I'm not giving anyone shit! It was an honest question.”

“I feel like you're a bigger bitch since you joined BZ.”

We were standing on either side of the table.

“Completely possible,” I admitted.

“Okay,” my mom said, surveying the table, “this is looking really, really nice. We'll eat at six. I'm going up to wash my face and get dressed. And I'll ask
you both now to make sure there aren't any ‘shit's or ‘bitch'es during dinner, please?”

“Sure,” my sister and I said in unison, and my mom was off.

Kelly followed me into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle from the fridge.

“It's creepy how into Christmas she is this year,” she said.

“Right? It's not like you just got out of prison or anything.”

“It kind of feels like I did.”

Kelly poured us each a glass of rosé champagne.

“I think Mom's just lonely as fuck,” she said after taking a gulp.

“I think you're right. I told her to make new friends.”

“Maybe she should find some friends who do things other than raise money for cancer kids.”

I couldn't help but laugh.

“What?”

“We just started planning the benefit for the children's hospital.”