“I don’t need her to tell me what to do. I’m twenty-four and I will be fine.” When she didn’t speak, I hurried on. “I’ve been living on my own for three years at the university–“
“With your doctor close by and me to remind you to pick things up,” Mom broke in. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You don’t even know if you’ll be able to find a job, or if you’ll be able to live with your cousin. I’d much prefer it if you came home and researched this instead of making a spontaneous decision.”
“I don’t want to do that. I have enough money saved to take care of myself for a couple of months, and Aveline is helping me with the job situation. This will be fine.”
“And what happens if you get sick? Is Aveline going to take you to the emergency room? Or will she be out partying with her friends?”
“I’ll take you to the witch doctors out in the bayou,” Aveline mumbled from the couch. “Tell her we’ve already ordered and bought your furniture, so you can’t go to her house.”
“I’ll be fine,” I repeated placatingly. “If something happens and I can’t do it, then I’ll come home.” It was a good thing she couldn’t see me blatantly crossing my fingers.
My mother hesitated, though I could tell she was considering it. “If you think this is what’s best, then fine. You’re an adult.” Her reply was tired. She didn’t like arguing either. “I’m not trying to keep you prisoner here. I just worry. You’ve had a hard time with your health, Georgette.” My mother was always the first to call me by my real name, and the last to consider using George.
“So...” I drew the word out hopefully.
“You can stay, I suppose. I’ll put some money in your account so you can get whatever you need.”
My heart jumped. “What? Mom you don’t have to do that! I deposited my graduation money from Helene and Ismael-I’m really okay-“
“I’m already doing it. Get some nice furniture for your room. Get a bed frame for once.” She was slowly beginning to sound like her usual, unstressed self again. “Just promise me you’ll be careful and that you’ll call me if you need me.”
“I promise.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
“Tell Aveline I said hi.”
“Will do. Talk to you later.” I hung up and looked to my cousin, who was finally looking up at me. “Mom says hi,” I told her, as if she didn’t hear.
“I thought she’d be more upset,” my cousin admitted. “Like-threaten to come down here and drag you home. I had an argument prepared.”
“I did too. But maybe she has more faith in me than I thought?”
“Or me. I’m a really good cousin.”
“She thinks you’re going to leave me passed out on a sofa and not get me help.”
Aveline paused, her eyes finding mine and making me falter as well. “Do you get sick anymore? Like that?”
“Not really. Getting sick still sucks.” I busied myself folding a pair of jeans and handed them off. “Colds are a bit worse than what other people get. I tend to take longer to recover, but that’s all. I haven’t had to go to the emergency room in three years now.”
“Should we have some kind of protocol? Like, for if I should know to take you to a hospital or a witch doctor or high priestess?”
“Okay well first off, an emergency room will do. I am not letting a witch doctor poke and prod at me.” I shook my head, shaking the jeans in my hand.
She took them. “You allergic to anything? Anything special I should tell them?”
“No. I keep medical information in my email. I umm-“ I felt awkward having to discuss this. “I’ll send stuff to you that you can just show them. But it’s fine. I mean it; I don’t get sick like that anymore. By the way,” I checked my phone. “ It’s seven. What are we doing tonight? I was kind of thinking we should maybe talk about what happened last night at the swamp. There were a lot of threats being thrown around that I didn’t enjoy.”
“Well.” Aveline’s voice turned coy. “I had an idea. Since your mom said yes and all, we should celebrate you being here. Don’t you agree?”
“Does that mean more takeout while we talk about last night?
She shook her head. “That means we go out, find really really sexy men and women to help you celebrate moving here. Who better to party with than strangers and bar company? Or those men from last night. Don’t think I didn’t notice. And then we can come home and talk about last night.”
“Oh.” I rubbed my nose thoughtfully. “I didn’t know you were into bars. Thought you just liked your goth-fetish-clubs. And I doubt we’ll be seeing them around. He’s the vampire King now. Plus, Av, I’m not sure if you’re taking this seriously.” She never took anything seriously until it bit her on the ass.
“All right. Fair point, I suppose. We won’t go searching for your new friends. Even though, if I am completely honest, they would be really great guests to your welcome-to-New-Orleans party. We’ll just go to Euphoric.”
“I’ve never been to a burlesque club,” I admitted finally, accepting defeat but promising myself that we would talk after the bar.
“It’s not just a burlesque club. It’s a gothic-light kink-burlesque-club-bar,” Aveline corrected.
“My bad, then.”
“And you kind of have. Remember when we were twenty-one and I found that place in Tennessee that you drove us to?”
My eyes narrowed. “Yeah. I remember you getting into a bar fight with a werewolf, too.”
She smiled, reminiscing. “Goddess that was a good time. Anyway, Euphoric isn’t like that. And I know a lot of the people who go. It’ll be fun.”
“Do I have anything to wear?”
My cousin threw a thoughtful look to my closet, eyes narrowing. “No. Not at all.
