Read Unlucky Break for Free Online Page B

them.
    ‘You met Jess, then?’ said Cece.
    Andie laughed a little. ‘Yeah, apparently we’re BFFs now.’
    Cece smiled. ‘She’s a lovely girl really. A little melodramatic, perhaps. Her parents weren’t the best role models. She did well not to end up with an addiction, or worse.’
    Andie wondered what was worse than addiction, but didn’t ask. Instead she said, ‘Um, I put petrol in the car. I have the receipt for you.’
    ‘You don’t need to do that,’ said Cece.
    ‘Just so you don’t think I’m ripping you off or anything.’ Money was always tight growing up, so Andie was used to accounting for every cent.
    ‘I wouldn’t think that,’ said Cece quietly.
    ‘Okay,’ said Andie. Tiredness rolled over her all of a sudden, and she leant against the balustrade.
    The sound of her phone broke through her thoughts and she pulled it out of her bag.
    ‘Hello?’ she said tentatively. Only Cece and Rene had her number.
    ‘BFF, miss me much?’
    ‘Hi, Jess.’
    Cece smiled and walked back to the lounge.
    ‘Cece gave me your number. ’Sup?’
    ‘Since I left you ten minutes ago? Nothing.’
    ‘Hey, let’s go out tonight.’
    Andie was tempted, but she was also exhausted. Although she knew the best way to cure jet lag was to get yourself on local time as quickly as possible. And the alternative was hanging out with Cece, trying to fill the awkward silences.
    ‘Um, hang on.’
    Andie walked down the stairs looking for Cece, who she found lounging on a sofa, texting someone.
    ‘Cece?’
    Cece looked up.
    ‘Can I go out with Jess tonight?’
    ‘Sure,’ Cece said casually, and went back to her text message.
    ‘Okay,’ Andie said into the phone.
    ‘Did you just ask your aunt?’
    ‘Yeah, why?’
    ‘Dude, that’s so cute.’ Jess laughed. ‘Come over in an hour and bring your best clothes – non-hobo wear only.’
    Andie hung up the phone and looked at Cece, who was trying to act nonchalant.
    ‘Oh no, we were going to have dinner, weren’t we?’ said Andie, remembering in a flash. ‘I’ll cancel Jess.’
    Cece smiled. ‘No, no. We have all the time in the world for dinners, Andie. I’ll ask Rene to join me instead.’
    Andie leant forward and gave her aunt a kiss on the cheek, which surprised them both. ‘Thanks, Cece,’ she said and ran up the stairs to her room. She opened her suitcases but they were empty. Marta must have unpacked for her.
    Andie went over to the dressing room and sure enough, there were her clothes, hanging from the rails and folded neatly into drawers. Andie had taken everything she owned to LA and still the shelves were mostly empty, seeming to mock her.
    She flipped through the clothes. A black shirt and jeans? She could pull out the flat black shoes she’d worn to her mum’s funeral. Jeans seemed too casual. Could she rock the vintage look here, though? She didn’t really have anything else.
    She pulled out one of the few dresses she had brought with her – a sleeveless lime-green sixties A-line with a glittery collar. It was cute, although a little like something from a dress-up box.
    She took a shower but didn’t bother to wash her hair. After she dressed, she put on some black eyeliner from the Smashbox make-up Cece had given her, and her signature red lipstick.
    The black flats pressed against her toes. The pain reminded her of the day of the funeral and she gasped as the memories came flooding back.
    Mum’s friends from the women’s group offering around organic cucumber sandwiches at the wake. An endless stream of people asking Andie what she was going to do now, and her vague answers. Just because she was eighteen, people thought she would be fine. None of them knew there were no plans made for her. That her mum had been talking as though she would leave the hospital right to the very end.
    And Marissa’s hysterical tears. Even at the time, before she knew about Cameron and Marissa, Andie had thought it was too much. It wasn’t Marissa’s mother that