Such a Fun Age

by Kiley Reid

“Who do I know from Allentown?” “You know me from Allentown.” Kelley made his way over to her, placed a bag of popcorn in her lap, and said, “Let’s start with your area code.” Emira gave Kelley her phone number as she snacked on popcorn, her right arm draped deliriously over her head. On the blueprint behind her, two streets over from where her pinky hung, was the place Kelley Copeland completely ruined Alex Murphy’s senior year. Back in the spring of 2000, before she became Alix Chamberlain.

But once again, she looked over her shoulder and saw that no one was there. Alex was alone, and the one thing she still had was the freedom to follow the narrative that suited her best.

But when he did finally contact her, one week after she quit, it was a clunky and trite text of encouragement that Emira did not enjoy.

Because even though Kelley been right about her, Alix had been right about him too.

— Deep into her thirties, Emira would wrestle with what to take from her time at the Chamberlain house.

Some days she carried the sweet relief that Briar would learn to become a self-sufficient person. And some days, Emira would carry the dread that if Briar ever struggled to find herself, she’d probably just hire someone to do it for her.