Goodbye Ruby Tuesday by A. L. Michael Read Free Book Online

little girl shrugged, and went back to her book.
    Evie raised her eyebrows at Mollie, who shrugged and threw up her hands.
    ‘Eves… what if we’re making a mistake?’ Mollie said quietly, staring out at the road ahead.
    ‘We’re not!’ She took her eyes off the road to glare at her friend, ‘Just think of this as another Streetcar situation. Ruby knows what she’s doing.’
    ‘Ruby didn’t know us as adults,’ Mollie shook her head, her blonde curls shaking sadly.
    ‘Lucky we weren’t smart enough to outgrow our dreams then, isn’t it?’ Evie said brightly, and turned on the radio, trying to ignore the tiny thud of guilt that jabbed her whenever she thought about how much they had to lose.
    ***
    ‘No need to thank me,’ Ruby said, dumping the plastic bag on the bed. Evie looked at her warily, and then went to open it. Inside were pencils, charcoal, colouring pencils. A sharpener in the shape of a teddy bear and a collection of rubbers in neon colours
.
    ‘What is this?’
    ‘You shall go to the… art… drawing class thingy!’ Ruby said, as if waving an invisible wand. ‘I knew you couldn’t go to the class without art supplies. So there they are.’
    Evie raised her eyebrows and felt her chest constrict a little, ‘Rubes…’
    Ruby waved her hands in front of her, ‘Nope, no soppiness. You know I don’t do all that icky stuff.’
    ‘Oh shut up, dork!’ Evie pulled her into a hug, ‘How did you even afford this?’
    Ruby’s hair tickled her nose, and smelled like a strange mixture of rosewater and Charlie body spray. She clutched at her delicate waist, rocking a little.
    ‘Best not to ask,’ came Ruby’s reply, and Evie pulled back, raising an eyebrow.
    ‘Rubes, a handful of pick‘n’mix at Woolies is one thing – did you steal this stuff?’
    Ruby twirled a strand of hair, ‘Steal is such a strong word…’
    ‘Do you have a softer one that means “took stuff that wasn’t yours”?’
    ‘I’m working on it…’ Ruby smiled, then threw her arm around Evie. ‘Look, babe, none of this comes back on you. It’s not like I stole from one of the three shops in Badgeley. I’m not an idiot. And it’s for the greater good! It’s not like I’m a hoodie stealing Eminem CDs to sell on.’
    ‘You are so full of crap,’ Evie growled, but didn’t shrug off her arm.
    ‘Look, you need to do this art class. It’s your gift. Consider me an agent of fate, making sure you end up on the right path.’
    ‘And what if keeping me on the right path means you end up in prison?’ Evie looked at her friend, unimpressed.
    Ruby looked at her with a self-satisfied look of pity, ‘Babe, one day my luck is gonna run out. I’ve got no doubt about that. But when it does, it’s not gonna be stealing pencils for my talented friend. It’ll be robbing a bank, or hitting a police officer at a sit in, or accidentally overdosing. Don’t sweat the small shit.’
    ‘I guess I don’t have a choice,’ Evie said with irritation.
    ‘Nope, you don’t,’ Ruby kissed her cheek and squeezed her close, ‘so shut up and go with it.’
    ***
    The studio sat on a little courtyard off a main street in Camden. They’d driven down the high street a few times, getting lost, but Evie didn’t mind because she could feel Esme’s excitement. The little girl was glued to the window, nose pushed up against the glass, her mouth in a little ‘o’.
    ‘Mummy! Look! Their hair is purple! Look!’
    ‘Ez, don’t point!’ Mollie hissed.
    ‘But can you
see
?!’
    ‘Yes, I can see!’ she grumbled, ‘Very cool.’
    ‘Why are the holes in their ears so big? I can see right through to their necks!’ Esme said in awe, with a hint of disgust.
    ‘It’s done on purpose,’ Evie supplied, thinking of a boy she’d kissed at a party at uni, and an unfortunate incident where her rings had got caught in his piercings. She’d stopped dating arty boys after that. Too much mess.
    ‘Do they use a hole punch?’ Esme asked, ‘To