Someone Else's Fairytale

Twenty-Five: The Talk

Two weeks later, I met up with Lori for lunch in the student union and she greeted me by whipping out a picture of Jason and me walking down the street in Vancouver.

I swiped it and hid it away. She knew that Jason and I had gotten together, of course. She and I still saw each other regularly, even though we weren't housemates anymore. But Jason and I were careful about the rest of the world. We never hugged or held hands in public. I often walked next to Dave to imply that we were together – which Dave's boyfriend thought was hilarious. From that vantage I watched everyone and everything female hit on Jason, the ones who could form coherent sentences in his presence, at least. There were still a lot of girls who just stood in front of him and shook. Some of the paparazzi had no doubt figured out we were together, but they didn't have any juicy images to prove it, so there weren't any stories about the two of us – at least, not any stories that weren't complete and total fabrication.

“Rumor has it, he's in Albuquerque now?” said Lori. The place was so loud, she almost had to shout. The television was blaring, someone was doing some kind of drum performance further down the mall, and the tables around us were packed with people chattering and laughing.

I leaned in closer so that I wouldn't have to yell. “Yeah. He moved in the other day.”

“Oh. My. Gosh.”

“He's got family here. I'm not the only reason-”

“You are totally involved with Jason-”

“Shhh!” I said. “Do you know how lucky I am that no one else has picked up on this?” I looked down at the picture of the two of us in Vancouver. I was paranoid that any day now, despite how careful Jason and I were, people would start to point at me and whisper behind their hands whenever I walked by. Apparently the UNM student body didn't read a ton of tabloids. No one had even asked if I knew him. Everyone else in the student union just now, ignored me.

“Have you heard the rumor he's with Gigi Malone?” said Lori.

“Yes, and I know Gigi, whom I'll bet started that rumor.”

“What about the one where he picked up three girls at a night club?”

“The night that he was Skyping with me all evening, yeah.”

“The one where he hooked up with a camerawoman?”

“Okay, I don't have a direct disproof of that one. I'll make sure to hack into his computer and check.” I rolled my eyes.

Lori, laughed. She looked fantastic. Her eyes practically shone and her skin had a healthy glow. Life with Charles had just lit her up from the inside. I'd never seen her so happy. “Well, I have news,” she said.

“Hmm?”

“Charles is taking me to Hobbs to meet his family next weekend.”

“Nice. He met yours yet?” Lori's parents lived in Moriarity, just over the mountains from Albuquerque. Technically it was close, but they hardly ever came into town.

“Not yet. But soon. I've never felt like this before, Chlo. Things are so good.”

“I'm hap-” Over her shoulder I caught sight of something that brought me up short. Matthew came up the stairs, with his arm around a girl. She had lustrous blond hair, like a lion's mane, and catlike, green eyes.

Lori turned to see what I was staring at.

I looked away, fast.

“Michelle,” said Lori. “Her name's Michelle.”

“Right.”

“Goes to his church.”

“Mmmm.”