Simply Me

Chapter 26 Truth isn't always the cure

"Madam we have arrived at your destination." The driver says.
"Thank you." I respond. "Can you pick me up at 9?"
"Whenever you please ma'am." he says.
"Thank you." I say.
I walk inside the small cafe at the corner.
"Hello welcome to Reggie's Cafe. Reservation?" She asks.
"Yes, Gilinsky." I say.
"Oh yes. Right this way." she says as she leads me to my table.
"A waiter will be here shortly to get your drink." she says.
"Thank you." I say.
I sit in the little booth waiting for the arrival of Jack. He told me he would meet me here at 7. It is currently 7:10. I was excited for this date earlier today but now I feel an emptiness inside. I decide to pull out my phone and spend the time on Twitter.
"What can I get you to drink?" The waiter asks.
"Can I have a water please?" I ask.
"And is there someone else arriving?" He asks.
"Yes. He'll be shortly." I say.
"Okay." he says as he leaves.
I stare at my phone and a few moments later my drink arrives.
"Would you like to order?" He asks.
"Can I wait for my date?" I ask.
"Of course." he says.
I continue to look at my phone and it feels as if no time is passing. I scroll through everything on twitter.
"Ma'am?" The waiter asks.
"Yes?" I ask.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He says.
"Why?" I ask.
"The cafe is closing." he says looking at me with pity.
"Oh." is all I can manage to say. I looked down. "Here's five dollars for the drink."
"It's on the house." he says.
"Are you sure?" I ask. "Here take the tip."
"Thanks." he says.
I get up from the table and walk out the door. I check my phone and it's says its 10. I take in a deep breath and feel the emptiness again. I walk out and my limo is here. I open the door and smile a little.
"You waited for me?" I ask.
"Of course. I can not leave a lady to walk home alone. I'm sorry about the boy." He says.
"Me too. Thank you for waiting for me. At least there are actual nice men in the world." I say.
He begins to drive and my insides feel like I just swallowed a weight. Before I know it we are at the hotel.
"Thanks again." I say.
"I wish you the best." he says.
"Thanks." I say as I step out.
I walk into the hotel and I head towards the elevator. As I stand in the elevator I take in a deep breath and try to hold back the tears. I can feel my eyes begin to blur. The doors open and I run out, almost tripping. Thank goodness Matt is filming a video at Carters so he can't see me crying. I slide into the bed and grab the pillow. I bury my face in it and let the tears flow. My cheeks warming up and my makeup running. I grab some leggings and Mat... my sweater. I run into the bathroom and change out of my light blue long dress. I throw the dress into my suitcase and jump into bed. I sit there and take in a deep breath. Letting all hurt, and heart break take over. I cry more into the pillow when someone walks in.
"Hey do you know where..... What's wrong?!" Says Cameron.
"Nothing." I say.
"No. What's wrong?" He says.
"Jack." I say.
"Okay... What happened?" He asks.
"He stood me up! He left me at a little cafe for 3 hours. They had to make me leave because the cafe was closing. I hate him. I hate boys." I say.
"Ahem. You're talking to a boy right now." he says. "But I can't believe he would do that. That's not like him."
"Yea well apparently we were both wrong on our judgement of him." I say.
"Maybe he got caught up." he says.
"With what? Himself?! He has nothing else to do. Unless he forgot which makes it worse." I say.
"You never know until you ask him." he says.
"I don't think I want to see him ever again." I say.
"Alright that's your call. But I think you should talk to him. And if you need someone to talk to I'm always here." he says.
"Thanks. But I still hate boys... except you." I say kind of smiling.
"You bettcha." he says.
He grabs a camera and begins to walk out but turns around and comes toward me. He gets close to my face and wipes my tears away.
"Don't cry. You're to beautiful to cry." he says.
He turns and leaves. I sit at a moment of no words. Did he just call me beautiful?
••••••••••••
I sit in the room waiting. It's been an hour so Jack must be back. I decide to get up and go to his room. As soon as I take a step out the door my phone dings. I look down and check it. I have a message. I decided to open it even though the number is blocked. As I look at the text my eyes go wide and I drop my phone. I pick my phone up and run to Jacks room.
"Jack!" I yell. "Jack!"
A few seconds later the door opens.
"Oh hey Reanne." says Johnson.
"Is Jack here?" I ask.
"Yea I'm here." he says.
"This isn't a joke. Is he here or no?" I ask.
"Yes he's in here. So is Taylor and Nash...." he says.
I move past him and walk up to Jack.
"Hey babe." he says.
I stare at him with the most angry face I think I've ever made.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"You." I say.
"What?" He asks.
"What's wrong is you!" I yell. "You missed our date."
"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry babe." he says.
"Don't you dare say you're sorry! I sat at that stupid ass cafe for three hours! And then when I left to come talk to you, because I thought you had an emergency, I find out that, that was a lie." I say.
"What?" He asks.
"You didn't miss our date because of an emergency. You missed it to be with her!" I yell as I show him a picture on my phone.
"That's not real!" He yells getting up.
"Sure it isn't. Just like you didn't miss our date. Is that real?!" I yell.
"I'm sorry." he says trying to grab my arm. I flinch my arm back.
"Don't touch me. You know I thought you were a good guy. I thought that guys were different. I thought I could fall in love. I guess I'm too stupid to see the truth." I say.
"You're not stupid! You're amazing." he says.
"Really? If I was amazing you wouldn't have missed our date to be with another girl. Thanks for making me realize that you can't give anyone your heart, because they'll tear it to shreds. Now that I don't have a heart guess it won't happen again. Have a nice tour. Thanks for having me." I said starting to walk away.
"No. Don't leave. I need you. We need you. I... I think I love you." he says holding my arm.
"You need me? If you needed me you wouldn't have let me sit at a restaurant for three hours. You think you love me? It doesn't work that way Jack. It's either you love me or you don't. Not you think you love me." I say pulling my arm free.
"Nice meeting you guys. Hope you have good lives." I say walking out and slamming the door.
I run to Matts room. I throw the little bit of clothes I have in my bag and grab a pen and paper. I begin to write to Matt, telling him that I left. I run out the door and run into the elevator. When I get to the lobby I see someone I didn't think I would see.
"Um hello Sally." I say.
"What the hell?! I have been trying to reach you for days! I thought you died! What the hell?!" She yelled.
"I-I'm sorry." I say on the break of tears.
"It's okay. Come here." she says.
I fall into her arms and she hugs me.
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Boys." I say.
"I told you not to go after them." she says.
"I know." I say looking down.
"Let's go home." she says.
"Okay." I say.
We walk out to her car and as soon as I get in, Matt runs out. He sees me and stares at me for a second.
"Drive." I say.
She backs out and Matt tries to catch up but fails. As we drive away I can't help but feel like I'm making a mistake. I stare at the lost eyes of Matt. I knew it wouldn't last there anyway. Dreams never last.
••••••••••••••
"Where's the hammer?!" I ask.
"Uh.. Downstairs!" Sally yells.
"I'm gonna go get it!" I yell.
"Hurry up." she says.
I run down the stairs to the basement. I cling to the wall searching for a light switch.
"Here." I say to myself.
When I flick the switch the light comes on and reveals an empty basement with one desk at the other side of the room. I run to the desk and search for a hammer. I finally find it at the top and when I go to grab it, it falls with a bunch of papers. I begin to pick up the papers and notice that they are about a girl.
"Tara Mendes." I say.
Wait, isn't that the girl Mahogany told me about?! I begin to read the papers and it has articles about her death and about her friends hurting. She had a whole fandom. Wow. Wish I had that life. I continue reading on and I find a paper that has a description of her. Wait... She looks exactly like me. Except I have blue eyes and short hair. I skim over the many papers. Certain words catching my eyes. "Faked death",
"IV filled with knock out fluid.", "Paid $900,000 to keep quiet." This is a doctors paper. The final page is what hits me hard. It was written by Sally. "Tara Mendes' new name will be Reanne Baker. Will dye her hair ombré and cut short. Give her blue contacts."
What? What? I run to the mirror and rub my eyes. Slowly one contact at a time my blue eyes turn to Hazel. I grab the papers and run upstairs.
"Hey you got the hammer?" She asks.
"No but I got this." I say.
I show her the papers and her smile fades.
"Reanne..." She begins.
"Please tell me this is fake." I say.
"I wish I could." she says.
"You lied. My life has been a lie. Why? I thought we were friends since birth. I thought I was a different person. You made me believe I was someone else. I had a good life and you took it all away! You took it all! Wait there was a girl who hated Tar... me. Her name was.... Victoria! Wait is that you?" I say.
"Yes. I'm sorry. I hated you and I wanted to take you away from the guys who hurt me. But then you became my friend. We became so close." she says.
"Yea that's what I thought. You- you are.... I never want to see you again!" I say running out. The papers in my hand. I hop in her car and drive away. She chases me but I'm too fast and I'm far away from her. This is too much. My life has been one big lie. Whatever I thought was real was fake. Even my own fucking eyes were fake! I continue to drive and I find myself at the cafe where I was supposed to meet Jack. I run inside and sit at a small booth. No one is here so it's okay. I put my head in my hands and begin to cry.
"I see you're here again."
I look up and see the same waiter as last time. His brown hair spiked up, with his brown eyes locked on me. He looks like he's my age maybe a year younger.
"Uh yea. I'm just you know..." I begin.
"Hurt? Yea I know how you feel. Wait didn't you have blue eyes the last time you were here?" He asks.
"Yea. Part of the reason why I am crying. My whole life's been a lie." I say.
"You want to talk about it?" He asks.
"Yes please. If it's not ruining your schedule." I say.
"Nah. No ones here except you so I have nothing to do." he says.
I tell him everything that's happened. When I finish his face is in shock.
"You're the Tara Mendes?!" He asks.
"Yea." I say.
"Oh my gosh. I loved you." he says. "When you died I broke."
"I was that big?" I ask.
"Hell yea." he says.
"Well I'd love to know everything I did. Can we meet tomorrow and you can explain to me everything I have done?" I say.
"I'd love to." he says.
"But please don't tell anyone who I am." I say.
"No problem." he says.
I get up and walk out. I get in the car and drive to the hotel. When I arrive I get a new room, and walk upstairs. I get to my floor and there is Jack.
"Reanne? I thought you left." he says.
"Yea I did, but I came back." I say.
"Why?" He asks.
"Does it matter?" I ask.
"Yea it does. I care about you." he says.
"Bullshit." I say.
"I do!" He says.
"Whatever Jack. Your apologies don't matter. They don't change the past." I say as I walk away.
I get to Matts room, and I bang on the door. To my surprise Cameron answers.
"Reanne?!" He asks.
"Yea." I say.
He hugs me and I hug back. When he lets go he brushes my hair out of my face and notices my running makeup.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"Can I come in and tell you?" I ask.
"Yea." he says and moves out the way.
"Hey Matt." I say.
Matt walks up to me and hugs me.
"I thought you left." he says.
"I did, but came back." I say.
"Now tell us what's wrong?" Cameron asks.
"I- I'm not who you thought I was. I'm not who I thought I was." I say.
"Okay.... Wait why have your eyes changed?" Matt asks.
"Because I-I'm..." I begin.
"Reanne." Cameron says.
"No. I'm Tara Mendes."