Perfect Impurrfections

Cleansing the Lies

Chapter 31

Over the course of the next week Crystal's routine remained the same. Leaving early to avoid the talk with Casey. Every class she taught had the addition of Alex staring moony eyed at her from the very front. After work she played the worst spy ever as she tried to evade Casey's attempts to converse with her and Alex's attempts to date her. She was beginning to get tired from all the extra energy she was expending. She couldn't have been more excited when her day off rolled around then if she had won the lottery. While she knew B.B. wouldn't allow her to sleep in, she was relieved that he was the only male she would have to deal with all day.

Crystal was sitting on the sofa watching a much-needed dose of anime. B.B. was laying beside her taking his early morning nap. She was in full 'forget about the outside world' mode and enjoying every minute of her stress-free morning. A knock at her door was the only warning she had before Anna and Nora came strolling into her little abode. Crystal looked from one to the other before raising a questioning eyebrow at her friend. She wouldn't have minded Anna's company on her day off but having Nora in tow made her a little uneasy. She hadn't given much thought to the woman's relationship with Casey until Nora was standing in front of her. Remembering what had happened between her and Casey was causing an exorbitant amount of guilt to build up. Granted she hadn't exactly been in her right mind that night, neither of them had but it was no excuse for the events that happened. Even though the two of them weren't friends and she had never given Nora a chance to like her, she still felt she owed her an apology.

"I'm sorry!" Crystal blurted out in haste. Nora's eyes doubled in size with shock as Crystal inwardly berated herself on her lack of tact.

"Sorry for what?" Nora asked her genuinely perplexed as she looked to Anna for clarification. Anna rolled her eyes at Crystal and guided Nora over to sit down. This was going to be a painful explanation and she hoped Crystal wouldn't be ticked at the lot of them when it was done.

"I know you and Casey are together. What happened the other night shouldn't have happened at all. I mean we were drunk and not thinking clearly but that's no excuse." Crystal started rambling before Anna could stop her. Nora looked between the two of them even more muddled as to what was going on.

"You don't know?" Nora asked at first as a question but as she took in Crystal's confusion at her response understanding fell upon Nora's features. "I thought this was supposed to have been cleared up by now."

"It was, and if someone hadn't been actively avoiding someone else it would have been." Nora dropped her head to her hands groaning in dismay as Anna pointedly threw the accusation at Crystal with a steely glare. Crystal shrank in her seat becoming uncomfortable by her friend's scrutiny.

"Look, Crystal, Casey and I were never together." Nora admitted after gaining Crystal's attention.

"How is that possible? I saw the way the two of you were whenever you were together. Which for the record has been every time he's hung out with any of us. Not to mention you spent the night a lot. Which I know because you two weren't at all quiet and I always ran into you in the morning when you were leaving." Crystal accused warming up to the idea of finally being able to air her complaints. It was a petty thing to do, especially in light of the fact that she had wronged Nora, but she couldn't seem to help herself. Before Nora could say anything in return Anna jumped in to diffuse the argument.

"It wasn't real Chris! None of it was."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"Exactly that. It was a set up." Anna admitted sheepishly earning a scowl from her friend. Nora could see this going badly and decided to take the brunt of what was sure to come. She would hate the friends to have a falling out all over a lovesick ruse.

"I was never his girlfriend Crystal. I'm an actress at a local theater. I was hired to play a part and normally I don't do things like this, but I could see how forlorn the poor guy looked and wanted to help out. I don't know whose idea it was originally. I don't think it was Casey's though. Anyway, I was told that he had this girl that he's been madly in love with for years but couldn't get her to see him as anything more than a friend. It was breaking his heart to watch her go on horrible date after horrible date because she couldn't see the great guy waiting in the wings. I asked why he had never told her how he felt, and he told me some dumb excuse about her refusing to date anyone wealthy. I genuinely felt bad for the guy, so I had a talk with my fiancé, who of course wanted to meet Casey. After hearing him out and the things the others had to say he wanted to help just as badly. The more I observed you the more I realized that it wasn't going to be about getting you to see him as a man instead of just a friend. It was clear to me, as it is to all your friends that you're just as crazy about him as he is about you. I just couldn't understand what was holding you back at first." Nora paused in her confession when Crystal held up her hand to halt her. The wheels began turning in her head as she pondered over what she had just heard. She was going to need to clarify a few things before moving along with the story.

"You were never dating Casey?"

"No."

"You are engaged to someone else?"

"Yes."

"So, Casey comes to you with a half-baked plan and you and your fiancé feel pity and decide to help?"

"No."

"Wait. What? Isn't that what you just said?" Crystal asked misunderstanding how she was wrong.

"It hadn't been Casey's idea. It was Chase's actually." Anna retorted knowing that it wouldn't help much.

"Of course, it was! Were you all in on this?" Crystal hissed in anger.

"We were all in agreement that the two of you needed some help. We were not however in agreement on how to do that." Crystal chortled sarcastically at her friend's words. Were the two of them really so pathetic that the others just couldn't help themselves?

"Leaving that all aside for the moment, let's move on." Crystal stated abruptly while turning back to Nora. "We've established that you and Casey were never romantically involved, but you are engaged to someone else. The two of you, after hearing his plight wanted to help?"

"Yes."

"Okay, now that I got that, why would my hang up about dating someone well off have anything to do with dating Casey?" Nora giggled at Crystal's question. One thing was truly clear, Casey had hidden a few things from this woman trying to win her over.

"Because he's rich." Nora said nonchalantly watching Crystal's reaction closely.

"He's an office manager/maintenance worker for the same company I'm a gym instructor for." Crystal stated with assurance. Nora shook her head knowingly.

"Let me ask you something. What is the name of the company?" Nora's question threw Crystal off as she answered automatically.

"C.C.L. Inc." Nora nodded her head smiling brightly.

"Casey, Chase, and Lewis incorporated." She pointed out helpfully. Crystal froze as the wheels of her mind began to turn. Things that hadn't made much sense before were starting to come together. How whenever she and Anna talked about wanting a day off together, it magically happened. How Dr. Miller seemed to know when she was planning on seeing him and would be conveniently able to avoid her. How Casey just happened to know Ike was a defense attorney the night she really needed one. She felt incredibly stupid for not having made the connections before.

"Did you know?" Crystal asked Anna accusingly. By the guilty look on Anna's face she could tell what her answer was before she even had a chance to speak it. "I need some air." Crystal uttered brusquely before abruptly shooting out of her seat disturbing B.B. in her haste.

"Crystal?" Anna called after her meekly worried that she was running away.

"I'll be back. I just need a few minutes alone." She promised without facing either of the two women watching her retreating figure with worry. Crystal continued on, walking right out of her front door. Unfortunately, the mess she stumbled into wasn't any better than the conversation she had just left.