-unedited-
Continuation:
Dad was perplexed. "That's his name isn't it?"
"No," I swallowed, "His name is Drew."
Dad remained confused. "Are you sure?"
I nodded. Trying to play off how nervous I had suddenly become.
"Oh," Dad looked thoughtful. "I'll double check with Luke but I could have sworn that was his name. Must have forgotten it then."
"Yeah," I trailed off, but inside my heart was pounding.
Dad asked me if I needed anything before he showered and I shook my head, worried that if i spoke my voice would give my nerves away.
When he left the room, my mood sagged.
I knew just as well as dad that his memory was almost perfect. It had to be. He needed to be able to retain large amounts of information for whatever case he was working on.
Drew was lying to me.
Soon dad would know too and his outlook on this whole situation would differ. Until now he had adopted an innocent until proven guilty attitude, but that would change in an instant if he had found Drew hadn't told me his real name. If he lied about that, he could be lying about anything.
But why would Drew lie to me about his name?
Why would anyone lie about their name?
Was Drew just a middle name he preferred to go by?
Was I over thinking this whole thing?
My instincts were telling me that I wasn't. That this was part of the reason Drew wouldn't share much with me.
It's just a name. I tried to convince myself. Not everyone goes by their first name.
The way I saw it, I had three options, I could get dad and Luke to handle this. They could go over the information they had on him and tell me exactly what it was that he was hiding.
But a part of me didn't want to invade Drew's privacy, and I had told him I wouldn't again.
I could just sit here, mindlessly replaying every conversation in my head while trying to reach some sort of conclusion on my own.
Or
I could go straight to the source.
My phone had still been on charge from the night before so i unplugged it from the charger and opened the door in my room that led to a balcony. The weather was perfect. Sun rays warmed the air. Below, the Ocean crashed loudly and cars on the road could be heard even from our apartment.
My skin already felt clammy from my work out and I definitely needed a shower but first, there was something more important I needed to do.
Lucky Charm: We need to talk.
I sat down on a cushioned outdoor chair and waited.
Chandler Bing: yeah i know
Chandler Bing: listen sash
Chandler Bing: it's not that i don't want to tell u about me
Chandler Bing: it's difficult
Chandler Bing: I didn't surround myself with good people in the past and I guess it just made it harder from me to open up to people
damnit
why was he doing this now?
Lucky Charm: I shouldn't have gotten angry
Lucky Charm: a naive part of me believed that because i trusted you that automatically meant you would trust me too
Chandler Bing: we have time ok?
Chandler Bing: i don't want to mess anything up
I typed out a response and before I could talk myself out of it I hit send.
Chandler Bing: Yeah Justin, take whatever time you need.
Uneasiness settled in the bottom of my stomach. Everything we had built relied on his answer. If my use of his real name wasn't a big deal when I told him how I found it out, I had nothing to worry about. If his response seemed panicked.....then there was a reason he hadn't told me the truth.
Chandler Bing: the fuck did u just call me
It honestly felt like my heart had stopped.
Chandler Bing: fuck
Chandler Bing: you've know this whole fucking time haven't u
Chandler Bing: Scooter and Za told me to be careful
Chandler Bing: all of this was a just ploy to get closer to me
Chandler Bing: How much r the paps paying you
Chandler Bing: Who the fuck r u working for
Lucky Charm: I don't know what you're talking about
Chandler Bing: don't u fucking lie to me
Chandler Bing: u've known since u ran the background check
Chandler Bing: which magazines did u sell our story to
Chandler Bing: fucking answer me
Fuck, he was flipping out. My phone buzzed every few seconds and before I had time to formulate a response I had a new text. What was going on?
Paps? Magazines? None of this was making sense to me.
Chandler Bing: i won't ask again
Chandler Bing: who did u tell
Chandler Bing: what do u fucking know
I don't know why I did what I did next. Blame it on the effects of sitting in the sun. Blame it on sheer stupidity. But I said what I said and it was too late to take it back.
Lucky Charm: everything
Lucky Charm: I know everything.
***
