"No, I didn't see the news 'cause we were in Paris..."
Naturally, the person Poppy confided in was Arielle. Arielle was her best friend. People say that it isn't a good idea to room with your best friend, but it worked out for the two of them. Maybe it was that they had a third person in the apartment to keep the peace if an argument broke out.
"But why would she lie?" Arielle asked her when she finished the story.
"I don't know," Poppy admitted, "She's always been kind of weird."
"What do you mean by that?"
"She seems like she doesn't always know what she's talking about. Like, she'd say something wrong, I'd correct her, and she'd be like, 'oh yeah, I knew that.'"
Arielle's brow furrowed. "About clothes?"
"Yeah, mostly. But also about music and food and other stuff." Poppy sighed, pausing and stretching her arms behind her back before she continued. "She sometimes messes up brand names too. She says her mom is this rich archeologist and lives in this huge house, but she always says she doesn't want to spend money on extra stuff at the mall." Looking back on this, it was weird. It seemed like Aru was keeping up an act, but her research wasn't great and the disguise was beginning to falter.
"Maybe she's lying about that too."
"You think?"
Arielle shrugged. "I don't know her. Anything is possible, I guess. She lied about one thing. Who says she isn't hiding anything else?"
—
Burton found out next. Arielle didn't mean to tell him, but it had come out anyways. They were both in the small kitchen, Arielle at the coffeepot and Burton warming up hot chocolate in the microwave because he hated caffeine.
"What's up with Poppy?" He asked her.
Arielle blinked innocently. "What do you mean?"
The microwave beeped. Burton open the door and took his mug out, heading to the tiny cabinet on top of the fridge they referred to as their pantry. "She seems kind of pissed off. And I saw you guys talking earlier." he added with a pointed look. "I know that you know."
"Yeah, well, Aru Shah is a liar." Arielle muttered, mostly to herself.
"Aru Shah? The girl who went out with Navdeep and then started dating that kid who kind of looks like a Boy-Malini the next day?" He pulled the marshmallows out of the cabinet and poured a few in his cup.
The girl's blue eyes widened. It wasn't very moral of her to be sharing her best friend's problems, but it seemed like Aru Shah was not who she seemed.
"The next day?" she asked. "I didn't even know she was going out with people before him."
He added whipped cream to the hot chocolate. "Well, she was."
"How do you even know all of this?"
"Because I'm friends with Navdeep, dumbass."
Oh. Right.
Burton continued, "So, why is she lying to Poppy?"
Arielle glanced at the door. Poppy wasn't home. She probably wouldn't even mind. It was Burton. They shared a roof.
"We don't know why. But she's lying about her interests, and she's been acting really sketchy. She might be lying about everything." Arielle speculated.
"What do you mean by everything?"
You see, this is why you could tell Burton people's secrets. He was usually too dumb to comprehend what they meant.
"Where her mom works. Her family. Her entire life."
Burton stopped. "That's so stupid. Why would you even do that?"
Arielle sighed. "That brings us back to the same question. Why?"
Arielle had needed decided to shower after that to 'clear her head.' The coffee wouldn't be ready until later anyways. She had time.
While she was gone, Burton decided to tell Navdeep.
It just felt wrong not telling him. He was the one who had gotten dumped by Aru for another guy. Maybe she was lying to Aiden too. Maybe he had dodged a bullet.
The FaceTime call connected. Navdeep's face came into focus on Burton's phone.
"Dude, you're not gonna believe this..."
—
When Aru and Aiden were walking out of the bowling alley, it was starting to drizzle. Above them, the clouds swirled, hiding the setting sun behind them.
"You're terrible at bowling." Aiden told her, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Terrible is a strong word."
"You got a 46. You hit the gutter more then you hit the pins."
Before Aru could think of a sarcastic remark, someone caught her eye. Poppy was walking on the other side of the street, probably to her apartment. She was carrying groceries.
"HEY! POPPY!" Aru yelled, waving at her. Usually, she would avoid people she knew in public, but Poppy was her friend. If Arielle or Burton had been with her, it would've been a different story, but the girl was alone.
Poppy's eyes met her's, but she turned away without any acknowledgement.
"That's weird." Aiden commented helpfully.
"She probably can't wave back because of the groceries." Aru concluded, but she didn't believe the words as she said them. Had Poppy rolled her eyes when she turned away from Aru? Was it her 'MILES MORALES IS THE BEST SPIDER-MAN' t-shirt?
"Maybe she didn't see you after all," Aiden added. "C'mon, let's go back to campus."
"Yeah. Okay."
"Privacy sign on the door, and on my page, and on the whole world..."
—
"Alice this isn't your usual upload time" Yeah. I know. I'm on the other side of the the world. I fell asleep.