He picked up on the first ring. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Silence ensued. He cleared his throat once, twice, then said, “I don’t know if I should say I’m sorry again. I know I say it so much it’s probably lost all meaning by now. But I really am sorry.”
“Are you sorry for what happened, or are you just sorry I overheard it?”
“Both,” he said. “But I hope you know there was no bet going on. Nothing like that happened at all. I only told Greg you and I were hanging out so he’d understand why I wanted the night off. Of course, he’s so useless, it turns out I can’t take a night off, but that’s not the point.”
“What’s the point, then?”
“The point is, I like you, and I told him I liked you. But that was a mistake, because he’s...well, he’s a pig. So he started giving me a hard time, with all this ‘Rico Suave Latin lover’ shit. I’ve just been ignoring it because he’s an idiot, and this whole thing is complicated, you know? I have to at least try to get along with him, for Fizz. Even though most of the time I really wanna punch him in the face.”
“Well,” I said, “I don’t advocate for you punching anyone, but in that moment, it would’ve been nice to hear you speak up. To defend me, instead of just playing along and saying, ‘Yup.’ Because now, who knows what he’s saying about me around the office? People are gonna start talking, if they aren’t already.”
“So let them talk. Who cares what they think?”
“I do.” My voice was louder than I’d intended. “It’s hard enough for me to be taken seriously by these Hatchlings as it is. I thought you understood that.”
He let out a long, heavy breath. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I should’ve said something. I will in the future.”
“Good.”
“Look, Melanie, I am in this with you, a hundred percent. I know we’ve gotten off to a rough start, but I need you to know that you’re not some meaningless hookup to me. I really like you.”
“I really like you, too.” The words practically fell out of my mouth, that’s how true they felt. I was falling for Alex, hard.
Which is why I was so scared.
I’d seen the pain in Lia’s face, the way her body convulsed with uncontrollable sobs. There was an emptiness in her now, a hollow where hope used to live. The same hollow my mother had formed after Dad walked out. I never wanted to end up like that.
Before I got in too deep with Alex, I had to find out what was really going on. Was he the kindhearted supportive guy he presented himself to be? Or was he a smooth-talking scumbag who shouldn’t be trusted?
There was only one way to find out.
20
I’m not saying it was the wisest decision to send JBoogie a Twitter DM as soon as I got off the phone with Alex. Without a doubt, it was shady. And looking back on it, a little unhinged.
In the moment, though, it seemed like I had no other choice. Like it was the only way I could avoid a potential catastrophe.
Granted, I was two tequila shots in and severely sleep-deprived.
But I wasn’t hurting anyone, was I? No. I was merely requesting some important information to help me understand what I was dealing with here. Namely, I needed to know exactly what Alex did to this woman to inspire her to call him a lying scumbag on the internet.
All I did was ask a very simple question: How many guys have you logged on JerkAlert?
Then I stared at my phone, willing her to respond immediately. I paced the room, chewing my thumbnail, waiting to see the bouncing ellipsis appear on her side of the conversation. If only she’d known how urgent this was!
After a few minutes of silently refreshing my Twitter feed, I realized how ridiculous I was being. It was late. She was probably asleep by now. Or maybe she was out on a Fluttr date. Whatever she was doing, replying to a DM from an internet stranger was most definitely not at the top of her priority list. So I shut down the app and went to bed.
When my alarm went off the next morning, there was still no answer from JBoogie, but I tried not to despair; it was early. Instead, I grabbed my robe and headed to the bathroom, ready to start my usual morning routine.
Any hope of a hot shower was immediately dashed, though, because Vanessa was standing in the tub, holding a busted showerhead in her hand.
“It just fell off.” Her expression was all big-eyed and innocent.
“What do you mean, ‘It just fell off?’ It was perfectly fine yesterday.”
“You know these old Brooklyn buildings,” she said, waving the nozzle around for emphasis. “Things fall apart all the time.”
“Well, did you try putting it back on?”
“I can’t figure out how. Can you?”
I stepped into the tub beside her, inspecting the pipe protruding from the tiles. There was no obvious mechanism for screwing it back on. “How did this even happen?”
“No idea.” She gave an exaggerated shrug, a dramatic sigh. “Guess I’ll have to call Ray.”
“Vanessa,” I said, slowly and carefully, to prevent myself from screaming, “you didn’t rip the showerhead out of the wall to have an excuse to call Ray, did you?”
She gasped. “I’m offended you would even suggest that.”
“If you like Ray, just tell him. Don’t tear apart our bathroom.”
“You know, I don’t have to listen to this.” With her nose in the air, she stepped out of the tub. “I told you, that night was a mistake, and it won’t be happening again.”
“Fine, whatever.” I called after her as she fled down the hallway, “But if you have sex in our shower, I expect you to scrub it out when you’re done.”
Her bedroom door slammed shut. With no other choice, I ran a bath.
Before I left, I grabbed my gym bag. It was Thursday, which meant Krav Maga class after work. In light of last night’s debacle, I wasn’t sure if Lia was going to show, and if she did, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to seeing me. But the Groupon was nonrefundable, their cancellation policy was strict, and I wasn’t about to throw away my hard-earned cash simply to avoid an awkward situation.
My morning shift at work was soul-destroying, as expected. I unclogged two paper jams, replaced a broken keyboard, and fielded at least a dozen emails from people who said neither please nor thank you.
Then, at 11:53, my phone buzzed with a Twitter notification. A direct message from jboogie2592: honestly, i’ve lost count, lol.