"I remember you told me you would show me how to take the subway." I surprise myself when I say this. I didn't know I remembered it. "I have all this free time, and I want to spend some of it with you."
Sergei starts laughing. "Jesus, Tab, the man wants out. Look at him. You've got him cornered like a—"
Angie interrupts him. "Like a cat with a mouse."
I look at Angie and start laughing. Another cat joke. We've heard them all throughout the years. "Couldn't help yourself, could you?"
"You were in the Sassy Cats?" Henderson says finally. I can't believe it's taken him this long to put it all together. Especially since I just said it. "God, of course you were. I guess I knew Angie Aliberti was. I never put it together that you were friends with her because of it. Of course, I thought you were in Fate's Daughter, whom I've only vaguely heard of." He cocks his head, his brow furrowing slightly. "You're a big star."
I shrug in a fake-modesty-but-actually-thrilled-that-he-said-it kind of way.
I am a star.
And I hate trying to hide it.
But I have to. For Paisley.
But now I'm all over the internet, singing. I could go viral. "Oh crap, he's going to go ballistic when he sees this." I take a step back and reach for my phone. I need to look at the videos again. I need to see if I was doing anything embarrassing or anything that could be used against me. "Oh, God, Ang, this is bad." My knees give out as I plop to the couch.
How could I be so irresponsible?
Henderson takes a step toward me. "Tabitha, I'm sure it's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."
I smile weakly. I've done so much wrong. He has no idea.
Chapter 10: Henderson
Ifeel like I'm in The Twilight Zone.
It's all so surreal.
And I can't believe I was so slow on the uptake.
Tabitha is a member of the Sassy Cats. Hell, even I've heard of that group. You'd have to be dead not to.
That makes me think of Tawny Shane, may she rest in peace.
But at least Tawny Shane was probably more in my league. Or at least The Edison's league.
Tabitha is not.
And all I can do is hope she doesn't circle back to the whole secret audition bit before I can excuse myself and get the hell out of Dodge. I'd look like a bloody fool.
See? This is why it's no good mixing business with pleasure. It always comes back to bite you in the arse. And it's not like we even got to the pleasure part.
Not that I have any regrets on that—I did what needed to be done and was the responsible party. Still, I'd like to leave and put this all behind me.
Maybe it'll be an amusing party story one day.
Today is not that day.
As I take a step back, trying to make my way to the door again, I see Tabitha with her head in her hands. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how upset she is about the karaoke video.
I did this to her. My actions are directly responsible for her being upset.
Damn.
Although, I don't know why she's so upset. Her performance was far and above anything Oppa! has probably ever seen. Nevertheless, I can't leave her like this. I can't have her feeling bad because of me.
