“You're right. I need some rest anyway.” I faked a yawn that turned into a real one, then told her a lie. It was not the first and would definitely not be the last. “Daniel kept me up all night.”
Gina studied me, and I pretended not to notice. What did I tell her this morning? I was so exhausted I couldn’t remember five seconds ago, nevermind this morning.
Up to now, I had successfully skated around her questions like an Olympic gold medalist. Her worry grew over the past coupleweeks alongside the reoccurring dreams. It took years to push those dreaded memories from the forefront of my mind. I could go days without thinking about that place once. It had returned with a vengeance, though. A daily reminder that one day I'd have to pay the piper. Or, in my case, the Goblin King.
“That's apparent with how many times you made me late to work recently.”
Another dig. Another nudge to spill my guts. Each one more agitated than the one before it. I had to become a better actress. My shit pile of a life had been in the toilet for a while, stinking up everyone else’s. It felt like someone came along and finally flushed it. I was spiraling and desperately needed to fix it.
“It was pointless to even go in there. That’s why we signed up for this gig, remember. So we wouldn’t have to leave the house. They can tell how many calls we log from home. We’re their top employees.” I rolled my eyes.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “We were, until you started falling asleep during calls, and they notified me to come wake you up.”
I brushed it off with a shrug. “That only happened a couple of times.”
“Seven, Calista.” Her hands flew up with seven fingers spread wide in case I forgot how to count and needed the visual. “It happened seven times.”
I remembered, though I desperately wanted to forget, the seven mortifying times my boss played back the recordings of customers trying to talk to me with the sounds of light snores in the background that turned into full-blown Chainsaw Massacre remakes. To be fair, a couple of those were on the same day.
Gina continued, her voice rising in frustration. “Apparently, they made me your babysitter. We became a package deal, which meant when you got detention—aka working at the office—I gotit, too, because your car is broken down, and you needed me to drive you.”
I cringed with shame. There was nothing worse than being lectured by your best friend who was actually more of a wild card than you are. That’s when you know it’s bad. “I’m sorry, Gina. I hate that my fuckups blew back on you.”
Her face softened. The creases between her brows smoothed and the weight lifted allowing her angry, squinty eyes to open. “You’re not fucking up.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You’re just having a rough time.” She looked at me askingly, hoping I’d take the bait so she could reel me in.
“I don't know what my deal is.” I melted back into the couch and rubbed my temples. “Maybe Venus is in retrograde and fucking up my love life.”
Gina covered her sigh of annoyance, but not well. “Sounds like you're blowing smoke up Uranus.”
My fingers paused their ministration. Like the immature children we were, we lost it. Falling against one another in full-blown belly laughs, I pulled her in for a hug I hoped would soothe her in ways my words couldn't.
As our laughter died, she asked, “What are you going to do?”
Her shoulder dug beneath my chin as I rested there wondering the same damn thing. “Go to the McDonald’s on the corner and beg for a job?”
Horrified, Gina pulled back. Her nails dug into my biceps as she shook me. “Absolutely not.”
I shrugged out of her grip and sulked into the couch. “I don’t have much left in my 401k after borrowing against it to buy that lemon in the parking lot.”
She sighed and sank into the cushion next to me, picking at the worn fabric. “Your dad would help you.”
I stiffened and repeated her words. “Absolutely not!”
“Why not? He helps Kaiden all the time.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face and dropped them at my sides. “Because Kaiden ishergolden child.”
“You could ask him not to tell her.”
With a snort, I turned to her. “Yeah right. You know how he feels about secrets.”
Gina nodded and used finger quotes. “Secrets beget lies.”
“He’s not wrong.” I thought of all the lies I had told over the years to keep my secret. All the recent lies, too. No one would believe it—no one did believe it. They ruled it out as kids being kids and an imaginative teenager learning how to tell tall tales. “That’s exactly what happens.”
