“Okay, well, Noelle’s father, come on out!”
Footsteps tap on the stairs, settling somewhere behind me.
I glance over at Yumi, whose face has fallen dramatically.
“Oh, fuck off,” I say with a laugh. “I know you—”
I turn. And it’s not my dad.
It’s not my dad.
It’s not. My dad.
My legs nearly collapse out from beneath me.
This man standing in front of me is not just Not My Dad, he’s exceptionally Not My Dad. His sandy blond hair, his flat-bordering-on-apathetic expression, the blown-out tribal sleeve on his right arm.
Oh.
Tears blur my vision as I take in the sight of this man standing before me, the one who is supposed to be my father but looks nothing like him. A bitter taste fills my mouth.
JSP gives me a pitying look. “Noelle—”
“No,” I croak out, cutting him off. “That’s not my dad.”
I can’t meet anyone’s eyes—not the stranger’s, not the TV host’s, not my partner’s, and not the audience’s. I keep my gaze downcast.
“I can see you’re having a hard time with this, Noelle. Tell us what’s going on for you.”
Slimy. It’s so slimy. They manufactured this to make me sad, and now they pretend to care for television drama. I try to channel what KC told me: I’m playing a character, and that character is mostly me, but they’re also a role. No matter how heartbroken I am, no matter howpissed, no matter what—I’m here to put on a show.
So I smile. It looks sad, and it’s supposed to. “Yeah, this is reallyhard for me. My dad is my best friend and he’s pretty sick right now. I was looking forward to seeing him.”
JSP gives me a saccharine smile right back. “It must be hard for you, then, to think about Yumi’s reunion with her lola just now.”
Evil. I’ve pulled back the curtain on my favorite show and discovered that JSP is a supervillain. “Yeah, it definitely is. But I can see my dad when I get home. Right now, I just need to focus on winningThe Adventureverse.”
“Is part of the reason you’re so upset about not seeing your dad because you’re worried something might happen to him before you get home?”
What. What? How dare he—
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Yumi’s fists clench and release. I wonder if JSP can see that exact same emotional process in my facial expression—the reaction to the mental slap and the recovery afterward.
Game.
Fans.
Two. Million. Dollars.
My dad.
Instead of punching him, I simply admit, “Yeah. Yes, it is.” And the horrified look on JSP’s face isalmostworth it.
Chapter 41
Villains
They’ve gathered us all together,back in the courtyard, to announce whose loved ones will be at dinner tonight. It’s a joke. Once everyone has had a tearful reunionyet again, it becomes clear that the only people going back to the hotel alone are me and Logan. On the plus side—solidarity is a plus, right?—he seems just as miserable as I am.
